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Religious Freedom Toolkit

Part IV | Select Quotes from Church Leaders

Category G | Extrinsic Benefits

Topic 37 | Religious freedom facilitates social stability and even harmony

Religious freedom can facilitate social stability and even harmony. As Voltaire observes in Letters Concerning the English Nation (1733), “If one religion only were allowed in England, the Government would very possibly become arbitrary; if there were but two, the people would cut one another’s throats; but as there are such a multitude, they all live happy and in peace.”

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Elder Neil L. Andersen: Samuel Huntington said of all elements that define civilizations, “the most important usually is religion.”

“Political scientist Samuel Huntington said that of all the elements that define civilizations, ‘the most important usually is religion.’ So it’s no surprise that religious differences have sometimes contributed to conflicts around the world. But the solution is to let differences flourish, not to stifle them. Studies show that protecting the varieties of religious practice and expression correlates strongly with greater civil and political liberties, greater press and economic freedoms, fewer armed conflicts, better health outcomes, higher levels of income, better education for women and higher overall human development.

Minds as different as the French Enlightenment thinker Voltaire and the English Catholic thinker Thomas More both believed that civic and religious peace in a pluralistic society is more likely if all religious parties tolerate each other instead of trying to dominate over one another. Voltaire put it memorably: ‘If there were only one religion . . . there would be danger of despotism, if there were two, they would cut each other’s throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness.’”

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Elder Quentin L. Cook: James Madison said that, in a free government, security for religious rights consists in the multiplicity of sects.  

“Notwithstanding these aberrations that resulted in persecution, most of the founding fathers in the United States were committed to religious freedom. [James] Madison clearly favored religious pluralism. He stated, ‘In a free government the security for . . . religious rights . . . consists . . . in the multiplicity of sects.’”

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President Dallin H. Oaks: Religions play a vital role in contributing to social stability.  

“Religions also play a vital role in contributing to social stability. Societies are not held together primarily by law and its enforcement, but by those who voluntarily obey the unenforceable because of their sense of accountability to God. In his talk at this symposium last year, my fellow apostle Elder Quentin L. Cook spoke of this. ‘Accountability to God,’ he said, ‘is a powerful force for good and strongly supports democracy.’ He illustrated that fact with Harvard Professor Clayton M. Christensen’s impressive teaching that most Americans ‘voluntarily choose to follow the law’ not just because of its official enforcement but because they believe ‘they [a]re accountable to God.’”

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President Dallin H. Oaks: Freedom of choice is fundamental to God’s plan.  

“[The] restoration of the fulness of Christian doctrine teaches us that God created and put His children on Earth to grow spiritually by making right choices between good and evil consistent with His commandments. Freedom of choice is, therefore, fundamental to God’s plan.”

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President Dallin H. Oaks: Freedoms of religion and belief are foundational in four respects.  

“Professor W. Cole Durham, a long-time friend and expert on international religious freedom, whose writing and counsel have been so important in my preparation of this lecture, has explained that the freedoms of religion and belief are foundational for other important rights in at least four respects. (1) They are historically foundational because so many other rights emerged as additional supports or expansions of legal protections originally provided in the name of religious freedom. (2) They are philosophically foundational because they protect the belief systems and world views on which other ideas are rooted and from which they derive their meaning. (3) They are institutionally foundational because they foster institutions that protect the vision, motivation and moral support that translate religious and moral ideals into personal and communal practice. They often overlap with other rights, such as freedom of expression, freedom of association and rights to non-discrimination, but their sum is greater than any of these individual parts. (4) Finally, Professor Durham explains, the freedoms of religion and belief are empirically foundational. We now have extensive empirical evidence that a country’s performance in protecting religious freedom correlates not only with the protection of other key rights, but also with other social goods, such as economic freedom, higher per capita gross domestic product, better incomes for women, gender equality, higher literacy rates, better health and education, and consolidation of democracy. Moreover, religious freedom can be beneficial in unexpected contexts. Protecting freedom to engage in religious persuasion correlates with increased social stability. Indeed, the key to stability and harmony is not homogeneity in religious or other foundational beliefs, but shared assurance that everyone will be secure in following his or her foundational beliefs.”

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