Growing up as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, especially once the socially mandated going to college age of 18 got closer during high school, I really only had one institution of higher education that I wanted to go to: Brigham Young University. My autism has prevented me from getting any higher education in general, but up until recently my academic plan was to get general education credits out of the way through CLEP or enrolling at another local college before transferring to BYU to finish my degree, whatever I finally decided that degree would be.
And why not attend BYU? A Church owned university where the temptation of wild parties with booze were non-existent. Where you can really learn how to study the scriptures in the required religion classes. Where the returned missionary students impress potential eternal companions with the language they learned while out serving the Lord. And where there was not a snowballs chance in a lake of fire and brimstone that you'd have a concept that conflicted with what you knew to be true shoved down your throat. There would be no evolutionary biologists trying to convince young adults that humanity was not, in fact, created in the image of God. No political theorists trying to convince young adults that homosexual couples have a constitutional right to marriage and that LGBTQ+ lifestyles are totally okay. And if they did, they wouldn't have the gall to academically threaten students who pointed out "Have you forgotten who your employer is?" And they certainly wouldn't criticize the very religion that founded the place that pays their salary, least of all it's current leaders, for being backward or bigoted on social media. Especially when the profess that very faith. Right?
Yesterday, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a BYU student back in the 1960's and Church appointed president of the institution from 1980-1989 spoke to BYU staff at the beginning of their 2021 University Conference. He lauded the institution's past of both academic excellence and as a spiritual refuge. Then he shared a few lines of a memo he had received recently. Quoted from the transcript:
“You should know,” the writer says, “that some people in the extended community are feeling abandoned and betrayed by BYU. It seems that some professors (at least the vocal ones in the media) are supporting ideas that many of us feel are contradictory to gospel principles, making it appear to be about like any other university our sons and daughters could have attended. Several parents have said they no longer want to send their children here or donate to the school.
“Please don’t think I’m opposed to people thinking differently about policies and ideas,” the writer continues. “I’m not. But I would hope that BYU professors would be bridging those gaps between faith and intellect and would be sending out students that are ready to do the same in loving, intelligent and articulate ways. Yet, I fear that some faculty are not supportive of the Church's doctrines and policies and choose to criticize them publicly. There are consequences to this. After having served a full-time mission and marrying her husband in the temple, a friend of mine recently left the church. In her graduation statement on a social media post, she credited [such and such a BYU program and its faculty] with the radicalizing of her attitudes and the destruction of her faith.”Elder Holland then quoted now President of the Church Russell M. Nelson from an address given in 2014, saying that while higher education is a sacred responsibility, but not essential for eternal life.
Basically, the very thing I grew up thinking couldn't possibly happen at BYU is happening. Certain faculty members have put worldly knowledge before their faith, made it public, and have received a prophetic final warning to stop it. Whether these professors leave quietly or make a very public stink about it (seems to be the trend on Twitter right now) and cause the First Presidency to pull the financial plug on BYU, I don't know. All I know is that I am so glad I never went to BYU; words I never thought I'd have to say.
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