Let's Talk about Faith and Intellect

by Terryl L. Givens

Elder Ballard continued, “Gone are the days when a student asked an honest question and a teacher responded, ‘Don’t worry about it!’ Gone are the days when a student raised a sincere concern and a teacher bore his or her testimony as a response intended to avoid the issue.” Then, directly countering the anti-intellectual attacks and controversy avoidance of the 1980s, he recast honest scholars as assets rather than challengers of the faith. “If necessary, we should ask those with appropriate academic training, experience, and expertise for help.” “If you have questions” about historical issues, he continued, “ask someone who has studied them.”35 Elder Neil L. Andersen affirmed this approach: “Addressing honest questions is an important part of building faith, and we use both our intellect and our feelings.”36 President Russell M. Nelson summed up the case concisely: we should have a “sacred regard for intellect.”