Religious Freedom: Power to Flourish

Latter-day Saint scripture promises that God’s covenant people will “flourish” in the last days. ¹ Given the abundant evidence connecting religious freedom to human flourishing, ² it stands to reason that this prophesied flourishing will go hand in hand with the free exercise of religion. In fact, religious freedom does more than provide an environment for human flourishing; it is a catalyst!

The topic of religious freedom is personal for me. Several of my ancestors suffered for their religious beliefs. Christian J. Larsen, my third-great-grandfather, was one of the first to join The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Denmark. It was not easy in those days to be a member of the Church there.. They faced severe persecution.

Despite the persecution, Christian’s dedication to his newfound faith was unwavering. After joining proselyting efforts in his homeland, Christian was assigned by Church leaders to serve a mission in Norway. The authorities in Norway took umbrage with his preaching and threw him into jail. He spent the next six months there, singing hymns with three other jailed missionaries to keep their spirits up. The county judge and other local officials treated him (and his cellmates) as criminals and refused to engage in any meaningful communication with them.

We have a brief record of an interrogation of Christian during his 1852 incarceration:

“For what purpose have you come to this country?” [asked] the officials. …

“To teach the people the true gospel of Jesus Christ,” Christian said.

“Would you return to Denmark, if you were liberated from prison?”

[His response:] “Not till God shall release me through His servants who sent me here.”

[They pressed:] “Will you refrain from preaching and baptizing?”

“If you or any of your priests can convince me that our doctrine and faith is not in accordance with the doctrines of Christ,” said Christian, “for I desire to obtain salvation and to do the will of God.”

[To which the chief interrogator retorted:] “We consider it beneath the dignity of our priests to argue with you. I now forbid you to mislead any more souls by your false doctrines.” ³

No freedom of religion there. Instead, the state repressed the exercise of his religion in favor of the state religion. Ironically, as a boomerang effect, this may have repressed the development of the state itself, especially when one considers the thousands of people who emigrated to distant shores to practice their religion. We will never know what freedom of religion at the time may have brought to these nations in terms of peace and human flourishing.

The United States Constitution—a testament to the key role of religious freedom in preserving liberty.

Across the Atlantic, the United States of America was a young nation with a written constitution designed to secure the blessings of liberty for future generations. Notably, religious belief played a significant role in the creation of the U.S. Constitution. Equally important, the drafters of the Constitution recognized that the free exercise of religion was necessary to secure and safeguard that hard-won liberty.

The creation of the U.S. Constitution was a miracle. Somehow, some way, individuals with widely divergent interests, disparate perspectives, and at times outright dislike of each other unified to create a document setting forth the principles of a democratic republic that has endured.

Remember, the delegates were not pushovers. They had strong opinions and represented opinionated constituencies, some with interests and positions that clashed. Many of the delegates who came to Philadelphia had embraced the early Revolutionary War motto: “Don’t tread on me.” ⁴ They knew how to stand independent, to fight for a cause. ⁵

Against this backdrop, George Washington said, “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the Delegates from so many different States (which States you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices) should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well-founded objections.” ⁶

While it is impossible to precisely parse out the motivations of each delegate, we do know that all but possibly one came from a religious background. At the time of the convention, of the 55 delegates, 28 were Episcopalians, 8 Presbyterians, 7 Congregationalists, 2 Lutherans, 2 Dutch Reformed, 2 Methodists, 2 Roman Catholics, 1 unknown, and 3 deists. ⁷  (And, I might add, 31 were attorneys.) ⁸ With all their differences, the delegates were, unequivocally, a group of men motivated and influenced by religion. ⁹

At a critical juncture when it appeared that the then-fraying Constitutional Convention was at dire risk of failing, Benjamin Franklin—interestingly, a deist—pleaded with his fellow delegates:

In this situation of this Assembly, groping as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it when presented to us, how has it happened, Sir, that we have not hitherto once thought of humbly applying to the Father of lights to illuminate our understandings? … And have we now forgotten that powerful friend? or do we imagine that we no longer need his assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth—that God governs in the affairs of men.

I therefore beg leave to move—that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the Clergy of this City be requested to officiate in that service. ¹⁰

His motion did not carry—likely for lack of funds to hire clergy. ¹¹ Although correlation does not prove causation, it is noteworthy that soon after Franklin’s impassioned plea, the delegates reached a compromise that opened the way for the convention to continue to its successful end. ¹²

My point here is not to favor one religion over another but simply to emphasize that the United States Constitution was drafted by men whose thinking, actions, words, and motives were heavily influenced by religion.

God desires freedom for His children.

God wants all humankind—His children—to enjoy the blessings of liberty. As it says in Latter-day Saint scripture, “It is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” ¹³ This applies to the abhorrent practice of slavery, as well as to individuals subject to the power of the state without representation. So, to provide liberty for His children, the Lord “established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose.” ¹⁴

According to Latter-day Saint scripture, the Constitution was created to provide for “the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles.” ¹⁵ Why? So “that every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which [God has] given … him.” ¹⁶

Freedom is valued by God because it gives us, His children, our best opportunity to exercise our moral agency—“the power to decide and to act” ¹⁷ —for good. This capacity to choose good against opposition is our best opportunity to grow in character. To the degree we choose good, we can grow “unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” ¹⁸ 

As President Dallin H. Oaks has stated:  “The most desirable condition for the exercise of that agency is maximum freedom for men and women to act according to their individual choices.” ¹⁹ Religious freedom and the free exercise of religion can move our thinking and our decision making to a higher plane, one that can inspire one to choose to create peace and build community.

The free exercise of religion is a catalyst for humans—and nations—to flourish.

The Preamble to the United States Constitution states its lofty purpose: 

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. ²⁰ 

It cannot be reasonably disputed that union, justice, domestic tranquility, common defense, general welfare, and liberty create an environment for human flourishing. Such an environment protects life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—which the Declaration of Independence states are the unalienable rights with which each human is endowed by our Creator. ²¹

I will comment on two of the above-stated objectives of the Constitution because they are inextricably intertwined with religious freedom: (1) “We the People of the United States” and (2) “in Order to form a more perfect Union.”

“We the people of the United States”

The preamble begins with the term “We.” The source of power and authority for government is “We the people.” In other words, it was the people—not the states—who authorized this democratic republic. By creating the Constitution as the system upon which our nation would be founded and function, we, the people, acknowledged that all of us—the people, the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch—are subject to the rule of law.  

Law permeates and orders society. Law is created by representatives of the people. Given that this—and any free society—is a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” ²² the quality of the law and societal order depends upon the values of the people. Thus, for the good of the nation, it is vital that honest and upright values be cultivated in the minds and hearts of the people. Much depends upon the people learning to love their neighbors as themselves. ²³

“A more perfect Union”

 An aim of the U.S. Constitution was to create a “more perfect Union.” The Articles of Confederation were ineffectual. With no real power given to the national government, unity was more imagined than real. No power to levy taxes, no power to form a military, no power to do just about anything, meant that instead of being “United States,” this group of states would devolve into fractious, competing states like Europe at the time. The Constitution was intended and designed to provide a more perfect union, and it succeeded.

Note that the word “Union” is capitalized. The Constitution provides not only a legal, policy, institutional, and political framework—but it also provides (to quote author Yuval Levin) “a union and unity framework.” ²⁴ In short, the Constitution demands that “we the people of the United States” work together and become unified through persistently, doggedly seeking common ground.

This requires that people be guided and motivated by principle, not political expediency. It requires that we understand that “the practical meaning of unity in the political life of a free society, [is that] unity does not mean thinking alike; unity means acting together.” ²⁵

Religious freedom is our last and our always best hope of instilling good and worthy principles into the minds and souls of “we the people.” Cultivating these principles enables us to learn to differ without demonizing, disagree without being disagreeable—to work with others with opposing views to forge common ground. Small wonder that religious freedom—the free exercise of religion—is the first freedom articulated in the Bill of Rights.

The First Freedom: Freedom of Religion

 John Adams stated:

We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. ²⁶

George Washington agreed:

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity [think human flourishing], religion and morality are indispensable supports. … Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. … Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. ²⁷

Freedom of religion is the first freedom in the Bill of Rights because it is foundational and essential to perpetuating a free society. Religious freedom provides the moral traction a nation and its people need to flourish. Religion freely exercised is uniquely capable of turning hearts and minds to God and thus inspiring and enlarging the human mind, heart, and soul. It has the potential to inspire us to do the unenforceable, such as fidelity, honesty, virtue, patience, service, self-sacrifice, forbearance, kindness, and respect. Hence its privileged place as the first freedom in the Bill of Rights.

To quote Jonathan Rauch, an atheist who advocates for more religion:

“Social scientists have produced a mountain of evidence that religion is good for you.” Organized religious participation correlates with greater happiness and well-being, longer life, strong immune systems and lower blood pressure, lower crime and drug use, and greater civic engagement. Most people cannot reap the same benefits at home. “It is the communal forms of religious participation, rather than merely private practices, that most powerfully affect health.” Other research suggests that the decline of religious participation may be an important factor in the alarming rise in the United States of deaths of despair. ²⁸

Because the free exercise of religion is indisputably healthy for individuals and families—for “we the people”—it is healthy for the nation! Nations with religious freedom are more apt to flourish as people of faith freely exercise their faith in building their nation in harmony with others. President Dallin H. Oaks said: “Speaking from a religious perspective, I affirm that followers of Christ have a duty to … seek harmony and peace. … We should not expect or seek total dominance for our own positions.” ²⁹

Thus, religion supports and encourages us to work together to forge common ground—even if we must “render … unto Ceasar” ³⁰ (the government) the recognition of rights with which we disagree. In working to find solutions through negotiation and mutual accommodation, religion strengthens the nation and the nation strengthens religion. It is by working together that we find more durable, doable, unified solutions. And it is religious freedom that informs and inspires the human soul to make the effort—and to flourish in doing so.

So, what are we to do?

 The right of religious freedom is not something to hang on the wall, as a certificate or a medal won in an athletic competition. No, the right to religious freedom—the free exercise of religion—exhorts us to live our religion. It invites us to exercise our faith in our daily living, in our homes, and to engage with others in our communities, in our nations.

As President Dallin H. Oaks teaches:

Our belief in divine inspiration gives Latter-day Saints a unique responsibility to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and principles of constitutionalism wherever we live. We should trust in the Lord and be positive about this nation’s future.

… We must pray for the Lord to guide and bless all nations and their leaders. This is part of our article of faith. Being subject to presidents or rulers of course poses no obstacle to our opposing individual laws or policies. It does require that we exercise our influence civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws. On contested issues, we should seek to moderate and unify. ³¹

Far from being bystanders, as people of faith we are to be players on the field of human endeavor. Exercising our right to the free exercise of religion invigorates both our faith and our nation. This happens as we “seek to moderate and unify,” to again quote President Oaks.

In short, we should be peacemakers. President Russell M. Nelson, President and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, observed:

Vulgarity, faultfinding, and evil speaking of others are all too common. Too many pundits, politicians, entertainers, and other influencers throw insults constantly. I am greatly concerned that so many people seem to believe that it is completely acceptable to condemn, malign, and vilify anyone who does not agree with them. Many seem eager to damage another’s reputation with pathetic and pithy barbs!

Anger never persuades. Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions. ³²

He continues: “True disciples of Jesus Christ are peacemakers.” ³³

This means action on our part. So, let’s exercise our faith to “interact with others in a higher, holier way,” using the words of President Nelson. This is not passivity; rather, it is active engagement. He continues:

Now, I am not talking about “peace at any price.” I am talking about treating others in ways that are consistent with … always remember[ing] the Savior. In situations that are highly charged and filled with contention, I invite you to remember Jesus Christ. Pray to have the courage and wisdom to say or do what He would. As we follow the Prince of Peace, we will become His peacemakers. ³⁴

So, let’s engage and interact with others as an extension of our faith, remembering President Nelson’s words, that “the gospel net is the largest net in the world. God has invited all to come unto Him, ‘black and white, bond and free, male and female.’ There is room for everyone. However, there is no room for prejudice, condemnation, or contention of any kind.” ³⁵

Christian J. Larsen and human flourishing

 Returning to the story of my third-great-grandfather Christian J. Larsen: he was finally released from jail and returned to Denmark. But before he left Norway, he baptized a religious dissident by the name of Johan Andreas Jensen, who he had met and taught in jail. Like Christian and thousands of others, Johan emigrated to the United States, where he could freely exercise his religion. And he became the great-grandfather of President Russell M. Nelson, whose teaching on being peacemakers I have quoted. President Nelson’s religious teachings have helped millions of humans to flourish, including me and my family. And millions more will flourish to the degree we take to heart President Nelson’s charge to be peacemakers.

My invitation today is that we actively live our faith and engage with others as peacemakers in our fractious world. As we seek to “moderate and unify” according to just and holy principles, we can help lift our families, communities, and nations to a higher, better place. As we weave faith, morality, love, and fairness into the political tapestry of the nations in which we live, religion will thrive, and the people and their nations will flourish.

In so doing, we will be peacemakers. And our children and their children will live in a higher-functioning world of peace and human flourishing.

Jesus Christ lives. He is the “founder of peace.” ³⁶ And He is the Prince of Peace. ³⁷

Whatever our religious beliefs, may we follow His example and experience peace, even in a world of tribulation. ³⁸

1. Doctrine and Covenants 49:25.

2. Religion and freedom of conscience and belief generate significant benefits to individuals, families, communities, and nations. This is particularly so when religious pluralism thrives.

   Religious individuals and families tend to have better physical and mental health, have less use of illegal drugs and alcohol, have higher educational achievements leading to more stable personal and family financial situations, commit less crime, and have lower divorce rates and fewer suicides, to name just a few. They have higher civic engagement in helping the poor and the needy in their communities. Overall, these individuals and families enjoy a higher level of satisfaction with their lives.

   Many positive benefits of religion and freedom of conscience and belief are also manifested in the public life of communities and nations. Communities and countries where religious pluralism is protected have stronger citizen participation in public life, higher support for the democratic process, less crime, and more enhancement of individual rights. Racial and sexual discrimination are greatly reduced in these communities and nations. One author observed that “religious pluralism helps develop ‘generosity [and] … law-abidingness.’ Religious organizations promote peacemaking, humanitarian initiatives, educational opportunities, and medical care for those who cannot afford such care.”

   In short, when religious beliefs are protected, individuals, families, communities, and nations are greatly improved.

3. Christian Larsen, Journal, Nov. 12, 1852; Dorius, Dorius Heritage, 43–45; as quoted in Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, vol. 2, No Unhallowed Hand, 1846–1893 (2020), 171.

4. First flown on a warship in 1775, the flag featured a rattlesnake coiled above the saying: “DON’T TREAD ON ME” against a yellow background. It is credited to Christopher Gadsden, a soldier and politician from South Carolina. It became an early expression of American patriotism at the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

5. Yet amongst this vortex of opinions, James Madison observed: “There never was an assembly of men, charged with a great and arduous trust, who were more pure in their motives, or more exclusively or anxiously devoted to the object committed to them” (quoted in Dallin H. Oaks, “The Divinely Inspired Constitution,” Ensign, Feb. 1992, 70).

6. George Washington, letter to Lafayette, Feb. 7, 1788, founders.archives.gov.

7. See Greg Koukl, “The Faith of Our Fathers,” Stand to Reason, Feb. 28, 2013, str.org/w/the-faith-of-our-fathers.

8. See Thomas James Norton, The Constitution of the United States: Its Sources and Applications (1974), xi.

9. As the delegates to the Constitutional Convention engaged in their nigh-impossible task, George Washington declared: “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God.”

10. The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787, Max Farrand, ed., vol 1 (1911), 451, quoted in Louis J. Sirico Jr., “Benjamin Franklin, Prayer, and the Constitutional Convention: History as Narrative,” Villanova Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series, Spring 2013, 4.

11. See 1787: The Day-by-Day Story of the Constitutional Convention, comp. Independence National Historical Park (1987), 61.

12. Notably, Franklin’s speech was laced with references to the Bible. Louis J. Sirico notes in footnote 8 of the above-cited article that Franklin cited scripture as follows: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning” (James 1:17). In his speech, Franklin made three other scriptural references: “And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid?” (referencing Matthew 10:29). “We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it’” (referencing Psalm 127:1). “I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests (referencing Genesis 11:1–9). Indeed, in those days the Bible was viewed as an authoritative source. As one scholar has noted, “According to a study of citation in public political literature written between 1760 and 1805, the most frequently cited book was the Bible, accounting for at least one-third of all citations. See Donald S. Lutz, The Origins of American Constitutionalism (1988), 140–41.

13. Doctrine and Covenants 101:79.

14. Doctrine and Covenants 101:80.

15. Doctrine and Covenants 101:77.

16. Doctrine and Covenants 101:78.

17. Dallin H. Oaks, “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution,” Liahona, May 2021, 106.

18. Ephesians 4:13.

19. Dallin H. Oaks “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution,” 106.

20. United States Constitution, archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution.

21. See Declaration of Independence, archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration.

22. Abraham Lincoln, “Gettysburg Address,” Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Nov.19, 1863.

23. What but religious freedom inspires us to value, work with, and listen to another whose perspective diverges from ours? What else moves us to see life from a higher perspective far beyond our self-interest and instant gratification? What else inspires us to put off our natural, self-centered conceits and instead seek the interest of the whole?

24. Yuval Levin, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again (2024), 15.

25. Yuval Levin, American Covenant, 3. Levin continues: “The system they [the delegates] constructed presumes an idea of unity that takes … multiplicity for granted and attenuates disunity through common action. … The system was plainly intended to help forge common ground in American life, and not just occupy such ground. … Social peace … [in our pluralistic society] … cannot be achieved by conquest or surrender but only by mutual accommodation. It is the condition of differing without rejecting one another’s legitimacy—of disputing without being at war.”

26. John Adams, “Letter from John Adams to Massachusetts Militia,” Oct. 11, 1798, quoted by Dallin H. Oaks, “Transcript of Elder Dallin H. Oaks’s Speech Given at Chapman University School of Law,” Feb. 4, 2011, newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

27. George Washington, “Farewell Address,” 1796, constitutioncenter.org.

28. Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy (2025), 11.

29. Dallin H. Oaks, “Religious Freedom in an International Context” (address given at Sapienza University in Rome, Dec. 14. 2021), newsroom.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

30. Luke 20:25; see verses 22–26.

31. Dallin H. Oaks, “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution,” 107.

32. Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” Liahona, May 2023, 98.

33. Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” 99.

34. Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” 101.

35. Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” 101.

36. Mosiah 15:18.

37. See Isaiah 9:6; see also 2 Nephi 19:6.

38. See John 16:33.