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Are You Aware? International Religious Freedom
This is part IV in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. For Americans and many others, religious freedom today often seems polarized, partisan, and bewilderingly complex. Church leaders have repeatedly emphasized the importance of religious freedom, but in some cases, religious freedom claims seem part of partisan battles or encroach on rights for others. How can we make sense of religious freedom? Why do Church leaders stress its importance? How can we understand the role of religious freedom among other important human rights? One helpful way to make sense of religious freedom is to look at the international norms that protect it.…
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Are You Aware? The Critical Role of Minority Beliefs
This is part III in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. One of the best stories from the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is about someone who was not a member of our church but instead a brigadier general in the Missouri militia during the “Mormon War” in 1838. “Soon after Missouri Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his Mormon Extermination Order of 27 October 1838, which declared that ‘the Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state,’ Brigadier General Alexander W. Doniphan received the following order from his superior…
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Are You Aware? The Same Privilege
This is part II in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. Yesterday was the first day of fasting for the Islamic religious holiday Ramadan. I woke up this morning at 4:30 to prepare breakfast for my husband and my children who are old enough to fast. For 30 days, our Muslim-Mormon family will refrain from food and drink from sunup to sundown — approximately 16 hours a day by the end of the fast. During Ramadan, I am always more acutely aware of the religious differences not only in my own household but between my family and the rest of the community…
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Are You Aware? Founding Faith
This is part I in our “Freedom of Religion” Awareness Wednesday series. Read the other posts in the series here. It is a common misconception that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation” and that the founders intended it as such. It is true that the American colonies were largely established by Christians and that Christianity had a profound effect on the architects of the nation. But history does not support the claim that our government ever was, or was intended to be, Christian by those who conceived of and orchestrated its emergence. It was, in part, the oppression felt from both the British monarchy, with their supposed “divine…
