LDS Church education officials have asked seminary principals and teachers to tone down Missionary Week activities so they don't cause concerns among non-LDS students, their parents and teachers.
Larry W. Tippetts, director of the Salt Lake Valley East Area of the Church Education System, said Tuesday this instruction was given to area directors last week.Youth and all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are admonished to "share the gospel" with nonmembers of the church, and Missionary Week activities in the seminaries have been held in response to that admonition.
In some seminaries, students came to school dressed in suits and white shirts and ties and tried to share their feelings about the church with students who were not members of the church.
Tippetts said Tuesday he can't think of any seminary in his area of responsibility where LDS seminaries, usually located in close proximity to high schools and junior high schools, have a day where LDS students are encouraged to come to school dressed in their best clothes and wearing nametags. Full-time missionaries for the church wear nametags which identify them as missionaries for the church.
Missionary Week activities "were never meant to be a mass proselytizing" of students not of the LDS faith, Tippetts said. "It has just been a way of preparing young people to think about serving future missions. A part of missionary week has included having full-time missionaries come to classrooms and speak about missionary life. I think they will continue to do that."
Carol Gnade, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah, told the Deseret News that she hasn't had any complaints this school year related to Missionary Week activities in LDS seminaries.
But to illustrate how some non-LDS or other students might be experiencing, Gnade said such activities can be a problem for some students who feel "isolated."
"Every year I get a handful of complaints, but the problem is that many students and parents feel afraid to speak out within the schools, fearing some sort of potential conflict may arise from reporting. They feel they can't discuss it with school officials for fear of some sort of retaliation," Gnade said.
David H. Madsen, principal of West Seminary, which serves LDS students who attend West High School and Horizonte School, said no Missionary Week activities are held at that seminary. But he said he and others at the seminary "talk about missionary service from time to time, and we try to be good neighbors to non-Mormons and non-seminary students at the school.