I'm glad someone brought this up because I'm facing a similar situation. I was raised LDS, but have recently become seriously agnostic. I haven't taken the step of having my name removed from the records of the church because I didn't see a reason to do so. I have no feelings of animosity to the church. As far as a system of beliefs goes, it's not too shabby. In fact, some of the most upstanding, honest, and reputable people I've known were devout members of the LDS religion. I have some friends who have left the church and like to knock it regularly, and we've had arguments about it. In the end they agreed not to do so around me.
However, if I were to apply to work at BYU, I would have to be "worthy" of a temple recommend. Since I can't honestly say that I believe in the literal existence of the Godhead, I'm not able to qualify. Note that, despite my agnosticism, I've maintained the values I was raised with. Other than paying tithing and belief in the Godhead, I fully qualify for a temple recommend. Given my situation, should BYU refuse to hire me? I uphold the standards they require of students and employees. On 3/18/06, Andrew McNabb <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I'm very glad that BYU practices this "religious discrimination." I > would be opposed to any change in the policy. Let me explain. > > It's great that BYU lets people who aren't LDS come to BYU. But I think > that people who have left the Church are in a completely different > situation. If someone *used to be* Mormon, there are two possible > reasons: > > 1) They were excommunicated. People are excommunicated if either it > hurts the Church's name for them to be able to say they're Mormon or if > they've broken serious commitments. In either case, I don't think the > Church should expend resources on their behalf before these problems are > resolved (and I always hope they will be resolved). > > 2) The person willingly removed their name from the records of the > Church. Forgive me for generalizing from my own experiences: most of > the people I have met who have been apathetic toward the Church just > stop going. Most of the people I have known have removed their records > from the Church do it because of hostile feelings. Should the Church > spend money for someone who is hostile toward it? /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
