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Religious Freedom Toolkit

Part IV | Select Quotes from Church Leaders

Category D | Human Rights

Topic 17 | UDHR Article 18

The most widely accepted articulation of freedom of religion and belief (FoRB) is found in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was adopted unanimously by the General Assembly of the United Nations in December 1948. Article 18 states that “everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion,” including the right to change one’s religion or belief; the right to practice one’s religion or belief in public or private, alone or in community with others; and the right to manifest one’s religion or belief through teaching, practice, worship, and observance. While the UDHR is an important normative statement, it does not itself directly create binding legal obligations on states. Nevertheless, Article 18 is the universal “standard of achievement” and aspirational benchmark that religious freedom efforts ought to be measured against. Additionally, the UDHR and, more particularly, Article 18 have shaped legally binding treaties as well as jus cogens (mandatory, universally accepted norms in international law) and many constitutional and statutory provisions that protect freedom of religion and belief.

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President Dallin H. Oaks (quoting Elder D. Todd Christofferson): What religious freedom is.  

“[L]iterally everyone, from kindergarten children through the ranks of professionals and mothers and fathers and friends and neighbors, can and should understand what religious freedom is and why it is important. I love Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s definition of religious freedom:

‘The right to choose, change, declare and act upon your faith. It includes the freedom to worship, but it is much more than that. It is the right to “exercise” or practice your religion without interference from government, subject to government’s responsibility to protect the health and safety of all its citizens in a pluralistic society.’”

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Elder Neil L. Andersen: This bundle of interconnected rights would unravel without the moral meaning and human obligations that religion creates.  

“Religious freedom is a universal human right available to everyone. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, every person, regardless of religion, race, gender or nationality, possesses rights simply by being human. They include the right to life, liberty, security, equal protection of the law and the freedom of thought, speech and religion. But this bundle of interconnected rights would unravel without the moral meaning and human obligations that religion creates. In order to work, human rights require human responsibilities and obligations toward one another in our communities.”

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President Dallin H. Oaks: The UDHR paved the way for 27 multilateral human rights treaties.

“From the American perspective, a second key event in the development of religious liberty was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. Most significantly, Article 18 declares:

Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Importantly, this declaration opens with an affirmation that resonates with the doctrine of many religions.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

This declaration has paved the way for twenty-seven multilateral human rights treaties, important regional human rights instruments, and numerous other human rights treaties.”

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See also Religious Freedom Library
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