What is happening at BYU and why it matters | Episode 373

Mormon Land

Brigham Young University has a “unique and compelling faith-based mission to develop disciples of Jesus Christ,” says school spokesperson Carri Jenkins.

To that end, the school has long required students and faculty to hold a “temple recommend,” which attests to belief and behavior standards set out by BYU’s owner, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Under the leadership of the church’s commissioner of education, Clark Gilbert, the school has added extra layers of rules, meant to ensure devotion to beliefs beyond what the church expects of its members — namely a firm “testimony” of the faith’s current teachings on marriage, family and gender.

To a number of faculty members, the extra demands feel onerous and unfairly compel employees and prospective employees to embrace a conservative interpretation of church doctrine.

Here to discuss BYU’s new approaches to hiring and firing, as well as the atmosphere on campus are Latter-day Saint historian Benjamin Park, author of “American Zion: A New History of Mormonism,” and Latter-day Saint researcher Jana Riess, author of “The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church” and columnist for Religion News Service.