I’d like to quote some of our modern-day prophets, seers and revelators in anticipation of Independence Day.

But before I do, I spent Sunday with a Canadian who is pretty sick and tired of all of the July 4th stuff she has to put up with in Church. I pointed out to her that I heard just as many comments (if not more) on Brazilian patriotism in Church when I lived in Brazil for four years. It seems patriotism for the country you live in is compatible with the Church. And, by the way, Brazilian patriotism didn’t bother me a bit.

First, M Russell Ballard’s talk “Religion in a Free Society.”

Believe it or not, at one time the very notion of government had less to do with politics than with virtue. According to James Madison, often referred to as the father of the Constitution: “We have staked the whole future of American civilization not upon the power of the government—far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” (Russ Walton, Biblical Principles of Importance to Godly Christians, New Hampshire: Plymouth Foundation, 1984, p. 361.)

George Washington agreed with his colleague James Madison. Said Washington: “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.” (James D. Richardson, A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the President, 1789–1897, U.S. Congress, 1899, vol. 1, p. 220.)

Nearly one hundred years later, Abraham Lincoln responded to a question about which side God was on during the Civil War with this profound insight: “I am not at all concerned about that, for I know that the Lord is always on the side of the right. But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord’s side.” (Abraham Lincoln’s Stories and Speeches, ed. J. B. McClure, Chicago: Rhodes and McClure Publishing Co., 1896, pp. 185–86.)

Madison, Washington, and Lincoln all understood that democracy cannot possibly flourish in a moral vacuum and that organized religion plays an important role in preserving and maintaining public morality. Indeed, John Adams, another of America’s Founding Fathers, insisted: “We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion.” (John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States, Charles F. Adams, 1854.)

Next, from Ezra Taft Benson’s “The Constitution — A Glorious Standard.”

Long before America was even discovered, the Lord was moving and shaping events that would lead to the coming forth of the remarkable form of government established by the Constitution. America had to be free and independent to fulfill this destiny. I comment to you as excellent reading on this subject Elder Mark E. Petersen’s book The Great Prologue (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1975). As expressed so eloquently by John Adams before the signing of the Declaration, “There’s a Divinity which shapes our ends.” 2 Though mortal eyes and minds cannot fathom the end from the beginning, God does.

In a revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, the Savior declared, “I established the Constitution of this land, by the hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose.” (D&C 101:80.) These were not ordinary men, but men chosen and held in reserve by the Lord for this very purpose.

And third, from Dallen H. Oaks, “The Divinely Inspired Consitution.“

The single word that best describes a fulfillment of the duties of civic virtue is patriotism. Citizens should be patriotic. My favorite prescription for patriotism is that of Adlai Stevenson:

“What do we mean by patriotism in the context of our times? … A patriotism that puts country ahead of self; a patriotism which is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime.”

I will close with one of my favorite quotations from President ETB:

“The Declaration of Independence . . . is much more than a political document. It constitutes a spiritual manifesto–revelation, if
you will–declaring not for this nation only, but for all
nations, the source of man’s rights. Nephi, a Book of Mormon prophet,
foresaw over 2,300 years ago that this event would transpire. The colonies he saw would break with Great Britain and that ‘the power of the Lord
was with [the colonists],’ that they ‘were delivered by the
power of God out of the hands of all other nations’ (1 Nephi 13:16,
19). The Declaration of Independence was to set forth the moral
justification of a rebellion against a long-recognized political
tradition–the divine right of kings. At issue was the
fundamental question of whether men’s rights were God-given or
whether these rights were to be dispensed by governments to their subjects. This document proclaimed that all men have certain inalienable rights. In other words, these rights came from God.”

(Ezra Taft Benson, “Our Priceless Heritage,” Ensign, Nov. 1976, 33)