Religious Liberty

From left to right: Dr. Moises Arata, Guillermo Estrugo,  Elder José A. Teixeira, Elder Enrique Falabella, Ruth Renlund, Denise Posse-Blanco Lindberg, translator for Elder Renlund, Elder Dale G. Renlund.

In connection with Elder Renlund’s visit in September 2018, the Area held a Religious Freedom Symposium in Lima at the Limatambo Stake Center in central Lima. In addition, the event was broadcast to all the Stake Centers in Peru. Several of these events have been held in the United States, but this was the first in South America and something of a pilot for more that are planned. A number of important non-member religious and governmental leaders also attended. We were able to attend with Elder and Sister Pratt at the Limatambo building.

Elder Falabella conducted the meeting and Elder Renlund spoke about religious liberty, drawing on the Book of Mormon story of Captain Moroni and the title of liberty. It was an excellent address and, although based on text from the Book of Mormon, resonated with the non-members as well.  Elder Falabella and Elder José A. Teixeira,of the Presidency of the Seventy, also offered brief remarks.

The core of the event, however, was a panel discussion moderated by Ruth Renlund with Denise Lindberg, Guillermo Estrugo and Dr. Moises Arata as panelists. Sister Renlund, Elder Renlund’s wife, is a former practicing attorney and was very interested in the theme of the symposium, was involved in its planning and was very engaged in the  panel discussion. Denise Posse-Blanco Lindberg is a BYU Law School graduate, former clerk for Justice Sandra Day O’Connor of the US Supreme Court, and a former practicing attorney and district court judge in Utah. She is also a member of the Young Women General Board and has written and spoken about religious liberty, including an earlier address in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.  Sister Lindberg was born in Cuba and lived in Puerto Rico and New York. Guillermo Estrugo is the Area Director of Public Affairs. I know him well and worked with him a lot. He is pleasant to work with and is very, very good at what he does.  Apart from his insightful comments as a panelist, Guillermo managed to secure the attendance of some key Peruvian religious and government leaders. Several represented organizations that Guillermo had invited to join in sponsoring the event. Dr. Moises Arata is a partner in the Lima law firm De la Flor, Garcia Montufar Arata and Associates. Dr. Arata has represented the Church on a number of matters, is an expert on religious and constitutional law and is a law professor at a local university. He is not a member of the Church.

All in all, the event turned out very well, which was a great relief to everyone in the area legal office. We had been involved in its planning along with Salt Lake and the Area Office, which frankly had not always gone smoothly.

This is a picture of the Limatambo Stake Center. It was one of the first stake centers in Lima and, therefore, has the benefit of preceding the standardized designs now used. It is difficult to get a good view of the building, because it is now surrounded by other, taller buildings and it was dark when we were there. However, it is a beautiful building. Note in the photo the exterior wall is not exactly perpendicular, but slanted slightly inward, and is constructed with large, cut stones, sort of an Inca motif. Also, some of the doorways inside are slightly wider at the base than the top, Inca style. I understand the Church plans to remodel the building (and so it will probably soon look like all the rest).