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I heard that if a Seminary teacher divorces, he is fired. Is this also the case for Institute teachers and those teaching at BYU? Are there women seminary teachers, I have yet to meet a female and wondered if a Mother with children can actually be a Seminary teacher. Is there is a Church policy in place that would require the children to be out of the house? I see more and more people called to teach early morning seminary even when there is CES Staff. I was wondering how many actual seminary teachers are employed these days and if there are any stats on how many have been fired for divorce. Outdated post please see most recent post on this issue. See Salt Lake Tribune as of 11/14/2014 “New change allows young moms, divorced members to teach Mormon seminary”
What is the rationale for these rules regarding divorce? I hear that people who have been divorced can’t serve as Bishops either — why is this so? Is it because there is somehow a correlation with promiscuity for divorced people that puts them at greater risk of Church discipline? I would guess their thought is to have leaders that know how to stay married? People come to them for marriage advice (for better or worse). Not getting divorced sets someone up as an example, I guess. But then I think to myself — who knows better what mistakes to avoid than someone who has made them…
If I were an alcoholic going to an AA meeting, I would not want a sponsor/mentor that had never had to deal with recovery from alcoholism in their personal life.
There are really pros and cons, as usual, to each situation.
Many people may assume that divorce was due to infidelity-that isn’t true. What happens if a spouse becomes very violent, neglects, or abandons a child because of mental illness and refuses to get medical attention or professional help? The other spouse has no choice but to divorce especially if the child is young. I think we need to as an LDS people rethink the stigma we put on divorced people. Divorce is like the scarlet letter A we label for adultery. I loved my wife, and I did not want to be a single parent, nor did I want to spend $26,000 or more on a divorce. Divorce sucks. Updated post: Salt Lake Tribune as of 11/14/2014 – “New change allows young moms, divorced members to teach Mormon seminary” Jaminson said “someone that commits adultery or fornication can repent and not have that stop them from serving as Bishop or Seminary teacher if it was before the fact.” I can’t speak about Bishop, but I do know that if you have been church disciplined for adultery or fornication and repented and reinstated into full-membership you can not be a seminary teacher. This happened to someone close to me. He had been disfellowshipped for fornication before he married and after going through all the steps to be a seminary teacher they told him that he couldn’t because he had been disfellowshipped before. So much for “and God remembers them no more”
I also have a friend who had an abortion at the age of 15. Repented and suffered for that choice (and still suffers) , came back to full activity and wanted to serve a mission at 21. No dice. No wonder she isn’t able to forgive herself.
I don’t agree with the policies as they seem to teach that certain sins are not forgivable or washed away by the atonement.
jamison wrote:When they relocate to another area, the Bishop doesn’t go Oh you have the F or A on your record so we better make sure we keep on eye on you and only give you certain callings.
Actually, the Church does annotate membership records for certain disciplinary actions experienced by members. And GB Hinckley indicated that Bishops should not put people in certain callings where they might hurt the members. Therefore, someone disciplined for some kind of child abuse would probably not be placed in the primary or youth organization after full repentence…..
I agree however, that the policy seems kind of harsh for people who are divorced. My wife and I came very close to divorcing, and the reason had nothing to do with infidelity. It was due to lack of love in our marriage, born from a variety of other variables — none of which were out of synch with the basic commandments of the Church. It was because we weren’t meeting each others’ needs.
So, this is another baffling policy for me in the Church — the stigma against divorced people.
I don’t like this policy, but it is what it is and is known upfront. It’s not a secret. I have no problem whatsoever with some sins being annotated on church records. Part of full repentance for someone who has sexually abused a child, for example, includes an acceptance that they never will receive a calling of responsibility with children. Period. End of discussion (for me).
Repentance and forgiveness have nothing to do with it at the most basic level. You don’t ask an alcoholic who is committed to abstain to be a bartender. It really is that simple with sexual abuse.
This is a pretty simple issue for me. Fornication/divorce policy for seminary teachers – BAD
Policy forbidding child sex offenders from holding callings where they will come in contact with children. – GOOD.
OK even though I didn’t necessarily agree with the divorce and bishop issue I had no idea seminary teachers had the same rules. The holding sins against people when there is no danger to others is just wrong. This is not common knowledge and many have been hurt when old sins are brought up again that they thought where water under the bridge. Also with divorce I’m sure members aren’t handed a list of all the places they will not be allowed to serve in. This is just on of those, shake my head and remind myself of why I believe this is a man made church then move on and remind myself why I stay. My current bishop is divorced. My current High Councilman is divorce. My current 1st councilor in the branch presidency is divorced.
Just had a revelation. Our seminary teacher for our branch is also our HC — who just so happens to have a divorce in his resume. Hmmmm? Wonder how that happened?
Is it only a policy for professional seminary teachers?
Whatever the case – it is a BAD policy. I’m glad I can say that in this forum without fear of rebuke and disciple action —-(I had a bad experience at church today with this kind of thing – more to come later)
Yeah, I was also going to mention that I don’t think the divorce policy applies to bishops. I think a man who was previously divorced and then remarried can serve as a bishop. I’m not positive, but I think I had a former bishop who had been divorced when younger. I could be wrong. I wasn’t aware of the seminary teacher rule.
I have noticed an increase in the amount of called and UNPAID Seminary teachers, however. I don’t understand this one. I would think there is enough money available to pay someone to teach seminary, rather than burden people with a long, very time consuming, and often difficult calling. I’m sure many people would prefer that calling to many others, but even a two period a day assignment can become almost a 20-hour week part-time job when you consider prep time, travel, etc.
Cnsl1 wrote:I have noticed an increase in the amount of called and UNPAID Seminary teachers, however. I don’t understand this one. I would think there is enough money available to pay someone to teach seminary, rather than burden people with a long, very time consuming, and often difficult calling. I’m sure many people would prefer that calling to many others, but even a two period a day assignment can become almost a 20-hour week part-time job when you consider prep time, travel, etc.
In my view, there are a couple schools of thought on this one. On one hand, it’s good for the members to sacrifice and to serve, and being a part-time unpaid seminary teacher is a good way to allow people that opportunity to serve. The other philosophy is that the Church is simply being efficient with its funds to hit budget targets and maximize savings for other efforts (humanitarian, reserves etcetera) like any other organization. A nearly endless supply of free labor at your disposal is hard to say “No” to, and gets tapped regularly for things like chapel cleaning etcetera.
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