I Am Very Grateful, My Brothers and Sisters...

I am very grateful, my brothers and sisters, for the opportunity of meeting with you in general conference once again. I always receive a great uplift from these conferences. I would like to express appreciation, too, for the blessing that I receive in going to your stakes Sunday after Sunday, meeting you wonderful people who strengthen my faith and my testimony and help me to accomplish the work which is assigned to me. ¶

I am grateful beyond words for this great Church, and for the testimony I have of the divinity of this work. I am grateful for the privilege of doing a little in this Church, so that I may help to work out my salvation and help others to work out theirs. ¶

This morning once again I would like to address the young people of the Church. I love the young people. I am thrilled with their faith and their devotion. Last June I had the privilege of standing here, and talking with the young people who came to the M.I.A. conference. I told them about a little family up in Canada, which had joined the Church and as a result had suffered great persecution. To bolster their courage, this little family rewrote the words to a hymn they used to sing, and made one of the verses go like this: ¶

Dare to be a Mormon; Dare to stand alone; Dare to have a purpose firm; Dare to make it known! ¶

I invited the young people who were here last June to develop the same kind of courage held by this wonderful Canadian family, and in the face of all forms of opposition to stand firm and true to the faith. ¶

That opposition might come in various forms. It might be persecution, as in the case of that Canadian family. It might be temptations, or it might come in the form of teachings from people who would like to destroy your faith. ¶

When those temptations or those persecutions or those false teachings come, will you have the courage to be real Latter-day Saints, to have a purpose firm, and to stand by it? ¶

A week ago a young man told me about the trial that came to him in school. Some of the teachings he received from an instructor who had no faith appeared to have weakened the faith of this young man. ¶

I am always sorry when I hear about teachers in our public schools who try to destroy the faith of our young people. ¶

It always grieves me to hear of instances like this. I know that the great majority of the schoolteachers, themselves, are wonderful people; they are believers in God. Many of them are devoted students of the scriptures. But unfortunately, occasionally, we find a teacher, whether in the field of philosophy or science, who seems to take it upon himself to destroy the faith of our young people. ¶

I appeal to our young folk to realize that true science is not anti-religion, and that there is no unity among the scientists with respect to many things now being taught by some instructors who interpret them to mean that there is no God. Science has never come to a unity of understanding on that point, young people, so do not be disturbed by the godless teachings you may get in the classroom. ¶

I would like you to know that some of the great scientists, many of them, in fact, are devoted believers in God, and some of them have declared that atheism has no place among the true scientists. ¶

. I was glad to read not long ago in This Week Magazine, an article by Dr. Arthur H. Compton, a Nobel prize winner, who said this: ¶

Few scientific men today defend the atheistic attitude. Never yet has there been adequate refutation of the argument that design in the universe presumes an intelligence. Evidence points to the existence of a Beginner, a Creator of the universe. ¶

A physicist's studies lead him to believe this Creator to be an intelligent Being. The intelligent God has an interest in and relationship to man, and it is reasonable to assume that he would be interested in creating a being intelligent like himself. ¶

I was glad to get a copy of a little pamphlet entitled, "A Scientist Confesses His Faith," written by Dr. Robert A. ¶

Millikan. Among other things in that little pamphlet, Dr. Millikan says: ¶

I think you will understand me when I say that I have never known a thinking man who did not believe in God. ¶

In speaking of the controversy between science and religion, Dr. Millikan said something else which I believe, young people, you should remember when some of these faithless, godless teachers who are trying to destroy your religion, talk to you in your classrooms. Said Dr. Millikan: ¶

I am not going to place the whole blame for the existence of this controversy upon misguided leaders of religion. The responsibility is a divided one, for science is just as often misrepresented as is religion by men of little vision, of no appreciation of its limitations, and of imperfect comprehension of the real role which it plays in human life, by men who lose sight of all spiritual values and therefore exert an influence upon youth which is unsettling, irreligious, and essentially immoral. I am ready to admit that it is quite as much because of the existence of scientists of that type as of their counterparts in the field of religion, that the fundamental controversy has flared up today, and it is high time that scientists recognize their share of the responsibility, and take such steps as they can to remove their share of the cause. ¶

And then Dr. Millikan quotes Lord Kelvin as saying: ¶

I believe that the more thoroughly science is studied, the further does it take us away from anything comparable to atheism. If you think strongly enough, you will be forced by science to a belief in God, which is the foundation of all religion. ¶

I was interested to note that Lord Kelvin's biographer said this: ¶

It pained him [that is, Lord Kelvin], to hear crudely atheistic views expressed by young men who never had known the deeper side of existence. ¶

Further to quote Dr. Millikan: ¶

If I am accused of calling merely on the testimony of the past, on the thinking which preceded the advent of this twentieth century in which we live, I can bring the evidence strictly up to date by asking you to name the dozen most outstanding scientists in America today, and then showing you that the great majority of them will bear testimony, not only to the complete lack of antagonism between the fields of science and of religion, but to their own fundamental religious convictions. ¶

So young people, when you are faced in your classrooms by faithless men who stand before you and try to destroy your faith, think of what these great scientists have said. Remember that even Dr. Millikan says that you can name the top scientists of the world, and he will show you that most of those men not only believe in God but also bear testimony of it. ¶

I tell you there is nothing outmoded about faith in God, and when you go to school, you do not need to believe everything that is told you by these faithless men, whether in philosophy or science classes. You do not need to accept their evidence alone. And if you are disturbed by their persistence in teaching you these false things, just ask yourself the question: Which is the greater scientist, your instructor or Dr. ¶

Robert A. Millikan? Ask yourself, who is the greater scholar, your instructor or Lord Kelvin? Ask yourself, who is the greater authority, your instructor or Dr. Arthur H. Compton, or some of the other scientists who give the lie to the teachings of these men who say there is no God. ¶

I shall never forget when I was in a sociology class I saw the professor, a short, bald-headed, bewhiskered man, stand there in front of our class and actually defy us to believe in God. He defied us to believe in a special creation or that man is a child of God. ¶

I have always understood that it was against the law to discuss religion in the schools. But these men apparently claim academic privilege of some kind, academic freedom, I think they call it, in taking the right to destroy the very faith which the law prohibits us from teaching in the public schools. And when they do it, I think they are in violation of the spirit of the law, just as much as if they were teaching religion. Young people, remember the great men of the world believe in God. ¶

We do not get our faith from science, however, and I hope you will never take the position that we must even seriously regard what science says about religion. Faith comes by revelation. No matter what science might do to promote religious faith, it can never save a man. Salvation comes through revelation and the power of God restored to men in these last days. And that revelation is available. That revelation has come. The power of God and his priesthood are now here among men, and salvation comes through them. ¶

How much do you know about the revelations of God to man? When Brother Kirkham stood here and asked you to study the scripture prayerfully, I was glad for the way he talked. I also appeal to you to make an investigation for yourself about the gospel of Christ. I ask you to be a part of this day of study and research, by making a study and research of your own religion. Do not be ignorant of what your own Church teaches. The glory of God is intelligence; there is no salvation in ignorance. ¶

When you go to school, you study mathematics or chemistry or some foreign language. You do not just take the teacher's word for what is given there. When you study mathematics, you actually work out the equations and know by working them out that they are true. And when you study chemistry, you learn about the truths of that subject by actually performing the experiments that are given to you, and by performing them you discover the truth of the principles you are taught. ¶

But if you went to school all your life and did not study mathematics, you would never know anything about that subject, would you? You might go to school all your life and never learn one thing about chemistry, unless you studied chemistry. And you can be in this Church all your life, and never know what this Church teaches unless you study it. ¶

Will you not take the advice of Brother Kirkham and study your own religion? Open the pages of the Bible; read there of the hand dealings of God to man. Read there of the life of the Savior. Learn of his teachings. He actually was here on the earth, and he taught men the principles about which you have heard today and in the preceding days of this conference. ¶

And read the Book of Mormon. Study its pages. Know what is inside the covers of that great book. And will you study also the revelations that are given in that very small but great book, The Pearl of Great Price? It is almost unknown among many people, and yet it contains some of the greatest revelations of God to man. ¶

And then, young people, will you really make a study of the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith and read the revelations that God gave to him? Discover Joseph Smith. Find out what motivated him. Be thrilled with the rest of us as you read the story of his going into the woods and there kneeling down and asking for light; and in response to that prayer seeing the Father and the Son standing there before him, not in some dream, but in a real experience. ¶

And then read of his visits with the Angel Moroni, a personage who came back from the dead and ministered to Joseph Smith, gave him direction, and helped him in the production of the Book of Mormon. And then read the story of Oliver Cowdery and Joseph Smith who received ministrations from John the Baptist, and the Apostles, Peter, James, and John. ¶

Read the story of these two men as they knelt in the Kirtland Temple in prayer, and there suddenly came before them a glorious vision. In the Kirtland Temple, here in the United States of America, stood the Savior, the Redeemer of the world. They saw him and talked with him. That one experience was worth more than all the philosophies and scientific theories that men have produced in all time. They saw him; they heard his voice; they knew that he lived; and they did not have to take anybody else's ideas nor hypotheses pertaining to it. ¶

After his appearance there came other glorious personages, Elijah, Moses, Elias. ¶

Why, this Dispensation of the Fulness of Times is so filled with actual experiences which men have had with God, and with the testimonies of those men, that you do not need to doubt. ¶

You may know for yourself as well, because as you study these things, and as you work in the Church, if you will pray, as Brother Kirkham asked of you, then the Lord will bless you with a knowledge of the truth of these things. ¶

You will receive a testimony, and you will know for yourself that God does live, that Mormonism is true, that the Savior has a modern ministry, and that we are a part of it. ¶

Dare to be a Mormon, Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose firm, Dare to make it known. ¶

I humbly pray in Jesus' name. Amen. ¶