Freedom of Religion in Nauvoo and Today

Happy Sunday!

Another month of this pandemic passes us by which means another month of not being able to worship inside our church building on Sunday. I’m grateful that my family has been able to have a home-centered church during this time where we have Sacrament and Sunday School at home. It’s not the same as going to church, but it is something. 

As a member of my church’s local Relief Society Presidency (Relief Society is the oldest female-ran organization dedicated to serving the needs of the community – started in 1842), I have been blessed with the opportunity to go back to our church building a few times since the pandemic has started. Walking the dark corridors and seeing the empty chapel and gym at our church building has been both eerie and comforting. The church building is like a second home to me. Only months before was this building full of people, the sound of singing, prayers, and Sunday school lessons ringing throughout the rooms. Now the church building has been silenced. Not being able to worship collectively has made me grateful for the freedom of religion we had been blessed with before, but also blown away by how quickly that freedom was taken away when this pandemic hit. As a public health major in college with an emphasis in epidemiology, I am all for protecting the public from disease. But I am also wary about taking away the freedom of religion, specifically to peaceably assemble, especially since it is a constitutional right. It’s a bit ironic when a person can go to a bar, but can’t worship at a church.

Speaking of the freedom of religion, I wanted to share my favorite little known historical fact about Nauvoo I learned while researching my book, Goodbye, Nauvoo:

Back when the Saints inhabited Nauvoo, many religious groups came to live and start small congregations in the city because they knew they would be protected there. There was an early city ordinance that upheld freedom of religion in Nauvoo. It said that “Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Latter-day Saints, Quakers, Episcopalians, Universalists, Unitarians, Mohammedans [Muslims], and all other religious sects and denominations whatever, shall have free toleration and equal privileges in this city; and should any person be guilty of ridiculing or abusing or otherwise depreciating another in consequence on his religion, or of disturbing or interrupting any religious meeting within the limits of this city, he shall on conviction thereof before the Mayor or Municipal Court be fined or imprisoned at the discretion of the Mayor or Court.” (1)

The Prophet Joseph Smith Jr. even invited religious leaders to come and speak in Nauvoo, giving them the use of public buildings and outdoor stands to do so. (1) The assembly room of the Nauvoo temple was also shared with the public. Besides being used by Latter-day Saints to assemble for conferences, it doubled as a place where Catholic mass was held.

It is so interesting that a heavily persecuted religious group wanted to make sure that other religions were not persecuted for their beliefs, that they could freely exercise their freedom of religion, and that all religions were respected and tolerated equally. Unfortunately, that same value has not been historically upheld by the United States government regarding the Saints. In Missouri, an extermination order was placed upon Latter-day Saints making it legal and encouraged to kill a Saint, and in Illinois, the governor allowed mobs to drive the Saints from Nauvoo in 1846. Saints continue to be misunderstood, prejudiced against, and feared internationally. There still has not been a Latter-day Saint President of the United States. When Mitt Romney, a Latter-day Saint, ran for President in 2012, people questioned if his religious beliefs would affect his policies.

Today, not being able to assemble at our church building is reminiscent of those early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Although I understand why certain states have forbidden people from gathering during this harrowing time, I worry about the precedent that sets. If we were able to so easily retract and ignore the Constitution of the United States during the pandemic, how easy would it be to take away the freedom of religion in other circumstances?

It is important to control the spread of disease, but there is another disease — a philosophical one — that is spreading that needs to be watched. That is the apathy toward religion and its constitutional protections.

(1) 500 Little Known Facts about Nauvoo, Givens