Many have heard that church and state in the United States should be separated by a wall, but President Oaks asks more of us than mere division.
The separation between church and state in the United States has often been compared to a wall: rigid, uncompromising, dividing, impartial. This famous analogy, attributed to Thomas Jefferson, has been used by many to describe the desired balance between the ideals of religious freedom and limited government. I have felt confused about how to practice my faith in the context of civic engagement because my perspective on today’s political issues is often informed by the moral convictions derived from my religious beliefs. For others who feel that politics has become increasingly polarized, as I know I do, it can seem more difficult than ever to get the right balance between church and state.
Photo by Zeki Okur
In his 2021 address to the University of Virginia titled “Going Forward with Religious Freedom and Nondiscrimination,” President Dallin H. Oaks counsels us on how to achieve that desired balance. Instead of encouraging the belief that civic and religious engagement belong on separate sides of a wall, President Oaks desires an analogy that is “sufficient to define the limits but also allow accommodation of the mutual interests of religion and government. Less rigid than a ‘wall,’ the boundary should be permeable enough to admit light and flexible enough to allow mutual support.”
President Oaks teaches that for us to live in a diverse society, we must be willing to make compromises—even if that means that as a result some of our religious actions are limited—to “protect the health, safety, and welfare of all.” He states, “As a practical basis for co-existence, we should accept the reality that we are fellow citizens who need each other. This requires us to accept some laws we dislike, and to live peacefully with some persons whose values differ from our own.” This teaching may be surprising to many Latter-day Saints, as it certainly was to me. It may seem to contradict admonitions to defend the faith and stand firm in our beliefs, but President Oaks is not advocating for us to give up our morals—he is asking us to live them in a higher way. Importantly, he states that this teaching “does not require any compromise of core principles.”
The solution to our political division today is not to put up more walls that separate our political values from the religious ones that have informed them. Rather, we must be more honest in our conversations, more humble in our disagreements, and more gracious in our defeats. In President Oaks’s words, we must pursue “harmony by finding practical solutions to our differences, with love and respect for all people.”
Read President Dallin H. Oaks’s full address, “Going Forward with Religious Freedom and Nondiscrimination.”
Source: Church Newsroom
—Christopher Wolfersberger, Latter-day Saint Insights
FEATURE IMAGE BY TARA WINSTEAD
Find more insights
Read a news summary published by the Church of President Oaks’s speech: “President Oaks Urges a ‘Better Way’ to Resolve Our Differences ‘Without Compromising Core Values.”
Listen to more of President Dallin H.Oaks’s insights on American government in his talk “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution.”
Listen to more of President Dallin H. Oaks’s insights on loving those we disagree with in his talk “Love Your Enemies.”