BYU’s Fusion of Faith and Learning

A recent article in the Salt Lake Tribune tells of “dark days” at BYU. BYU has recently taken additional steps to ensure that professors who teach there believe in and support the doctrine of the sponsoring church. Think of it: a church-owned school whose mission statement states that “All students at BYU should be taught the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ” and whose current president recently said, “Everything we do at the university starts and ends with the gospel of Jesus Christ,” wants its teachers to support the church which pays their salaries. Who would have guessed?

I can tell you who won’t be surprised: incoming freshmen who are enrolled in BYU’s new required UNIV 101 class. This class, like the changes to hiring and employment, is intended to help BYU become the “Christ-centered, prophetically directed university of prophecy” that it can be. While some would have BYU deemphasize its distinctiveness, recent changes at BYU reflect a desire to give students a more robust and authentic Latter-day Saint experience, one that integrates their faith with their academic studies.

Other changes at BYU are worth investigating and highlighting (see here for a useful summary), but I believe UNIV 101 is a useful indication of where the university is headed—and why many students are choosing BYU. By leaning into its distinctive heritage and beliefs, BYU seeks to create a meaningful alternative to the education offered at other universities. Rather than constraining students and faculty, the changes at BYU give people a choice they wouldn’t otherwise have: the choice to study in an environment that is unabashedly committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

To read the entire article: Public Square Magazine