#clark gilbert

[nerdygaymormon]

[nerdygaymormon]

Did you see that Clark Gilbert is the newest apostle? What do you think of him?

I got onto the church website to use the directory and pinned to the top was the announcement, and my heart sank. He is the one I feared may be called.

On a positive note, Clark Gilbert, formerly a president of BYU–Idaho, was credited with developing the PathwayConnect in 2009, a one-year, reduced-cost, online program offered to students wherever they lived. In 2017, this became BYU–Pathway Worldwide and Clark Gilbert was its president from 2017 to 2021.

As an apostle he could focus on lifting members worldwide with greater access to education

He served as Commissioner of the Church Educational System (CES) from August 2021 until his call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on February 11, 2026. He implemented many controversial policies aimed at faculty and programs at BYU with the goal of having a more "overtly orthodox" atmosphere at BYU. He sees BYU’s “unique mission” as cultivating religious faith in classrooms and across the campus.

My understanding is he has a child who left the Church after attending BYU, and consequently Elder Gilbert became focused on rooting out possible sources that could have caused such a thing to happen, nothing which could cause someone to question their faith should be encountered on campus. He seems especially focused on things related to women, families and LGBTQ issues.

These policies led to the cutting of some programs, and a strong encouragement to not discuss things in the classrooms which differ from doctrine (at least differ from the way he understands doctrine) even if academically relevant. He added a requirement that faculty members have a “testimony” of the church’s teachings on “marriage, family and gender” — including its opposition to same-sex marriage.

There's always been a big difference between the Liberty and Bob Jones Universities of the world and BYU, and it's because BYU encouraged academic research and rigor alongside faith. To make everything subject to an ideological litmus test undermines the differences.

One positive about him becoming an apostle is he will no longer be the CES commissioner and his continued pressure on BYU to submit to his will is over.

I fear Elder Gilbert will happily become the far-right cultural warrior apostle who is staunchly anti-LGBTQ.

What I'm holding onto is that there is a difference between being a commissioner of education and being an apostle. Perhaps we'll see Christ's love for all of God's children be reflected by him in this new role.

[pewresearch]

"We want to own faith and the family the way the Washington Post owns politics."

Deseret News CEO Clark Gilbert, in the Pew Research Center's new report on successful revenue-generating strategies for newspapers. The Deseret News in Salt Lake City is one example of a paper that has embraced digital production and focused its content on a specific targeted audience. The paper has seen an average annual growth of 44% in digital revenue since 2010 as well as significant increases in print circulation. Read more.