President Oaks rightly defends faith against secular limits

By Caroline Ashford · Reporting from Richmond, Virginia · October 4, 2026

By declaring that His grace is for all, President Oaks attempts to rescue members from diminishing faith and restore the primacy of the covenant path.

President Dallin H. Oaks is a man of the law. He spent years as a jurist and a scholar. He knows how to build a case. As reported by Deseret News and The Salt Lake Tribune, on October 4, 2026, he stood at the 196th Semiannual General Conference in Salt Lake City. He did not deliver a legal brief. He delivered a warning. President Oaks is right to tell his flock that the "artificial limits of secular learning" cannot replace a relationship with Jesus Christ. He is fighting to save the load-bearing walls of his faith from a culture that views tradition as a burden rather than a foundation.

The luxury of the lecture hall

The modern world offers a seductive trade. It suggests that we can swap the "sometimes-incomplete teachings of religion" for the evolving disclosures of the scientific method. President Oaks acknowledges this tension. He notes that there is no ultimate conflict between these methods. However, as noted in Church News, he warns that secular learning must not limit spiritual horizons.

This is a battle for the home and the local ward. When a man believes his degree is the final authority, he stops being a student of the Spirit. He forgets that faith requires "daily trying, one step at a time." This is the danger of the digital age. We mistake a search engine for a revelation.

The Church is seeing the cost of this trade. President Oaks admits that a "major concern" for prophet-leaders are members of "diminishing faith." These are the people who have let the lecture hall replace the pew. They have traded the covenant path for a series of questions that have no spiritual answer.

The humility of the learner

To survive this crisis, the Church must return to the virtue of humility. President Oaks references a 1963 BYU address by then-Elder Spencer W. Kimball. Kimball defined humility as "teachableness." He described it as the ability to realize that all virtues are not concentrated in one’s self.

The BYU address by Spencer W. Kimball shares the same mechanism as this current crisis: the reconciliation of academic learning with spiritual humility to preserve the integrity of the faith community. Without this humility, the intellectual is a prisoner of his own certainty. He cannot be "teachable" because he believes he has already arrived.

President Oaks suggests a simple remedy. He points to weekly participation in the sacrament and regular temple attendance. These are the small institutions that keep a person grounded. They are the rhythms that remind a soul it is not the center of the universe. This is the quiet work of the faith. It is not found in a thesis. It is found in the "prayer and scriptural learning" that happens when the laptop is closed.

The reach of the covenant

There are those who would argue that the Church is too rigid. The ablest advocate for modernization would say that faith must evolve to match the current sociological consensus. They argue that "diminishing faith" is a sign that the institution is out of touch. They suggest that the Church should broaden its boundaries to remain relevant in a pluralistic world.

This is the logic of the 2008 Financial Crisis. It is the "too big to fail" rescue logic applied to the soul. It suggests that we must save the institution by sacrificing its principles. But you cannot save a house by removing the load-bearing walls. If the Church becomes a mirror of the world, it ceases to be a sanctuary.

President Oaks defeats this argument by broadening the definition of grace without lowering the bar for entry. As reported by newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org and ksl.com, he declares that "His grace is for all." He rejects the "erroneous assertion" that grace saves only a chosen few. This echoes the effort in Pope Francis's Amoris Laetitia to integrate those on the margins through divine mercy.

However, President Oaks is clear about the cost of this grace. He teaches that if sins are to be forgiven, we must comply with prescribed conditions. These include faith, repentance, and baptism. Grace is universal, but the path is specific.

Elder Clark G. Gilbert reinforced this during the Sunday afternoon session. He noted that it takes courage to stand for truth with love. Elder Gilbert, who was ordained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on February 12, 2026, understands the intersection of the academic and the spiritual. He holds degrees from BYU, Stanford, and Harvard. Yet, he argues that the best way to help others keep their covenants is to keep your own.

This is the only way forward. The Church does not need a new theology to match the times. It needs members who are "anchored in Jesus Christ." It needs people who understand that truth and love walk together.

President Oaks is defending a house built by men who traded certainty for revelation. He knows that the "relentless" pursuit of the Lord is the only thing that can rescue a member from the void of secularism. The path to peace is not found in resolving every conflict between science and religion. It is found in the humility to hold on to the first article of faith even when other things are uncertain. The future of the faith depends on the individual's willingness to walk the covenant path, one step at a time, regardless of the noise from the world.

Sources

1. Church News: ‘His grace is for all,’ President Oaks declares during October 2026 general conference
2. newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org: Sunday Morning Session Summary for the October 2026 General Conference
3. Deseret News: It is erroneous to say the grace of God saves only a chosen few, Latter-day Saint president says
4. The Salt Lake Tribune: Latest from Sunday’s LDS General Conference: Don’t let secular learning stunt your spirituality, says President Oaks
5. ksl.com: Sunday afternoon session: Summaries from Latter-day Saint general conference