From 1849 to 1978, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) had a policy which prohibited black men from being ordained to the priesthood, black men and women from taking part in ceremonies in LDS temples and black men and women from serving in certain church callings. During this time, church leaders gave several different race-based explanations for the ban. In 1978, the church's First Presidency declared in a statement known as "Official Declaration 2" that the ban had been lifted as a result of a revelation from God. In December 2013, the LDS Church published an essay approved by the First Presidency that disavowed most race-based explanations for the past priesthood restriction and denounced racism.
Video Black people and Mormon priesthood
Racial restriction policy
Under the racial restrictions that lasted from the presidency of Brigham Young until 1978, persons with any black African ancestry could not hold the priesthood in the LDS Church and could not participate in most temple ordinances, including the endowment and celestial marriage. Black people were permitted to be members of the church, and to participate in some temple ordinances, such as baptism for the dead.
The racial restriction policy was applied to black Africans, persons of black African descent, and any one with mixed race that included any black African ancestry. The policy was not applied to Native Americans, Hispanics, Melanesians, or Polynesians.
Priesthood
Brigham Young taught that black men would not receive the priesthood until "all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the priesthood and the keys thereof".
The priesthood restriction was particularly limiting, because the LDS Church has a lay priesthood and all worthy male members may receive the priesthood if they choose to do so. Young men are generally admitted to the Aaronic priesthood at age 12, and it is a significant rite of passage. Holders of the priesthood officiate at church meetings, perform blessings of healing, and manage church affairs. Excluding black people from the priesthood meant that they could not hold significant church leadership roles or participate in certain spiritual events such as blessing the sick or giving other blessings reserved for priesthood holders.
Temple ordinances
Between 1844 and 1977, most black people were not permitted to participate in ordinances performed in the LDS Church temples, such as the endowment ritual, celestial marriages, and family sealings. These ordinances are considered essential to enter the highest degree of heaven, so this meant that black church members could not enjoy the full privileges enjoyed by other Latter Day Saints during the restriction.
Latter Day Saints believe that those marriages sealed in Mormon temples can become celestial marriages that bind the family together forever, whereas those marriages that are not sealed are terminated upon death. As church president, McKay taught that black people "need not worry, as those who receive the testimony of the restored gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation."
Brigham Young taught, "When the ordinances are carried out in the temples that will be erected, [children] will be sealed to their [parents], and those who have slept, clear up to Father Adam. This will have to be done ... until we shall form a perfect chain from Father Adam down to the closing up scene."
In 1968, black members of the church who were baptized and found worthy were permitted to participate in doing baptismal work for the dead. Black children who were legally adopted by white parents could be sealed to their parents.
Church service
The LDS Church relies heavily on its unpaid members to fulfill leadership positions and serve in church callings. For men, the priesthood is required for many leadership and church callings and is given to virtually every Mormon male at age 12. For both men and women, a temple endowment is required or encouraged for other callings, such as missionary service. This limited the ability of black members to serve in various callings. When the priesthood was given to the blacks under Joseph Smith, they were also able to serve in a variety of callings. For example, Elijah Abel served a mission and was called to be a seventy. When Brigham Young instituted the priesthood restriction, black members were barred from many leadership and service positions, and, initially, from attending priesthood meetings. In 1952, President McKay banned black people from speaking at priesthood meetings and firesides.
Through the years, some exceptions were made to allow black members to serve without the priesthood. For example, Samuel Chamber was appointed to be an assistant deacon in 1873. He had the same duties as a deacon, but without being given the priesthood. In 1945, Abner and Martha Howell were called to serve a mission to establish segregated congregations in the southern states. Howell was given a letter signed by LeGrand Richards that allowed him to speak even though blacks were not permitted to attend services there. He was later given a card designating him as an "Honorary High Priest".
By the 1960s, black men could serve in leadership roles in auxiliary organizations and attend priesthood meetings, including serving in the Sunday School or Young Men's presidency. In the 1960s, church president David O McKay began considering opening up a mission in Nigeria. After several difficulties with visas, LeMar Williams was in Nigeria preparing to open the mission. It was decided that only the auxiliaries would be setup in Nigeria, which could be operated without the priesthood. Nigerian men would be allowed to pass the sacrament, but white missionaries would need to bless it. However, the program was canceled after several members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles objected. In 1971, the Genesis Group was formed as an auxiliary to the church for black members. Black members were able to fill positions in the Relief Society, Young Men's and Young Women's Presidency. Many Bankhead served as the first Relief Society President.
Since the 1978 revelation on the priesthood, black people have been able to serve in church callings and fulfill leadership positions. However, service at general church levels has been limited. While there have been several black members of the Quorums of the Seventy and auxiliary general boards, there has not been a member of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, or the general auxiliary presidencies (Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, Young Men, or Sunday School) that is black.
Implementation
Several black men received the priesthood after the racial restriction policy was put in place, including Elijah Abel's son Enoch Abel, who was ordained an elder on November 10, 1900. Enoch's son and Elijah Abel's grandson--who was also named Elijah Abel--received the Aaronic priesthood and was ordained to the office of priest on July 5, 1934. The younger Elijah Abel also received the Melchizedek priesthood and was ordained to the office of elder on September 29, 1935. One commentator has pointed out that these incidents illustrate the "ambiguities, contradictions, and paradoxes" of the issue during the twentieth century.
As the church began expanding in areas of the world that were not so racially segregated, the church began having problems distinguishing who had black ancestry. In Brazil, which had a high proportion of people with mixed ancestry, LDS officials advised missionaries in the 1920s to avoid teaching people who appeared to have black ancestry, advising them to look for relatives of the investigators if they were not sure about their racial heritage. Despite the precautions, by the 1940s and 1950s some people with African ancestry had unwittingly been given the priesthood, which prompted an emphasis on missionaries scrutinizing people's appearances for hints of black ancestry and an order to avoid teaching those who did not meet the "one-drop rule" criteria. Additionally, starting in the 70s "lineage lessons" were added to determine that interested persons didn't have any Sub-Saharan African ancestry. Occasionally, members discovered they had African ancestry after being given the priesthood. In some cases, priesthood authority over-ruled genealogy research. For example, the First Presidency reinstated the president of the Ipiranga, Brazil branch, stating he was not of the lineage of Cain, despite genealogy research showing black ancestry. In other cases, members with black ancestry received patriarchal blessings giving lineage through one of the tribes of Israel, which allowed priesthood ordination.
In South Africa, some mission presidents had not observed the ban, and ordained members with mixed blood. The First Presidency called Evan Wright and instructed him that no one could receive the priesthood unless they were able to trace their genealogy outside of Africa, even if they had no appearance of African descent. Wright called several missionaries full-time to assist in the genealogy work, but the lack of men who could fulfill the requirement proved difficult. In 1954, David O. McKay changed the policy and allowed men to be ordained who did not appear to have black heritage.
During his time as church president in the 1950s, McKay made some decisions allowing peoples of "questionable lineage" to receive the priesthood when they previously would not have been allowed. This was one of the first decisions made to broaden access to the priesthood and relax certain aspects of the restrictions imposed because of the priesthood policies of the time. For example, Fijians were not given the priesthood until 1955 when McKay visited Fiji and told the president of the Samoa Mission that proselyting efforts with the Fijians could begin. Four years later, McKay informed his counselors that there was no evidence that the peoples of Fiji were of African descent.
In 1964, the priesthood was extended to Indigenous Australians and in 1966 to Egyptians.
Maps Black people and Mormon priesthood
Reasoning for the priesthood ban
The curse of Cain and his descendants
Some church members, including certain LDS leaders, used the curse of Cain to justify the racial restriction policy. In the book of Genesis found in the Bible, God puts a mark on Cain after he kills his brother Abel. Brigham Young taught that Cain killed Abel to get advantage over him, so God cursed Cain's descendants to not receive the priesthood until all the rest of Adam's descendants received the priesthood. During Young's presidency this was the explanation and was consistently taught by all leaders. It was only after Brigham Young died that the Church began teaching that reason for the ban was unknown.
Bruce R. McConkie, who was a seventy in the at the time who later served as an apostle, wrote in his 1966 edition of Mormon Doctrine that those who were sent to Earth through the lineage of Cain were those who had been less valiant in the premortal life. He also said that because Ham married Egyptus and because she was a descendant of Cain, that he was able to preserve the "negro lineage." The denial of the priesthood to certain men was then mentioned and he explained that in this life, black people would not hold the priesthood, but that those blessings would be available to them in the next life. In 1881, church president John Taylor expounded on the belief that the curse placed on Ham (who was of the lineage of Cain), was continued because Ham's wife was also of that "seed."
The curse of Cain is still taught in Old Testament student manual for LDS institute classes.
Teachings regarding the duration of racial bans
Brigham Young taught that black men would not receive the priesthood until "all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the priesthood and the keys thereof." But that meant that those who had been denied the priesthood would one day receive the priesthood and its related blessings. At another time, he stated "that the time [would] come when they [would] have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more."
In 1963, while discussing when the ban would be lifted, Joseph Fielding Smith told a reporter that "such a change can come about only through divine revelation, and no one can predict when a divine revelation will occur."
Mormon apologetics author and lecturer John Lewis Lund wrote in 1967, "Brigham Young revealed that the negro will not receive the priesthood until a great while after the second advent of Jesus Christ, whose coming will usher in a millennium of peace."
When the policy was reversed in 1978, church president Kimball referred to it as "the long-promised day". Critics say that lifting the restriction before the resurrection is contrary to Young's 1854 and 1859 statements, while church apologists say that Brigham Young's statements meant that Africans could receive the priesthood after all other races were eligible to receive it, not all other individuals.
Speculation on rationale for racial restrictions
Author David Persuitte has pointed out that it was commonplace in the 19th century for theologians, including Joseph Smith, to believe that the curse of Cain was exhibited by black skin, and that this genetic trait had descended through Noah's son Ham, who was understood to have married a black wife. Mormon historian Claudia Bushman also identifies doctrinal explanations for the exclusion of blacks, with one justification originating in papyrus rolls translated by Joseph Smith as the Book of Abraham, a passage of which links ancient Egyptian government to the cursed Ham through Pharaoh, Ham's grandson, who was "of that lineage by which he could not have the right of priesthood".
Another speculated reason for racial restriction was called "Mormon karma" by Colin Kidd, and refers to the idea that skin color is perceived as evidence of righteousness (or lack thereof) in the premortal existence. The doctrine of premortal existence is described in the Encyclopedia of Mormonism in this way: "to Latter-day Saints premortal life is characterized by individuality, agency, intelligence, and opportunity for eternal progression. It is a central doctrine of the theology of the Church and provides understanding to the age-old question 'Whence cometh man?'" This idea is based on the opinions of several prominent church leaders, including apostle Joseph Fielding Smith, who held the view that the premortal life had been a kind of testing ground for the assignment of God's spiritual children to favored or disfavored mortal lineages. Bushman has also noted Smith's long-time teachings that in a premortal war in heaven, blacks were considered to have been those spirits who did not fight as valiantly against Satan and who, as a result, received a lesser earthly stature, with such restrictions as being disqualified from holding the priesthood. According to religious historian Craig Prentiss, the appeal to premortal existence was confirmed as doctrine through statements of the LDS First Presidency in 1949 and 1969.
Church leadership officially cited various reasons for the doctrinal ban, but later leaders have since repudiated them.
History
Before 1847
During the time Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint Movement (1830-1844), was the leader, there were no official racial policies established by what is now known as the LDS Church. Black people were welcomed as members of the church and as evidence of the lack of official policy, in 1836, two black men were ordained priests: Elijah Abel and Walker Lewis. Before 1847 a handful of other black men were ordained to the priesthood. That same year, Abel went on to become a member of the Quorum of the Seventy and received a patriarchal blessing. Although there was no official policy, there is evidence that some black men were denied the priesthood during the Missouri period in order to appease slave owners in the area.
Some researchers have suggested that the actions of Joseph T. Ball and William McCary led to Young's decision to adopt the priesthood ban in the LDS Church.
Joseph T. Ball
A native of Massachusetts, Joseph T. Ball was good friends with William Smith (Joseph Smith's younger brother). Because of his close connection to Smith, he began to engage in polygamy without the approval of the Brigham Young. Although he continued to be involved in the practice of polygamy, he served as the branch president in Boston for a time, making him the first black person to preside over an LDS congregation. In August 1845, Ball was separated from the church because Young found out about his previous involvement with polygamy.
William McCary
Because of events that transpired in both Cincinnati, Ohio and Winter Quarters, Nebraska, McCary lost the favor of Young. McCary was a half-African American convert who, after his baptism and ordination to the priesthood, began to claim to be a prophet and the possessor of other supernatural gifts. At one point, he also claimed to be Adam of the Bible. He was excommunicated for apostasy in March 1847 and expelled from Winter Quarters. After his excommunication, McCary began attracting Latter Day Saint followers and instituted plural marriage among his group, and he had himself sealed to several white wives.
McCary's behavior angered many of the Latter Day Saints in Winter Quarters. Researchers have stated that his marriages to his white wives most likely had some influence on Young's decision to institute the priesthood and temple bans on black people. A statement from Young to McCary in March 1847 suggested that race had nothing to do with priesthood eligibility, but the earliest known statement about the priesthood restriction from any Mormon leader (including the implication that skin color might be relevant) was made by apostle Parley P. Pratt, a month after McCary was expelled from Winter Quarters. Speaking of McCary, Pratt stated that because he was a descendant of Ham, he was cursed with regards to the priesthood.
1847-1880
In 1847, Brigham Young became the second president of the LDS Church. Like many during that time, Young promoted the discrimination of black people. On February 13, 1849, an early statement by Young about the history of the priesthood ban in the LDS Church was made. The statement was given in response to Lorenzo Snow's inquiry about how redemption would come about with regards to black people. Young responded by mentioning the Curse of Cain and said that a similar hierarchy of power that was put in place on Earth because of the curse would remain in the afterlife. Young would make many similar remarks during the rest of his presidency.
1880-1950
Under John Taylor's presidency (1880-87), there was confusion in the church regarding the origin of the racial policy. Elijah Abel was living proof that an African American was ordained to the priesthood in the days of Joseph Smith. Apostle Joseph F. Smith argued that Abel's priesthood had been declared null and void by Joseph Smith, though this seems to conflict with Joseph F. Smith's teachings that the priesthood could not be removed from any man without removing that man from the church. Zebedee Coltrin and Abraham O. Smoot provided conflicting testimony of whether or not Joseph Smith stated that Abel was allowed hold the priesthood, though the veracity of their testimony is doubted. From this point on, many statements on the priesthood restriction were attributed to Joseph Smith; all such statements had actually been made by Brigham Young.
In 1947 the First Presidency, consisting of George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark, and David O. McKay, in a private communication with Dr. Lowry Nelson, where Dr. Nelson questioned whether "there is no irrevocable church doctrine on this subject [of blacks and the priesthood]" the First Presidency stated:
"The basic element of your ideas and concepts seems to be that all God's children stand in equal positions before Him in all things.
"Your knowledge of the Gospel will indicate to you that this is contrary to the very fundamentals of God's dealings with Israel dating from the time of His promise to Abraham regarding Abraham's seed and their position vis-a~vis God Himself. Indeed, some of God's children were assigned to superior positions before the world was formed. We are aware that some Higher Critics do not accept this, but the Church does.
"Your position seems to lose sight of the revelations of the Lord touching the preexistence of our spirits, the rebellion in heaven, and the doctrines that our birth into this life and the advantages under which we may be born, have a relationship in the life heretofore.
"From the days of the Prophet Joseph even until now, it has been the doctrine of the Church, never questioned by any of the Church leaders, that the Negroes are not entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel.
"Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people..."
Later, reflecting on this exchange with the First Presidency, Dr. Nelson would say, "I believe I was the first Mormon to protest the church policy with regard to blacks in a letter to the First Presidency of the church in 1947" and in 1953 published the article "Mormons and the Negro", saying that "This was the first [time] the non-Mormon world knew of this policy, and it was widely publicized through the Negro press."
In 1949, the First Presidency under the direction of George Albert Smith made a declaration which included the statement that the priesthood restriction was divinely commanded and not a matter of church policy. The declaration goes on to state that the conditions in which people are born on Earth are affected by their conduct in the premortal existence, although the details of the principle are said not to be known. It then says that the privilege of mortal existence is so great that spirits were willing to come to earth even though they would not be able to possess the priesthood. The mentioning of the curse of Cain began during this time period and took the place of previous justifications for the priesthood ban. The older arguments included the idea that black people were not as valiant in the pre-mortal life and that they had "inherent inferiority."
1951-1977
In 1954, church president David O. McKay taught: "There is not now, and there never has been a doctrine in this church that the negroes are under a divine curse. There is no doctrine in the church of any kind pertaining to the negro. We believe that we have a scriptural precedent for withholding the priesthood from the negro. It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice someday will be changed. And that's all there is to it."
In 1969, church apostle Harold B. Lee and member of the First Presidency Alvin R. Dyer blocked the LDS Church from rescinding the racial restriction policy. The idea that a unanimous decision through revelation was needed to change the policy was and is a widespread belief among LDS church leaders. Although many desired a change in the racial policy, they continued waiting for revelation concerning the matter.
On December 15, 1969, members of the First Presidency, Hugh B. Brown and N. Eldon Tanner (President McKay was 96 years old and incapacitated at that time, passing away the next month), released a First Presidency Statement, "Letter of First Presidency Clarifies Church's Position on the Negro" stating
From the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith and all succeeding presidents of the Church have taught that Negroes, while spirit children of a common Father, and the progeny of our earthly parents Adam and Eve, were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man.
Our living prophet, President David O. McKay, has said, "The seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man; but goes back into the beginning with God....
"Revelation assures us that this plan antedates man's mortal existence, extending back to man's pre-existent state."
In her book, Contemporary Mormonism, Claudia Bushman describes the pain that was caused by the racial policy of the church. This struggle was felt both to black worshipers, who sometimes found themselves segregated and ostracized, and white members who were embarrassed by the exclusionary practices and who occasionally apostatized over the issue.
In 1971, three African-American Mormon men petitioned then-church president Joseph Fielding Smith to consider ways to keep black families involved in the church and also re-activate the descendants of black pioneers. As a result, Smith directed three apostles to meet with the men on a weekly basis until, on October 19, 1971, an organization called the Genesis Group was established as an auxiliary unit of LDS Church to meet the needs of black Mormons. The first president of the Genesis Group was Ruffin Bridgeforth, who also became the first black Latter Day Saint to be ordained a high priest after the priesthood ban was lifted later in the decade.
Harold B. Lee, president of the church, stated in 1972: "For those who don't believe in modern revelation there is no adequate explanation. Those who do understand revelation stand by and wait until the Lord speaks .... It's only a matter of time before the black achieves full status in the Church. We must believe in the justice of God. The black will achieve full status, we're just waiting for that time."
Although not refuting his belief that the policy came from the Lord, apostle Spencer W. Kimball acknowledged in 1963 that it could have been brought about through an error on man's part. In 1963, he said, "The doctrine or policy has not varied in my memory. I know it could. I know the Lord could change his policy and release the ban and forgive the possible error which brought about the deprivation."
Racial policy ends in 1978
In the 1970s, LDS Church president Spencer W. Kimball took General Conference on the road, holding area and regional conferences all over the world. He also announced many new temples to be built both in the United States and abroad, including one temple in São Paulo, Brazil. The problem of determining priesthood eligibility in Brazil was thought to be nearly impossible due to the mixing of the races in that country. When the temple was announced, church leaders realized the difficulty of restricting persons with African descent from attending the temple in Brazil.
On June 8, 1978, the First Presidency released to the press an official declaration, now a part of Doctrine and Covenants, which contained the following statement:
He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the church may receive the Holy Priesthood, with power to exercise its divine authority, and enjoy with his loved ones every blessing that follows there from, including the blessings of the temple. Accordingly, all worthy male members of the church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color. Priesthood leaders are instructed to follow the policy of carefully interviewing all candidates for ordination to either the Aaronic or the Melchizedek Priesthood to insure that they meet the established standards for worthiness.
According to first-person accounts, after much discussion among the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on this matter, they engaged the Lord in prayer. According to the writing of Bruce R. McConkie, "It was during this prayer that the revelation came. The Spirit of the Lord rested upon us all; we felt something akin to what happened on the day of Pentecost and at the Kirtland Temple. From the midst of eternity, the voice of God, conveyed by the power of the Spirit, spoke to his prophet. The message was that the time had now come to offer the fullness of the everlasting gospel, including celestial marriage, and the priesthood, and the blessings of the temple, to all men, without reference to race or color, solely on the basis of personal worthiness. And we all heard the same voice, received the same message, and became personal witnesses that the word received was the mind and will and voice of the Lord." Immediately after the receipt of this new revelation, an official announcement of the revelation was prepared, and sent out to all of the various leaders of the Church. It was then read to, approved by, and accepted as the word and will of the Lord, by a General Conference of the Church in October 1978. Succeeding editions of the Doctrine and Covenants were printed with this announcement canonized and entitled "Official Declaration 2".
Apostle Gordon B. Hinckley (a participant in the meetings to reverse the ban), in a churchwide fireside said, "Not one of us who was present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church been quite the same. All of us knew that the time had come for a change and that the decision had come from the heavens. The answer was clear. There was perfect unity among us in our experience and in our understanding."
On June 11, 1978, three days after the announcement of the revelation, Joseph Freeman, a member of the church since 1973, became the first black man to be ordained to the office of elder in the Melchizedek priesthood since the ban was lifted, while several others were ordained into the Aaronic priesthood that same day.
Later in 1978, McConkie called to repentance all those who questioned the revelations received by the prophet with regards to the priesthood ban. He went on to clarify that previous statements made by himself and other church leaders on the subject were to be forgotten and that the focus of the gospel should be on current revelations.
Critics of the LDS Church state that the church's 1978 reversal of the racial restriction policy was not divinely inspired as the church claimed, but simply a matter of political convenience, as the reversal of policy occurred as the church began to expand outside the United States into countries such as Brazil. These countries have ethnically mixed populations, and the policy reversal was announced just a few months before the church opened its new temple in São Paulo, Brazil.
1978 to 2013
Since the Revelation on the Priesthood in 1978, the church has made no distinctions in policy for black people, but it remains an issue for many black members of the church. Alvin Jackson, a black bishop in the LDS Church, puts his focus on "moving forward rather than looking back." In an interview with Mormon Century, Jason Smith expresses his viewpoint that the membership of the church was not ready for black people to have the priesthood in the early years of the church, because of prejudice and slavery. He draws analogies to the Bible where only the Israelites have the gospel.
In a 1997 TV interview, President Gordon B. Hinckley was asked whether the church was wrong to deny the priesthood. He responded, "No, I don't think it was wrong. It, things, various things happened in different periods. There's a reason for them."
In April 2006 in a general conference talk President Gordon B. Hinckley, the president of the LDS Church, had called racism "ugly" and a sin that any guilty of needed to repent from.
In 1995, black church member A. David Jackson asked church leaders to issue a declaration repudiating past doctrines that denied various privileges to black people. In particular, Jackson asked the church to disavow the 1949 "Negro Question" declaration from the church Presidency which stated that "the attitude of the church with reference to negroes ... is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord ... to the effect that negroes ... are not entitled to the priesthood."
The church leadership did not issue a repudiation, and so in 1997 Jackson, aided by other church members including Armand Mauss, sent a second request to church leaders, which stated that white Mormons felt that the 1978 revelation resolved everything, but that black Mormons react differently when they learn the details. He said that many black Mormons become discouraged and leave the church or become inactive. "When they find out about this, they exit... You end up with the passive African Americans in the church."
Other black church members think giving an apology would be a "detriment" to church work and a catalyst to further racial misunderstanding. African-American church member Bryan E. Powell says, "There is no pleasure in old news, and this news is old." Gladys Newkirk agrees, stating, "I've never experienced any problems in this church. I don't need an apology. . . . We're the result of an apology." The large majority of black Mormons say they are willing to look beyond the previous teachings and remain with the church in part because of its powerful, detailed teachings on life after death.
Church president Hinckley told the Los Angeles Times: "The 1978 declaration speaks for itself ... I don't see anything further that we need to do." Apostle Dallin H. Oaks said: "It's not the pattern of the Lord to give reasons. We can put reasons to commandments. When we do we're on our own. Some people put reasons to [the ban] and they turned out to be spectacularly wrong. There is a lesson in that .... The lesson I've drawn from that, I decided a long time ago that I had faith in the command and I had no faith in the reasons that had been suggested for it .... I'm referring to reasons given by general authorities and reasons elaborated upon [those reasons] by others. The whole set of reasons seemed to me to be unnecessary risk taking .... Let's [not] make the mistake that's been made in the past, here and in other areas, trying to put reasons to revelation. The reasons turn out to be man-made to a great extent. The revelations are what we sustain as the will of the Lord and that's where safety lies."
2013 to present
On December 6, 2013 the LDS Church published an essay entitled Race and the Priesthood on its official website. The essay indicated that the priesthood ban did not originate with Joseph Smith, but was introduced by Brigham Young and was influenced by the racism of the era. The essay stated "Today the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form."
While the essay was approved by the First Presidency, it was not written by them. As of 2015, it has never been mentioned, alluded to, or footnoted in speeches by LDS authorities at the faith's semiannual General Conferences. Many members remain unaware of the essays and hold to racist beliefs that had been taught in the past.
According to Richard Bushman, a Mormon historian, the essay removes the revelatory significance of the ban. He states that it requires a reorientation of Mormon thinking, since "it brings into question all of the prophet's inspiration." Critics of the church argue that it could call into question other revelations of the prophets.
See also
- 1978 Revelation on Priesthood
- Black people and early Mormonism
- Black people and Mormonism
- Interracial marriage and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Genesis Group
- Joseph Freeman (Mormon)
- Mormonism and Pacific Islanders
References
Footnotes
Primary sources
Secondary sources
Further reading
- Ricks, Nathaniel R. (2007), A Peculiar Place for the Peculiar Institution: Slavery and Sovereignty in Early Territorial Utah (Master Thesis), Brigham Young University .
- Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, eds., Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church, Signature Books, 1984
- Bush, Lester E., Jr. (Spring 1973), "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview" (PDF), Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 8 (1), retrieved 2012-11-01
- Walch, Tad (June 8, 2014), "LDS blacks, scholars cheer church's essay on priesthood", Deseret News
External links
- blacklds.org an independent site (not owned or operated by the LDS Church) maintained by Latter-day Saints
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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