Why is the Church Educational System (CES)
so anti-evolution?
Discussing the CES system is very difficult. The members of this system are "paid for preaching," and officially have no ecclesiastical authority in the church. Although they have no right to receive revelation for anyone in the church regarding doctrine or other subjects, they are overseen by those who do have such authority. This creates a bizarre conundrum, where by implication, things taught by CES employees have an implicit "stamp of approval" by the church.
It is not the purpose of this site to attack anyone. It is important to understand that human beings run the CES system. People are not perfect, and in spite of our ability to be close to the spirit, even church leaders can disagree upon matters of doctrine‹and that's OK. We are all in this together.
In the middle of the last century, Joseph Fielding Smith and his son in law, Bruce R. McConkie dominated the CES system. They were two of the most intelligent scriptorians the church has ever had. When I took classes so that I could enter CES system at BYU, I soon found that these two leaders dominated the majority of quotes used on any doctrinal subject. I also found that quotes that disagreed with these gentlemen on any subject was greatly frowned upon. I could clearly see that church doctrine that stemmed from their unofficial publications was being taken as official doctrine. They were so strong in their teachings that they often didn't differentiate between official doctrine and opinion.
Some of this came to a head when Joseph Fielding Smith came to speak to the CES system at BYU to promote his book "Man his Origin and Destiny." David O. McKay was so concerned by this (having told Smith not to publish it), that he immediately sent J. Reuben Clark, Jr. to BYU to give a talk originally titled "When are the Writings or Sermons of Church Leaders Entitled to the Claim of Scripture" and now often referred to as the "When is a prophet speaking as a prophet" talk. The talk tells members clearly that the onus is upon them through the spirit to know the answer to the question!
When I arrived at BYU in the early 1980's, I noticed that the division between the science department and the Religion department had become almost comical. Official statements of the BYU science departments were clear cut and pro-evolution. The Religion Department (aka CES) members were on the opposite side of the issue. Twenty years later, (almost 100 years after the 1909 manuscript) they still are finding it difficult to budge. Thankfully, the church began requiring CES employees to have degrees in something other than "religion." Nonetheless, in order to succeed in the system, you need to conform.
In my discussions with CES employees, I was told that I "must not have a testimony" because I saw things a bit differently. I was actually in a class with a prominent teacher that said that "we are only loved by God to the degree we keep the commandments." When I disagreed, again, I didn't accept the scriptures then. Fortunately, other CES teachers were also in disagreement with that professor and affirmed God's unconditional love.
It is easy to become dogmatic. It's even easier if you are paid. My call to the CES employees, is to realize that we are surrounded by a world of knowledge and a world of people that have equal potential to receive revelation on the subjects in which they specialize. I believe Einstein was given knowledge from God as well as Darwin. Were their ideas perfect? Human ideas rarely are. When we study things out first, then ponder, THEN pray, we put ourselves in a better state to receive revelation. How can people pray about something they have never fully investigated except in "anti" literature? Surely we would like those studying Mormonism to do more than this as well.