Is this REAL at BYHighdaho? Looks like Satans plan

[_SuperDell]

"This church attendance policy was given out to students in a stake at BYU-Idaho regarding church attendance.

Sabbath Day Attendance Policy

As a student at BYU-Idaho, you have committed to obey and uphold the Church Education System honor code and help those around you in their commitment to live the honor code as well. One of the key standards you agreed to follow was to attend church in the ward in which you reside. This means, that you should be attending YOUR ASSIGNED ward every week! Not just for Sunday services either, but for your Family home evenings, and other ward and organizational meetings. We really want to have each and everyone one of you in your assigned ward as often as they meet. There is a reason each and every one of you are in your assigned ward at this time, and we want you to be able to see the blessings that come from building the kingdom together.

The stake presidency has asked that we formulate and implement an attendance policy that will hold students accountable for attending their church meetings and other activities, in a way that helps them come unto Christ, and keep their commitments to their personal integrity. We have followed the counsel of our administrative leaders by prayerfully creating the following attendance policy.

Each student is expected to attend Sacrament meeting, Sunday school, and Priesthood or Relief Society with his or her assigned ward each Sunday. On occasion you may need to attend a different ward besides the one you are assigned to. We have allowed a total of 4 absences during your block at BYU-Idaho. Note that this does not include major holidays.

This means, if your best friend is getting married, or going on a mission, or maybe your little sister is getting baptized, or maybe you just want to go home for the weekend; you have 4 Sundays to do so. On top of that, on a major holiday weekend, like Thanksgiving, if you want to be with your family, we understand! We expect that most people will be home and enjoying life with their families, so we do not count that as part of the 4 allowed absences. The same applies for the Christmas holiday and spring break.

Because we want to make sure you are doing well and that everything is okay, if you miss a Sunday, don’t be surprised if someone checks up on you. We also do not want you to be caught unaware that you are nearing the 4 absences allowed. If you have been absent 3 times, a member of the bishopric will ask to meet with you. At this point, the member of the bishopric will also be sending a letter home to your parents and home Bishop asking for their support in helping encourage you to better attend your meetings.

If you have missed 4 Sundays you will be asked to meet with your student ward bishop. He will be checking in with you on your absences and helping you to understand that if you miss a 5th Sunday, your ecclesiastical endorsement to attend BYU-Idaho will be in jeopardy.

We hope you see the intention of the stake presidencies and your ward leadership in following the attendance policy. It is not our goal to intensely supervise you, but rather we hope by informing you of the attendance policy, that you will be able to act, and not be acted upon.

Boyd K. Packer stated, "Take advantage of the great blessing you have to learn the doctrines of the Church and the teachings of the prophets. Learn that which is of most worth. It will bless you and your posterity for many generations to come."

We look forward to a great year with you and are excited to grow together and become better disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ."

[_Chap]

At the University of Cambridge in the 1830s, there were discussions as to whether compulsory attendance by students at chapel services should continue to be enforced. One academic said that the choice seemed to him to be one "between compulsory religion and no religion at all", and urged that chapel attendance should continue to be enforced.

Another scholar (Connop Thirlwall, later a bishop), who was in favor of the abolition of compulsory chapel, replied by saying "I find that distinction too subtle for my understanding".

If Christ is there to be "come unto", my experience of a number of institutions with various systems of religious observance is that he is not often "come unto" by those who attend religious services to avoid being thrown out of college.

[Guest]

BYU Idaho strives to be the red meat conservative version of BYU. In the eyes of many BYU Idaho people, BYU Provo is a decadent hive of liberals. I am not surprised by this at all. Even as a returned missionary, such a policy may have given me pause. During my long stint as an undergraduate and graduate student at BYU, it seemed like the leash was getting progressively shorter. At first, I chafed a little at the apartment curfew, the beard policy, and the policy on the length of shorts, but only a little. It just seemed to me to be beneath the dignity of students who had represented the LDS Church honorably on a mission for 18 months to 2 years.

It is when they started asking us to write statements explaining our allegiance to the Honor Code that I started to get sick of the whole thing. By that time, I think I may have been a graduate student. I started to wonder whether I would ever be trusted as a full-fledged grown up.

And, in the end, that is one of the things that drove a wedge between me and the LDS Church. One is never a grown up in the eyes of the leadership; at least, one is never trusted to have arrived at what I would consider to be full adulthood. The Church is always keeping its eye on you. There is always another worthiness interview, always another rule, always another assignment, always a new trivial directive from the leadership. It all seemed like an eternal hamster wheel.

[_pashaman]

More signs of desperation.

Gotta start the brain washing early and often.

[_cinepro]

Wow. That almost sounds like satire. Are you sure it's university-wide, and not just a single stake?

I know a few kids from my stake who went to BYU-I and had trouble attending Church while they were at home, so I wonder how they will deal with this policy if it's in force for them...

[_Fence Sitter]

I find this hard to believe.

What if I had a job which required me to work Sundays?

Sounds a bit suspicious to me.

[_honorentheos]

At the University of Cambridge in the 1830s, there were discussions as to whether compulsory attendance by students at chapel services should continue to be enforced. One academic said that the choice seemed to him to be one "between compulsory religion and no religion at all", and urged that chapel attendance should continue to be enforced.

Another scholar (Connop Thirlwall, later a bishop), who was in favor of the abolition of compulsory chapel, replied by saying "I find that distinction too subtle for my understanding".

[_Maksutov]

And, in the end, that is one of the things that drove a wedge between me and the LDS Church. One is never a grown up in the eyes of the leadership; at least, one is never trusted to have arrived at what I would consider to be full adulthood. The Church is always keeping its eye on you. There is always another worthiness interview, always another rule, always another assignment, always a new trivial directive from the leadership. It all seemed like an eternal hamster wheel.

Very important point. Remind me of the former local radio host Bob Barberi and his endless campaign to legalize adulthood in Utah. It goes with the endless diet of milk and the demand that the world provide Zion curtains to protect the saints from the harsh and evil World. I believe individuation threatens all institutional religion, but especially Mormonism. It's kind of funny because the church membership is endlessly mutating and throwing off little shoots of schism.

[_Polygamy-Porter]

Any parent who sends their spawn into the jaws of the BYU beast deserves all of the misery that their child endures there.

[_BartBurk]

This may be why I enjoy attending my wife's LDS ward much more as a non-member than I did as a member. They treat their members like adolescents.