Posted on 11/18/2011 3:21:38 PM PST by Colofornian
(To see Cal Grondahl’s cartoon that goes with this post, click here) In the latest issue of Sunstone magazine, Gary James Bergera has a very interesting article, “The Moniteering of BYU Faculty Tithing Payments, 1957-1963,” that involves yet another historical nugget of mirth created by the university’s late president, Ernest D. Wilkinson. Wilkinson, upon assuming the presidency of BYU in the 1950s, was outraged that some BYU professors paid only a partial tithing, and some paid none at all.
(I digress here to admit that I too, was surprised that there were/are tithing shortfalls among BYU professors. I would have that “giving the Lord 10 percent” was something that one wouldn’t have to worry about at the Lord’s University. But it was, and had been for most of the 20th Century. Wilkinson was determined “to use an individual’s tithing history to help determine raises, promotions, and even continuing employment,” writes Bergera.
At one point, Wilkinson told LDS Church President David O. McKay that 27 percent of BYU faculty were either part tithing payers or paid no tithing at all. Wilkinson’s efforts, though, to get detailed reports of faculty tithing records descended into J. Edgar Hoover spoof when he encountered opposition from local bishoprics and stake presidencies. They understood better than Wilkinson the ethical aspects of the Law of Tithing, that taught that it was a private matter between a church member and his ecclesiastical leader. Eventually, Wilkinson was able to get the names of partial and non-tithe payers, but was stymied in his efforts to get specific details.
Wilkinson also received considerable opposition from faculty at BYU, who balked at having their academic credentials be determined by how much tithing they paid. Many faculty members, including department heads, resigned over the rule. At one point Wilkinson groused in his journal that it was primarily “English, political science and history” departments that were in opposition.
One faculty member who found himself in Wilkinson’s aim was Kent Fielding, a BYU instructor who had admitted he no longer had “a testimony of the Gospel.” When asked how he been approved to teach at BYU, Fielding replied that in his interview, apostle (and future LDS President) Harold B. Lee had asked only two questions: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?; and, “Have you ever been unfaithful to your wife?”
Wilkinson confronted Lee on Fielding’s claim that his testimony had not been probed during his interview, and Bergera reports, using Wilkinson’s own notes, that it led fiery words between the BYU president and the LDS apostle.
Wilkinson wrote, “… I had told Brother Lee about this at the time, and Brother Lee, whose main weakness as far as I can see is that he cannot accept criticism, had interpreted it as serious criticism on my part of him…” Lee, according to Wilkinson’s recollections, sneered that the BYU president was “naive” if he was unaware that many BYU faculty did not have testimonies of the Gospel. Wilkinson further wrote, “He (Lee) was smarting very much under what I thought was my criticism of him for not having properly interrogated Brother Fielding.”
Fielding, after refusing to pay tithing and answer questions as a protest against Wilkinson’s policy, eventually had his employment terminated.
The policy that Wilkinson eventually crafted and tried to follow was that partial tithe payers would have their raises decreased by the amount they owed on a full tithing. For example, if Wilkinson determined that a professor had robbed the Lord of $600 in his tithing payments, a $1,000 raise for said professor would be decreased to $400. Professors not paying any tithing would be in danger of losing their employment at BYU. Wilkinson insisted more than once that no one was “forced” to pay tithing, while also insisting that any BYU professor who wanted to teach there would pay his tithing.
The policy prompted panicky attempts by some BYU faculty to try to turn back the clock. As Bergera reports, Wilkinson noted in his writings that one professor insisted in his interview that he had paid a full tithing.
When Wilkinson had the matter looked at, he discovered that the professor had gone to his bishop after the New Year and — much to the Bishop’s confusion — had begged that his tithe payment be applied retroactively.
Bergera estimates that over eight years, at least “two dozen (probably more) teachers were dismissed or resigned” due to church problems that had their genesis with Wilkinson’s tithing crackdown.
The BYU leader left the university in 1963 to run a failed U.S. Senate campaign. When he returned, he discovered a church leadership more resistant to the tactics he had advocated during his first term at BYU. As Bergera notes, “current BYU policy strictly prohibits the release of faculty tithing information to university administrators.”
Although I oppose any Wilkinsonian efforts to force tithing payments on any faculty, I am, I confess, surprised that anyone employed by the LDS Church (and that is the employer of BYU faculty) does not pay a full tithe. Maybe it’s because I’m a “born in the baptismal font member,” but before I read Bergera’s piece, I just assumed BYU workers were tithe payers the LDS Church Presiding Bishopric didn’t have to worry about.
This post also ran in Currents, the Standard-Examiner’s digital-only section on politics and culture. For more information on Currents, call 801-625-4400.
Has anyone ping restornu or Ripliancum? They were the big deniers on this issue of ‘pay stub tithing’.
Also Norm, Sandy and Blue all said it doesn’t happen. (Although Norm was the nicest about it.)
Thanks for the ping.
NOT TRUE
Just another anti Mormon story. Yawn.
Most Christian faiths believe that a 10% tithe is Biblical and appropriate. Of course, one can find a Bible version and interpret the Bible to suit one’s own agenda. I don’t care.
Don’t talk to us about the bible, lawyer, your LDS offshoot sect of mormonism threw FLDS/LDS “Prophet” Joseph Smith’s retranslation in the dumpster after Brigham Young declared it a fraud.
“Don’t talk to us about the bible, lawyer”
I love the Bible; I have read it cover to cover many times and more than one version, too. I’ll stick with the King James version, mind you.
I like it that when I attend Church we all have the KJV of the Bible. In the days when I attended other Christian churches you never knew which version the pastor was using and people in the congregation would have different versions. It was confusing.
P.S. Being called a “lawyer” really hurts. Ha!
What’s not true, that Norm is a nice guy? Stop being so cryptic, it’s boring.
You won't find references to tithing in the New Testament (other than the note in Hebrews that Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, and thus the Levites, in the loins of Abraham, also paid this tithe). And the references in the Old Testament were unique to the Nation of the Hebrews for the maintenance of the Levite priesthood. A priesthood that has been forever abolished by our Great High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You'll not find references to tithing in the Confessions of the Reformation: the Belgic and Westminster Confessions. Martin Luther did not support tithing,so I presume this excludes the Lutherans.
The Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox churches don't tithe.
I believe many individual Baptist churches require tithing... But I'd hardly call that as representative of 'most' Christian faiths.
But that said, clearly all we have belongs to the Lord. We are told to be cheerful givers and to provide for those who provide us with spiritual food.
I don't see the tithing requirement, but knowing that we owe everything to the Lord, giving back ten percent of what He has given us for his service seems a bare minimum. But that is for the individual to decide.
2. a. A qualifying or amplifying word, phrase, or sentence inserted within written matter in such a way as to be independent of the surrounding grammatical structure.
I have all ready been lectured here on the use of brackets.
There is only one statement in #22 and I say that it is not true.
Joseph Smith history teaches that God(s) appeared to tell Joe not to use the KJV bible because it had become mistranslated. So he spent several years "fixing" it, and you discard the fix for the reason for the whole new religion ?
Really, how do you square this with reality ? It bugged me a little for many years when I was a member, it just cannot make any sense no matter how you try ot believe in it.
The thought process pretzle that must go on inside your head stuns me. When somebody asked me about the JST bible when I was a devout member I would shut up and walk away, then pray for faith.
You stand here essentially openly declaring that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God(s) AND he FRAUDULENTLY "retranslated" the entire bible.
Saudra, step back, open your eyes, be free.
KJV 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Test all things; hold fast what is good.
Joseph Smith Translation 1 Thessalonians 5:21
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
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