ARTICLE 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.” –Article of Faith 11. [source]
QUOTE: “With regrets to the organizers, I’ve cancelled my talk at a conference at Brigham Young University today in protest against the University’s policy of expelling any Mormon students who leave the faith. … I have decided that it would be hypocritical of me to participate in a conference in which the issue of religious liberty is paramount when the institution sponsoring it fundamentally violates this principle in its policies towards Mormon students. As I understand it, non-Mormons are allowed to enroll in BYU, and they are welcome to convert to the Mormon faith if they wish, but if Mormon students change their religious affiliation they lose their scholarship, their campus housing and jobs, and are expelled from school even if they are months away from graduation.” -Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer, founding director and fellow of the Orfalea Center for Global and International Studies, professor of sociology and global studies, and affiliate professor of religious studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, 6 October 2015. [source]
COMMENTARY: The same Mormons who deny religious freedom to BYU students and faculty are very vocal about religious freedom for members of other faiths, who must, after all, be allowed to quit their religion and join Mormonism. Why the double standard? If you’ve ever read the Bible, you’ll know that Jesus was far more condemnatory of hypocrisy than he was of, say, adultery. But what do I know? I’m just another apostate.
