The Responsibility for Acts of Ignorance – Sunday, August 24, 1941
During past weeks we have spoken somewhat at this hour concerning leadership, a subject always vital to the conduct of men, because everyone must follow someone. And since everyone must follow someone, we had just as well follow someone who is going where we would like to go. But now comes the question: What about the man who doesn’t know enough to choose good leaders—who doesn’t know right from wrong—who has no foundation on which to base either his choice or his consent?
What about the great host of humanity who have been reared in those places where all sources of information are controlled? Where falsehood is given the label of truth, where directed propaganda is the daily diet, where a single mind and single will dictate not only how a man shall live, but feed him also the food for his thoughts by determining how much of truth he shall know and how much he shall not know.
The conclusion must obviously be that a man cannot be held accountable for that which he has not been permitted to know. Legally, ignorance of the law is said to be no excuse. But in the higher wisdom of Him who knows the circumstances of that ignorance, due allowance will be made for it. And while it is true that a man cannot be saved in ignorance, it is also true that he cannot be condemned for that which he was ignorant though no fault of his own. And so, where truth has been withheld from any people by the conspiracy of their leaders, it is the leaders who will be held accountable at that day when all shall be judged.
Nevertheless, there still remains a personal and individual responsibility, for it is written: That spirit which “giveth light to every man that cometh into the world” * * * “enlighteneth every man through the world that hearkeneth to the voice of the spirit.” (Doctrine and Covenants 84:46) If we have not too often denied it, we are prompted by that “still small voice” which points the way to understanding in matters of fundamental right and wrong, insofar as the manner of our living permits it to do so, and for our response to these promptings, we are accountable, even though much truth may, by evil design, have been withheld.
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August 24, 1941
Broadcast Number 0,627