Blessed Are the Peacemakers

President Dallin H. Oaks, screenshot from here

Earlier this week, on the eve of Constitution Day (which is September 17), there was a program at the Washington National Cathedral. The keynote address was given by Dallin H. Oaks, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a former constitutional law professor, Utah State Supreme Court Justice, law clerk to the US Supreme Court. And what I knew him for, as President of Brigham Young University, finishing his time there upon my graduation. In his 90s now, he is still energetic and wise.

I’ve got the whole transcript. (Video is here.) I’ll be sharing large parts, interspersed with a few comments as I think about what he said. I think it will be a fitting way to celebrate Constitution Day in this 250^th Year celebration of our nation.

I am grateful to be here in this sacred setting with many scholars, civic leaders, and others I respect.

I'm here to speak as part of the National Cathedral's ongoing effort to find a better way to embody the love of God in public life, offering hope for unity and a moral framework to move forward in a divided world.

In my professional work, I have always regarded the United States Constitution as a model for a diverse people to achieve self-government.

Along with Professor Yuval Levin and others, I read our history to teach that "creating purpose of the Constitution."

It was at this point I looked up the spelling and tried to find the quote. I couldn’t find that exact phrase, but I suspect it comes from Yuval Levin’s book American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation—and Could Again. 

To read the full article, FOLLOW LINK TO SUBSTACK.

Remember! Remember! 25, 14, 1

 

In some of my gospel learning, I’ve studied just a smattering of ancient Biblical Hebrew language and history. Among these things, I learned that there is a particular day of infamy to ancient Israel, called Tisha B'Av (תִּשְׁעָה בְּאָב).  On this day, the 9^th of the month of Av (which varies on our calendar, but was July 22-23 this year, counting sundown to sundown), they mark a number of disasters in their history, most notably temple destructions in Jerusalem: first, Solomon’s Temple in 587 BC, which was destroyed by the Babylonians; second, Herod’s Temple, destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD. There are another dozen or so bad things that have happened on Tisha B’Av over the centuries. It’s considered a time of mourning, and of bad luck. You wouldn’t want to set you wedding date to coincide.

The month of September has become America’s Tisha B’Av, or time of mourning. 

To read the full article, FOLLOW LINK TO SUBSTACK.

Compromises on the Way to a More Perfect Union: Celebrating the Semiquincentennial, Part 9

 

We’re two months past the official Semiquincentennial July 4^th celebration day. But it’s still the year of celebration.

In this series, we’ve spent several months on various parts of our beloved Constitution.

Here’s the series up to this point, if you missed any or want to review:

·        January: The Declaration

·        February: Preamble to the Constitution

·        March: Article I: Lawmaking

·        April: Article II: Executive Branch

·        May: Article III: Judicial Branch

·        June: Bill of Rights

·        July: Happy Birthday, America!

·        August: Bill of Rights Continued

This month in particular ought to be about celebrating that amazing document, since it was signed in September (1787). There’s enough good in our Constitution that we could finish the year-long series doing more and more Constitution. I do, however, plan to celebrate some other American things in the few remaining months. But not today.

Today I thought it might be useful to go through the two major compromises in the Constitution.

The Great Compromise

The first one on our list, sometimes called the Great Compromise, had to do with the question of whether representation should be based on population or equally by state.

To read the full article, FOLLOW LINK TO SUBSTACK