Jeffrey Nielsen's Response to BYU Firing
June 13, 2006
Daniel W. Graham, chair
Department of Philosophy
Brigham Young University
Dear Dan,
I regretfully read your letter of June 8 informing me that because of my opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune of June 4, you have decided not to rehire me to teach the philosophy courses I had already been scheduled to teach through next year. I have only the utmost respect and admiration for you and for the students, faculty, and staff in the Philosophy Department at Brigham Young University. In my experience, the students and faculty have always been engaged and lively participants in the academic pursuit of truth. Now let me address some of the issues you expressed in your letter.
Church leaders have consistently opposed same-sex attraction and gay marriage. I have never agreed with this position believing that it was based in misunderstanding and in a purely human bias of cultural place and time and not reflective of divine will. Yet I have never publicly, or in the classroom, opposed their policy. Yet when church leaders take a political stand on a moral issue, then I am not only engaged as a member of the church, but also as an American citizen. As an American citizen, I publicly expressed an honest opinion contradicting a political statement by our church leaders. I fear for the church and the university if the time comes when the members of the church, including faculty at BYU, are not allowed to disagree, either in public or private, with political positions taken by the church. If such conformity is required, then we deserve to be called neither a church nor a university.
I also strongly disagree with the implications of your statement that faithfulness and loyalty to the church and church leaders never permits expressions of disagreement, or questioning of our church leaders - especially in an academic setting. Unquestioning acquiescence and blind loyalty to leaders in positions of power over human beings have no place in any institution of higher learning that values the pursuit of truth and search for justice. And in my mind, what is philosophy but the quest for truth and justice. I believe that there is great potential at BYU that will never be realized if the faculty, in certain areas of study, are limited in their research and work by the necessity of arriving at pre-approved answers given by church leaders.
Finally, when it comes to the sustaining of church leaders, I will always argue for the privilege of church members to examine, question, and dialogue with each other and with their leaders in order to genuinely sustain and support church doctrines and teachings. I do not believe that sustaining leaders requires either silent acquiescence or unquestioning conformity, but it does require active engagement with one another and with our church leaders, regardless of our place or position within church leadership hierarchies. If sustaining our leaders is to be real and genuine - not a sham as are elections in totalitarian governments - then members must be free to examine, question and benevolently criticize. Ultimately, I strongly believe that every person possesses the privilege to speak and the obligation to listen.
Again, I have only respect and admiration for you. I have enjoyed our association, and I also wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Jeff Nielsen
Daniel W. Graham, chair
Department of Philosophy
Brigham Young University
Dear Dan,
I regretfully read your letter of June 8 informing me that because of my opinion piece in the Salt Lake Tribune of June 4, you have decided not to rehire me to teach the philosophy courses I had already been scheduled to teach through next year. I have only the utmost respect and admiration for you and for the students, faculty, and staff in the Philosophy Department at Brigham Young University. In my experience, the students and faculty have always been engaged and lively participants in the academic pursuit of truth. Now let me address some of the issues you expressed in your letter.
Church leaders have consistently opposed same-sex attraction and gay marriage. I have never agreed with this position believing that it was based in misunderstanding and in a purely human bias of cultural place and time and not reflective of divine will. Yet I have never publicly, or in the classroom, opposed their policy. Yet when church leaders take a political stand on a moral issue, then I am not only engaged as a member of the church, but also as an American citizen. As an American citizen, I publicly expressed an honest opinion contradicting a political statement by our church leaders. I fear for the church and the university if the time comes when the members of the church, including faculty at BYU, are not allowed to disagree, either in public or private, with political positions taken by the church. If such conformity is required, then we deserve to be called neither a church nor a university.
I also strongly disagree with the implications of your statement that faithfulness and loyalty to the church and church leaders never permits expressions of disagreement, or questioning of our church leaders - especially in an academic setting. Unquestioning acquiescence and blind loyalty to leaders in positions of power over human beings have no place in any institution of higher learning that values the pursuit of truth and search for justice. And in my mind, what is philosophy but the quest for truth and justice. I believe that there is great potential at BYU that will never be realized if the faculty, in certain areas of study, are limited in their research and work by the necessity of arriving at pre-approved answers given by church leaders.
Finally, when it comes to the sustaining of church leaders, I will always argue for the privilege of church members to examine, question, and dialogue with each other and with their leaders in order to genuinely sustain and support church doctrines and teachings. I do not believe that sustaining leaders requires either silent acquiescence or unquestioning conformity, but it does require active engagement with one another and with our church leaders, regardless of our place or position within church leadership hierarchies. If sustaining our leaders is to be real and genuine - not a sham as are elections in totalitarian governments - then members must be free to examine, question and benevolently criticize. Ultimately, I strongly believe that every person possesses the privilege to speak and the obligation to listen.
Again, I have only respect and admiration for you. I have enjoyed our association, and I also wish you the best.
Sincerely,
Jeff Nielsen
posted by Stenar at 18:56
6 Comments:
Kudos to Prof. Nielsen for his brave stance in standing up for academic freedom and against any hint of political totalitarianism, which brings to mind the horrendous and entirely inhumane policies of the Nazi regime, one which devalued human life and which showed us that humans can, indeed, become robots in service of one madman's sick fantasies, for one state's desire to exercise control over every aspect of the lives of its people, or for that matter, one religion's desire to exercise total control over the ideas, words, and actions of its followers, the result being the cessation of humanity as we know it in favor of non-thinking automatons, whose every response is entirely pre-programmed. Prof. Nielsen, you are the thinking person's hero!
It took guts to do that. I am taking a class from Mr. Nielsen right now and he seems like the guy that would stand strong to what he thinks. I don't agree with him at all, but I do admire his fervor.
I'm a current student of Professor Nielsen's Philosophy course, and I applaud him in standing up for his rights as a citizen, he is also a very reasonable fair professor and seems truely unbiased when it comes to discussion of religion or any contraversial topic for that matter. He is very level headed, easy to get along with, Takes the time to Communicate with his students, and I've learned more from him than any of my other professors.
Many institutions limit access to their online information. Making this information available will be an asset to all.
this kind of blog always useful for blog readers, it helps people during research. your post is one of the same for blog readers.
Sometimes our own ideas and explanation of things can really cause controversies that can even affect our personal life. It is always better to think second thoughts about things.
Post a Comment
<< Home