I was so excited to attend a local conference and learn more about religious freedoms. As I heard the messages that were prepared I felt that I should change my family night lesson for the following Monday to talk about these important issues with my children. In case you are a new reader it might be helpful to know my children vary from ages 3 to 11. My lesson will be a basic one, but I would encourage you to pray and seek inspiration on what is best for your family. Your discussions might be more in depth than the ones I might have. Below you will find my family night lesson plan. I shared insights I learned form the conference or resources you can find at the church’s new religious freedom website. (Excerpt’s taken are shown in Italics) Remember to give your children a chance to share their thoughts or express answers when you ask questions.
Family Night Lesson: Religious Freedom
Opening Prayer: by invitation
Opening Song: My Country, Tis of Thee
- What does Religious Freedom mean?
“Religious freedom is more than just the freedom to believe what you want. It’s also the freedom to talk about and act on your core beliefs without interference from government or others, except when necessary to protect health and safety…” Read more here
Point out that we want everyone to have the freedom to worship the way they would want. Part of wanting to stand up for religious freedom is standing up for others when we see their rights are being violated.
(Share the video below with your family)
https://www.lds.org/religious-freedom?lang=eng#
As a family we can strive to encourage religious freedom for everyone. But first let’s try to understand why religious freedom is so important.
“Agency is essential in Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation, and religious freedom ensures we can use our agency to live and share what we believe. Everyone needs to have that freedom, no matter what they believe.”
If we can remember The Plan of Happiness (Click over to get a free printable from The Plan of Salvation lesson) agency plays a big part. Our agency cannot be taken away, although we can surrender it. But freedom can be taken away. We can do our part to stand up for what we believe is right.
- How can we as individuals and families stand up for religious freedoms?
Give your children time to think and share their thoughts. Ideas might be to stand up for others, be active in our schools and communities, make friends and be kind to people of different faiths and back grounds.
A big part of stand up for our religious freedoms is defending our faith. Sometimes people are really hurt or angry. And they may not understand us or what we believe. They might even talk to us in an unkind voice or maybe even say unkind things.
- What should we do?
- What would our Savior do?
A really hard (but important) skill that will bless our lives is to learn how to disagree with someone while still being agreeable. (I am going to pick a child and have him sit across from my husband on the couch. My husband is going to attack him, and while being unkind tell our son that Pokemon is stupid. My son has to practice defending his thoughts while still being kind. Each one of us can have a chance to have experience this kind of opposition.)
Remind your family that our religious beliefs are a core part of who we are. And that we feel more passionately about them than Pokemon (hopefully). Likewise others will feel strongly about what they believe. Try to look for common values and build from there. Remind them the point is not to alter what you believe in, we should still stand up for what we know if true, but to defend our beliefs while remaining kind and compassionate.
Although some things change from time to time, God’s doctrine is unchanging. It won’t be swayed by what men or women feel is fair or what is popular. One belief we will talk about tonight is the Proclamation on the Family. We believe that God sent us to families to help us become who He wants us to be. We believe marriage is ordained of God and that children are a heritage of The Lord. The Lord wants us to build strong families. Strong families help us return to live with our Heavenly Father. And because of covenants available in temples, families can be eternal.
Captain Moroni loved his family and wanted to help keep them safe.
Read the story of Captain Moroni from Alma Chapter 46. Our family will be reading verses 11-21. (If you are not LDS and do not believe in the Book of Mormon, feel free to leave out this part. You of course are always welcomed to read from the link above)
We can be like Captain Moroni and those who followed him by taking action to defend what we know is right. Our family will be striving to:
- Learn more about Religious Freedoms and what rights we have. (For older children talk about the real threats to our religious freedom)
- Continue to be involved in our community through school, scouts, and community events.
- Defend our faith when others say unkind things about us.
- Always choose kindness and compassion when dealing with others.
- Defend the faith of others and speak up even if it’s hard.
- Pray for opportunists to protect the rights of others.
We need to find ways to strengthen our community. This requires citizenship participation. We need to be involved. We should strive to be the best citizens possible.
Religious Freedom Family Night Activity
Make your own title of liberty. I simply had my son help me tear an old sheet. Cut a little cut and then let it rip. Also I would suggest placing cardboard under your material while using a sharpie marker. This helped my son to not leak sharpie all over our table. Then tie it onto a pole or broom. (we grabbed this from a Halloween Costume this last year)
(Close with this quote from the prophet Joseph Smith)
“If … I have been willing to die for a ‘Mormon,’ … I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist, or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of … any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves.
“It is a love of liberty which inspires my soul—civil and religious liberty to the whole of the human race”
Share your testimony about the importance of agency and religious freedom. Share your love for all our brothers and sister here on the earth.
Closing prayer.
Treat: I would suggest a personal favorite American Flag Fruit Pizza from Baked in Arizona
For older youth you can assign them a conference talk to share a little something that they learned. And you can find the family night lesson on the Plan of Salvation in the link below.
Plan of Salvation Family Night Lesson
I would love it if you could pin this image to help spread the message of religious freedom and tolerance. And click over to my Facebook page to see some adorable Boomerang shots! And follow along while you are there! Thank you for all your support!
