On Wed, 08 Jul 2009 00:11:50 -0700, Chambers wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> How many BYU professors (for
>> example) have been dismissed for being seen to be challenging the
>> Church's authority?
> 
> That's actually an instance where I would side with the Church.
> 
> BYU is a privately funded university, and the Church has a vested
> interest in keeping tabs on what, exactly, is taught there.  I'd expect
> them to be hard on professors that don't toe the line, just like I would
> a private school run by Jehovah's Witnesses, or Jesuits, or any other
> religious group.

Well, I would agree as well, but I would also think that as a place of 
higher education, they should also lose their accreditation in areas 
where that has happened.  For example (not that this has happened), if 
the Church decides that creationism should be taught as a science, sure, 
they're welcome to do that.  But the accrediting body has the right (and 
quite possibly the obligation) to pull their accreditation for teaching 
science since creationism isn't a scientific area of study, but a 
religious one.

> It's not like they're using state funds to run the place.  If you don't
> like what they teach, then don't go there - go to University of Utah
> instead, which is a public university.

Well, my wife did go there - Church members get a deep discount on 
tuition, and as an accredited University, it opens doors.  The leader of 
the team that created NetWare (Drew Major) graduated from the Computer 
Science program at BYU, in fact.  My stepson goes to the UofU.

As an interesting side note, it just occurred to me (because you said 
they don't take state funding) that it's ironic that very large segments 
of the membership think that Obama is a socialist (I've heard some at 
work state that they believe that), but they pay their 10% income tithe 
regularly in order to support the Church's outreach programs, to help the 
poor, and to help lower the cost of tuition a their school.  It seems 
that that is just a bit more socialist than they claim Obama is.

I hadn't thought about that before this conversation. :-)

Jim

Post a reply to this message