Before he enrolled at BYU, it hadn't really occurred to John that some members' testimonies were not entirely founded on genuine spiritual experiences. As John learned from his fellow students, he realized that Mormons sometimes bolster their testimonies by shutting their minds to difficult information. John also learned in some of his religion classes that, on matters of doctrine, it wasn't necessary to use the same level of critical thinking that was required in most other classes.

After reflecting on how and why some of his peers and professors believed in the LDS Church, John began to doubt his own objectivity. He noticed that he too was prone to lazy thinking on matters of doctrine. John didn't fully lose his testimony at BYU, but it was some of his most dogmatic peers and professors who set him on a questioning path. Years later that questioning had evolved to such a degree that John left the church.

This story is an amalgamation of several real people's experiences at one of the BYU's. Does this story sound familiar to you?

When I graduated from the Zoo in the mid 70s, I received a questionnaire about my educational experience at BYU. It was rather long and detailed.

One of the questions was whether there as anything about my educational experience that caused me to question my testimony. I was sorely tempted to answer, yes, I was taught to think, but I chickened out. My shelf had not yet completely collapsed at that point.

Anyway, they were concerned about that 40 years ago, and I am sure the situation is much worse now. There are a lot of pretty bright students at the Zoo, who I am sure struggle mightily to keep their heads from exploding until after graduating, when they can let 'er rip.

I started at the Bee-Why in 1970. I never could 'feel the spirit' as a kid, so I was hoping to find Jesus and the Ghost at the Y.

The harder I tried and the more I studied and learned, the ol' testomonkey was more and more elusive, until I finally concluded that it was all bunk.

I studied my way right out of the church thanks to BYU's library...and it's moronic religion classes capped off with Thursday devotionals.

It was crystal clear that the whole university was a fraud, farce and facade disguising a fake religion...

BYU is where I began serious questioning. It just appeared odd to me that we did not apply the same standards of scholarly rigor and discussion to our religious classes as the others.

I was a Gospel Doctrine teacher, and noticed that most students in the classes were totally zoned out. I was trying to make it interesting, and get discussion going. But they were so used to just shuffling through all the approved answers, and starring blankly that it was no use. Many LDS folks did appear to have a rather lazy faith that wasn't worth much.

I think that experience was one of the things that caused me to wonder whether it was all worth it.

Well, in Mormon-dumb the kids are praised for being lazy and non-questioning. Getting inquisitive will get them flogged. Can't blame them for being lazy learners.

It totally backfired on me, I hated that place, they treat adults like toddlers

My son who is still pretty TBM turned down BYU because of the rules. He says he wouldn't have broken any of them but he felt they treated adults like kids and he was tired of that. His circle of friends are shocked he turned down a place at BYU, probably because most of them didn't get in.

I just reviewed a soon to be graduate from BYU, his resume. I was amused and shocked what he put on his resume...

His mission was detailed as job experience. He also had experience, "managing other missionaries", and talked of his hard work 10-12hrs a day working for the LDS church.




Now...in his and others defense...I normally see the resumes of experienced people not collge grads with no work experience..

Good question I can relate to.
I was TBM RM with a burning testimony. However, the BOM class "required" me to read it for at least 15 minis a day. Somehow, being REQUIRED to do it put me off.
I never read the BOM consistently after that. It was sort of a habit breaker.

BYU definitely backfired on me. That is where I first started asking lots of questions and realized the church was deep in lies. I hated it there and was beyond relieved when I decided to leave.

I went to BYU, graduated, and married a RM in the temple, just like I was supposed to do. Worst mistake of my life.

At BYU, the Utah students did not really blend with the out-of-state students. Even though we were all of the same religion, I thought they were very weird, fundamentalist, reactionary right-wing. I was soaring into life, enjoying the learning, the skiing, my out-of-state friends. It seemed that the teachers were holding me back, except for the science teachers. The whole school seemed oppressive and negative. We probably would have left, except for the skiing and the dances.

The religion classes were so boring, that I sat in the back and wrote letters home, and hoped I had learned enough in Sunday school, seminary and summer institute. There was no class discussion at all. Questions were never answered, but just piled up, and stacked the deck in favor of "nonsense."

The BYU student wards were just lame. The meetings were boring. There were so many other students who were friendly and supportive, that the "assigned friends" were a waste of time. It wasn't snobbery, it was just a difference of interests. Classmates shared the same interest (the class) but ward members were in a world of their own. I didn't attend my own ward, nor did my roommates. I went to Salt Lake with my relatives on Sundays, and went to church there, or to church with boyfriends.

I was able to barely get accepted into a decent graduate school, and convinced admissions not to include my low religion grades, because those credits weren't accepted, anyway. Whew. After two advanced degrees, BYU was not talked about in job interviews. Not many people know I attended BYU, except for my old friends from there. We were a huge group at BYU. Most of the boys stayed in the cult, but all but four of the girls stopped believing while they were still at BYU. They waited until after graduation to quit, and they all married non-Mormons. They didn't particularly want to date fanatical Mormons, and they called them "male chauvinist pigs." I thought it was harsh, but now I know those girls were very wise. They are all still happily married, and their children are doing fine in the out-of-state world.