Freedom of the Mind

Columbia River Gorge - Oregon

From This All Other Freedoms Spring

I'd like to share a few quotes from what is now considered the final testimony of Elder Hugh B. Brown.  Elder Brown served in the LDS Quorum of Twelve Apostles from 1958 to 1975, and in the First Presidency from 1961 to 1970 under President David O. McKay. The excerpts below come from the final chapter of An Abundant Life; The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown and affirms the worth of education and open-minded free thinking.


"Some say that the open-minded leave room for doubt. But I believe we should doubt some of the things we hear. Doubt has a place if it can stir in one an interest to go out and find the truth for one's self."

"There are altogether too many people in the world who are willing to accept as true whatever is printed in a book or delivered from a pulpit. Their faith never goes below the surface soil of authority. I plead with everyone I meet that they may drive their faith down through that soil and get hold of the solid truth, that they may be able to withstand the winds and storm of indecision and of doubt, of opposition and persecution. Then, and only then, will we be able to defend our religion successfully. When I speak of defending our religion, I do not mean such defense as an army makes on the battlefield but the defense of a clean and upright and virtuous life lived in harmony with an intelligent belief and understanding of the gospel. As Mormons, we should do with religion as we do with music, not defend it but simply render it. It needs no defense. The living of religion is, after all, the greatest sermon, and if all of us would live it, we would create a symphony which would be appreciated by all."

"One of the most important things in the world is freedom of the mind; from this all other freedoms spring. Such freedom is necessarily dangerous, for one cannot think right without running the risk of thinking wrong, but generally more thinking is the antidote for the evils that spring from wrong thinking.

More thinking is required, and we should all exercise our God-given right to think and be unafraid to express our opinions, with proper respect for those to whom we talk and proper acknowledgment of our own shortcomings. We must preserve freedom of the mind in the church and resist all efforts to suppress it. The church is not so much concerned with whether the thoughts of its members are orthodox or heterodox as it is that they shall have thoughts. One may memorize much without learning anything."

These days, many find comfort in the "surface soil of authority."  The institution of church, not the gospel itself, seems to constrict our "God-given right to think" and substitutes it with copious amounts of sanctioned orthodox material in the form of handbooks, lesson manuals, and so on.  While such material isn't bad in and of itself, it is all too easy to replace the importance of "intelligent belief and understanding" and the hard earned self-discovery that entails with the notion all questions have been sufficiently answered and all worthy mysteries deciphered.  Spiritual growth becomes more a matter of memorization... all we need do is follow the prescribed course of "correct" thinking.  The worthy allegory of scripture, the beauty of self-discovery, the very process of enlightenment itself... they all cease to have any real meaning and are lost in the pages of good intentions and well defined creed.  

Some erroneously conclude that heterodoxy threatens the stability and strength of the community when it really gives us opportunity to test our ideas and convictions; strengthening our resolve and forging a stronger faith.  Orthodoxy is the soft soil of authority.  Heterodoxy is compacted, rocky, and hard... it makes us jostle uncomfortably one with another... forcing us to reexamine and test our convictions again and again... allowing us the opportunity to drive our roots of faith deep so we may be well anchored in times of adversity.