Listen to Elder Oaks talk, “Religious Freedom”

15 October 2009 @ 9:50 am | 4 comments

Listen to Elder Oaks talk, “Religious Freedom.” BYU-Idaho has posted the audio of the talk as downloadable mp3 or podcast [iTunes link].

Please read or listen to it. There is so much more to the talk than what the selective outrage has focused on.

Religious belief is obviously protected against government action. The practice of that belief must have some limits, as I suggested earlier. But unless the guarantee of free exercise of religion gives a religious actor greater protection against government prohibitions than are already guaranteed to all actors by other provisions of the constitution (like freedom of speech), what is the special value of religious freedom? Surely the First Amendment guarantee of free exercise of religion was intended to grant more freedom to religious action than to other kinds of action. Treating actions based on religious belief the same as actions based on other systems of belief should not be enough to satisfy the special place of religion in the United States Constitution.

(Possibly) Related posts:

  1. Watch Elder Oaks’ talk “Religious Freedom”
  2. Elder Oaks on Religious Freedom and the Proposition 8 Aftermath
  3. Why Elder Oaks’ Civil-Rights Analogy Works

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  1. Dan’s avatar

    Dan on 15 October 2009 at 10:09 am

    It is an otherwise good talk. I still don’t care for the belief that our “religious freedom” is threatened. I don’t think it is. I also didn’t realize just how hardcore conservative Elder Oaks is, quoting Hugh Hewitt and Dinesh D’Souza. Those boys are ultra hardcore. Sadly I’m going to have to be more careful with what Elder Oaks says from here on out.

  2. Greg’s avatar

    Greg on 18 October 2009 at 10:12 pm

    Dave – I thought you might want this for reference for your readers. A transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks’ talk about Religious Freedom – along with links to many of his source citations – can be found on Believe All Things.

  3. Benjamin’s avatar

    Benjamin on 21 October 2009 at 10:11 pm

    Dan you might want to hear what Elder Holland says about some of these issues as his words and approach tends to be more equitable and understanding. Not legalistic in approach.

  4. Benjamin’s avatar

    Benjamin on 21 October 2009 at 10:23 pm

    If you read the Oaks and Wickman interview from a few years back there were some really unhelpful statements that Elder Oaks made regarding parents with adult sons who happen to have a same sex partner/husband. I know of some parents who felt guilty after listening to his talk because they have totally embraced their gay children and their same sex spouses. I know some LDS families who even include them in the family photos. These families sometimes feel very torn when they hear these kinds of things.

    I have to say that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has come a very long way even over the past 10 years which is incredibly inspiring to me. I know of a bishop from California (Bishop Robert Reese) who is one of the most amazing and true disciples of Christ I know of. He wrote an amazing essay on the issue of homosexuality in the Church of Jesus Christ. His essay came in the wake of one of the members of his ward and a dear friend who committed suicide (shot himself in front of his local ward meeting house) as the conflict between his Mormonism and his orientation became too great for him to deal with. Bishop Reese’s essay is entitled “In a Dark Time the Eye Begins to See’: Personal Reflections on Homosexuality among the Mormons at the Beginning of a New Millennium.” [Personal Voices] Dialogue 33 (3) Fall 2000: 137-151 [p. 149]

    I believe that the Latter-day Saint response to their homosexual family members and friends and neighbors is one of the most exquisite tests of Christian discipleship that there is. I believe that there are portions of the Kingdom who have responded in amazing ways, other portions who have not. It’s the ultimate test between legalism and the higher law of love.