logo
‘Dignity is a universal birthright,' Elder Soares says at religious freedom summit

‘Dignity is a universal birthright,' Elder Soares says at religious freedom summit

Yahoo06-02-2025

WASHINGTON — A leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offered a message of solidarity Wednesday to persecuted people of faith numbered in the millions.
'We stand with you. You are not alone,' said Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the fifth annual IRF Summit at the Washington Hilton near the White House.
'Amid your suffering, confusion and anger, I urge you not to let these feelings weaken your faith. Hold onto hope, and let it give you strength and resilience,' he said.
The summit gathered more than 2,000 people for three days from dozens of countries, including news media and nongovernmental organizations that cover and work for the religiously persecuted across the globe.
Elder Soares said some answers are rooted in an understanding among all people that everyone deserves human dignity, compassion and respect.
He characterized dignity as the foundation of human rights. He said societies thrive when their laws and cultures recognize, respect and protect the inherent value of every person.
'Dignity is a universal birthright,' he said. 'Everyone has dignity simply by being human, regardless of religion, race, gender or nationality. While cultural and religious differences enrich our shared humanity, they do not affect our dignity.'
He said the Universal Declaration of Human Rights defines dignity as the 'foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.'
'We consequently have the right to life, liberty, security, equal protection under the law and freedom of thought, speech and religion,' Elder Soares said. 'These rights place us all on equal moral ground and give our lives meaning. Human dignity is the shared foundation of religious traditions worldwide.'
Human dignity helps balance the inequalities of privilege, wealth and opportunity, he said, and must be universally upheld.
'Dignity is about understanding our humanity,' he said. 'The search for meaning, whether individually or within a community, is a sacred right that no one can impose.
'Every person matters, always and everywhere.'
The three-day IRF Summit leads up to Thursday's National Prayer Breakfast and additional religious freedom events this week. Elder Soares noted that the backdrop for all of it is the simultaneous celebration of World Interfaith Harmony Week.
'May we all strive, across faiths and borders, to create a more compassionate world for everyone, everywhere,' he said.
He also called it inspiring to see the IRF Summit participants 'working so tirelessly to find sustainable solutions. Thank you for your commitment to this noble cause.'
He called for a multi-faith responsibility for protecting the human rights he enumerated.
'We often take such rights for granted, as if they have always been around and always will be around,' Elder Soares said.
He then repeated key points he made at the IRF Summit's opening reception on Monday night.
'These rights speak for themselves but cannot defend themselves. That is our task,' he said. 'I believe our rights come from God, but that the care of those rights is up to us. This divine origin is important, because if rights are reduced to whatever the current cultural or religious majority wants, then they become nothing more than opinion or, worse, a tool for power.'
Religions inspire compassion and unity, Elder Soares said.
'Our very understanding of human rights originates from religious ideals,' he said during a lunch meeting.
Elder Soares spoke from the same stage where U.S. Vice President JD Vance spoke earlier in the day. Vance talked about seeing churches bring communities together as a boy and still today. Elder Soares referenced the same subject.
'Churches and congregations of all kinds bring communities together, as we heard today,' Elder Soares said. 'They provide a setting for people to serve those who they would not normally serve and to talk with people they would not normally talk with.'
Vance quoted a Founding Father, President John Adams, on the same topic.
Adams said that statesmen 'may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone, which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand.'
Elder Soares said, 'The idea of compassion is deeply embedded in the fabric of religion, serving as a common thread that connects us to a shared responsibility for each other's well-being. However, the impact of religion goes beyond compassion. I believe lasting religious freedom is rooted in religious principles that foster moral individuals, encourage peace and promote service to vulnerable communities.'
Also lending his voice to the summit was actor Rainn Wilson, star of 'The Office.' He spoke about resilience at the Summit on Wednesday. Wilson is a member of the Baháʼí Faith, and said that from 180 years of persecution, Baháʼí believers are fostering 'constructive resilience.'
'What is that?' Wilson said. 'Instead of merely suffering, how do we take this kind of persecution and transform it into gold? How do we transform it into survival?'
Elder Soares made a case that societies need religion because they inspire compassion, which he called crucial because with it, people see each other as brothers and sisters rather than foreigners and strangers. He also said compassion calls people to action.
'Compassion goes beyond tolerance — it calls us to understand and engage with those who are different,' Elder Soares said. 'It should be the driving force behind our shared efforts for conscience and religious freedom. Compassion must not just be an ideal, but a practice we nurture through daily actions, guiding our efforts for greater religious freedom worldwide.'
He said the idea of compassion is embedded deeply in the fabric of religion.
'It serves,' he said, 'as a common thread that connects us to a shared responsibility for each other's well-being. However, the impact of religion goes beyond compassion. I believe lasting religious freedom is rooted in religious principles that foster moral individuals, encourage peace and promote service to vulnerable communities.'
He also said religious belief can do a lot of heavy lifting for people and societies.
'The great religions shield us from despair and feelings of insignificance,' he said. 'Sacred texts inspire us to seek goodness, simplicity and higher purpose while teaching us to overcome inner weaknesses and fight external injustices.'
Elder Soares expressed sadness and concern that violent acts against religious groups have reached unprecedented levels globally, citing the Pew Research Center.
'My friends, I don't want to downplay the serious struggles you face, especially the violence and suffering you may be enduring. Religious freedom is a complex issue, and there is no simple solution."
He noted that Latter-day Saints have their own history of intense, violent persecution in the past.
'However,' he said with emotion, 'history does not have to repeat itself. Whether we let our violent past shape our future is up to us.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Driver arrested in hit-and-run that killed Mormon missionary in west Charlotte
Driver arrested in hit-and-run that killed Mormon missionary in west Charlotte

Yahoo

time4 days ago

  • Yahoo

Driver arrested in hit-and-run that killed Mormon missionary in west Charlotte

A 25-year-old driver was arrested and charged on Monday in a deadly hit-and-run that happened last month in west Charlotte, taking the life of a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, police said. PAST COVERAGE: 18-year-old missionary on bicycle killed in hit-and-run, officials say Tyzhaun Carney was driving a Polestar on May 1 when he allegedly struck Elder Langi, 18, of Utah, on Beatties Ford Road who was riding a bicycle. Witnesses said Langi was on a sidewalk. Another missionary was hurt. Langi died from his injuries. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said Carney was arrested by the South Carolina Department of Law Enforcement Division. Carney has warrants for involuntary manslaughter, two counts of felony hit-and-run, two counts of misdemeanor child abuse and driving with license revoked. VIDEO: 18-year-old missionary on bicycle killed in hit-and-run, officials say

Provo man charged with threat of terrorism after allegedly threatening to blow up Missionary Training Center
Provo man charged with threat of terrorism after allegedly threatening to blow up Missionary Training Center

Yahoo

time5 days ago

  • Yahoo

Provo man charged with threat of terrorism after allegedly threatening to blow up Missionary Training Center

Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. PROVO, Utah () — A Provo man who allegedly threatened to blow up the Missionary Training Center was charged Tuesday with threat of terrorism. Anthony Hambleton Beardall, 49, was charged with one count of threat of terrorism, a second degree felony, and one count of electronic communication harassment, a misdemeanor. On April 24, 2024, Beardall allegedly called the BYU information center and threatened to blow up the Missionary Training Center. According to court documents, he told the person on the phone, 'You better shut down the [Missionary Training Center], or we're going to blow [it] out of the water, baby.' VIDEO: Man hangs Israeli and American flag on mosque in Salt Lake City In that call, he also allegedly stated, 'Jesus Christ never rose from the grave, ok? It's a lie,' and told the operator, and presumably the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, to stop pushing their beliefs on the world. Additionally, Beardall allegedly claimed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints would be 'shut down in Israel pretty soon,' and that the Church could no longer send out missionaries in the United States. Police said he called the information line at least 10 times that day, repeating that the MTC needed to be shut down and calling phone operators 'profane and offensive names.' According to court records, Beardall has a history of being charged with stalking, violating a protective order, and harassment. Budweiser Clydesdales make appearance with Folds of Honor at Lagoon Park Provo man charged with threat of terrorism after allegedly threatening to blow up Missionary Training Center Celebrate National Cheese Day (June 4) with Heber Valley Cheese Weber County establishes first veteran treatment court in northern Utah Treat yourself to a slice of paradise at Four Seaons Maui at Wailea Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

The BYU grad at the heart of Trump's trade war
The BYU grad at the heart of Trump's trade war

Yahoo

time5 days ago

  • Yahoo

The BYU grad at the heart of Trump's trade war

The Trump administration may have left its toughest task this week to U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, a 44-year-old alumnus of Brigham Young University from Paradise, California. Greer, who learned to speak fluent French during a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Brussels, Belgium, will be representing the United States at the annual meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, France, on Wednesday. There, Greer will attempt to advance tariff negotiations with trade ministers from top economies like Britain, France, Germany, Australia, Japan and South Korea. He is also scheduled to meet with officials from India, Malaysia, Vietnam and the European Union. 'I speak to (the president) on nearly a daily basis,' Greer told CNBC on Friday. 'When it comes to the pure economics, we have problems with all kinds of countries, friend or foe, and we are trying to resolve those.' But hanging over Greer's diplomatic efforts is a shifting policy environment complicating his mandate to translate President Donald Trump's vision of a remade international order that benefits American manufacturing into concrete trade deals with foreign allies and adversaries. Last week, a U.S. trade court ruled unanimously that Trump lacked the authority from Congress to impose blanket tariffs on imports from around the world. On Thursday, a federal court granted the administration's request to keep the tariffs in place while they appeal the ruling. On Friday, Trump accused China of breaking a trade war truce, with Greer alleging on CNBC that Chinese counterparts had been 'slow-rolling' their reversal of export bans on rare-earth materials, a claim Chinese officials rejected on Monday in a statement. Also on Friday, Trump announced an increase in steel tariffs from 25% to 50%, set to take effect on Wednesday, drawing rebukes from trade partners, including EU officials who said the move 'undermines ongoing efforts to reach a negotiated solution.' Despite his difficult position, however, Greer's former mentors, law partners and associates say there are few people more prepared than Greer to balance the demands of a Trump White House with the realities of foreign relations and the needs of American workers. Former U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer remembers exactly why he recruited Greer — then a JAG attorney in the Air Force — to work at his practice representing American producers harmed by unfair trade. And it had nothing to do with Greer's policy expertise. 'He didn't know international trade at all when I hired him,' Lighthizer said in an interview with the Deseret News. 'But he was a person of character and a patriot, so that's a pretty good foundation to start the analysis.' Greer's working-class background paired with his experience abroad made him open to Lighthizer's worldview as the chief intellectual proponent of Trump-style tariffs to reduce trade deficits and boost made-in-America-products, according to Lighthizer. Raised in a mobile home, with parents taking multiple jobs to make ends meet, Greer understood 'the struggles that Americans face when they are cut out of economic growth' because they aren't on a 'level playing field' with other countries, as Greer said during congressional testimony in February. Representing only domestic companies, Lighthizer led a team of lawyers at the Washington, D.C., office of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, who he said were guided by the philosophy that protecting stable, well-paying manufacturing jobs would, in turn, 'help maintain families, which help maintain communities, which is the reason the country is strong.' Under the tutelage of Lighthizer, who had served as the deputy U.S. trade representative for President Ronald Reagan, Greer and others were 'taught' this brand of trade law from the basics, according to Stephen Vaughn, who worked with Greer both at Skadden and at his current firm King & Spalding. Instead of approaching international trade from the perspective of spreadsheets and formulas, their representation of actual American factories gave Greer a firsthand look at how some free trade agreements had let foreign countries take advantage of U.S. companies, Vaughn said. 'So today, when he goes in and sits down with these other countries, he has an enormous experience in terms of not just what it looks like in an economics textbook, but what it looks like in the real world,' Vaughn said. When Lighthizer was tapped as Trump's first trade representative in 2017, Skadden became a pipeline to the White House, with Greer and Vaughn taking charge of the Office of the United States Trade Representative while Lighthizer awaited congressional approval. For the next few years, Vaughn served as Lighthizer's general counsel and Greer worked as his chief of staff, where, according to Vaughn, Greer made a name for himself as an effective advocate for Lighthizer and the president's views on international trade. 'He's brilliant — he's one of the most talented people I've ever dealt with,' Vaughn told the Deseret News. 'But he's a very grounded person.' During Trump's first term, Greer developed the skills he would need to later fill Lighthizer's shoes, helping to craft trade agreements with Mexico, Canada, South Korea and Japan, while implementing a package of tariffs on Chinese imports, according to Steve Orava, who worked with Greer as chair of King & Spalding's international trade practice based in Brussels. 'It's taking what the president wants to do, which is often very general, and coming up with the legal pathways,' Orava told the Deseret News. 'And sometimes that takes creativity, it takes coalition building, it takes communication with others in order to make that happen.' But as Lighthizer's chief of staff Greer also developed the all-important relationship with Trump that would allow the president to entrust him with trade policy negotiations during his second administration. In one notable interaction, Greer flew with Trump on Air Force One to visit Greer's hometown of Paradise in 2018 where the deadliest wildfire in California history had taken the lives of 85 individuals and destroyed more than 18,000 structures, including the home of Greer's parents, who Greer had arranged to meet with Trump on the airport tarmac. As Trump's trade representative in 2025, Greer has been a loyal defender of the president's norm-breaking agenda, with his historic 'Liberation Day' declaration of global 10% tariffs, threats of steeper levies on countries with large trade imbalances and a series of sector-specific duties on steel, aluminum and auto parts. Despite dramatic impacts on the stock market, and predictions of increased costs for companies and prices for consumers, Greer has said Trump's policies are 'already bearing fruit,' are unlikely to cause inflation and are 'common sense' reforms to address the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and industrial base capacity. In this belief, there is no daylight between Greer and the populist right's role model of economic policy, Lighthizer, according to Mark DiPlacido, a policy adviser at the conservative think tank American Compass, who briefly served under Greer as the deputy assistant trade representative for public affairs. 'Lighthizer, he more than anyone else, has probably been the most influential on the trade policy side of the 'new right' for a lot of government and policy professionals,' DiPlacido said. 'And Jamieson seems to be taking a similar approach.' It's a 'very complicated job' that Greer has before him, Lighthizer said, navigating fluctuating signals from the White House, maintaining relationships with offended international partners and collaborating closely with a dysfunctional Congress. Lighthizer expects Greer to be 'one of the stars' of the second Trump administration because he 'knows in his heart what the objective is,' which is to create 'an economic system that emphasizes American production and the American worker that leads to the overall strength of America.' Jonathan Freedman, the CEO of World Trade Center Utah, said he hopes the administration's priorities will be able to expand manufacturing options in the state, which has led the nation in manufacturing job growth since 2019. It is always an advantage to have someone with a relationship to Utah in a cabinet-level position, according to Freedman. And Greer has made his office open to feedback, reaching out to businesses across the country with open comment periods to share how they have been impacted by tariffs. Ultimately, any shift in international trade policy significantly impacts Utah business operations, Freedman said. Especially for those companies that rely on components and raw materials only found out of the country. 'The USTR has a tough job; he's in the middle of high pressure, complex negotiations with foreign countries, and the result of those negotiations have significant impact on Utah businesses,' Freedman said. 'I'm not sure that prior U.S. trade representatives have been involved with as ambitious of trade negotiations, and I think that Ambassador Greer is doing his best to thread the needle.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store