June 10th, 2007 a fish out of the water

This is the first post in about a month. I decided to stop writing for the summer, but I have come across something that I think will be interesting to write about.

Right now, I am in Provo, Utah at Brigham Young University (BYU), the bastion of conservative mormons. I will be living here for the next 2 months. As you know, I am a staunch atheist, so I feel like a fish out of water. You can bet I have had some contentious confrontations with the super-religious people here.

I’m in Utah to take part in a summer research program for undergraduates, called an REU. My research is in mathematical physics, and I am working with professors and grad students among with other undergraduate peers in this program. But the most interesting part is that all this is taking place at BYU, and I had no clue what this place was like until I got here.

BYU is a university founded and still funded by Mormons, a Christian sect originating out of the midwest United States in the 19th century. For a comprehensive (and probably more accurate)  explanation of Mormonism, you can check out Wikipedia, but here is what I know: Joseph Smith was an American colonialist who claimed to have visions from God, and he apparently found some golden plates in the mountains, which he promptly copied onto paper and published. Of course, no body except Smith ever saw the plates. The contents of the plates tell a story of Jews migrating to the Unites States millenia before the colonialists settled there, and apparently the Native American Indians are the jewish descendants. Furthermore, Jesus Christ apparently visited the United States after resurrection. Obviously, there are no archaeological or historical evidence for any of this. But nevertheless, this document Smith claimed to have received from God is known as The Book of Mormon, and the Mormons use it as a holy text in addition to the traditional bible.

Being in Provo, Utah is a culture shock for me. Bible scriptures written in public places, college students singing hymns during their free time, and other unbearable religious practices.  I’ve even had debates with my roommate, who is a Mormon.

The most notable part is that I was forced to sign an ‘Honor Code Agreement’ to live on campus and do research here. The code prohibits ANY use of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, coffee, pornography, profane words, rated R movies, sleeveless shirts, sandals, etc… You can see how ridiculous this is. I wouldn’t do most of those things anyways, but I disagree with it on principle.

The biggest inconvenience is my long hair. Apparently, guys are not allowed to have long hair or beards. The cafeteria, library, the gym, and other places will refuse me service unless I explain that I am a visitor and apologize. Thankfully, the professor who is in charge of are research group is quite liberal, and he has made some phone calls to make it easier for me.

But nevertheless, I am infuriated at the religious conservativeness here. On principle, I find this sort of censorship disgusting. What purpose does prohibiting profane words serve? Why take such a artificial social construction so seriously? If the religious are to claim that they have some superiority on the knowledge of how the universe works, they must realize this: curse words, long hair, pornography, or even drugs for that matter, is like a grain of sand in the overall scheme of the universe. How ever unpleasant it might be, human life is only a VERY VERY small part of the universe, and if there is a God, it may not even know where Earth is.

Stayed tuned for more of my misadventures of an Atheist in Provo, Utah.