I'm heartened to see that the CB reaction was very negative to BYU's policy. I didn't even have to post.
The issues are deeper than just the question of what to do with rape.
It has to do with the nature of repentance, worthiness, grace, excommunication.
The tension is how to have BYU be a different place with a certain atmosphere, while at the same time respecting agency, helping young adults be better people and improve.
We have this idea in the church that punishment is a path to repentance. That it's an act of love to excommunicate members. And that this also helps the church as a whole. Like amputation of a rotting limb.
And that there are no exceptions.
Hence, the mindset that leads investigating rape victims for HC violations, and kicking rape victims out of school who have violated the HC.
I'm very curious to see how BYU and the church leadership will respond to this controversy. I think it's quite possible that they will vigorously defend what they are doing. It's also possible that they will take a step back. I just don't know. And I feel kind of sad that I don't know how this will shake out. I feel sad for this institution.
I've long said that the honor code is not really an honor code. It's a code of conduct. It's a requirement of attendance. And it is externally enforced. All schools will have a code of conduct. You can't commit certain crimes, or commit academic fraud and still remain. But of course the BYU code of conduct reaches into all areas of life, including what you wear, how you shave, etc.
It makes me wonder. Do we envision Christ's millennial reign as something like BYU. With an Honor Code office. And Carri Jenkins as the Minister of Information? Is BYU the utopia of existence? Or is it something that is actually quite un-Christlike, something that the Iranian Mullahs would heartily approve of?
The soul of any institution is constantly up for grabs. And this is one of those cases where the stakes are quite clear.
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