Elder Christofferson accepts worldwide award for LDS Church
Elder D. Todd Christofferson was in Pune, India, on Monday to receive a worldwide peace award on behalf of the LDS Church.
Balloons are part of a celebration as Elder D. Todd Christofferson, an apostle in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, prepare for an awards ceremony honoring the church in India on Aug. 14, 2017.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was in Pune, India this week to receive the Philosopher Saint Shri Dnyaneshwara World Peace Prize at MIT World Peace University on behalf of the church.
In a statement from Christofferson released by the church he said, “Recognizing and protecting faith is the path to peace. True religion offers a stable foundation for a just and healthy society. It strengthens and ennobles nations, communities, and individuals.”
The LDS Church has nearly 16 million members around the world, including the more than 13,000 members and 43 congregations in India.
“The relationship with this community under the guidance of Mr. Christofferson and others will be a unique future for following and showing the pathway of peace and harmony to mankind,” said Dr. Vishwanath D. Karad, founder and president of MIT World Peace University in the press release.
Karad said he was impressed with his visit to “universities in the Mormon community” in Utah. “I just felt that this community has so much in common with the Indian culture.”
Since 1985, LDS Charities has provided nearly $2 billion in assistance to millions of people in 189 countries.
Nobel also praised the church for its “extensive and practical work with refugees to ensure their livelihood and possible survival in a foreign country like the United States.”
“Religion defines and sustains us. For billions of believers, it is who we are and how we live,” Christofferson said in his acceptance speech. “Failing to appreciate the good religion does society or the nation as a whole and to accommodate religion whenever possible results in social conflict.”
The LDS apostle outlined how religion benefits nations and communities.
“Religion has a significant effect on national prosperity,” he told the university leaders and honored guests. “Trust is an essential element of any well-functioning economy, and scholars have found that religion is especially effective at instilling trust and that religious people are far more trusting than people with purely secular viewpoints.”
Christofferson said those who are religious “are a powerful source of humanitarian assistance.” He explained that when people are free to worship, they will volunteer in their communities at a much higher rate that those without religion. “Highly religious people are more likely to volunteer not only for religious causes but also for secular ones.”
He said religion teaches people to have compassion for their neighbors, especially those who are needy: “Religious volunteers provide substantial assistance in areas that would otherwise fall to governmental agencies.”
