https://www.deseret.com/faith/2022/1/27/22901919/byu-other-latter-day-saint-schools-will-require-temple-recommends-for-new-hires

"Starting Thursday, all Latter-day Saints hired to work at BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, Ensign College and BYU-Pathway Worldwide will need “to hold and be worthy to hold a current temple recommend.”

The requirement is not retroactive and does not apply to current employees, though they will be invited to opt in to the policy beginning next week, according to information released Thursday by BYU and the sponsor of all five schools, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

Using your job as blackmail? Sounds like a plan. Satan's plan, but still a plan.

My first thought when I read it was that they're only saying this has been under consideration for 18 months, feeling the need to hide the fact that it's a knee-jerk reaction to the the recently announced Title IX investigation.

Since when does it take ghawd any length of time to make a decision regarding his very own organization?  Now, if they said it's the result of some surveys...that I can accept.  Surveys are holy.

Whoa. The investigation. You nailed it.

So. You're not just another pretty face, then. I'm nominating you for the Hedy Lamar award!

I've been signal hopping since before I was born!!!

"will be invited to opt in" ~



just LOL ~

To be on the safe side, they should make any current employees who fail to 'opt in' wear yellow arm bands, just to be on the safe side, in terms of the good mormons who will have to deal with them!

Talk about discrimination in the workplace!!!!!
Even though it is a religion owned university that is blatant violation of discriminate hiring laws

Unfortunately it's not. Catholic schools can insist their teachers are catholic. The Vatican can require priests to be catholic and have attended seminary. BYU only hires mormon head coaches. If BYU wasn't a private AND religious school, they can get away with it. LDS Inc. has some of the best legal teams around. They know what they can get away with.

If BYU researchers still get NIH and NSF funding, they are likely to lose these grants when this policy is implemented. I sent the story to some folks in Washington who can get the ball rolling on that.

"If BYU researchers still get NIH and NSF funding"

https://researchdevelopment.byu.edu/external-funding

What will happen the next time this comes up?

https://www.deseret.com/2017/1/27/20604913/will-department-of-defense-relocate-byu-s-rotcs-because-of-honor-code#file-the-byu-army-rotc-fires-an-artillery-blank-in-provo-on-monday-july-4-2016

I don't get the connection. The officer wasn't an employee of LDS Inc. His paychecks come from the US Government.

The problem was that BYU insisted that he follow their honor code - esp. not drinking coffee. The head of the ROTC unit in addition to being active duty military is also a BYU faculty member. BYU requires their faculty to follow the honor code. Since drinking coffee violates the honor code, BYU insisted that he had to not drink coffee. The position of the pentagon was that since the US Constitution prohibits a religious test for government officers, they could not let BYU attach a religious requirement to the position, so they were prepared to move the unit to UVU.

In the end, as I understand it, his office was at UVU, and he agreed not to drink coffee on BYU campus and BYU relented on his not drinking coffee at all.

The problem now will be that if the next ROTC commander is not mormon, how will BYU react since they now require all new hires to have TRs - i.e. they must be active (tithe-paying) mormons. DoD is still not going to be able to require that officer to be mormon.

Actually, he was sent to desk duty at UVU until the DoD told BYU that they were moving their ROTC to UVU. The Colonel never signed the honor code BS. It took BYU about 10 seconds to back off on the honor code. The officer went back to BYU and drank his damn coffee.

[|] Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The problem now will be that if the next ROTC
> commander is not mormon, how will BYU react since
> they now require all new hires to have TRs - i.e.
> they must be active (tithe-paying) mormons. DoD is
> still not going to be able to require that officer
> to be mormon.

They can still hire non-Mormons; it's just that new Mormon hires have to hold a TR from now on. From the article: "The schools still can hire people who are not church members who agree to follow the honor code."

THEY? The Department of Defense? The Colonel is not, or never has been an employee of BYU. The DoD leases a space to run the ROTC on campus. This has nothing to do with BYU TR conditions.

stillanon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Unfortunately it's not. Catholic schools can
> insist their teachers are catholic. The Vatican
> can require priests to be catholic and have
> attended seminary. BYU only hires mormon head
> coaches. If BYU wasn't a private AND religious
> school, they can get away with it. LDS Inc. has
> some of the best legal teams around. They know
> what they can get away with.

This one of the biggest things I hate about the United States. Religious institutions running around claiming they are private and should be left alone, but also sticking their hand out to collect hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding. BYU and BYU-Idaho received in excess of 245 million dollars in federal public funds in 2018, yet claim they should be exempt from discrimination laws because they are "private". If you are private, don't take public funding, otherwise, shut up and follow the laws. Religions are welcome to exist, but stay out of the public sphere!

Plus another 100

> "The requirement is not retroactive and does not
> apply to current employees, though they will be
> invited to opt in to the policy beginning next
> week. . ."

"Invite."

There needs to be a Dictionary of Mormonism, explaining the unique meanings of common words when used in the LDS context.

Precisely, LW

We've seen it before, haven't we.

It looks like they are going out of their way to become more extreme and weird.

Catholics might require employees to be Catholic, but this is a whole different level than requiring someone be Mormon. They are essentially requiring that the employee is someone who is Mormon pays 10% back to the church or else their job is toast.

Maybe they think temple recommend holders are less likely to be sympathetic to gay issues? Maybe they think TR holders are more invested and honest? Maybe they are trying to give more incentives to force people to the many temples they are building (go to the temple, get a job!).

I'm so embarrassed of that place. They are indeed WEIRD.

dagny Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It looks like they are going out of their way to
> become more extreme and weird.
>
> Catholics might require employees to be Catholic,
> but this is a whole different level than requiring
> someone be Mormon. They are essentially requiring
> that the employee is someone who is Mormon pays
> 10% back to the church or else their job is
> toast.
>
> Maybe they think temple recommend holders are less
> likely to be sympathetic to gay issues? Maybe they
> think TR holders are more invested and honest?
> Maybe they are trying to give more incentives to
> force people to the many temples they are building
> (go to the temple, get a job!).
>
> I'm so embarrassed of that place. They are indeed
> WEIRD.


--------------------

They KNOW Recommend holders are held hostage to the church and losing the job is basically the same as losing "the Church" for them.

It is financial and emotional blackmail - something LDS leadership is good at.

If they ever add sexual blackmail, I might ...

Nah...

It's like hiring only H1B visa holders. When you have your workers by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow.

That's what I'm saying, dagny-
A while new level, maybe even illegal
Church and State, but mormons - weird!

Temples are kind of like a Casino,
You know the Casino ALWAYS wins,
you just figure you know better and you're luckier than the average mere mortal,

With relition, its the same kind of attitude, because you've got God on your side and He promised us we could do, literally, ANYthing with faith alone, including move a mountain into the sea!
So you go for it, hook, line and sinker and fork over your idiot tax, for a shot at RICHES

Only with Mormons, it's in Heaven, and the grand prize, you get to live for eternity with your loved ones and be God for eternity.

And then you find out the whole damned thing is a big giant fraud, and you kinda leveraged everything on it,

your whole reputation, ego, identity upon a GD fraud!

Sunk costs, families, friends, social network. gone. poof.

Which is how the whole delusion gets perpetuated

but

How a CULT morphs into the Taliban over a 50yr period.

Circle the Wagons bc there are enemies afoot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2022 02:17AM by GNPE.

<phew!> The closest match Google has for 'endemisk' is endemic and I don't think that's what you were going for.

Just how dangerous are endemisks?  And what are they?

sometimes my Norwegian keyboard on my phone goes into hyper-drive!

Can TRs be successfully forged?

will ChurchCo verify that they're valid?

Of course. TMC can have more 'select hires', and tout a more stringent position, and expect more out of you, and hold TITHE$ & OFFERING$ over you desk (and temp pull work expectations, later?)!

OPT IN? Not optiOn. What is it besides something on the resume? You HAVE TO HAVE a/ b/ c to get hired. Period! Opt in? Opt in to what?

It's an opt-in you can't refuse.

if you don't "opt in" you'll wake up to find a curelom head in our bed. :0

A few posters compared this to a Catholic university requiring that employees be Catholic. First, I don't know of any Catholic schools where the entire staff is Catholic. Perhaps a small and very conservative one, somewhere, but certainly not the major ones (Notre Dame, DePaul, Boston College come to mind).

I'd say the more apt comparison would be for a Catholic institution require employees to attend Mass and partake of the Eucharist on a prescribed schedule. All sorts of people can claim to be Catholic on the mere basis of having been baptized as an infant. I find it hard to imagine that any Catholic institution requires such adherence. (Religious orders are another matter.)

Also: If BYU (et al) can require the TR, would the next step be to require a certain number of temple visits per year? Per month? Is requiring temple sealing for employee marriages too far down the slippery slope?

Lastly: Let's not overlook that these conforming employees must pay the tithe to get and maintain that TR!

I hope it's not offensive that I agree with you.

But I did print your post, blew it up and got it framed.

-Also: If BYU (et al) can require the TR, would the next step be to require a certain number of temple visits per year? Per month? Is requiring temple sealing for employee marriages too far down the slippery slope?

The church has already been tracking who uses their TR and knows exactly when and where the TR is used with the scanning of bar codes.

Prior to tracking, the church relied on quarterly lists of brethren who were not attending their church meetings. Sat thru a gazillion bishopric meetings and ward councils discussing why Brother Brown was not regularly attending priesthood meetings and or sacrament.

These names were submitted/compiled at the stake level and then visited (targeted) to get them to conform with expectations.

I agree with you. While a Catholic institution of higher learning might prefer to hire Catholics, I couldn't see it being required. Plus I don't see them requiring mass attendance, and certainly not the Eucharist, which is reserved for Catholics only.

I made an inquiry about employment to a Jewish day school once, and they didn't care that I was not Jewish, just that I was willing to teach religious content and be comfortable with the school culture. This might well be the case for a number of other religious schools in a tight job market.

ETA -- BYU must feel *quite* certain that it can hire enough qualified people who are temple recommend holders. In the current job market where potential employees hold a lot of the cards, I'm not entirely convinced that BYU will be successful at that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2022 06:29AM by summer.

[\] wrote in part:

"Starting Thursday, all Latter-day Saints hired to work at BYU, BYU-Idaho, BYU-Hawaii, Ensign College and BYU-Pathway Worldwide will need “to hold and be worthy to hold a current temple recommend.”

So, apparently, the BYU schools do hire a certain percentage of staff (a few professors who teach non-religious subjects, perhaps?) who are not LDS and, if I'm reading the sentence correctly, will continue to do so.

That said, I very much agree with those who are concerned about religious schools receiving taxpayer dollars and still placing religious requirements on their staffs. I think these schools (Including the BYU schools) are banking on the idea that the U.S. Supreme Court with its current makeup of Justices (thanks, most recent former U.S. President) will invalidate all non-religious requirements for religious schools to receive taxpayer funds in the not-too-distant future. I'm sure that the BYU schools are setting themselves up to be the test case for this idea.

Don't Church Office Employees currently require TR holders as a condition of employment? It sounds as if they're just extending it to BYU employment.

Devoted Exmo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don't Church Office Employees currently require TR
> holders as a condition of employment? It sounds
> as if they're just extending it to BYU employment.

Correct.

Every one remember Holland's blow up last year where he attacked the BYU faculty?

This is a follow up measurement to get BYU and its liberal professors to start toeing the line.

The church is banking that some BYU staff will ultimately "crack" because they will grow tired of lying to keep their positions. It really is a good but diabolical method to keep people's mouths closed. It stymies open criticism of church leaders and policies.

Correct me if I am wrong, but won't the new policy also hit low-end workers like cafeteria staff, maintenance workers, and groundskeepers?

My concern is that it's not just the professors and administrators who will have to choose between their personal freedom and their jobs. Some of the line workers, if that's the right term, may for financial reasons have even less room for personal choice and agency than the prominent staff do.

I don't know if outsiders can possibly understand how intense the feeling of being "trapped" is for a lot of Mormons. I used to hate that. . .

I'm sure it will affect those low wage jobs. But I'm also sure it's not hard to attract workers to fill them in the land of Pure Ideology. It would be a lot harder if BYU were in Salt Lake City.

I’m just looking at it from the other side. The church will have no problem but the unbelieving janitor whose kid needs braces, and who can’t spend two months without an income as he searches for work, will be in a terrible position.

These mundane decisions by COB bureaucrats are actually quite cruel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2022 12:04PM by Lot's Wife.

I just graduated from BYU, where I had a faith crisis and faked my way through the last year or so. I haven't held a temple recommend for years. Yesterday I showed up to my on campus food service job to find that they had terminated my employment with no notice because I graduated. Not only was I unexpectedly jobless, but I was only notified of the new temple reccomend requirements when I called and hounded them about my employment. I refuse to lie my way through a temple recommend interview and now I'm unemployed with no prospects for the summer, right when I'm the poorest from finishing my education. Thanks, BYU.

Wow. That's a terrible way to treat your employees, BYU!

I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope you find something better.

This EXACT thing happened to me when I graduated in May 1983. Unceremoniously discharged from a janitor job. New baby, wife off work due to having said baby and no job. Some things never change. I ended up as a lifeguard a Saratoga Springs for the summer before heading off to law school. I should have left the church then. It would have saved me a boat load of money.

The memo doesn't say only LDS will be hired, it reads that LDS who are hired must have a TR...
Big Difference!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2022 12:11PM by GNPE.

Didn’t they use to allow people in other religions work their, but they had endorsements from their religious head?

Where can I get an Agnostic Endorsement?

I wonder if eventually a temple recommend will be required for all LDS students? Eighteen year old LDS males just out of high school need a temple recommend to go on a mission. They enter BYU as TR holders. Requiring a TR for females won't be so difficult because females who attend BYU want to marry priesthood holders.

Maybe all those new temples were built to accommodate those who are now forced to go to the temple.

Clever way to pay people 10% less.

I don't think that BYU employees are excepted from shading the 'truth' (LDS meaning - slant - bias) to their Bp about paying a full tithe.

Only the AH bishops insist on seeing their pay stubs / W2s.

cue lds hymn music... O say what is truth...

I am VERY ONE SIDED ON THIS
Who the hell are "you" to tell "me" what my criteria for hiring is?

So, if one later is found to have LIED and was never worth does that one have to refund all the money paid?

We know the track record of "discernment" for finding liars is dismal.