The Cost of Liberty: The Moral Foundations of American Freedom
Elder Robert S. Wood
Education Conference ·
June 05, 2009
Elder Wood continued on the theme of freedom with his keynote address, “The Cost of Liberty: The Moral Foundations of American Freedom.” He described a two-fold mandate Latter-day Saints have received from the Lord—the call to walk in holiness and the call to maintain freedom and establish justice.
Speaking to the relationship between holiness and political and religious freedom, Elder Wood quoted President Boyd K. Packer who said, “Strength that comes from decency, from morality, is the one, the essential ingredient required for the preservation of freedom, indeed for the preservation of humankind.”
A political scientist with degrees from Stanford and Harvard, Elder Wood explained that the stability of every state or country is dependent not only on a constitution, but also on certain antecedent principles. Speaking of the United States he said that some things are more important than the Constitution, without which the Constitution will not endure. The founders of the United States saw faith and virtue, family, and education as the pre-conditions for a decent society and a free government, he said. “Remove them and both stability and liberty are in jeopardy.”
Elder Wood also presented a stirring defense of the Church’s involvement in the successful effort to pass Proposition 8 in California, which changed California’s constitution to say, “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
Speaking of the role of prophets and their God-given power of foresight and their responsibility to warn the people about issues regarding marriage and the family, he said that prophets are called to speak against both private and public wrongs.
Latter-day Saints “have been called to raise the standard of holiness to all nations,” Elder Wood said. “And to teach the principle that liberty itself can only be preserved if we ground it in the holiness, which the Lord has commanded.”