By Cortney Bean
Utah Valley State College plans to offer a Mormon Cultural Studies class next spring that will address issues concerning Latter-day Saint influence and representation in both Mormon and non-Mormon communities.
'The course is about how Mormon identity and non-Mormon identity are constructed not necessarily by the LDS church but by American culture,' said Phil Gordon, co-teacher of the class and chair of the Communications Department. 'The mainstream in Utah is different than the mainstream in the rest of the country.'
Dennis Potter, philosophy professor and Mormon Studies coordinator in the Religious Studies program at UVSC, will co-teach with Gordon. Potter said he thinks this class is different than the classes offered at BYU because it is not doctrinal based.
'Given that BYU''s religious education mission is primarily devotional, we feel that an academic emphasis at UVSC provides an important addition to the educational opportunities in Utah,' Potter said.
However, a similar class is offered at BYU called Sociology of Mormonism, taught by professor Howard M. Bahr. Bahr''s class focuses on the LDS Church from a social science perspective.
'The sociology of religion, as typically practiced, is solely a secular approach,' Bahr said.
In his course syllabus, Bahr said he desires to include alternative perspectives on Mormonism and religion generally in American by looking at long-term secular trends to see how the LDS culture is similar to or different than other people.
One difference the class at UVSC will have is the non-Mormon perspectives from the voice of one professor.
'I''m a non-religious, ethnic Jew,' Gordon said. 'There''s the phenomenon of being non-Mormon, which has no meaning anywhere outside of Utah. If you''re not a Mormon and you come to Utah, you have a new identity.'
Students at UVSC welcome the opportunity to take the course.
Liz Duersch, physical education and recreation major at UVSC, said that it would benefit the school to have a class that directly addresses the issues of religion.
'There are a lot of non-members that do go to UVSC,' she said, 'and it would help the environment a little more, at least for the non-members if they took the class, to know the culture and why we are the way we are.'
Duersch said having a 'non-member' teach the class would be acceptable as long as he knows a lot about the subject.
' appreciate the opportunity to discuss their religion or the religion of their neighbors in an academic environment that respects all viewpoints,' Potter said.