During my time as a Senate chief of staff in Washington, D.C., I always walked to the Senate office, usually in the stillness of the early morning hours. The walk was cherished quiet time to reflect deeply on the founding principles of America before being forced to engage in the rush and crush of the daily Senate schedule.
Almost every morning there was one constant that, even in the midst of turbulent days and stressful times, would set my thinking and priorities right. It was the sight of Justice Clarence Thomas stepping out of the morning Mass at a little church and beginning his walk over to the Supreme Court. Somehow, watching Justice Thomas cross that intersection from faith to reason gave me confidence to meet the day with hope for the future of the nation.
Leaving the pew of a church after morning prayer as a humble, seeking and petitioning disciple, then crossing the street to mount a bench and issue reasoned rulings in the highest court in the land was an image dripping in symbolism and significance.
The modern and increasingly secular world continues to attempt to drive wedges between faith and reason and build barriers separating the human and the divine. The secularists and moral relativists seem determined to not only banish faith from the public square, but also to eliminate it completely from all institutions, including government, business and higher learning.
Last fall, Justice Thomas appeared at Hillsdale College to celebrate the dedication of a most unique structure on a college campus these days — a new chapel.
Speaking at the dedication of the sacred space, the justice declared, “The construction of a college chapel, is a public declaration that faith and reason are mutually reinforcing.” He continued, “Let it stand as a bold declaration to a watching world that faith and learning are rightly understood as complements, and that both are essential to the preservation of the blessings of liberty.”
On Tuesday, another leader stepped onto the college campus at Brigham Young University to address an audience of students also on the path to pursue faith and reason. Elder Ronald A. Rasband, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke of the importance of religious freedom in the context of obtaining knowledge and the quest to achieve human and divine potential.
Elder Rasband, a titan of international industry during his business career and now in his role as a world religious leader, has experienced firsthand the power of religious liberty, or the lack of it, in nations around the world. For him, religious liberty is not supplemental to the success of a society, nor is it a tangential elevating influence or even an interesting dimension of diversity. Religious freedom is foundational.
To his young listeners, Elder Rasband spoke of their individual ability to independently make personal choices to believe and to live and to share their faith, saying, “Agency — the freedom to choose — depends on robust religious freedom. ... We, as members of the Church, must recognize that the erosion of religious freedom will significantly impact our opportunities to grow. ...” He continued, “For us, the opportunity to choose, to live the tenets of the restored gospel is the essence of our freedom of religion. It is not an academic exercise held at arm’s length. It is an every day, every hour, experience.”
As a young business executive of a multinational corporation, Elder Rasband watched his then boss, along with leaders of other international companies, live their faith and share their faith in a way that influenced and impacted all they interacted with, including government officials and local citizens.
Rabbi Dr. Meir Y. Soloveichik has said, “We should be bringing our whole, authentic self to work and to our communities — that includes our religious beliefs. Leaving our deeply held beliefs at home, in the mosque, synagogue or church is to leave a portion of self behind and accept a smaller portion of the illuminating light that emanates from the soul of every man and every woman.”
In reference to the words of Rabbi Soloveichik, Elder Rasband extended an invitation to the students to demonstrate their commitment to truly living a life conscious of religious freedom. He said, “Now at the conclusion of my address, a post will be published on my Facebook and Instagram pages inviting all of you here and elsewhere to share what you are doing to minister to those who need you.” Within 24 hours more than 600 comments poured in on Instagram and hundreds more on Facebook — evidence that faith and reason can produce transformational results in people everywhere.
From an apostle in Provo, Utah, back to a Supreme Court justice in a new chapel in Michigan, the principles of religious freedom continue to resonate.
Justice Thomas concluded his remarks, saying, “By constructing this chapel, the college upholds the continued importance of its Christian roots, even as it respects the rights of each person to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience. Our country was founded on the view that a correct understanding of the nature of God and the human person is critical to preserving the liberty that we so enjoy … an intellectual environment and a strong democratic society are fostered, not hindered, by a recognition of the Divine.”
In the call and cadence of profound principles through the ages, Elder Rasband added word’s from the Church of Jesus Christ’s 11th Article of Faith: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.” He then quoted from the faith’s founding prophet, Joseph Smith, who said in 1843, “It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul, civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race.”
Whether from a bench on the Supreme Court or the boardroom of an international business, from a pulpit before a university crowd to a pew in a church, it is those who freely come to the intersection of faith and reason that carry and fan the flame of liberty in every land.
In truth, religious freedom, fired and forged in faith and reason, is the strength of a nation and the protector of the flame of liberty for the young, the old and for generations yet to come.