Religious Freedoms

What does religious freedom have to do with family advocacy? You might want to answer this question by reflecting on what you’ve learned about public policy, effective advocacy, the government’s role, and the definition of the family.
Religious freedom has everything to do with family advocacy.  It is what the pilgrims fought for so long ago.  They wanted to worship anyway those chose.  If we can't worship how we want then others will tell us how to believe and what to believe.  It will be like Daniel and the lions den.  He still chose to worship his God and was punished for it.  But we later saw that because of his beliefs he was protected from harm.  If public policy is being made to take away religious freedoms then we see deterioration of the family.  Families do better when grounded on religious beliefs. If they are just going with the Humanist side, it is a very carnal view. They portray that's it's ok to eat, drink and be merry.  It's ok to have fun in this life.  We can explore who we are, and what our purpose is.  

Elder Oaks’ background clearly adds credibility to his words. Besides getting a law degree, how can you add credibility to your words as a family advocate in both the religious and secular domains?
A friend of mine at church said to me a few months ago that I should become certified in something right away so that I can hold on to all I've learned.  Plus it is also harder to get certified when you have been out of school longer.  I think that we need to keep learning about family advocacy, we need to stay up on current events, we need to find advocacy moments in our life even if they are small.   We need to defend what we believe.  My sister just called me this week upset with her in-laws. I guess she just posted a picture on Facebook about her swimming pool modesty rules.  This made her family upset.  She called me all in tears.  I told her that I was proud of her for standing up for what she believes to be true even when others were against her.  Ironically it was this same sister that fought rules of modesty growing up.  I was proud of her for making this small stand.  Sometimes standing up for your beliefs means you are standing alone.  I think in our church we will see a divide between the righteous and those on the fence.  Even within the church we might be standing alone. 

What are some important lessons you’ve learned on why and how we should unite with others in defense of religious freedom?
Just one thing that I thought was funny from Elder Oaks speech is the part where he was describing the gay-rights spokesman during the proposition 8 debate in California.  This man said that he liked our church, we were nice, but we should stay out of the same-sex business and going back to saving hurricane victims.  I thought that was hilarious.
I liked his 5 concluding points:
1.  We must speak with love, always showing patience, understanding and compassion toward our adversaries.  As I learned on my mission bible bashing never works.  It just gets everyone riled up.  Bearing your testimony of the truth is more powerful than bible bashing.
2.  We must not be deterred or coerced into silence.  We need to make our voice heard. We can't let the opposing side win.  That is only letting the adversary win.
3.  We must insist on our freedom to preach the doctrines of our faith.
4.  As advocates of the obvious truth that persons with religious positions or motivation have the right to express their religious views in public, we must be nevertheless be wise in our political participation.  We need to make our voice heard when we are voting and try to make the best choices possible. 
5.  Latter-Day Saints must be careful never to support or act upon the idea that a person must subscribe to some particular set of religious beliefs in order to qualify for a public office. 

If you were to capture one take-home message from Elder Oaks’ talks, what would it be and why that message?
I think that we take for granted the freedoms that we enjoy in this country.  Some other countries don't offer the freedoms that we enjoy and their countries are really struggling. 
How has the material this week been helpful to you as a family advocate?
Even though we are religious people, we need to express our beliefs not through religious eyes.  We need to testify of the truth without being preachy.  As we have seen people are drawn to the truth.  It is refreshing to have the truth be told.