BYU's accreditation regarding status of ex-members and no-believers

[MikeWaters]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...ed-at-byu.html

[BlueK]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...ed-at-byu.html

The question of what to do with students who leave the church is a good one, but this article is ridiculous. And it should be pointed out that it doesn't say any of the subjects actually ever were kicked out. Fear over what the school may do and what they actually do are two completely different things. This is nothing but another hit piece on religious faith from a atheistic perspective, IMO.

[ChinoCoug]

It's that same 'ol tranny writing invectives the Beast

[MikeWaters]

It's been reported by other outlets, prior to this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...759_story.html

[MikeWaters]

and yes, BYU has already acted in this regard.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...t21-story.html

[ChinoCoug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

It's been reported by other outlets, prior to this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation...759_story.html

Much better article.

[BlueK]

I think this issue has roots in the early 90s when BYU first started requiring annual renewals of the ecclesiastical endorsement and then soon after told bishops that church attendance had to be part of it. Just from my perspective of being there when this change was made makes me a little annoyed that today in these articles it's the bishops who seem to be getting the brunt of the blame for these students being worried about getting kicked out. The truth is that it was BYU who was telling the bishops to go beyond just getting a commitment from the student to live the honor code, and then to not sign it if they hadn't been going to church.

I think most bishops back then talking to a student who maybe hadn't been very active in church but was now there committing to keep the rules actually would have been happy that the kid was seemingly trying to stay on the good side rather than finding a reason not to sign the paper. The current controversy to me all comes from BYU trying too hard to tell the bishops what to do. I like the idea of a campus that largely avoids all the drinking, drugs and blatant sexuality you see at other places, but what someone is thinking in their head at the time about their spirituality and beliefs shouldn't be something we think we can force. Teach, expound, exhort -- but forcing people to believe something is not God's way according to D&C 121.

[MikeWaters]

We all know that BYU has higher standards than the Lord. So there's that.

[MikeWaters]

"We are grateful in the Church and in this great university that the freedom, dignity and integrity of the individual is basic in Church doctrine as well as in democracy. Here we are free to think and express our opinions. Fear will not stifle thought, as is the case in some areas which have not yet emerged from the Dark Ages. God himself refuses to trammel man's free agency even though its exercise sometimes teaches painful lessons. Both creative science and revealed religion find their fullest and truest expression in the climate of freedom.
"I hope that you will develop the questing spirit. Be unafraid of new ideas for they are the stepping stones of progress. You will of course respect the opinions of others but be unafraid to dissent—if you are informed.
"Now I have mentioned freedom to express your thoughts, but I caution you that your thoughts and expressions must meet competition in the market place of thought, and in that competition truth will emerge triumphant. Only error needs to fear freedom of expression. Seek truth in all fields, and in that search you will need at least three virtues; courage, zest, and modesty. The ancients put that thought in the form of a prayer. They said, 'From the cowardice that shrinks from new truth, from the laziness that is content with half truth, from the arrogance that thinks it has all truth—O God of truth deliver us'."

From Hugh B. Brown at BYU.

This is not the BYU of today. Fearful, reactionary BYU.

[BlueK]

It wasn't really the BYU of Hugh B. Brown's time either. Elder Brown was quite liberal about this stuff compared to Pres. Wilkinson at BYU. I can only assume they didn't really agree, but the pres of BYU can't very well keep an apostle from saying whatever he wants when visiting the school.