As a leader in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS), Oaks is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. While still a lay member of the church he distinguished himself as a professor of law at the University of Chicago, the president of Brigham Young University, and a justice of the Utah Supreme Court.

His accomplishments are particularly noteworthy in the context of the adversity that the LDS Church has long faced. In the mid-nineteenth century, members of the Church fled across the country with their possessions in wagons and handcarts, after their leader was murdered by a mob and they faced government persecution. The hostility of the United States Government continued until the Church gave up its theocratic rule of the territory and agreed to abandon plural marriage.

Despite continuing suspicion and discrimination, the Church professes: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege.”