Since 1992, UVU’s Center for the Study of Ethics has held an Ethics Awareness Week. It is a week-long series of panels and lectures, and the center funds sessions selected from those submitted by faculty, staff and community members. Focused on ethical content in a variety of settings, the Center’s goal is to promote Ethics Across the curriculum and to foster dialog on ethical dilemmas that students face daily. This year’s Ethics Awareness Week was held Sept. 21-25 and was planned by Professor David Keller and Executive Program Coordinator for the Center for the Study of Ethics Don Lavange.
Revealing the Sacred: Is it Ever Ethical?
On Sept. 22 a panel discussion was held in response to the television show “BIG LOVE,” in which one scene took place in an LDS temple, and its portrayal of the sacred as part of Ethics Awareness week.
Below are highlights from the discussion.
Jack Christiansen
Special Assistant to the President for Engaged Learning, and Executive Director, Center for Engaged Learning
“It is a matter of respect to those who would not like it divulged.”
“When something is sacred to me I hold it very close to my heart.”
“There are some things that are part of my personal intimate life that I would not want to divulge into public view.”
Alex Caldiero
Artist?in?Residence
“I thought the scene from big love was beautifully portrayed.”
“The sacred is an entire experience and it cannot be violated”
“Censorship in any form is completely unnecessary.”
“The sacred and the secret are two very different phenomenons.”
Loyd Ericson
Adjunct Philosophy Instructor
“The question is not is it ethical to reveal the sacred but rather can we show the secret and private?”
“A lot of it has to do with intent.”
Lynn England
Lecturer in Sociology
“Part of out knowledge tradition is to want a universal knowledge and a standard of knowledge.”
“It should be public … a great deal of the work social scientists do is to reveal information, including sacred secrets”
“We can destroy sacredness by the form we use to present it.”
David Knowlton
Associate Professor of Anthropology
“This is an important issue in Utah as it becomes more diverse and more and more non-LDS people come.”
“There is no solid universal ground for the sacred. It shifts according to the people and sometimes it needs to be revealed”
“It is an issue of Cultural property.”
