Boost religious freedom, LDS are urged

In the wake of the just-completed LDS Church general conference, Brigham Young University law professor W. Cole Durham Jr. urged members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to reach for heaven's help in order to increase religious liberty the world over, during remarks he delivered Monday at the LDS International Society's 20th Annual Conference held on the BYU campus.

"We will not be able to do what needs to be done without drawing on higher forms of power," he said. "I think one of the initiatives that we have just all heard going on (during the general conference) is the call for us to do the things that we can to access the higher powers that are going to be needed ... We heard over the past weekend of people calling us to move to another level."

The director of the Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU Law School, Durham is an expert in the field of international religious liberty. He believes freedom of religion is an inherent right every human deserves to enjoy.

He said: "It's worth underscoring how significant religious freedom is not only to us as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but also to people of the other faiths. ... (Freedom of worship) is the most basic doctrine, because without freedom, none of the other things can be done. I think that is one of the fundamental things we need to bear in mind."

Durham envisions church members playing a prominent role in extending religious liberty to places where it doesn't presently exist.

"I don't know all the ways that we are supposed to do things," Durham said. "But I've learned something about the importance of religious freedom and the initiatives that we can take in very practical ways that will make a global difference. And I am convinced that we will see many people in the kingdom find different ways to do that ... that the people who have international experience in the church will play a crucial role in making that go forward."

Borrowing a phrase from the late Elder Neil A. Maxwell of the Quorum of the Twelve, Durham called the struggle to extend international religious liberties a spiritual "high adventure."

"I remember early in my career going to a talk that Elder Maxwell gave to a small group in Salt Lake City on (Joseph Smith's) birthday," Durham recollected. "He talked about all the things the prophet went through in his life, all the persecutions, then talked about some of the early hardships of the early Saints — the Martin handcart company, etc.