Facial Hair and Church Leadership Callings

[DispensatorMysteriorum]

Ok, so everybody knows that none of the general authorities have facial hair. We also know that generally temple works are to shave. We also know that leaders have been asked before to shave when serving in priesthood leadership positions.

My question is this--is there any official church policy regarding church leadership positions and facial hair? I seem to recollect hearing that the first presidency said not to require people to shave, but I have yet to see the letter myself or anything official myself. A little clarification would be nice. Please add whatever you know (anecdotal comments included!).

[Gohan]

Don't know if there's any official policy on it, although we have a few Bishops on here, maybe they'll pop in. I do know that I've seen a bishopric member with a nice beard before though.

[frankenstein]

I have never heard anything "official" I did attend a Temple session where the officiator had a full salt and pepper beard, this was early 2000's.

I knew a Stake President who would not issue Temple Recommends to unshaven men.

However, if we are to follow the example of the prophets and apostles, then I beleive Heber J Grant was the last Prophet with facial hair.

I have also been told that that comparison is not fair because David McKay did not have facial hair because of having Native American lineage, I just smiled when told this one.

[cinepro]

However, if we are to follow the example of the prophets and apostles, then I beleive Heber J Grant was the last Prophet with facial hair.

George Albert Smith:

[thesometimesaint]

My Apostle.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Pope-peter_pprubens.jpg

[Bernard Gui]

I have it on good authority that the only true Mormons actually push their whiskers back

in and bite them off from the inside.

Bernard

PS...One local authority asked me (when I had a beard) why I would cultivate on my

face that which grows wild on my a--. I don't know about anyone else, but my hair

grows anywhere it wishes, except---- at the present time it does not choose to grow on my

head. Others may wish to use their testosterone for growing head hair, but I have

better uses for mine.

[Bernard Gui]

Ok, so everybody knows that none of the general authorities have facial hair. We also know that generally temple works are to shave. We also know that leaders have been asked before to shave when serving in priesthood leadership positions.

My question is this--is there any official church policy regarding church leadership positions and facial hair? I seem to recollect hearing that the first presidency said not to require people to shave, but I have yet to see the letter myself or anything official myself. A little clarification would be nice. Please add whatever you know (anecdotal comments included!).

Probably to avoid having your High Council look like this:

http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

Bernard

[jadams_4242]

Ok, so everybody knows that none of the general authorities have facial hair. We also know that generally temple works are to shave. We also know that leaders have been asked before to shave when serving in priesthood leadership positions.

My question is this--is there any official church policy regarding church leadership positions and facial hair? I seem to recollect hearing that the first presidency said not to require people to shave, but I have yet to see the letter myself or anything official myself. A little clarification would be nice. Please add whatever you know (anecdotal comments included!).

Well in the scriptures it is repleat thruout with many commands and testmonies of shaving the head and "or" the face... {all the scriptures} which are two numerous for me to account.. anyway from this i would say there just might be some divine intent besides the fact faciel and unkempt hair simply gives an aura of disrespect..

[katherine the great]

From what I understand, Jewish men were required to sport facial hair once they were married and were forbidden to shave their heads. I believe this abhorrance to shaving is (was) a remnant of their hatred of the Egyptians. IMHO, its nothing more or less than cultural preference.

[frankenstein]

cinepro, yep that who i meant Smith.

----------------------

clean shaven is right up there with neck-ties in terms of cultural nonsense.

[Lightbearer]

I am clean shaven, and although I do not have a beard I do have rather long "Elvis-like" sideburns which extend just below my ears. Shortly after my Mission I grew a short beard in honor of Pioneer day for a "beard growing contest" (this was about 30 years ago 1981-82) and I shaved it off right after the contest. About five years after my Mission I grew a moustache (it was my "Magnum P.I. Tom Selleck" phase) I kept it for about a year until I had someone try to guess my age and thought I was 10 years older than I really was... I went home and shaved it off and never grew one again. Back in the 1990's I had a Bishop who wore a full beard during his entire service as Bishop. This same Bishop became a member of the High Council and a few years ago shaved it all off. He also remains beardless after being called as a Councilor in the Stake Presidency. I heard a few years ago that nobody was to be called as a Veil worker in the Temple unless they are clean shaven (perhaps Garden Girl knows if this is true). My father-in-law has a full beard and has been in a couple of Bishoprics. We currently have a Ward Mission Leader who not only has a full beard but also shoulder length hair. So unless the new CHI has something in it I do not think there is anything "official" but I generally do not like to have a beard, it is itchy and gets in my way.

[CQUIRK]

I knew a Stake President who would not issue Temple Recommends to unshaven men.

Better contact a Area Authority quick if this is still going on.

[Bob Crockett]

About 5 years ago Area Authorities were counseling stake presidents to urge priesthood holders to be clean shaven and to wear white shirts and suits. That filtered down to the bishops where I heard it. But the way it was presented to me didn't lead me to want to go out and preach it as doctrine and so I didn't. I've heard nothing since. I assume today it was guidance and nothing more.

[blackstrap]

I think acceptance into the quorum of the 12 should come with the requirement to grow a beard,preferably white. And they should allow their hair to grow out so that as they progress up the seniority list they approach the semblance of

the holy ancients. Would that not set us apart is a peculiar people?

(tongue firmly in cheek)and yet...

By the way, lightbearer,the way to avoid an itchy beard is to NOT TOUCH IT !

[Hamba Tuhan]

My question is this--is there any official church policy regarding church leadership positions and facial hair?

I possess both new Church Handbooks of Instruction and have read them through cover-to-cover. Facial hair is mentioned in neither of them (and wasn't in the previous handbooks, either). So, the smple answer to your question is no.

We also know that leaders have been asked before to shave when serving in priesthood leadership positions.

I certainly don't know this. I've never once experienced it. In my life. And I've had facial hair of one kind or another from the age of 14 until now, the two years of my mission excepted. I've been both a ward and a stake executive secretary, a Young Men president, a ward mission leader, and elders quroum president, etc. My facial hair, as per Church policy, has been a non-issue in each instance.

We also know that generally temple works are to shave.

I was actually working in the temple (baptistery on Saturday mornings) when this policy was introduced in the early 2000s. I wish I could remember the exact phrasing of the letter which accompanied these first-ever dress and grooming guidelines, but it was something to the effect that the Temple Department had been persuaded to introduce consistent guidelines specifically because people had complained that requirements had varied from temple to temple. Like the ancient Jews, we tend to get what we ask for....

Having said that, the policy says male temple workers should 'generally' be without facial hair. I had some at the time, of course, and was also acting. I explained that I couldn't shave since the facial hair went with the role, and that was fine.

[LDSToronto]

It's mythology, as far as I know. Yes, some will tell you, "No facial hair". As soon as mormonism frees itself of silly rules like this, the better it will be.

H.

[DispensatorMysteriorum]

I am currently serving as elders quorum president. I asked my stake president what the policy was and he said we should be clean shaven. I've heard others remark this way before in other instances with other callings. So, yes, there has been at least some unofficial policy put in place in some places to that affect. I'm looking for something more definitive, however.

[cinepro]

Best Beards in Mormon History

And the winner:

Orson Pratt

[kolipoki09]

Probably to avoid having your High Council look like this:

http://www.worldbeardchampionships.com/

Bernard

When I saw this picture, methinks I saw Dr. Steuss.

http://beardteamusa.org/btusa/jackpassion/

[Hamba Tuhan]

I am currently serving as elders quorum president. I asked my stake president what the policy was and he said we should be clean shaven. I've heard others remark this way before in other instances with other callings. So, yes, there has been at least some unofficial policy put in place in some places to that affect. I'm looking for something more definitive, however.

You're not going to find anything 'more definitive' because your stake president is making this 'policy' up.

[LDSToronto]

You're not going to find anything 'more definitive' because your stake president is making this 'policy' up.

It's all part of that 'unwritten code' that gets taught by Area Authorities and then passed around as doctrine.

H.

[Hamba Tuhan]

It's all part of that 'unwritten code' that gets taught by Area Authorities and then passed around as doctrine.

Isn't 'unwritten code' just code itself for 'stuff people make up'?

We have a brother in our ward who must have encountered some of this nonsense at some point because one Sunday I caught him harrassing one of our priests about his beard. He was telling the poor boy that the prophet had banned facial hair. I flipped out and asked him to identify when and where. He said it was in the handbook. I told him I was intimately familiar with the handbook and would give him $20,000 if he could show it to me. I suspect one of the best antidotes to Pharisaical nonsense is people who know what the actual policies of the Church are and who are willing to speak up. Unfortunately, far too many leaders would rather rely on tradition than policy because the latter actually requires effort to become familiar with it.

[LDSToronto]

Isn't 'unwritten code' just code itself for 'stuff people make up'?

Yup. I had an Area Authority tell me that I had to be clean shaven, wear short hair, conservative dark suit and tie, white shirt only, shined black shoes when I was in metings. I was told that sports jackets are for 'sport' (like what???) and were not appropriate for Church, and that coloured shirts were for homosexuals (he didn't use that word, but alluded to the fact that pastel coloured shirts were not for real men, nudge nudge wink wink).

I didn't want to embarrass my stake president who was also in the meeting when this was said, but I couldn't find a single thing beyond the white-shirt-to-pass-sacrament rule in the handbook, so I promptly ignored what he said.

H.

[Hamba Tuhan]

I didn't want to embarrass my stake president who was also in the meeting when this was said, but I couldn't find a single thing beyond the white-shirt-to-pass-sacrament rule in the handbook, so I promptly ignored what he said.

Er, there's no 'white-shirt-to-pass-sacrament rule' in the handbook. In fact, both past and current handbooks have, in addition to encouraging white shirts and ties for those who bless and pass the sacrament, specifically forbidden priesthood leaders making such dress a 'mandatory prerequisite' for participation.*

It makes one wonder how many others in the meeting weren't aware that the AA was merely preaching personal preference, not policy, hey?

-----

*By the way, here's the exact quote: 'Ties and white shirts are recommended because they add to the dignity of the ordinance. However, they should not be required as a mandatory prerequisite for a priesthood holder to participate. Nor should it be required that all be alike in dress and appearance.'

[Bernard Gui]

When I saw this picture, methinks I saw Dr. Steuss.

http://beardteamusa.org/btusa/jackpassion/

A most prodigious shrub!

In almost every way I'm a true-blue dyed in the wool through-and-through Mormon, but the facial hair thing is beyond my ken.

Bernard

[edit]

Well, on further thought, it occurs to me that the current aversion

to facial hair may come from a concerted effort to separate us moderns from the stereotyped bearded polygamists of the previous generations.

I must say that Joseph F. Smith and George Q. Cannon are also

contenders for Beard of the Church. It is my understanding that Brother Brigham was barbate for only a few months, but the most familiar photos of him are with his shrub.

I think the best bush of all time was Porter's, but of course, he was not a General Authority.

http://www.truesecretsof.com/Images/Orin%20Porter.jpg