"Let them worship how where or what they may"

I like to listen to my scriptures on the way to work. For the last couple of days, I forgot to bring my CD case out with me to the car (I had to switch out my regular listening fare for Christmas music), so I've been doing without. This morning, frustrated with myself, I decided to recite the 13 Articles of Faith. I discovered that I need to review 5 and 12, and relearn 7 and 10. When I got to 11, it occured to me that if everyone in the world would adopt the 11th Article of Faith, the world would be such a better place.

"We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may."

The level of tolerance, acceptance, and respect for all peoples everywhere implied by this statement could change the world.

I think it's significant that the Articles of Faith were written at a time when my church was under heavy perscution, having just been driven out of Ohio and Missouri (where it's no longer legal to kill Mormons, since 1972) for what they believed. A newspaperman from Chicago wrote to Joseph Smith to ask what we believe in, and in his reply the 13 Articles of Faith were first documented--not in such a formal way, but still there in infant form.

The idea of allowing people to worship what they please is not a new one, being one of the founding tenants of our very country, but we still have trouble implementing it. Anyone who stands up and says, "You're wrong, because you don't believe what I do" proves it. I still see a lot of this, most recently on the message boards for the tv show House. House had a supposed Mormon in his ranks of interns, and in one of the message threads talking about this, there was a person whose sole purpose was to state how horrible and awful the Mormons are because of what we believe. I know there are also narrow minded people out there who think that just because a person is Islamic that means they're a terrorist. And how many terrorists would there be if we got rid of all the ones who terrorize in the name of religion?

At this time of year, when Christians celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, when Jews celebrate the miracle of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa is celebrated, and the winter solstice occurs, may we all carry a little peace in our hearts, regardless of where we believe it comes from. Let everyone worship how, where, and what they may.