This post is an address by Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints delivered on 17 June 2020 at the 2020 Religious Freedom Annual Review.

I am grateful to participate with you in the Religious Freedom Annual Review at the J. Reuben Clark School of Law at Brigham Young University.  This is a most opportune time to consider together the importance of religious freedom.  And I appreciate the invitation to share a few of my thoughts with you.

The Prodigal Son

In the fifteenth chapter of Luke in the New Testament, we learn about a young man who obtained his inheritance from his father and then traveled to a far country (See Luke 15:11-32.) This young man “wasted his substance with riotous living.” (Luke 15:13) When he had squandered all of his resources, a mighty famine arose in that land, and “he began to be in want.” (Luke 15:14) (more…)

Religious Freedom Annual Revew 2020, Religion and Religious Freedom in the COVID-19 Era: Finding Community and Hope. Second Session, 18 June, Question and Answer Session with Senators Kyrsten Sinema (D-Arizona) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), with ICLRS Director Brett Scharffs Moderating (edited transcript)

Brett Scharffs:  I’d like to begin on a personal note. Can each of you tell us a little bit about how you’ve been personally affected by the Coronavirus crisis? Senator Lee, I know you spent some time in quarantine. What has this been like for you? (more…)

Jane Wise, an Associate Director of the International Center of Law and Religion Studies, has provided summaries of the three sessions of the 2020 Religious Freedom Annual Review.

Opening Session 1, Wednesday 17 June 2020 

“I am a person of faith. I fundamentally view the world with a lens that accounts for mercy and love and compassion, and I view power in that lens as well,” said Dr. Alaa Murabit at the beginning of her address, and I started to love her.

Dr. Alaa Murabit, physician, new mother (“I’m not getting enough sleep” she smiled), Canadian, Muslim, UN High Level Commissioner, and one of seventeen eminent world figures appointed by the UN Secretary-General to advocate and mobilize action on the Sustainable Development Goals was the first speaker of three sessions for the 2020 Religious Freedom Annual Review. (more…)