Hi there, wire religion friends, professor Anthony Sweat here from the OU's Department of Church History and doctrine welcome to another episode of the wire religion podcast.

I want to start off by asking you a question.

Off the top of your head, if I were to ask you to think about the most pressing subjects that modern prophets have repeatedly emphasized and even warned about, what subjects would you list?

I hope that maintaining religious liberty is on your list and would not be overlooked because it seems to be a pertinent subject on the minds of church leaders.

In fact, the church newsroom recently published an article in 2022 titled, quote, 13 times church leaders spoke about religious liberty during the past year, end of quote.

Yes, the past year.

This emphasis on maintaining the principle of religious freedom is not new, however.

After suffering religious oppression in the early days of the church, Joseph Smith often spoke about its necessity and shared broad views that may seem like common values today, but were ahead of its time.

For example, when establishing the new city of Navu, Joseph Smith said in a council reading quote,

We act upon the broad and liberal principle that all men have equal rights and ought to be respected and that every man has a privilege of choosing for himself voluntarily his God and what he pleases for his religion and of quote.

He impressed on those in the meeting quote, the importance of thrusting from us every spirit of bigotry and intolerance toward a man's religious sentiments.

That spirit, which has drenched the earth with blood, when a man feels the least temptation to such intolerance he ought to spurn it from him end of quote.

The Navu city council shortly passed an ordinance declaring that quote, all religious denominations, whatever, shall have free toleration and equal privileges in this city end of quote.

Lottery Saints are not alone in expressing the need to protect religious freedom, of course.

During his September 2015 visit to the United States as an example, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of religious freedom.

Saying in front of the White House that quote, religious freedom remains one of America's most precious possessions.

And as my brothers, the United States bishops have reminded us all are called to be vigilant, precisely as good citizens, to preserve and defend that freedom from everything that would threaten or compromise it end of quote.

Dr. Robert Smith, an assistant teaching professor of church history and doctorate at BYU, has dedicated much of his professional life to issues around the law and religious freedom through his time as a practicing lawyer and with the J Ruben Clark Law School at BYU.

He published a seminal four volume series on religious organizations and the law, which was recently updated.

Dr. Smith has indeed become a leading voice for religious freedom globally, even testifying before Congress on international religious freedom.

And so that's what the fight is today is to make sure that religious beliefs, even if they are different from many social norms, are still respected, even if people don't agree.

In today's episode, Robert Smith educates and enlightens us on principles related to religious liberty and why we should continue to understand and encourage religious liberty today. This is why religion.

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