When the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invited all U.S. Latter-day Saints to join a united fast “to express gratitude for religious liberty and to pray that it be strengthened throughout the world,” I initially felt mixed emotions.
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As someone who spends my days working to advance religious freedom around the world, I was thrilled by the idea that Latter-day Saints nationwide would unite their faith for this vital cause.
But at the same time, the words “gratitude” and “strengthened” tripped me up a bit. They sounded so positive, at a time of so much turbulence and opposition to religious freedom globally.
A sobering religious freedom landscape
When I first chose to work in religious freedom, I had no idea how much genocide I would be dealing with. I often wake up to grotesque images on my phone, desperate pleas from families whose loved ones are imprisoned for their faith, and constant worry about people I have grown to love who are on the front lines of freedom around the world.
It might surprise many to learn that religious restrictions are now at the highest level since Pew Research Center began tracking them almost 20 years ago.
The picture on the homefront is sobering too. Religious liberty is core to our national identity, and yet by our calculations from Pew Research Center’s most recent downloadable data set, the United States ranks 90th out of 198 for freedom from government restrictions on religion — and 91st for social hostilities.
We are barely in the better half of the world.
We have the U.S. government transferring Oak Flat, a sacred Apache worship site in Arizona, for a copper mine that would turn it into “a massive hole in the ground,” in the words of Justice Neil Gorsuch; prison guards shaving a Rastafarian man bald after he had grown his hair for nearly 20 years as part of a Nazarite vow; and Wisconsin officials denying a Catholic ministry a religious exemption because it served the poor without proselyting.
On the social hostilities front, we have Jews gunned down outside the Capital Jewish Museum, Muslims murdered at a San Diego mosque, and Latter-day Saints shot as their chapel burned in Grand Blanc, Michigan.
These kinds of tragedies left me grappling to understand how I could fast in “gratitude” and for religious liberty to be “strengthened.”
Great reasons for hope
Upon reflection, however, I have realized three things that have helped me prepare for this fast:
First, the leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are determined optimists — and not in an “ignorance is bliss” sort of way.
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I was moved when, after the Grand Blanc attack, President Dallin Oaks’ response was to acknowledge that similar tragedies happen frequently all over the world. If leaders who have sat face to face with so many of God’s suffering children can still speak with such a steady hope, it makes me want to try to do the same.
Second, I’ve realized that this kind of hope is not passive; it requires active cultivation. I keep coming back to something Fred Rogers’ mother told him: “look for the helpers.” In the darkest corners of the world, there is always light.
I am humbled to work with some of those lights — people who remind me that, ironically, being a peacemaker can be dangerous work. Like the founders who risked their lives by signing the Declaration of Independence, many of our fellows at the First Freedom Foundation risk their lives to advance religious liberty.
They have found bombs on their doorsteps and received death threats in every form fear can travel: texts, letters, phone calls, and through the trembling voices of family members. Some have watched friends and relatives dismembered, run over, tortured or disappeared. And yet they press on.
Their courage inspires me.
Finally, I’m learning that God’s work doesn’t require perfect conditions. Rome allowed enough religious liberty for the gospel to spread — and still crucified Jesus. America allowed enough freedom for the Restoration to begin — and still jailed Joseph Smith, drove the Latter-day Saints from state to state, and failed to protect him from murder.
Religious liberty can be strong enough to bless the world and also fragile enough to demand our defense. The difference is at the margins, which means we can make a difference.
Freedom for all
President Oaks has taught that religious liberty is “not for ourselves alone.” Defending freedom of conscience is easy when the practices look familiar. It becomes harder when people are praying, dressing, teaching or worshipping in ways that feel foreign.
That is precisely the danger the old warning describes: “They came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.”
This Sunday, I will pray for religious liberty to be strengthened around the world — that those who are persecuted will be strengthened to bear the burdens placed upon them, that laws will be strengthened to withstand the passions and prejudices of factions that would oppress unpopular religious minorities, that those on the front lines will be given divine strength and protection, and that my own resolve will be strengthened to defend religious liberty for myself and others.
And I will fast with gratitude — not because religious liberty is safe, but because it is precious, partial and still vulnerable enough to protect.