BYU-Hawaii sued in scattershot effort to chase immortality

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Sir Paul McCartney once wrote an earworm of a ditty about silly love songs that’s worth altering slightly to talk about a suit filed last month against nearly 100 colleges and universities, including Brigham Young University-Hawaii.

Some people want to fill the world with silly lawsuits

And what’s wrong with that?

I’d like to know

‘Cause here I go again

Age Reversal Unity has filed at least three lawsuits against dozens of schools in New York, New Jersey and Hawaii. It asks federal courts in those states not only to declare that dozens of colleges and universities are obligated “to establish an undergraduate degree program in immortality” but also to compel them to launch such a program.

“Immortality, as evidenced by the biological phenomenon observed in the ‘immortal jellyfish’ (Turritopsis dohrnii), represents a pinnacle of evolutionary achievement and a potential future for humanity,” the lawsuit against BYU-Hawaii begins.

If that sounds silly, hold on a second. That jellyfish does exist, and it does rejuvenate itself. A 2012 New York Times story referred to it as a “unique strand of biological immortality.”

However, a professor quoted in that piece noted that the jellyfish’s immortality is not what the word suggests. The cells are immortal, but not the being. When the cells recycle, the original jellyfish is replaced by a reconstituted jellyfish. Replicated in a human, the new being would be a clone.

So that’s not what is silly about the lawsuit. Neither is Age Reversal Unity’s statement that “an undergraduate degree program in immortality would significantly contribute to the advancement of human knowledge and well-being, potentially leading to breakthroughs in age reversal, genetic engineering and (other) related fields.”

The problem with the lawsuits is that U.S. laws and federal courts don’t tell colleges and universities what courses they must offer or what degree programs they must have, despite Age Reversal Unity futilely grasping at constitutional reasons why its suit should succeed.

For example, the late Justice Felix Frankfurter’s concurrence in a 1957 U.S. Supreme Court case ( Sweezy v. New Hampshire , 354 U.S. 234) outlined four essential freedoms of a university — “to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught and who may be admitted to study.”

So, universities get to decide what they teach and how it is taught.

A judge who wanted to have fun dismissing the suits could reasonably respond by noting that a recent BBC Science Focus piece quoted the director of The Real Immortal Jellyfish research project at Texas A&M University at Galveston.

“A lot of why we age is still very mysterious,” said Maria Pia Miglietta. “But by looking at this very simple animal with this very simple system, we can follow some genes and see how they behave.”

So, research on the jellyfish and aging is being done in the United States and across the world. Perhaps, a judge might say, Age Reversal Unity could spend its time, money and energy raising funds for the Texas A&M project rather than filing lawsuits.

What does all this have to do with faith, other than the lumping of a faith-based school, BYU-Hawaii, into these lawsuits?

Christians already believe in a perfect, literal immortality offered by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. They have testified for 2,000 years about his resurrection and the resurrection of others .

BYU-Hawaii, as a school sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has the institutional academic freedom to teach its courses in the light of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. The plaintiff may be surprised to learn BYU-H already offers courses in immortality and eternal life.

Latter-day Saints believe Jesus Christ’s resurrection will lead to the resurrection and immortality of all people. So BYU-Hawaii offers Religion 200 (“The Eternal Family”) and Religion 250 (“Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel”). The course catalog says the latter “focuses on the eternal ministry of Jesus Christ and His divine roles and teachings throughout His premortal, mortal, and postmortal life.”

A Latter-day Saint might respond to the plaintiff by saying there is more to immortality than mere resurrection with a perfected body. They also believe in eternal life, or exaltation, which is to live in God’s presence as families.

It’s a course of study and living to which millions have devoted their lives.

Hat tip to the Sunshine Blog in Hawaii, which published the 17-page lawsuit.

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