LDS Church Continues Support of Religious Freedom

LDS Church involvement in religious liberty issues extends to the earliest days of the history of the church, when Latter-day Saints experienced firsthand the harshness of religious persecution. Church founder Joseph Smith said in 1843 that "if it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before Heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination, who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves."

On another occasion President Smith wrote: "We ought to be aware of those prejudices which sometimes so strangely present themselves, and are so congenial to human nature, against our friends, neighbors and brethren of the world, who choose to differ from us in opinion and in matters of faith. Our religion is between us and our God. Their religion is between them and their God."

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