The Williamsburg Charter reminds us that despite our constitutional prohibition against establishing a state religion, in many areas of the United States during the nineteenth century there was “a de facto semi-establishment of one religion in the United States: a generalized Protestantism given dominant status in national institutions, especially in the public schools.” In contrast, the Charter continues, “In more recent times, and partly in reaction, constitutional jurisprudence has tended, in the view of many, to move toward the de facto semi-establishment of a wholly secular understanding of the origin, nature, and destiny of humankind and of the American nation.”

Over time, these “wholly secular understandings” have attained “a dominant status,” until there is a “striking absence today of any national consensus about religious liberty as a positive good.” The Charter concludes: “The renewal of religious liberty is crucial to sustain a free people that would remain free.” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Religion in Public Life,” Ensign, Jul 1990, 7)

There seems to be developing a new civil religion. The civil religion I refer to is a secular religion. It has no moral absolutes. It is nondenominational. It is nontheistic. It is politically focused. It is antagonistic to religion. It rejects the historic religious traditions of America. It feels strange. If this trend continues, nonbelief will be more honored than belief. While all beliefs must be protected, are atheism, agnosticism, cynicism, and moral relativism to be more safeguarded and valued than Christianity, Judaism, and the tenets of Islam, which hold that there is a Supreme Being and that mortals are accountable to him? If so, this would, in my opinion, place America in great moral jeopardy.

For those who believe in God, this new civil religion fosters some of the same concerns as the state religions that prompted our forefathers to escape to the New World. Nonbelief is becoming more sponsored in the body politic than belief. History teaches well the lesson that there must be a unity in some moral absolutes in all societies for them to endure and progress. Indeed, without a national morality they disintegrate. In Proverbs, we are reminded that “righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Prov. 14:34.) The long history and tradition of America, which had its roots in petitions for divine guidance, is being challenged. (James E. Faust, “A New Civil Religion,” Ensign, Oct 1992, 69)

Indeed, some people now claim that the Founding Fathers’ worst fear in connection with religion has been realized; that we have, in fact, a state-sponsored religion in America today. This new religion, adopted by many, does not have an identifiable name, but it operates just like a church. It exists in the form of doctrines and beliefs, where morality is whatever a person wants it to be, and where freedom is derived from the ideas of man and not the laws of God. Many people adhere to this concept of morality with religious zeal and fervor, and courts and legislatures tend to support it.

While you may think I am stretching the point a bit to say that amorality could be a new state-sponsored religion, I believe you would agree that we do not have to look far to find horrifying evidence of rampant immorality that is permitted if not encouraged by our laws. From the plague of pornography to the devastation caused by addiction to drugs, illicit sex, and gambling, wickedness rears its ugly head everywhere, often gaining its foothold in society by invoking the powers of constitutional privilege.

We see a sad reality of contemporary life when many of the same people who defend the right of a pornographer to distribute exploitive films and photos would deny freedom of expression to people of faith because of an alleged fear of what might happen from religious influence on government or public meetings. While much of society has allowed gambling to wash over its communities, leaving broken families and individuals in its soul-destroying wake, it reserves its harshest ridicule for those who advocate obedience to God’s commandments and uniform, inspired standards of right and wrong. (M. Russell Ballard, “Religion in a Free Society,” Ensign, Oct 1992, 64)

The dismal dusk of today’s spiritual drift provides a rare opportunity for the radiance of religion to light the way to a new tomorrow. This can happen only as we proclaim eternal truths that have the power to engender spiritual strength. Human nature cannot be changed by reforming public policy; that kind of change comes by exposing the human mind and heart to the transforming teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have learned that when we teach His correct principles, people govern themselves appropriately.

We at this world parliament represent many religious persuasions. Because there is much that is praiseworthy in each of our faiths, it is important for us to maintain the integrity of our religious institutions and to preserve tolerance of each other’s sacred beliefs. These factors are essential to the strength of a pluralistic society. Tolerance and understanding are enhanced as we teach clearly and courteously the tenets of our religions. (Russell M. Nelson, “Combatting Spiritual Drift—Our Global Pandemic,” Ensign, Nov 1993, 102–8

Related posts:

1. Mitt Romney on Religion
2. George W Bush on Religion
3. Hugh Nibley on Religion

And over the pulpit a couple will hear how debt is worse than the plague, how they should work hard, that they should nurture and provide for their family, and not rely on government.

So while most of the credit goes to Jill for making our marriage great, the Church and its supportive members have to be recognized for the great contributions they have made to our marriage.

Our favorite daughter-in-law honored us on her blog today over at Ada Shot Me.

Related posts:

1. The Divine Institution of Marriage: A Summary
2. Protect Marriage Campaign
3. Protect Marriage News

“Science without religion, like philosophy without religion, has nothing to feed on. . . . It is my contention that any branch of human thought without religion soon withers and dies of anemia.” (“Science Fiction and the Gospel,” The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 12:519)

“The worst sinners, according to Jesus, are not the harlots and publicans, but the religious leaders with their insistence on proper dress and grooming, their careful observance of all the rules, their precious concern for status symbols, their strict legality, their pious patriotism.” (“What Is Zion?“, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 9:54)

“Religion becomes magic when the power by which things operate is transferred from God to the things themselves. . . . When men lack revelation they commonly come to think of power residing in things. . . .

In time the Bible became a magic book in men’s eyes, conveying all knowledge by its own power, without the aid of revelation. So also after a fierce controversy on the matter, priesthood itself acquired the status of a thing that automatically bestows power and grace, regardless of the spiritual or moral qualification of its possessor — it became a magic thing.” (“Some Fairly Foolproof Tests,” The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 7:261)

“Humanism is very ancient. It turns up regularly as an Ersatz for religion when religion goes sour. The settled tradition is that while humanism and science represent straight and honest thinking religion is a primitive, prerational, emotional, wishful type of thinking, essentially superstitious, that humanism and science represent bold new thought while religion represents traditional, hide-bound uncritical thinking. What this view overlooks is the fact that the bold original thinking of today inevitably becomes the hide-bound authoritarian tradition of tomorrow. So that the theory itself, the belief that we have a body of study that is fresh and forward looking and that we can easily spot it and give allegiance to it, is itself a hoary superstition.” (“Humanism and the Gospel,” 1)

“So universally is religious ritual today burdened with the defects of oddness, incongruity, quaintness, . . . mere traditionalism, obvious faking and filling in, contrived and artificial explanations including myths and allegories, frankly sensual appeal, and general haziness and confusion, that those regrettable traits have come to be regarded as the very essence of ritual itself.

In contrast we find the Latter-day Saint rites, though full, elaborate, and detailed, to be always lucid and meaningful, forming an organic whole that contains nothing incongruous, redundant, or mystifying, nothing purely ornamental, arbitrary, abtruse, or nearly picturesque.” (“What is a Temple?“, The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley 4:369)

Related posts:

1. Mitt Romney on Religion
2. George W Bush on Religion
3. Apostles on Religion

“Now that I am a Christian I do not have moods in which the whole thing looks very improbable: but when I was an atheist I had moods in which Christianity looked terribly probable.” (Mere Christianity)

“Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have. So let us leave behind all these boys’ philosophies–these over simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.” (The Case for Christianity)

“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” (Mere Christianity)

“The great difficulty is to get modern audiences to realize that you are preaching Christianity solely and simply because you happen to think it true; they always suppose you are preaching it because you like it or think it good for society or something of that sort. Now a clearly maintained distinction between what the Faith actually says and what you would like it to have said or what you understand or what you personally find helpful or think probable, forces your audience to realize that you are tied to your data just as the scientist is tied by the results of the experiments; that you are not just saying what you like. This immediately helps them realize that what is being discussed is a question about objective fact — not gas about ideals and points of view.” (Mere Christianity)

“All that we call human history–money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery–[is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.” (Mere Christianity)

“If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake.” (Mere Christianity)

Related posts:

1. George W Bush on Religion
2. Apostles on Religion
3. Hugh Nibley on Religion

1. Addresses our Heavenly Father.
2. States that the ordinance is performed by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood.
3. Gives the child a name.
4. Adds words of blessing as the Spirit directs.
5. Closes in the name of Jesus Christ.

After the meeting we relocated to Steven and Adelaide’s home to eat. Following are a few of the photographs taken by Steven and Adelaide. Click on the images to enlarge.

Related posts:

1. Aurora Is Blessed
2. Baby Bryson Is Blessed
3. Ordination

“My main objective in my discussions on religious freedom is to remind this new generation of [Chinese] leadership that religion is not to be feared but to be welcomed in society.” (Mon, 04 Aug 2008 Washington Post)

“I don’t think witchcraft is a religion. I would hope the military officials would take a second look at the decision they made.” (Mon, 23 Apr 2007 New York Times)

“I will be your president regardless of your faith, and I don’t expect you to agree with me necessarily on religion. As a matter of fact, no president should ever try to impose religion on our society.” (Fri, 05 Nov 2004 USA Today)

“Prayer and religion sustain me. I receive calmness in the storms of the presidency. But when I make decisions, I stand on principle, and the principles are derived from who I am.” (Thu, 14 Oct 2004 guardian.co.uk)

“We also hear doubts that democracy is a realistic goal for the greater Middle East, where freedom is rare. Yet it is mistaken, and condescending, to assume that whole cultures and great religions are incompatible with liberty and self-government. I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again.” (Tue, 20 Jan 2004 State of the Union Address)

Related posts:

1. Apostles on Religion
2. C. S. Lewis on Religion
3. Mitt Romney on Religion

“We separate church and state affairs in this country…. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion.” (Fri, 7 Dec 2007 National Public Radio)

“I’m not sure that we fully appreciate the profound implications of our tradition of religious liberty. I have visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired … so grand … so empty. Raised up over generations, long ago, so many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too ‘enlightened’ to venture inside and kneel in prayer. The establishment of state religions in Europe did no favor to Europe’s churches.” (Sun, 9 Dec 2007 American Rhetoric)

“In recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning…. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America — the religion of secularism. They are wrong.” (Fri, 7 Dec 2007 Boston Globe)

“I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the Savior of mankind. My church’s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history.” (Thu, 6 Dec 2007 MarketWatch)

“I believe in my Mormon faith, and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers; I will be true to them and to my beliefs.” (Thu, 6 Dec 2007 Austin American-Statesman)

Related posts:

1. George W Bush on Religion
2. Apostles on Religion
3. C. S. Lewis on Religion

This photograph was published by Bain News Service between 1910 and 1915. These Mormons were probably refugees from Mexico. In addition to numerous Mexican refugees, nearly 3,000 Mormons sought refuge in El Paso in 1912, going there from Mexico to escape dangers in the border areas during the Mexican revolution that started in 1911. The refugees received a warm welcome from the hospitable people of El Paso—so warm that many of them decided to stay.

When Salazar, a leading revolutionary general, demanded that the Mormons surrender all their guns to his army, they hurriedly made preparations to move their families out of Mexico.

At 7:30 a.m. on July 29, 1912, the Colonia Diaz colonists were informed that they would need to leave in three hours. By 10:30 a.m., 800 colonists were ready to board trains bound for El Paso. The trains contained mostly women and children. Many of the men rode north hoping to avoid militia in an effort to drive their remaining livestock across the border. Many were robbed, some were beaten, and a few were killed. As many as 1,500 colonists found themselves homeless in El Paso during the summer of 1912

Once villages were abandoned, Mexican troops ransacked and burned homes and property. Livestock was slaughtered and left to rot in the street. Furniture was set ablaze within comfortable, clean homes. Machinery was smashed to bits. For a revolution ignited by poverty, such wanton acts of destruction revealed an alarming rage. The Sonora colonies were utterly destroyed never to be resettled.

After 25 years of careful cultivation, the crops and orchards were particularly bountiful that season and the colonists were forced to leave just before harvest. George Sevey wrote in his memoirs of the day the women and children left:

Our gaze is now turned toward the north, there like field after field of corn, oats, and potatoes, clothed in that deep rich verdure which promises abundant harvest of mature products.

Source: The 1912 Exodus of Mormon Colonists from Mexico
Photo Credit: Library of Congress

Related posts:

1. Meet Mormons at the new Mormon.org
2. Those Mormons Keep On Growing
3. San Jacinto Monument

President Thomas S. Monson

President Thomas S. Monson has served as the 16th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since February 3, 2008.

“As has been said so often, the best storehouse system that the Church could devise would be for every family to store a year’s supply of needed food, clothing, and, where possible, the other necessities of life.” (Thomas S. Monson, “Guiding Principles of Personal and Family Welfare,” Ensign, Sep 1986, 3)

“Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year’s supply of food and clothing and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year’s supply of debt and are food-free.” (President Thomas S. Monson, “That Noble Gift—Love at Home,” Church News, May 12, 2001, 7)

“We do live in turbulent times. Often the future is unknown; therefore, it behooves us to prepare for uncertainties.” (Thomas S. Monson, “If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear,” Ensign, Nov 2004, 113)

Related posts:

1. Food Storage – It’s In the Bag
2. Our Home Storage Center
3. Missionary Dan Email #4 from Hermiston, Oregon

Salt Lake Temple viewed from the Church Office Building 1979

The 2010 Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches reports total church membership of 147,384,631, up 0.49 percent over 2009. The top five churches in order of size of membership:

1. The Catholic Church, 68,115,001, up 1.49 percent.
2. Southern Baptist Convention, 16,228,438, down 0.24 percent.
3. The United Methodist Church, 7,853,987, down 0.98 percent.
4. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5,974,041, up 1.71 percent.
5. The Church of God in Christ, 5,499,875, no updates reported.

Churches reporting the highest membership losses:

1. Presbyterian Church (USA), down 3.28 percent to 2,941,412.
2. American Baptist Churches in the USA, down 2 percent to 1,358,351.
3. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, down 1.92 percent to 4,709,956.

How many years will it take for the LDS Church to overtake the United Methodists and occupy third place? To find out I have assumed the UMC continues with a rate of decline of .98% and the LDS with a steady 1.71% increase. The figures reported in the yearbook are for 2008.

My calculations indicate that by the end of 2019, less than ten years, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will be the third largest church in the United States.

If the table formatting is scrambled, view the table here.

.
Note: The result of the percentage decline or increase is shown in the following year, hence the result of UMC’s forecast -.98% decline of 76,969 in 2009 is shown in 2010 as 7,777,018 (7,853,987 – 76,969).

Related posts:

1. Updated LDS Church Membership Statistics
2. U.S., U.K. and Canadian LDS Church Membership
3. Meet Mormons at the new Mormon.org