Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution

Interesting that he would speak about the Constitution of the United States

I do not speak for any political party. I speak for the Constitution of the United States.

I notice that he considers his position as an Apostle to be the most important of his credentials behind what he says.

Whether the principles of this constitution should be adopted in other nations is for each of those nations to decide for themselves.

Our belief that the Constitution was divinely inspired does not mean that every word was dictated by the Spirit.

Some amendments are inspired but not all or all court decisions

Inspired principles of the United States Constitution

1. The people hold sovereign power
   • This does not mean that mobs can hold power
2. The delegation of power between different levels of government
   • Limits on federal power and delegating other parts to the states or the people
3. The separation of powers between branches of government
4. Guarantees of individual rights in the Bill of Rights with limitations of government authority
5. The purpose of the Constitution – that we are governed by law rather than people. Our loyalty is too the Constitution not to individuals
   • Boom!!!
   • No branch should be preeminent over the others

Efforts to substitute current trends over the principles of the Constitution diminish the Constitution.

We should trust in the lord and be positive about this nation’s future.

Being subject to kings and rulers does not prevent us from objecting to specific individuals, parties, or policies

Seek to moderate and unify on contested issues

We should learn and advocate for the principles of the constitution

We should be knowledgeable and active citizens

We encourage our members to refrain from judging one another based on their political choices.

In this troubled time, I have felt to speak about the inspired Constitution of the United States. This Constitution is of special importance to our members in the United States, but it is also a common heritage of constitutions around the world.

A constitution is the foundation of government. It provides structure and limits for the exercise of government powers. The United States Constitution is the oldest written constitution still in force today. Though originally adopted by only a small number of colonies, it soon became a model worldwide. Today, every nation except three have adopted written constitutions.

In these remarks I do not speak for any political party or other group. I speak for the United States Constitution.

All nations but 3 have written constitutions now and no active Constitution is older than ours.

The United States Constitution is unique because God revealed that He “established” it “for the rights and protection of all flesh.” That is why this constitution is of special concern for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints throughout the world. Whether or how its principles should be applied in other nations of the world is for them to decide.

God has given His children moral agency—the power to decide and to act. The most desirable condition for the exercise of that agency is maximum freedom for men and women to act according to their individual choices. Then, the revelation explains, “every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.” “Therefore,” the Lord revealed, “it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.” This obviously means that human slavery is wrong. And according to the same principle, it is wrong for citizens to have no voice in the selection of their rulers or the making of their laws.

The more we seek to force individual right choices through law the more we are infringing on moral agency. We should set consequences for bad choices (especially those that infringe upon the rights of someone who isn’t making a choice) but the role of government is not to enforce compliance with righteousness.

Our belief that the United States Constitution was divinely inspired does not mean that divine revelation dictated every word and phrase, such as the provisions allocating the number of representatives from each state or the minimum age of each. The Constitution was not “a fully grown document,” said President J. Reuben Clark. “On the contrary,” he explained, “we believe it must grow and develop to meet the changing needs of an advancing world.” For example, inspired amendments abolished slavery and gave women the right to vote.

Changes in the condition of the world sometimes necessitate changes in the Constitution, but those changes should be implemented the correct way, not simply reinterpreting the Constitution.

1. The source of government power is the people.
   • In a time when sovereign power was universally assumed to come from the divine right of kings or from military power, attributing sovereign power to the people was revolutionary.
   • Sovereign power in the people does not mean that mobs or other groups of people can intervene to intimidate or force government action.
2. The division of delegated power between the nation and its subsidiary states.
   • Significantly, the United States Constitution limits the national government to the exercise of powers granted expressly or by implication, and it reserves all other government powers “to the States respectively, or to the people.”
3. The separation of powers.
   • The English Parliament pioneered the separation of legislative and executive authority when they wrested certain powers from the king.
   • The inspiration in the American convention was to delegate independent executive, legislative, and judicial powers so these three branches could exercise checks upon one another.
4. The cluster of vital guarantees of individual rights and specific limits on government authority in the Bill of Rights.
   • Without a Bill of Rights, America could not have served as the host nation for the Restoration of the gospel.
5. I see divine inspiration in the vital purpose of the entire Constitution. We are to be governed by law and not by individuals, and our loyalty is to the Constitution and its principles and processes, not to any office holder. In this way, all persons are to be equal before the law.

Not all amendments are inspired but they are all law and this should be respected until they are changed through proper procedures.

Despite the divinely inspired principles of the United States Constitution, when exercised by imperfect mortals their intended effects have not always been achieved. Important subjects of lawmaking, such as some laws governing family relationships, have been taken from the states by the federal government. The First Amendment guarantee of free speech has sometimes been diluted by suppression of unpopular speech. The principle of separation of powers has always been under pressure with the ebb and flow of one branch of government exercising or inhibiting the powers delegated to another.

There are other threats that undermine the inspired principles of the United States Constitution. The stature of the Constitution is diminished by efforts to substitute current societal trends as the reason for its founding, instead of liberty and self-government. The authority of the Constitution is trivialized when candidates or officials ignore its principles. The dignity and force of the Constitution is reduced by those who refer to it like a loyalty test or a political slogan, instead of its lofty status as a source of authorization for and limits on government authority.

We need to learn how to effectively support the lofty status of the Constitution.

Our belief in divine inspiration gives Latter-day Saints a unique responsibility to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and principles of constitutionalism wherever we live. We should trust in the Lord and be positive about this nation’s future.

Latter-day saints are under special condemnation when they undermine the Constitution.

Being subject to presidents or rulers of course poses no obstacle to our opposing individual laws or policies. It does require that we exercise our influence civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws. On contested issues, we should seek to moderate and unify.

Some of what many conservatives do to oppose abortion does not qualify as moderating and unifying. Nor are we always civil and peaceful.

There are other duties that are part of upholding the inspired Constitution. We should learn and advocate the inspired principles of the Constitution. We should seek out and support wise and good persons who will support those principles in their public actions. We should be knowledgeable citizens who are active in making our influence felt in civic affairs.

In the United States and in other democracies, political influence is exercised by running for office (which we encourage), by voting, by financial support, by membership and service in political parties, and by ongoing communications to officials, parties, and candidates. To function well, a democracy needs all of these, but a conscientious citizen does not need to provide all of them.

In other words, not every citizen needs to do all these things but we should protect our ability to do all of them.

There are many political issues, and no party, platform, or individual candidate can satisfy all personal preferences. Each citizen must therefore decide which issues are most important to him or her at any particular time. Then members should seek inspiration on how to exercise their influence according to their individual priorities. This process will not be easy. It may require changing party support or candidate choices, even from election to election.

Such independent actions will sometimes require voters to support candidates or political parties or platforms whose other positions they cannot approve. That is one reason we encourage our members to refrain from judging one another in political matters. We should never assert that a faithful Latter-day Saint cannot belong to a particular party or vote for a particular candidate. We teach correct principles and leave our members to choose how to prioritize and apply those principles on the issues presented from time to time. We also insist, and we ask our local leaders to insist, that political choices and affiliations not be the subject of teachings or advocacy in any of our Church meetings.

If we never vary in our support of a given party or candidate we are likely failing in our duty to be engaged citizens.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will, of course, exercise its right to endorse or oppose specific legislative proposals that we believe will impact the free exercise of religion or the essential interests of Church organizations.