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Religious Freedom Toolkit

Part IV | Select Quotes from Church Leaders

Category A | Frameworks

Topic 4 | First freedom

Religious freedom is often called our “first freedom,” not only because it appears at the beginning of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment but also because it is foundational for other freedoms, including freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of association and assembly.

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Elder D. Todd Christofferson: First freedom interconnected with other essential rights  

“In summary, religious liberty has been rightly called our first freedom. It gave birth to, and is interconnected with, numerous other essential human rights. We must never forget that a state with power to deny our first freedom will inevitably have power to abridge many other freedoms. Because faith is so deeply tied to human identity, religious liberty must be an essential part of any regime that claims to respect human dignity. Indeed, religious liberty is a fundamental pillar in any constitutional order that values each person, thereby fostering a pluralism that gives everyone a place of belonging and security within our diverse societies. It also allows faith communities to serve society in a way that is true to and thus empowered by their faith. And it preserves a sacred space for individuals to pursue truth and the meaning of life.

Finally, the practice of religious freedom—by governments, societies, and individuals—is a tutorial in how to respect, protect, and even love others despite our differences. Yet in that tutorial we come to understand that we share a deeper, common humanity—a piece of divinity, I believe, that ultimately unites us as brothers and sisters—as family. I urge all of us, especially the policymakers among us, to do everything possible to respect and vigorously protect not only conscience but the full scope of religious liberty as a fundamental human right for the good of our societies.”

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Elder D. Todd Christofferson: Religious freedom protects other fundamental rights  

“[R]eligious freedom protects other fundamental rights. The freedom to express beliefs about God, which took centuries of struggle to establish, also supports the right to express opinions about morality, society, politics, literature, art, science or virtually any other subject. The hard- won religious rights to peacefully assemble for worship or to print religious literature also support the rights to assemble for political, social, cultural and familial reasons or to print books or newspapers addressing a host of subjects.

Requiring government to treat people equally despite their different religions has strengthened the imperative of treating people equally despite differences in race, color, national origin, sex and so forth. There are many other examples.”

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Elder D. Todd Christofferson: Religious liberty is the oldest and most deeply rooted freedom in international human rights law.  

“Religious liberty is the oldest and most deeply rooted freedom in international human rights law and is essential to the entire structure of human rights. It is widely recognized that religious freedom is the ‘grandparent’ of all human rights—recognized first in international treaties dating back to the Peace of Augsburg in 1555, which established that the religion of a realm would be determined by the ruler of the realm and not by outside forces. This principle gradually led to the protection of religious minorities, and ultimately to the protection of religious freedom as a fundamental individual human right.

This essential right finds its mature expression in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: ‘Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; . . . 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.’”

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Elder Quentin L. Cook: Freedom of religion and speech are both the heart and foundation of representative democracy.  

“Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are both the heart and the foundation of a representative democracy. Freedom to believe in private and to exercise belief and speech in the public square are essential to protecting unalienable rights. Natural law or even a belief that we are accountable to God is not in fashion in much of the legal world today.”

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Elder Ronald A. Rasband: Religious freedom allows each of us to decide for ourselves.  

“What is religious freedom?

It is freedom of worship in all its configurations: freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, freedom to act on personal beliefs, and freedom for others to do the same. Religious freedom allows each of us to decide for ourselves what we believe, how we live and act according to our faith, and what God expects of us.”

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Elder Gerrit W. Gong: Freedom of Religion or Belief and Freedom of Expression as a package  

“Rights, such as Freedom of Religion or Belief and Freedom of Expression, are appropriately viewed as a package. Indeed: ‘the same principle which would trample upon religious freedom rights, would trample on rights of freedom of expression, and a host of other rights that collectively makeup the core human dignity of the individual.’”

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Elder Neil L. Andersen: Religious freedom encourages broader freedoms.  

“[R]eligious freedom encourages broader freedoms. Significant empirical evidence points to a strong correlation between the presence of religious freedom and other freedoms, along with a variety of positive social and economic outcomes ranging from better health care to higher incomes for women. Religious freedom, freedom of the press, freedom of association, and freedom of speech tend to ‘rise or fall together.’”

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