ABOUT FAITH IS NOT BLIND

The seeds for faithisnotblind.org were planted in 1963 in a small BYU honors religion class called “Your Religious Problems.” For the two of us (Marie and Bruce), just meeting each other there solved our biggest religious problem.  But in addition, students would do research about their chosen topic, lead a class discussion about it, then we each wrote our analysis about it–such mind-stretching  topics as plural marriage, race and the priesthood, criticisms of the Book of Mormon, Joseph’s teachings, Brigham’s teachings, how to live the gospel more fully, and many morSome seedlings from those beginnings later sprouted in Bruce’s 1979 devotional talk at BYU, “On Dealing With Uncertainty.”  For example, “Our encounters with reality and disappointment are in fact vital stages in the development of our maturity and understanding.” (See “Tips for Leaders, Parents, and Teachers” in this website.)

Several years later, especially with the advent of the Internet in the late 1990’s, we were surprised at the number of people who began telling us that a friend or family member had given them a copy of that Uncertainty talk—and that it had helped them deal with hard questions. Perhaps it could help Church members to know that, when handled with care, dealing with those hard questions could actually create vital stages to aide in developing our spiritual maturity and understanding. So we wrote Faith Is Not Blind (Deseret Book 2018), seeking to clarify and expand on those early ideas in “On Dealing with Uncertainty” –and apply them to the new demands and puzzles of the Internet culture.

In the meantime, however, some of our younger friends and family members helped us see that the younger readers we hoped to reach were much more likely to pay attention to social media than to traditional books.

​After we had explored numerous social media options, the approach that most grabbed our attention came from our daughter Sarah and her husband Eric d’Evegnee, who both teach English at BYU-Idaho. It was soon clear to all of us that many of the people we were reaching out to could (and would) find their own stories in the faith stories recounted in these interviews.   In other words, the FINB book taught the theory of our project, while the podcasts on the FINB.org website showed the practice.  Sarah and Eric now manage the website project.

Assisted by their videographer, Chris Mawlam, who also teaches at BYU-I, they jumped into a first round of high quality podcast interviews with Church members who told their personal stories about their faith struggles in fresh and honest ways on faithisnotblind.org. Soon the website expanded, until it now offers over 75 audio/video podcasts–with more to come. In addition, the site has recently added about 50 written, first-person “narratives of return” by people who left the Church over faith crisis issues—and have now returned.  Contributing authors Sarah and Eric d’Evegnee have richly enhanced this offering by adding (1) a narrative analysis of the findings and major themes of the stories and (2) a rhetorical analysis of the stories’ meaning and implications.

These podcasts and stories of return have also become a source of insight and data that have helped parents, friends, leaders, and religion teachers to understand with more empathy what those who struggle with religious uncertainty are going through and how best to help them. See, for example, our written remarks to the BYU religion faculty, “Teaching Students to Deal with Questions and Doubts: A Perspective and a Pattern,” published in the 2020 Religious Educator and available in the “Tips for Leaders, Teachers, and Parents” section of this website.  

Elder Bruce C. Hafen was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in 1996 and has been an Emeritus General Authority since 2010. An internationally recognized family law scholar, he has served as president of BYU-Idaho, dean of the BYU Law School and Provost at BYU-Provo. Two of his past books won the year’s best book award from Deseret Book: The Broken Heart in 1989 and A Disciple’s Life: The Biography of Neal A. Maxwell in 2002. He recently served as president of the St George Utah Temple.

Marie K. Hafen has an MA in Literature in composition and has taught classes on Shakespeare, writing, and the Book of Mormon. She has been a contributing author to several books, including Covenant Hearts: Why Marriage Matters and How to Make it Last and The Contrite Spirit: How the Temple Helps Us Apply Christ’s Atonement. She has served on the Young Women General Board and on the Deseret News Board of Directors, and as the matron of the St. George Utah Temple.