Tag: Racist

  • Racist Doctrine Cannot Be Changed

    Racist Doctrine Cannot Be Changed

    Doctrine Cannot Be Changed

    Boyd K. Packer
    April 2013 General Conference
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1993/10/for-time-and-all-eternity?lang=eng

    August 17, 1949

    The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: “Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to.”

    President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: “The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.”

    The position of the Church regarding the Negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the premortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality and that while the details of this principle have not been made known, the mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintain their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes.


    Statement of the First Presidency (George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark & David O. McKay) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    August 17, 1949, Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.
    https://wasmormon.org/mormons-and-blacklivesmatter-russell-m-nelson-and-the-naacp/

  • Racist Unchanging Doctrine

    Racist Unchanging Doctrine

    The world changes constantly and dramatically, but God, His commandments, and promised blessings do not change. They are immutable and unchanging.

    L. Tom Perry
    April 2013 General Conference
    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/04/obedience-to-law-is-liberty?lang=eng

    August 17, 1949

    The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they are not entitled to the priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: “Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to.”

    President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: “The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have.”

    The position of the Church regarding the Negro may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the premortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality and that while the details of this principle have not been made known, the mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintain their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes.


    Statement of the First Presidency (George Albert Smith, J. Reuben Clark & David O. McKay) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
    August 17, 1949, Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.
    https://wasmormon.org/mormons-and-blacklivesmatter-russell-m-nelson-and-the-naacp/

  • Indian Turning White, Improvement Era

    Indian Turning White, Improvement Era

    Indian turning white. A Winnebago Indian, Louis Armell, living on the reservation, is said to be the object of scientific observation because for many years his skin has gradually been turning white. He is now 54 years old. He still has “copper patches” but physicians believe that if he lives a few more years he will become entirely white.

    Improvement Era, April 1928 Issue 6, Page 537 (Page 91 of the linked PDF)
    https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/4b787529-9a83-49d1-85df-d973548a6e2c/0/0

  • Questions Raised

    Questions Raised

    Excerpt from a New York Times Opinion article published August 18, 2012, ‘Why Race Is Still a Problem for Mormons’: 1

    The church could begin leaving those problems behind if its leaders explained that their predecessors had confused their own racist views with God’s will and that the priesthood ban resulted from human error and limitations rather than a divine curse. Given the church’s ecclesiology, this step would be difficult.

    Mormons have no reason to feel unusually ashamed of their church’s past racial restrictions, except maybe for their duration. Their church, like most other white American churches, was entangled in a deeply entrenched national sin.

    Still, acknowledging serious errors on the part of past prophets inevitably raises questions about the revelatory authority of contemporary leaders. Such concerns, however, are not insurmountable for religious movements. One can look to the Bible for countless examples of patriarchs and prophets who acknowledged grave errors and moral lapses but still retained the respect of their people.

    Likewise, the abiding love and veneration most Latter-day Saints have for their leaders would readily survive a fuller reckoning with their human frailties and flaws. The Mormon people need not believe they have perfect prophets, either past or present.

    :::

    Excerpt from a September 17, 2019 BYU Devotional address by Russell M. Nelson: 2

    My dear young friends, exaltation is not easy.  Requirements include a focused and persistent effort to keep God’s laws, and rigorously repenting when we don’t.  But the reward for doing so is far greater than anything we can imagine, because it brings us joy here, and “never-ending happiness” hereafter.

    Thus, our commission as Apostles is to teach nothing but truth.  That commission does not give us the authority to modify divine law.

    For example, let’s consider the definition of marriage.  In recent years, many countries, including the United States, have legalized same-sex marriage.  As members of the Church, we respect the laws of the land and abide by them, including civil marriage.  The truth is, however, that in the beginning—in the beginning—marriage was ordained by God!  And to this day it is defined by Him as being between a man and a woman.  God has not changed His definition of marriage.

    :::

    Excerpt from a May 5 1947 Letter from the First Presidency to Virgil H. Sponberg, in Bennion papers: 3.

    No special effort has ever been made to proselyte among the Negro race, and social intercourse between the Whites and the Negroes should certainly not be encouraged because of leading to intermarriage, which the Lord has forbidden. This move which has now received some popular approval of trying to break down social barriers between the Whites and the Blacks is one that should not be encouraged because inevitably it means the mixing of the races if carried to its logical conclusion.

    :::

    Letter from the First Presidency to Dr. Lowry Nelson, July 17 1947: 4

    “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 my 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 from the ancient patriarchs till now God’s rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogenous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed.

    We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine.

    References

    References
    1 New York Times Opinion article published August 18, 2012, ‘Why Race Is Still a Problem for Mormons’ – https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/racism-and-the-mormon-church.html
    2 September 17, 2019 BYU Devotional address by Russell M. Nelson – https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-09-17/president-nelson-byu-devotional-god-love-160666
    3 Ref. May 5 1947 Letter from the First Presidency to Virgil H. Sponberg, in Bennion papers,  quoted in Lester E. Bush, Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview, p. 42 – https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V08N01_13.pdf
    4  Lowry Nelson & 1st Presidency Exchange – https://archive.org/stream/LowryNelson1stPresidencyExchange/Lowry_Nelson_1st_Presidency_Exchange#page/n5/mode/2up/search/doctrine
  • Not Equal

    Not Equal

    Image: Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, LDS Prophet

    Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine:[footnote]Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 114[/footnote]

    ‘Negroes in this life are denied the Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. (Abra. 1:20-27.) The gospel message of salvation is not carried affirmatively to them . . . negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom, but this inequality is not of man’s origin. It is the Lord’s doing, is based an his eternal laws of justice, and grows out of the lack of Spiritual valiance of those concerned in their first estate.’

     

    Crash Course:

  • Death on the Spot

    Death on the Spot

    Image: Brigham Young, LDS Prophet

    Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses:[footnote]Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 10, p. 110[/footnote]

    “Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so. The nations of the earth have transgressed every law that God has given, they have changed the ordinances and broken every covenant made with the fathers, and they are like a hungry man that dreameth that he eateth, and he awaketh and behold he is empty.”

     

    Crash Course:

  • Servant

    Servant

    Image: Apostle Mark E. Petersen

    Apostle Mark E. Petersen, “Race Problems – as they affect the church:[footnote]Mark E. Petersen, “Race Problems – as they affect the church,” August 27, 1954, p. 17[/footnote]

    “In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection. He will get a place in the celestial glory. He will not go then with even the honorable men of the earth to the terrestrial glory, nor with the ones spoken of as being without law”

     

    Crash Course:

  • Interracial

    Interracial

    Image: George Albert Smith, LDS Prophet.

    LDS First Presidency, letter to Virgil H. Sponberg (critic of the anti-black ban), May 5, 1947: [footnote]LDS First Presidency (George Albert Smith), letter to Virgil H. Sponberg (critic of the anti-black ban), May 5, 1947, quoted in Lester E. Bush, Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview, p. 42 [/footnote]

    “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 from the ancient patriarchs until now…. there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine.”


    Crash Course:

     

  • So-Called Civil Rights

    So-Called Civil Rights

    From Elder Ezra Taft Benson Of the Council of the Twelve Apostles, 1967:[footnote]Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1967, pp. 34-39[/footnote]

    False solicitude for the unfortunate

    “Such timely counsel could help save our country from Communism, as the same masters of deceit are showing the same false solicitude for the unfortunate in the name of civil rights.

    Now there is nothing wrong with civil rights; it is what’s being done in the name of civil rights that is alarming.

    There is no doubt that the so-called civil rights movement as it exists today is used as a Communist program for revolution in America just as agrarian reform was used by the Communists to take over China and Cuba.

    This shocking statement can be confirmed by an objective study of Communist literature and activities and by knowledgeable Negroes and others who have worked within the Communist movement.

    As far back as 1928, the Communists declared that the cultural, economic, and social differences between the races in America could be exploited by them to create the animosity, fear, and hatred between large segments of our people that would be necessary beginning ingredients for their revolution.”

     

     

    Crash Course:

    Race and the Priesthood – LDS Gospel Topic Essay
    Ezra Taft Benson, Conference Report, October 1967, pp. 34-39
    Mormons are not Racist (Video) – Brother Jake
    Letter from Apostle Delbert Stapley to Governor George Romney – Topic: Race and civil rights.
    Mormonism and the Negro – John J. Stewart

  • Repugnant

    Repugnant

    LDS First Presidency (George Albert Smith), letter to Virgil H. Sponberg (critic of the anti-black ban), May 5, 1947:[footnote]Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview  – Lester Bush[/footnote]

    “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 from the ancient patriarchs till now. God’s rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogamous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed. We are not unmindful of the fact that there is growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine.”

     

     

    Crash Course:

    Black Marriage – Mormon Think
  • National Equalization

    National Equalization

    Image: Joseph Smith Jr. – Mormon Prophet

    Views of Joseph Smith Jr. regarding race, from The History of the Church:[footnote]History of the Church, Volume 5, pages 218-219 [/footnote]

    The Prophet’s View of the Negro Race.

    At five went to Mr. Sollars’ with Elders Hyde and Richards. Elder Hyde inquired the situation of the negro. I replied, they came into the world slaves mentally and physically. Change their situation with the whites, and they would be like them. They have souls, and are subjects of salvation. Go into Cincinnati or any city, and find an educated negro, who rides in his carriage, and you will see a man who has risen by the powers of his own mind to his exalted state of respectability. The slaves in Washington are more refined than many in high places, and the black boys will take the shine of many of those they brush and wait on.

    Elder Hyde remarked, “Put them on the level, and they will rise above me.” I replied, if I raised you to be my equal, and then attempted to oppress you, would you not be indignant and try to rise above me, as did Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, and many others, who said I was a fallen Prophet, and they were capable of leading the people, although I never attempted to oppress them, but had always been lifting them up? Had I anything to do with the negro, I would confine them by strict law to their own species, and put them on a national equalization.


    Crash Course:

  • Confirmed Racist

    Confirmed Racist

    Image: Martin Luther King Jr., Civil Rights Activist

    Excerpts from an address by Apostle Mark E. Peterson given at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level
    Brigham Young University Provo, Utah – August 27, 1954[footnote]Race Problems—As They Affect The Church – Mark E. Petersen, 1954 [/footnote]

    “God has commanded Israel not to intermarry. To go against this commandment of God would be in sin. Those who willfully sin with their eyes open to this wrong will not be surprised to find that they will be separated from the presence of God in the world to come. This is spiritual death….

    The reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a Negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. “No person having the least particle of Negro blood can hold the Priesthood” (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth Negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the Priesthood marries a Negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the Priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a Negro is to forfeit a “Nation of Priesthood holders”….

    The discussion on civil rights, especially over the last 20 years, has drawn some very sharp lines. It has blinded the thinking of some of our own people, I believe. They have allowed their political affiliations to color their thinking to some extent, and then, of course, they have been persuaded by some of the arguments that have been put forth….We who teach in the Church certainly must have our feet on the ground and not to be led astray by the philosophies of men on this subject….

    I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn’t just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn’t that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, “First we pity, then endure, then embrace”….

    Now let’s talk about segregation again for a few moments. Was segregation a wrong principle? When the Lord chose the nations to which the spirits were to come, determining that some would be Japanese and some would be Chinese and some Negroes and some Americans, He engaged in an act of segregation….

    When he told Enoch not preach the gospel to the descendants of Cain who were black, the Lord engaged in segregation. When He cursed the descendants of Cain as to the Priesthood, He engaged in segregation….

    Who placed the Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God? And when He placed them there, He segregated them….

    The Lord segregated the people both as to blood and place of residence. At least in the cases of the Lamanites and the Negro we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that he placed a dark skin upon them as a curse — as a punishment and as a sign to all others. He forbade intermarriage with them under threat of extension of the curse. And He certainly segregated the descendants of Cain when He cursed the Negro as to the Priesthood, and drew an absolute line. You may even say He dropped an Iron curtain there….

    Now we are generous with the Negro. We are willing that the Negro have the highest education. I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to change that segregation? It reminds me of the scripture on marriage, “what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” Only here we have the reverse of the thing — what God hath separated, let not man bring together again.”

    Think of the Negro, cursed as to the priesthood…. This Negro, who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the Lord in sending him to the earth in their lineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa–if that Negro is willing when he hears the gospel to accept it, he may have many of the blessings of the gospel. In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory.”

     


    Crash Course:

    Race Problems—As They Affect The Church – Mark E. Petersen, 1954
    Blacks and the Priesthood – Mormon Think
    Mormon racism in perspective – Elder Mark E. Peterson
  • Weren’t Not Racist

    Weren’t Not Racist

    Image: Brigham Young

    In 1855 Brigham Young said: “You must not think, from what I say, that I am opposed to slavery. No! The negro is damned, and is to serve his master till God chooses to remove the curse of Ham…”[footnote]New York Herald, May 4, 1855, as cited in Dialogue, Spring 1973, p. 56 [/footnote]


    Crash Course:

    Blacks and the Priesthood – Mormon Think
    Mormon racism in perspective – Elder Mark E. Peterson
    The Way to Perfection – Curse of Cain
    The Improvement Era – December 1960