From Deseret News archives:
Non-LDS at Y. want class back
Most attended seminary courses centered on the Book of Mormon while in high school. Many also accepted the challenge of church President Gordon B. Hinckley to read the entire 531-page book during the last five months of 2005.
But for the few hundred BYU students of other faiths, the two Book of Mormon courses required for graduation can seem overwhelming.
Nearly two years ago, the university's religion department dropped a Book of Mormon class section reserved solely for students of other faiths. Now some of those students are rallying to ask BYU to bring back the course.
Paul Warner taught the section for five years and said students "were willing to ask questions I don't think they ever would have been willing to ask in a class where they were the only non-LDS student in a class of 50 or 60."
Warner won't "cast stones at the people who made the decision" but said it was clear how the students felt.
"I was in the course when they decided to remove it," said Meagan Wyllie, 19, the representative for students of other faiths on the Student Advisory Council. "The students were outraged. They liked the class and felt they needed the class."
The course was cut in mid-2005 when Warner retired. He suggested the course originally and was the only professor who ever taught it.
Religious education administrators evaluated the program when Warner retired and discontinued the class, said Dennis Largey, chair of BYU's Department of Ancient Scripture.
One reason was the existence of another course, Religion 100 — Introduction to the LDS Church — which students of other faiths are supposed to take during their first semester on campus.
"This class is structured to be a transitional course, a preparation for being mainstreamed into religion classes with LDS students," Largey said in a written statement. "It provides basic background information on LDS scripture, including the Book of Mormon."
A second transition course is redundant, he said. He also believes the Book of Mormon classes are the best for mainstreaming because they are filled mostly with freshmen and the text is easier than most other scriptural text.
"They can and do succeed in LDS Book of Mormon classes," Largey said. "Our experience has shown that students enrolled in mainstream Book of Mormon courses learn more."
Non-LDS students do need to adapt to taking religion classes with their LDS peers. BYU requires every student to take 14 hours of religion courses to graduate.
