The church takes an expansive view of both the need for and the scope of religious liberty. President Oaks is perhaps the most enthusiastic and articulate defender of the importance of religious liberty in the church. He explains that “Religious liberty is a precondition for that essential quality of mortal life, created by God, our Eternal Father. The whole purpose and the essential environment of the Church depends upon freedom of choice.”
Free exercise of religion, according to President Oaks, is, along with the other rights enshrined in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, “essential to safeguarding and perpetuating all constitutional freedoms.”
And, not three days into the Trump administration, that religious liberty is under significant attack. Yesterday, the head of DHS revoked a Biden-era rule that prohibited ICE from going into sensitive areas, including churches, to arrest undocumented immigrants. As of yesterday, ICE agents can enter churches, against the wishes of clergy and congregants, and take people out of the pews, out of the kitchens, out of the classrooms.
Will it happen? In a normal world, I’d say no. While the church hasn’t been a participant in the Sanctuary Movement, the government has been hesitant in the past to cross sacred thresholds, recognizing a centuries-long tradition of churches and other religious buildings providing sanctuary to people who sought protection from prosecution and persecution.
But the statement from the head of DHS is pretty belligerent: he expressly says that “[c]riminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest.” That sounds suspiciously like he intends for ICE agents to go into churches. (On top of that, there’s some indication that Trump has ordered the deprioritization of violent criminals, instead focusing on misdemeanor immigration violations.)
What does that mean for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Potentially a lot. I would be willing to bet that the vast majority of wards in the US, and every stake, has faithful members who are undocumented. This new policy indicates that they could be targeted for arrest as they worship at church.
And this is bad, for a couple reasons. The first is, if we truly believe that church attendance and taking the sacrament are important (and we do!), anything that forcibly discourages or impedes people from attending church and taking the sacrament potentially has salvific consequences.
But second, it stomps on their constitutionally-protected, foundational religious liberty. And it stomps on the church’s religious liberty in ministering to those who wish to attend.
I wish I had a simple call to action for all of us.[fn] But the real call to action is for the church: because wards and stakes are run by lay members, we can’t expect them to know how to deal with the ICE agent who wants to come in. It’s incumbent that the church provide both the legal and pastoral tools to local leadership so that they know how to protect their congregants, themselves, and religious liberty more broadly.
And even if ICE agents choose not to enter LDS buildings, that doesn’t get us off the hook. Pres. Oaks made abundantly clear that even where we enjoy religious freedom, our job is not done:
“The only way to make progress on religious freedom worldwide is for people who enjoy religious freedom to think about the circumstances of people who are not religious, who are not believers, who haven’t yet seen the importance or can’t enjoy religious freedom in the country where they live. We have got to think about religious freedom for all the children of God. And if we don’t, we’re falling short of what our divine Father in Heaven expects us to do.”
[fn] If there is one, it’s to be ready to film any ICE agent who enters our buildings to arrest our fellow saints and share that footage far and wide.