Overview

Latter-day Saints value the organization and order that good government provides and believe in being responsible citizens of the nations and communities to which they belong. Citizenship refers to the obligation of Church members to fulfill their duties to their nations and communities in lawful ways that are consistent with “their inherent and inalienable rights” (Doctrine and Covenants 134:5).

Governments and Their Citizens “Governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and … he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society” (Doctrine and Covenants 134:1). Governments are responsible to enact and hold inviolate laws that “will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life” (Doctrine and Covenants 134:2). With respect to freedom of religion, governments are responsible to not prescribe “rules of worship to bind the consciences of men, nor dictate forms for public or private devotion … [or] suppress the freedom of the soul” (Doctrine and Covenants 134:4). Indeed, Latter-day Saints believe that “governments have a right, and are bound to enact laws for the protection of all citizens in the free exercise of their religious belief” (Doctrine and Covenants 134:7). When rulers and governments have fulfilled their responsibility to protect these basic rights, the Lord has blessed them. However, He has repeatedly warned against the evil that comes when leaders fail to protect these rights (see 1 Samuel 8:5–9; Mosiah 29:16–17). Governments that do their business by the “voice of the people” provide a greater measure of protection to the rights of their citizens because “it is not common that the voice of the people desireth anything contrary to that which is right” (Mosiah 29:26). Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, believed in the voice of the people, saying, “It is rare that the public sentiment decides immorally or unwisely, and the individual who differs from it ought to distrust and examine his own opinion.”1 Members of the Church who are citizens in nations that do their “business by the voice of the people” bear an especially important and sacred responsibility as citizens to raise their voices for good and right causes, including the fundamental freedoms of conscience and religion.

Moral Values and Good Citizenship Members of the Church seek to live according to the moral values taught by Jesus Christ and His servants and to be an influence for sound moral values in society and government.2 John Adams, a Founding Father of the United States, declared, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”3 Freedom is inextricably linked to our morality, and religious believers and institutions are essential to preserving morality.4 No nation past or present can preserve basic rights and security to its people without a moral foundation. President Thomas S. Monson has observed, “Behaviors which once were considered inappropriate and immoral are now not only tolerated but also viewed by ever so many as acceptable.”5 “The moral compass of the masses,” he has proclaimed, “has gradually shifted to an ‘almost anything goes’ position.”6 Individual moral choices affect the larger society in which we live. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said, “The Father’s plan and His Beloved Son’s gift optimistically endow humans with both the ability and the responsibility to make choices with the hope … and a belief that free people will use their liberty to choose good over evil, right over wrong, virtue over vice.”7