Beards and BYU

I think you make a good point – and both of my sons who have gone there (one currently and one on mission deferment) would agree with the article. Likewise, they would both agree that the church’s attempts at late to try to show we’re just normal people would include people with beards. In my area there is a bishop with a beard (goatee), and two (sometimes three) high councilors with facial hair. None are seen as unworthy to serve. Very closely related to this is BYU’s policy of not selling caffeinated soda on campus. There is absolutely no religious reason for either of these policies and these are some of the things Pres. Uchtdorf refers to:

Sometimes, well-meaning amplifications of divine principles—many coming from uninspired sources—complicate matters further, diluting the purity of divine truth with man-made addenda. One person’s good idea—something that may work for him or her—takes root and becomes an expectation. And gradually, eternal principles can get lost within the labyrinth of “good ideas.”

I’m probably just venting with you, SBRed, but I find things like this ridiculous. Yes, they know about and agree to the beard policy when they apply. That doesn’t make the policy the right thing to do.

It’s as if the board of trustees at BYU got together and said “What can we do to drive the most Millenials out of the church?” Then they settled into a nice long brainstorming session with a “there are no out of bounds ideas” mantra and proceeded to implement every last one of them.

While at BYU in the 1990s one of my friends was a Sikh and attended classes with me – he had a religion beard exemption. So at least one person 20 years ago was allowed to have a beard for religious reasons.

But to the broader point – I tend to agree that it’s a silly rule. There are lots of silly rules at BYU and while I usually shake my head when I hear people make this comment – it’s what makes BYU BYU. No caffeine, no rated R movies on campus, no shorts / skirts above the knee, all alienate perfectly fine students. Tremendous pressure to conform. BYU-I is even worse. One of my counselors has a beard and when getting his ecclesiastical endorsement for Pathway Program he asked if he could keep his beard. This coming from a successful businessman, active and dedicated member of the church wondering if he can have a small beard to take evening classes. Just silly.

On the other hand. I used to be an MBA recruiter on the east coast at prestigious colleges and I have to say I saw some real doozies. I always thought it a bit of a disconnect that students were paying hundreds of thousands of dollards for graduate degrees but they dress like complete slouches. I attended a few classes between interviews and presentations and I have to say I found clean-cut BYU to be attractive.

I suspect it’s an effort by the board of trustees to set BYU apart from other colleges and an opportunity for students to show some self discipline while the cost of education is largely funded by tithe payers who will never reap the rewards of a top-notch, inexpensive education.

Yeah, I don’t think its a terrible idea to be well groomed. The big issue with this is taking away the religious exemption. For an organization that proclaims their belief in religious freedom, IMHO it is a contrary position to not allow others who attend your church school to worship according to the dictates of their own conscience. We just put out a video highlighting how other religions have outward manifestations of their faith (the garments video) and then we turn around and say, well, it doesn’t quite line up with what we want so no more facial hair. I must confess, I find it infuriatingly dumb. We are often times our own worst enemy.

-SBRed

I don’t think its a terrible idea to be well groomed. The big issue with this is taking away the religious exemption.

Exactly. I sure hope BYU leaders don’t decide to dig in their heals on this one. This isn’t a battle even worth having. Let’s hope that it is just a few days and sanity will prevail.

Part of me wants to tell my kids attending, “give it to the man!” – but the other side of me says, “watch what you do at BYU as some staunch TBM’s may turn you in and get you in all kind of trouble for doing something that is NOTHING at another university.”

I had heard of the medical exemption, I figured a religious exemption was a given. Sigh.

What I see is a school policy that goes directly against one of the school’s articles of faith.

We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.

How can it hold up under scrutiny?

Much like the author the only justification that comes to mind is that people might fake belonging to a religion just so they can have a beard.