In his April 2021 General Conference address
“Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution,”
President Dallin H. Oaks shared insights that came from studying the U.S. Constitution for more than 60 years.
In particular, President Oaks highlighted five divinely inspired principles that he has found - listed below:
I believe the United State Constitution contains at least five inspired principles.
First is the principle that the source of government power is the people.
A Second inspired principle is the division of the delegated power between the nation and its subsidiary states.
Another inspired principle is the separation of powers.
A fourth inspired principle is in the cluster of vital guarantees of individual rights and specific limits on government authority in the Bill of Rights, adopted by amendment just three years after the Constitution went into force.
Fifth and finally, I see divine inspiration in the vital purpose of the entire Constitution. We are to be governed by law and not by individual, and our loyalty is to the Constitution and its principles and processes, not to any office holder.
Despite the divinely inspired principles of the United States Constitution, when exercised by imperfect mortals their intended effects have not always been achieved.
The stature of the Constitution is diminished by efforts to substitute current societal trends as the reason for its founding, instead of liberty and self-government.
“Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution,”
President Dallin H. Oaks shared insights that came from studying the U.S. Constitution for more than 60 years.
In particular, President Oaks highlighted five divinely inspired principles that he has found - listed below:
I believe the United State Constitution contains at least five inspired principles.
First is the principle that the source of government power is the people.
A Second inspired principle is the division of the delegated power between the nation and its subsidiary states.
Another inspired principle is the separation of powers.
A fourth inspired principle is in the cluster of vital guarantees of individual rights and specific limits on government authority in the Bill of Rights, adopted by amendment just three years after the Constitution went into force.
Fifth and finally, I see divine inspiration in the vital purpose of the entire Constitution. We are to be governed by law and not by individual, and our loyalty is to the Constitution and its principles and processes, not to any office holder.
Despite the divinely inspired principles of the United States Constitution, when exercised by imperfect mortals their intended effects have not always been achieved.
The stature of the Constitution is diminished by efforts to substitute current societal trends as the reason for its founding, instead of liberty and self-government.
The authority of the Constitution is trivialized when candidates or officials ignore its principles.
The dignity and force of the Constitution is reduced by those who refer to it like a loyalty test or a political slogan, instead of its lofty status as a course of authorization for and limits on government authority.
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