Protest of no beard policy at BYU

<p>Covered in the NYtimes <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/us/campaigning-to-change-the-cleanshaven-look-at-brigham-young-university.html"&gt;http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/18/us/campaigning-to-change-the-cleanshaven-look-at-brigham-young-university.html&lt;/a>, protect has been going on since September.</p>

<p>It does seem like a silly rule, especially when the college’s namesake had quite the beard himself.</p>

<p>Young Mormons are quite the rabble rousers.
Imagine, wearing pants to religious services!
<a href=“http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/08/14/3471089/mormon-women-byu-policy/”>http://thinkprogress.org/health/2014/08/14/3471089/mormon-women-byu-policy/&lt;/a&gt;
Next thing you know they will be boycotting Jello!</p>

<p>I guess there’s no participating in “no shave November” there! </p>

<p>In general, the LDS faith takes health, grooming, and sexuality very seriously. Utah is like the 1950s with cellphones and four-wheelers. I don’t see this one moving very far.</p>

<p>I mean, it is a silly rule.</p>

<p>But I feel like when you go to a religious university or a university that adheres to any specific creed, you’re setting yourself for following a lot of rules enshrined in the code of conduct. That’s the way the universities want it, because they want to present themselves to the world in a certain way. The Mormon faith and BYU are, on average, a conservative Christian denomination - so it’s not really surprising that they have a more restrictive set of rules. It’s kind of what you sign up for when you attend BYU. Student handbooks and codes of conduct are readily available online, and everyone knows BYU is a conservative school affiliated with the LDS, so as a non-LDS student the smart thing to do would be check out the code of conduct and make sure it’s something you can live with.</p>

<p>Mormons aren’t Christians- they add a belief system to it or change it… In the same vein you could call Christians Jewish because they incorporate those beliefs within their religion.</p>

<p>“But I feel like when you go to a religious university or a university that adheres to any specific creed, you’re setting yourself for following a lot of rules enshrined in the code of conduct.”</p>

<p>Of course, but the details of the dress code are not based in religious doctrine, and they have changed several times in the last 20 years. Asking for a change in the details is perfectly consistent with obedience to the school and church authorities. Beards are perfectly OK for young men in the church outside BYU.</p>