UCSB sociology, global studies, and religious studies professor Dr. Mark Juergensmeyer decided not to speak at a conference this week at Brigham Young University after learning that the college, owned by the Church of Latter-Day Saints, expels Mormon students who lose their faith.
In an article he wrote for the online magazine Religion Dispatches, Juergensmeyer said he was excited to speak at BYU’s International Center for Law and Religious Studies in a conference partially focused on religious freedom, until he received an email from Free BYU, a student group advocating for freedom of religion at BYU. The email brought to his attention the college’s policy of automatically expelling Mormon students who question their faith, convert to different religions, or leave the church.
After researching the policy — which prizes non-Mormon students who convert to Mormonism but punishes Mormon students who convert away — Juergensmeyer decided he “could not attend a conference in part dedicated to religious freedom on a campus that denied it to its own Mormon students.” At BYU, a Mormon student who changes his faith then loses his scholarship, university housing, campus job, and, most importantly, the ecclesiastical endorsement he needs to remain in good honor at the college, according to the school’s religion policy.