In the same state, Latter-day Saints were not allowed to perform baptisms. The senior Church leader cited examples in one state where Catholic priests were barred from anointing a parishioner with holy oil in the performance of last rites, even if that person did not have COVID-19. In North America, Elder Bednar pointed out, jurisdictions deemed services related to alcohol, animals and marijuana as essential, while the services of religious organizations were classified as nonessential, even when those activities could be safely conducted. In a time of crisis, sensitive tools are necessary to balance demands of religious liberty with the just interests of society.Religious freedom is paramount among our fundamental rights.Government power can never be unlimited.“No other event in our lifetime-and perhaps no other event since the founding of this nation-has caused quite this kind of widespread disruption of religious gatherings and worship.”Įlder Bednar offered four personal reflections on the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic: “I believe it is vital for us to recognize that the sweeping governmental restrictions that were placed on religious gatherings at the outset of the COVID-19 crisis truly were extraordinary,” Elder Bednar explained. When the pandemic hit, congregations of many faiths around the world canceled worship services and other activities to abide by government restrictions for large group gatherings to slow the spread of the coronavirus. And because gathering lies at the very heart of religion, the right to gather lies at the very heart of religious freedom.” Indeed, if the faithful are not gathering, sooner or later they will begin to scatter. “Gathering, in short, is at the core of faith and religion. “The buzzer on the COVID-19 alarm clock just continues to ring and ring and ring,” he stressed, while speaking from his office on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.Įlder Bednar warned there is a danger in limiting a religious organization’s right to gather. This year’s conference is being held online due to the pandemic.Įlder Bednar's remarks begin at the 32:25 markĮlder Bednar said the pandemic has alerted us to the limitations in the food supply chain our dependence on other nations for essential medical supplies, pharmaceuticals and other products constraints in inventory and delivery systems for manufacturing plants and retail businesses deficiencies in our national and local health care systems the importance of defending the borders between personal liberty, constitutional rights and governmental authority and attacks on the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly. The apostle’s remarks were streamed live Wednesday morning during the Religious Freedom Annual Review, hosted by the Brigham Young University Law School. “From natural disasters to a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe to a most pernicious social plague of racism, we are daily reminded that we need to awaken to the perilous times that surround us, come to ourselves and arise and turn to our Divine Father, who desires to instruct and edify us through our trials,” said Elder Bednar. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. If not then we will see the inevitability of complete socialism, probably within our lifetime.“Our world has seemingly been filled recently with strong wake-up calls,” said Elder David A. But let us hope that this time around, the trend can be reversed. If I do not have that right as an individual, then I cannot delegate it to government, and I cannot ask my government to perform the act for me…In reply to the argument that a little bit of socialism is good so long as it doesn't go too far, it is tempting to say that, in like fashion, just a little bit of theft or a little bit of cancer is all right, too! History proves that the growth of the welfare state is difficult to check before it comes to its full flower of dictatorship. Do I as an individual have a right to use force upon my neighbor to accomplish this goal? If I do have such a right, then I may delegate that power to my government to exercise on my behalf. No one has the authority to grant such powers, as welfare programs, schemes for re-distributing the wealth, and activities which coerce people into acting in accordance with a prescribed code of social planning. “A category of government activity which, today, not only requires the closest scrutiny, but which also poses a grave danger to our continued freedom, is the activity NOT within the proper sphere of government.
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