Mormons are entitled to defend their freedom of religion

This past week, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the LDS Church raised a strong voice of warning in defense of religious freedom. His words were elegant, articulate and unambiguous. Those who see his talk solely, or even primarily, as a reaction to the Proposition 8 battle in California and its aftermath either have not read the talk or willingly wish to minimize its importance.

Elder Oaks' remarks were a call to action to his largely Latter-day Saint audience. But, as he noted, his words would be "instantly put before a wider (and) very diverse audience." Indeed, his words were a call to action to all lovers of religious liberty and defenders of faith.

Some listeners took exception to small, isolated aspects of his remarks. Like the scribes and Pharisees of old, these critics strained at a gnat and ignored the camel of the real and present threats to religious freedom to which Elder Oaks' whole remarks were addressed.

Elder Oaks is enormously well qualified to address religious freedom issues. He wrestled with these issues as president of a religious university and, indeed, was a national leader in the cause of church-related colleges and universities. He labored over constitutional issues as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court and was widely considered during that time to be a potential choice for a spot on the U. S. Supreme Court.

In addition to all this, Elder Oaks is a senior official in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It is fair to say that no other religious group in the history of the America has greater standing to rise to the defense of religious liberty than do the Latter-day Saints.

Violations of religious liberty, persecution, the denial of many civil rights and even death were the lot of Latter-day Saints from even before the founding of the church, extending, at least, nearly a century later. Indeed, that the LDS Church is headquartered in Utah stands as stark witness to the fact that from the beginning the church was driven from pillar to post eventually leaving the United States to be free of such persecution.

Without meaning to merely dredge up old grievances, it might be interesting to some to note just how significant were the violations of religious liberty. The Latter-day Saints were driven from New York to Ohio to Missouri and to Illinois, eventually fleeing to Utah. An extermination order was issued by the governor of Missouri against the Mormons. And later, while under the supposed protection of the state of Illinois, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered.