Let Us Embrace Our Unity as We Celebrate Our Diversity


In his historic “I Have Dream Speech” in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. declared, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”  Today is the day designated to remember King and his profound moral legacy—a cry to remember men by the content of their character.

In a world that is marred by wars arising from ethnic and religious divisions, I am grateful to live in a country in which our Founding Fathers declared in their initial unanimous Declaration of thirteen states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” 

I embrace my religion's challenges, “Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His Children.”  President Gordon B. Hinckley.  “The human race is one family, and we are all, therefore, brothers and sisters.”  Elder James M. Dunn.

The population of our world is comprised of a greatly diverse human race: we have different lands, cultures, races, and languages.  Our Heavenly Father must have intended this diversity.  LDS President Hinckley recently reminded us, “The people of the earth are all our Father’s children and are of many varied religious persuasions.  We must cultivate tolerance and appreciation and respect one another.” 

The Savior taught his disciples to “love all men”—regardless of circumstance, privilege, or background:  “In as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”  (Matt. 25:40).   The Book of Mormon teaches us to love and serve all of God’s children and reminds us, “when you are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”  (Mosiah 2:17).

As we celebrate our diversity, lets us also embrace our unity—we are united as children of God.  I pray that, as the Book of Mormon challenges, our hearts can be “knit together in unity and in love one towards another,”  (Mosiah 18:21) regardless of our backgrounds, our faith, and our color.

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