BYU Professors Promote Mormonism as Distinct From Christianity
Foundation announces new Mormon chapter
BYU University
By Kristine Lewis - 7 May 2009
With the help of BYU professors, the Foundation of Interreligious
Diplomacy announced the newly formed Mormon chapter, which is the first
organized chapter within the foundation.
The foundation provides a place for people of many religions or belief
systems to have in-depth discussions with others in an effort to help
build trust within religious categories that have a difference of
opinion.
The Mormon chapter was created because leaders of the foundation felt
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is unique enough to
have its own category, rather than grouping it in a generic Christian
category. The addition of the Mormon chapter should help the foundation
to expand and start a change in the way the foundation is currently
organized.
“We don’t always want to have large categories,” said Charles Randall
Paul, president of the Foundation of Interreligious Diplomacy. “The
addition of the Mormon chapter will help establish more individual
categories.”
The Mormon chapter is the first of several that the foundation will be
announcing in coming months. During discussions, representatives from
different religions come together to discuss what they believe in and
why they believe in it. This helps to improve interreligious relations
without any anger and with a great amount of respect.
“The two goals of the foundation are to create goodwill instead of
mistrust between religions and to get a clear and deep understanding of
other religions,” Paul said.
The establishment of the Mormon chapter came with the help of many Latter-day Saints, including a few BYU professors.
“With BYU professor Daniel Peterson on the board of the foundation, BYU
has played a role from the beginning,” said Brian Birch, president of
the Mormon chapter, in an e-mail. “Other BYU professors have been a
natural fit for the Mormon chapter given their work in interfaith
dialogue.”
The Mormon chapter will explore other religions or belief systems such
as secular humanists, Catholics and Muslims. Because of experience with
these other communities, other BYU professors will be invited to join
the chapter as they continue to build their base of support.
“I got involved because of my scholarly interest in other faith
traditions and also because of my concern for how we Latter-day Saints
present our faith to others,” said Spencer Fluhman, an assistant
professor of religious history. “I’ve long been convinced that we make
better neighbors and citizens when we know something of others’ faiths,
and the foundation provides a forum in which to engage in respectful
interreligious conversations.”