By Jared Preusz
Everybody”s LDS.
At least that is what a majority of students at BYU think about people they see on campus.
What these students do not realize, however, is that some recent converts blend in with the crowd. These few find it hard to relate to such a lifelong LDS society and are often puzzled by the doctrine of the church.
This struggle is especially evident in religion classes, where many students feel overwhelmed by the doctrine and uncomfortable at times still learning the principles that most have already learned.
Leandro Justen, who has only been a member for a month now, still struggles to adapt to his Book of Mormon class.
“I think it”s way more challenging for me,” Justen said. “Most of the people in the class have been in the church for most of their lives. It”s hard for me because I don”t know the background of the Book of Mormon. I am not familiar with the characters or the prophets.”
Justen, a junior and member of the BYU men”s volleyball team, said despite the struggles of adjusting to religion classes, he enjoys them because of the spirit he feels in the classroom.
“Before I came to BYU, I didn”t know anything about the Book of Mormon,” he said. “Now by taking the class, it is helping me to know more about the book and it is strengthening my testimony.”
Justen said his Religion 100 class last semester is what originally sparked his interest in the Gospel. His friends, however, were “the most important factor” in his decision to join the church. He wanted to have the same experiences as his friends and they encouraged him to take the lessons from the missionaries.
John Livingstone, associate department chair of church history and doctrine, is currently a teacher of Religion 100, Introduction to the LDS Church. His classes are comprised of mostly non-members and some recent converts.
Livingstone said about five students join the church every semester while taking his class.
“The students who join the church are captivated by the doctrine,” Livingstone said. “They sense that it is true. They tend to initiate a personal investigation in the church. They are not only responding to a spiritual conversion, but a social conversion as well.”
To develop this spiritual and social conversion to the church, some new members prefer religion classes tailored to their current understanding of the church.
Richard Draper, associate dean of religious education, said there are no religion classes specifically targeted to recent converts.
“It would be very difficult to identify them,” said Draper. “We try to get recent converts into the mainstream. We feel that any student at BYU should be able to take a collegiate-level religion class without being disadvantaged.”
Draper said there is one exception to this rule. He said there are two kinds of Book of Mormon classes, one for returned missionaries and one for pre-missionaries. Draper said these two courses are designed to help all students understand the Book of Mormon better.
In addition to these classes, religion professors at BYU make a consistent effort to help converts and non-members understand the material that is taught.
Stanley Johnson, professor of ancient scripture, pairs those new to the doctrines of the church with students who know the information.
“At the first of the semester I invite those who are members of other faiths or those who are recent converts to study with those who do well on quizzes on exams,” Johnson said. “I do it and the tutors do this out of the goodness of their hearts. They do this in groups and sometimes in larger groups they will have study sessions.”
Despite this effort that professors put forth in their lectures, some students and teachers can make comments in religion classes that can offend or upset recent converts.
“A lot of times the teacher and the students assume that everyone has been a member their whole life,” said Kim Fabick, a recent convert taking an institute class. “They think that everyone has the same knowledge about the doctrines and even church history, but that is not true.”
Even though there are about 22,000 students on campus having a positive experience taking religion classes, there are a few recent converts that do not. Sophomore Josh Flores, who joined the church 10 months ago, said he learned the gospel better from his peers than from his Book of Mormon class.
“I learned more about the gospel interacting with the people in the class than I did through the exams,” Flores said. “If anything, the exams made me memorize what I read rather than to understand what I read.”
Flores said he also faced challenges with lifelong members in religion classes before he was a member of the church. He said he felt alienated among his peers in his Book of Mormon class and was sometimes offended by the comments they made.
Flores said his perspective of these students and religion classes, however, changed after he joined the church.
“I have liked religion classes and I still do,” Flores said. “After I got baptized, I realized that everyone with me in the class were on the same paths but had different views. I didn”t notice that when I wasn”t a member. It wasn”t until I gained a testimony that I realized why people made the comments they made and asked the questions they asked.”
