When BYU Has the Audacity to Treat Everyone the Same

In the wake of Brandon Davies' suspension from the BYU basketball team due to Honor Code violations, it is easy for BYU's critics to accuse the school of placing religious beliefs before the Constitution, specifically our Constitutional right to privacy. It has been suggested that BYU's actions were oppressive towards those whose values don't necessarily coincide with its own.

Recently, however, BYU has demonstrated its impartial treatment of all students and faculty by pulling a painting from its bookstore that puts in a negative light anyone the author believes to be contrary to LDS principles. In his blog post entitled BYU Censors Artwork for Being Too Conservative, Jon McNaughton accuses the University of censorship when the BYU Bookstore decided not to sell prints of his painting. This painting depicts Christ at the Last Day, holding the U.S. Constitution, with patriots and families on His right hand and intellectuals (i.e. college professors, scientists, lawyers) on His left.

Now any Latter-Day Saint familiar with the scriptures (i.e. Section 29, Verse 27 of the Doctrine and Covenants) knows that we believe the righteous will be on Christ's right hand, and the wicked on His left. Furthermore, the painting depicts those on His left as suffering in agony over the realization of their unrighteous choices, while those on the right seem to be preaching to them. In other words, this was not unintentional.

McNaughton creates the political division for us with his suggestion that BYU pulled his painting so as not to offend liberals on campus. As a conservative former member of Academia, I take issue with that implication simply because I am not a liberal. The bigger issue, however, is McNaughton's implication that conservatism is righteous and liberalism is evil. The LDS Church has never declared any political loyalty, and for BYU, a Church-sanctioned school, to allow the distribution of a painting with such doctrinal implications, one would have to assume that the LDS Church endorses those implications. So of course BYU pulled it. It creates a hostile environment for a group of people that hold values McNaughton deems to be contrary to Gospel doctrine. For the record, General Authorities both past and present have been lawyers, professors, and even evolutionists. But I digress.

The worst part of McNaughton's suggestion that BYU is afraid of offending liberals is that such a suggestion would require him to ignore vast amounts of evidence to the contrary. If that assumption were correct, Brandon Davies would not have been suspended from the basketball team. BYU is constantly upholding LDS principles in the face of opposition and criticism. It is as if McNaughton expects BYU to protect his conservative values against persecution, but gets offended that the University would offer the same protection to everyone else. To make matters worse, he interprets this impartial treatment as instead being partial treatment towards what he deems to be liberal ideals.

It reminds me of when I was a little child. My older sister and I always fought, and seven times out of ten, my mother would side with me. There, I admitted it: I was spoiled. When she did side with my sister, however, I would accuse my mother of favoritism. McNaughton's protest against BYU's censorship demonstrates the same attitude. I don't know much of BYU's history, but I would hope that it protects the rights of "liberals" more than 30 percent of the time.