Anti-Black Doctrine
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Learn more about the Anti-Black
Doctrine
“... go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
-
Jesus Christ, Holy Bible, King James Version, Mark
16:15; online at http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=KjvMark.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=16&division=div1
“Go ye therefore, and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
-
Jesus Christ, Holy Bible, KJV, Matt. 28:19; online
at http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=KjvMatt.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=28&division=div1
Phillip baptizes
Ethiopians:
“And he commanded the
chariot to stand still: and they went down both
into the water, both Phillip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.
“And when they were
come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord
caught away Phillip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on
his way rejoicing.”
-
Holy Bible, KJV, Acts 8:38-39; online at http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=KjvActs.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=8&division=div1
LDS Scripture and basis
for the Anti-Black Doctrine
“For behold, the Lord
shall curse the land with much heat, and the
bareness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came
upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all
people.”
-
Pearl of Great Price, Mormon scripture, Book of
Moses 7:8; online at http://scriptures.lds.org/moses/7
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Anti-Black Doctrine
Prophet Joseph Smith,
Jr. (1805 – 1844):
“I do not believe that
the people of the North have any more right to
say that the South shall not hold slaves, than the South have to say
the North shall.... the first mention we have of slavery is found in
the Holy Bible.... And so far from that prediction being averse to the
mind of God, it [slavery] remains as a lasting monument of the decree
of Jehovah, to the shame and confusion of all who have cried out
against the South, in consequence of their holding the sons of Ham in
servitude.”
-
Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church,
v. 2, p. 438; online at http://www.antimormon.8m.com/hocindex.html
“Thirteenth – ‘Are the
Mormons abolitionists?’ No, unless
delivering the people from priestcraft, and the priests from the power
of Satan, should be considered abolition. But we do not believe
in setting the negroes free.”
-
Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church,
v.3, p. 29; online at http://www.antimormon.8m.com/hocindex.html
Prophet Brigham Young
(1801-1877):
“When all the other
children of Adam have had the privilege of
receiving the priesthood and of coming into the Kingdom of God and of
being redeemed from the four quarters of the earth, and have received
their resurrection from the dead, then it will be time enough to remove
the curse from Cain and his posterity.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 2, pp. 142-143; online at http://journals.mormonfundamentalism.org/Vol_02/refJDvol2-27.html
“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.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, New York Herald, May
4, 1855, as cited in Dialogue: A Journal of
Mormon Thought,
Spring 1973, p. 56
“The moment we consent
to mingle with the seed of Cain the Church must
go to destruction, - we should receive the curse which has been placed
upon the seed of Cain, and never more be numbered with the children of
Adam who are heirs to the priesthood until that curse be removed.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Brigham Young Addresses,
Feb. 5, 1852, LDS historical department; online at http://www.geocities.com/solmes.geo/aam-brigham-young.html
and http://home.teleport.com/~packham/byoung.htm
“Cain slew his
brother.... and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is
the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood,
and tehn another curse is pronounced upon the same race – that they
should be the ‘servant of servants,’ and they will be, until that curse
is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least
alter that decree. How long is that race to endure the dreadful curse
that is upon them? That curse will remain upon them, and they
never can hold the Priesthood or share in it until all the other
descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the
blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof. Until the last
ones of the residue of Adam’s children are brought up to that favorable
position, the children of Cain cannot receive the first ordinances of
the Priesthood. They were the first that were cursed, and they
will be the last from whom the curse will be removed. When the residue
of the family of Adam come up and receive their blessings, then the
curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will receive
blessings in like proportion.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 7, pp. 290-291; online at http://journals.mormonfundamentalism.org/Vol_07/refJDvol7-44.html
“Why are so many of
the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a sin 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. The volition of
the creature is free; this is a law of their existence, and the Lord
cannot violate his own law; were he to do that, he would cease to be
God. He has placed life and death before his children, and it is for
them to choose. If they choose life, they receive the blessings of
life; if they chose death, they must abide the penalty. This is a law
which has always existed from all eternity, and will continue to exist
throughout all the eternities to come.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses,
v. 11, p. 272; online at http://journals.mormonfundamentalism.org/Vol_11/refJDvol11-41.html
“I am as much opposed
to the principle of slavery as any man in the
present acceptation or usage of the term, it is abused. I am
opposed to abuseing [sic] that which God has decreed, to take a
blessing, and make a curse of it. It is a great blessing to the
seed of Adam to have the seed of Cain for servants.... Let this Church
which is called the Kingdom of God on the earth; we will sommons [sic]
the first presidency, the twelve, the high counsel, the Bishoprick
[sic], and all the elders of Isreal [sic], suppose we summons them to
apear [sic] here, and here declare that it is right to mingle our seed
with the black race of Cain, that they shall come in with us and be
pertakers [sic] with us of all the blessings God has given to us.
On that very day, and hour we should do so, the priesthood is taken
from this Church and the Kingdom of God leaves us to our fate.”
-
Prophet Brigham Young, Brigham Young Addresses,
Feb. 5, 1852, LDS archives; online at http://www.utlm.org/onlineresources/sermons_talks_interviews/brigham1852feb5_priesthoodandblacks.htm
Prophet John Taylor
(1808 - 1887):
“For instance, the
descendants of Cain cannot cast off their skin of
blackness, at once, and immediately, although every should of them
should repent.... Cain and his posterity must wear the mark which God
put upon them; and his white friends may wash the race of Cain with
fuller’s soap every day, they cannot wash away God’s mark.”
-
Prophet John Taylor, Millennial Star, v.
14, p. 418; online at http://www.lds-mormon.com/racism.shtml
-
“And after the flood
we are told that the curse that had been
pronounced upon Cain was continued through Ham’s wife, as he had
married a wife of that seed. And why did it pass through the
flood? Because it was necessary that the devil should have a
representation upon the earth as well as God; and that man should be a
free agent to act for himself, and that all men might have the
opportunity of receiving or rejecting the truth, and be governed by it
or not according to their wishes and abide the result; and that those
who would be able to associate with the Gods in the eternal worlds. It
is the same eternal programme. God knew it and Adam knew it.”
-
Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses,
v. 22, p. 304; online at http://journals.mormonfundamentalism.org/Vol_22/JD22-297.html
Apostle Orson Hyde (1805-1878):
“We feel it to be our
duty to define our position in relation to the
subject of slavery. There are several men in the valley of the
Salt Lake from the Southern States, who have their slaves with them.”
-
Apostle Orson Hyde, Millennial Star, 1851,
p. 63
Apostle George F. Richards ( 1861 - 1950 ):
“The Negro is an
unfortunate man. He has been given a black skin. But
that is as nothing compared with that greater handicap that he is not
permitted to receive the Priesthood and the ordinances of the temple,
necessary to prepare men and women to enter into and enjoy a fullness
of glory in the celestial kingdom [i.e., godhood].”
-
Apostle George F. Richards, Conference Report,
April 1939, p. 58; online at http://www.ibae.org/html/fac139.html
Prophet David O. McKay
(1873 - 1970):
“I know of no
scriptural basis for denying the Priesthood to Negroes
other than one verse in the Book of Abraham (1:26); however, I believe,
as you suggest that the real reason dates back to our pre-existent
life.”
-
Prophet David O. McKay, as quoted in Mormonism
and the Negro,
Part 2, p. 19; online at http://www.mrm.org/multimedia/text/seed-of-cain.html
and http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm
Prophet Joseph
Fielding Smith (1876 - 1972):
“Not only was Cain
called to suffer, but because of his wickedness he
became the father of an inferior race. A curse was placed upon
him and that curse has been continued through his lineage and must do
so while time endures.... they have been made to feel their inferiority
and have been separated from the rest of mankind from the beginning.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, The Way to
Perfection, p.
101, 1935; online at http://www.rickross.com/reference/mormon/mormon132.html
and http://www.helpingmormons.org/Lectures.htm
“It is true that the
negro race is barred from holding the Priesthood,
and this has always been the case. The Prophet Joseph Smith
taught this doctrine, and it was made known to him, although we know of
no such statement in any revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants, Book
of Mormon, or the Bible.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, The Improvement
Era, v. 27, p.
565; online at http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm
“It is very clear that
the mark which was set upon the descendants of
Cain was a skin of blackness... It has been noticed in our day that men
who have lost the spirit of the Lord, and from whom His blessings have
been withdrawn, have turned dark to such an extent as to excite the
comments of all who have known them.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Juvenile
Instructor, v. 26,
p. 635; online at http://www.lds-mormon.com/racism.shtml
and http://www.mrm.org/multimedia/text/pure-white.html
“There were no
neutrals in the war in heaven. All took sides
either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his agency there,
and men receive rewards here based upon their actions there, just as
they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done in the body.
The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of
Salvation, pp.
65-66; online at http://www.mormonismi.net/artikkelit/rasistisia_lausuntoja.shtml
and http://www.fairlds.org/apol/misc/misc19.html
“There is a reason why
one man is born black and with other
disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages.
The reason is that we once had an estate before we come here, and were
obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there.
Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings
here, and those who were not faithful received less.”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of
Salvation, p. 61;
online at http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/qa/blacks_disadvantage.htm
and http://www.bcmmin.org/aframer.html
“It is not the
authorities of the Church who have placed a restriction
on him [the black man] regarding the holding of the Priesthood. It was
not the Prophet Joseph Smith.... It was the Lord!”
-
Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, quoted in John J.
Stewart, The
Glory of Mormonism,
1963, p. 154
Apostle LeGrand
Richards (1886 – 1983):
“Walters: On this
revelation, of the priesthood to the Negro, I’ve
heard all kinds of stories: I’ve heard that Joseph Smith appeared; and
then I heard another story that Spencer Kimball had had a concern about
this for some time, and simply shared it with the apostles, and they
decided that this was the right time to move in that direction.
Are any of those stories true, or are they all?
[Apostle LeGrand]
Richards: Well, the last one is pretty true, and I
might tell you what provoked it in a way. Down in Brazil, there
is so much Negro blood in the population there that it’s hard to get
leaders that don’t have Negro blood in them. We just built a
temple down there. It’s going to be dedicated in October.
All those people with Negro blood in them have been raising money to
build that temple. If we don’t change, then they can’t even use
it. Well, Brother Kimball worried about it, and he prayed a lot
about it.”
-
Apostle LeGrand Richards in an interview with
Wesley P. Walters and Chris Vlachos, August 16, 1978, Church Office
Building, available online at: http://www.lds-mormon.com/legrand_richards.shtml
Apostle Bruce R.
McConkie (1915-1985):
“Negroes in this life
are denied the priesthood; under no circumstances
can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. 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...”
-
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
p. 477, 1958; online at http://www.mormonismi.net/artikkelit/mustanopin_loppu.shtml
Apostle Mark E.
Peterson (1900 - 1984):
“When he told Enoch
not to preach the gospel to the descendants of Cain
who were black, the Lord engaged in segregation.”
-
Apostle Mark E. Peterson, “Race Problems – As They
Effect the Church,” Address given at the Convention of Teachers of
Religion on the College Level, delivered at BYU, August 27, 1954;
online at http://www.mormonismi.net/mep1954/
“I think the Lord
segregated the Negro and who is man to change that
segregation?”
-
Apostle Mark E. Peterson, “Race Problems As They
Affect The Church,” Address At the Convention of Teachers of Religion
On the College Level, delivered at BYU, August 27, 1954; see Abanes,
One Nation Under God, p. 363; online at http://www.mormonismi.net/mep1954/
“Is there reason then
why the type of birth we receive in this life is
not a reflection of our worthiness or lack of it in the pre-existent
life? ... can we account in any other way for the birth of some of the
children of God in darkest Africa, or in flood-ridden China, or among
the starving hordes of India, while some of the rest of us are born
here in the United States? We cannot escape the conclusion that
because of performance in our pre-existence some of us are born as
Chinese, some as Japanese, some as Latter-day Saints. There are
rewards and punishments, fully in harmony with His established policy
in dealing with sinners and saints, rewarding all according to their
deeds....
“Let us consider the
great mercy of God for a moment. A Chinese,
born in China with a dark skin, and with all the handicaps of that
race, seems to have little opportunity. But think of the mercy of
God to Chinese people who are willing to accept the gospel. In
spite of whatever they might have done in the pre-existence to justify
being born over there as Chinamen, if they now, in this life, accept
the gospel and live it the rest of their lives they can have the
Priesthood, go to the temple and receive endowments and sealings, and
that means they can have exaltation. Isn’t the mercy of God
marvelous? 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 the 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.... 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.”
-
Apostle Mark E. Peterson, “Race Problems – As They
Effect the Church,” Address given at the Convention of Teachers of
Religion on the College Level, delivered at BYU, August 27, 1954;
online at http://www.mormonismi.net/mep1954/
“We must not
inter-marry with the Negro. Why? If I were to
marry a Negro woman and have children by her, my children would oil be
cursed as to the priesthood. Do I want my children cursed as to
the priesthood? If there is one drop of Negro blood in my
children, as I have read to you, they receive the curse. There
isn’t any argument, therefore, as to inter-marriage with the Negro, is
there?”
-
Apostle Mark E. Peterson, “Race Problems – As They
Effect the Church,” Address given at the Convention of Teachers
of Religion on the College Level, delivered at BYU, August 27, 1954;
online at http://www.mormonismi.net/mep1954/
Apostle N. Eldon
Tanner (1898 - 1982):
“The Church has no
intention of changing its doctrine on the Negro.
Throughout the history of the original Christian church, the Negro
never held the priesthood. There’s really nothing we can do to
change this. It’s a law of God.’”
-
Apostle N. Eldon Tanner, Seattle Magazine,
Dec. 1967, p. 60; online at http://www.watchman.org/lds/smorgas.htm
Others:
“Having learned with
extreme regret, that an article entitled, ‘Free
People of Color,’ in the last number of the Star, has been
misunderstood, we feel in duty bound to state, in this Extra, that our
intention was not only to stop free people of color from emigrating to
this state [Utah], but to prevent them from being admitted as members
of the Church.”
- The Evening and the Morning
Star, July 16,
1833, reprinted in History
of the Church, v.
1, pp. 378-379;
online at http://www.geocities.com/solmes.geo/response-lds-truth-blacks-hc-377-379.html
“... a black skin is a
mark of the curse of heaven placed upon some
portions of mankind.”
- Juvenile Instructor, v. 3, p. 157; online at
http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm
“In fact we believe it
to be a great sin in the eyes of our Heavenly
Father for a white person to marry a black one. And further, that
it is a proof of the mercy of God that no such race appear to be able
to continue for many generations.”
- Juvenile Instructor, v. 3, p. 165; online
at http://www.spotlightministries.org.uk/ldsrace.htm
“We will first inquire
into the results of the approbation or
displeasure of God upon a people, starting with the belief that a black
skin is a mark of the curse of heaven placed upon some portions of
mankind.... We understand that when God made man in his own image and
pronounced him very good, that he made him white.”
- Juvenile Instructor, v. 3, p. 157; online at
http://www.xmission.com/~country/chngwrld/chap9a.htm
“Those who believe
that the Church ‘gave in’ on the polygamy issue and
subsequently should give in on the Negro question are not only
misinformed about Church History, but are apparently unaware of Church
doctrine.... Therefore, those who hope that pressure will bring about a
revelation need to take a closer look at Mormon history and the order
of heaven.”
-
Elder John L. Lund, The Church and the Negro,
pp. 104-105, 1967; online at http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm
“Those who would try
to pressure the Prophet to give the Negroes the
Priesthood do not understand the plan of God nor the order of
heaven. Revelation is the expressed will of God to man.
Revelation is not man’s will expressed to God. All the social,
political, and governmental pressure in the world is not going to
change what God has decreed to be.”
-
Elder John L. Lund, The Church and the Negro,
p. 109; online at http://www.mormonismi.net/artikkelit/mustien_pappeus.shtml
“First, [before the
seed of Cain get the priesthood] all of Adam’s
children will have to resurrect and secondly, the seed of Abel must
have an opportunity to possess the Priesthood. These events will
not occur until sometime after the end of the millennium.”
-
Elder John L. Lund, The Church and the Negro,
pp. 109-110
“The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints has no call to carry
the Gospel to the Negro, and it does not do so.”
-
Elder Arthur M. Richardson, That Ye May Not Be
Desired, p. 13;
online at http://www.churches-of-christ.net/tracts/job081u.htm
“Also, the gospel was
not carried to this segregated black group... the
Negroes tread the earth with black dishonorable bodies as a judgment of
God because at the time of decision in the pre-existence they were
faint-hearted and exhibited an infirmity of purpose – they were not
valiant in the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, they
were entitled to no better earthly lineage than that of the first early
murderer, Cain. They were to be the ‘servant of servants.’
They were to be segregated. No effort was made to carry the
gospel to them as a people.”
-
Elder Arthur M. Richardson, That Ye May Not Be
Deceived, pp.
9-10; online at http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm
“... No direct efforts
have been made to proselyte among them
[Negroes].”
-
Elder William E. Berrett, Vice President of Brigham
Young University, Mormonism
and the Negro,
Part 2, p. 5; online
at http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech10a.htm
“Even Joseph’s
‘calling for the end of slavery by 1850’ in his
Presidential campaign is not so liberal as Brodie supposes.... Joseph
Smith was, therefore, to some degree a racist, a segregationist, a
colonizer, and only incidentally a supporter of abolition. He had
some elements of liberalism in his thinking, but these had definite
limits. His record... is marked with ambiguity.”
-
Marvin Hill, BYU Professor, Dialogue: A Journal
of Mormon Thought,
Autumn 1970, p. 99
“A different thing is
going on in South America where Mormon
missionaries are pushing ahead full throttle. There the former
careful selection to keep out ‘white Negroes’ has been allowed to slide
a little.... ‘There is no question but that in Brazil they have been
ordaining priests who are part Negro,’ said one careful observer.”
-
Wallace Turner, The Mormon Establishment,
p. 261, 1966
“The Negro Mormon can
hold no office whatsoever in a church which
offers some office to every one of its male members at some time in his
life. A gray-haired Negro Mormon who may have spent his adult
life in careful practice of all the complicated and demanding rules set
down by the LDS church stands disenfranchised before the altar where a
youth whose beard is just beginning to fuzz may preside.”
-
Wallace Turner, The Mormon Establishment,
pp. 243-244
“The Quorum upheld a
decision by John Widtsoe denying a temple
recommend to a ‘sister having one thirty-second of negro blood in her
veins...’”
- Dialogue: A Journal of
Mormon Thought,
Spring 1973, p. 66
Because of LDS policy
toward nonwhites,
“the late sixties
found the Brigham Young University the focal point of
militant protests. Sports events provided the context for protests,
boycotts, disrupted games, mass demonstrations, and ‘riots.’ At one
point the conflict among schools within the Western Athletic Conference
became so intense that the conference almost disbanded. Administrators,
already embroiled in student demonstrations over Vietnam, began to
separate themselves from the Mormon school. Stanford University, for
instance, severed all relations with Brigham Young University.”
- O.
Kendall White, Jr., and Daryl White, “Abandoning
an Unpopular Policy: An Analysis of the Decision Granting the Mormon
Priesthood to Blacks,” Sociological Analysis, v. 41, p. 233,
Fall 1980
“In all humility I
must say that God has not inspired me to feel good
about the Church’s practices regarding Negroes.... when my wife and I
went to San Francisco Ward’s bishop to renew our temple recommends, he
told us that anyone who could not accept the Church’s stand on Negroes
as a divine doctrine was not supporting the General Authorities and
could not go to the temple. Later, in an interview with the stake
president we were told the same thing: if you express doubts about the
divinity of this ‘doctrine’ you cannot go to the temple.”
-
Grant Syphers, LDS scholar, Dialogue: A Journal
of Mormon Thought,
Winter 1967, p. 6
“My plea, then to the
civil rights organizations and to all critics of
the Mormon Church is: get off our backs! ... agitation over the ‘Negro
issue’ by non-Mormon groups, or even by Mormon liberals, is likely
simply to increase the resistance to change.”
-
Armand L. Mauss, Dialogue: A Journal of
Mormon
Thought, Winter
1967, pp. 38-39
“The Church is either
true or it isn’t. If it changes its stand
on the strength of the ‘great stream of modern religious and social
thought,’ it will be proven criticism.... If the Church is true it will
hold to its beliefs in spite of its members. If it is false, more
power to the easy-way-out philosophers who claim to know the ‘imperious
truths of the contemporary world.’”
-
Paul C. Richards, Dialogue: A Journal of
Mormon
Thought, Autumn
1967, p. 6
“The revelation that
the church is talking about with respect to the
Negro and the priesthood should have been sought 50 years ago – not now
when we are forced into looking for one. Even if a revelation
should come now, we have compromised our position because it looks as
if we have been forced into seeking it, which will be true.”
-
Donald Ira French, Jr., Mormon elder and writer, Time,
Nov. 1, 1963
“A 12-year-old boy
scout has been denied a senior patrol leadership in
his troop because he is black, Don L. Cope, black ombudsman for the
state, said Wednesday.... The ombudsman said Mormon ‘troop policy
is that in order to become a patrol leader, he must be a deacon’s
quorum president in the LDS church. Since the boy cannot hold the
priesthood, he cannot become a patrol leader.”
- Salt Lake Tribune, July 18, 1974
“The Saints would have
been so much better off if they had never gone
near Missouri because they... compromised their position by adopting an
idea that already prevailed... that ‘Negroes are cursed with a black
skin and that they are intended as the curse of Noah on Canaan goes, to
be ‘servant of servants.’”
-
Sterling McMurrin, “The Mormon Doctrine and the
Negro,” address given to the Salt Lake Branch of the N.A.A.C.P., March
1969
“There are Negroes
born into families of wealth and refinement, others
who are blessed with great talents, and there are those born into the
lowest classes of society in Africa, in squalor and ignorance, living
out their lives in a fashion akin to that of the animals. Does not this
infinite variety of circumstance give further evidence of man’s being
assigned that station in life which he has merited by his performance
in the premortal existence.”
-
John J. Stewart, The Glory of Mormonism,
1963, inside front flap book cover and p. 44
“When God allows a
spirit to take on a Negroid body, do you suppose He
is unaware of the fact that he will suffer a social stigma? Therefore,
if you say this Church is unjust in not allowing the Negro to bear the
Priesthood, you must, to be consistent, likewise say that God is even
more unjust in giving him a black skin.”
-
John J. Stewart, The Glory of Mormonism,
1963, p. 154
“I want to talk to you
a little bit now about something that is not
missionary work, and what I say is NOT to be given to your
investigators [potential converts] by any matter of means.... Why is it
that you are white and not colored?.. God is not unjust to cause a
righteous spirit to be born as a cursed member of the black race.”
-
LDS European Mission president, Alvin R. Dyer, “For
What Purpose?,” Missionary Conference in Oslo, Norway, March 18, 1961,
printed in The
Negro in Mormon Theology, pp. 48-58
“With the concurrence
of President McKay, a young man of known Negro
ancestry was ordained to the priesthood after receiving a patriarchal
blessing which did not assign him to a ‘cursed’ lineage. In
another case, President McKay authorized two children with Negro
ancestry to be sealed in the temple to the white couple who had adopted
them.”
- Dialogue: A Journal of
Mormon Thought,
Spring 1973, p. 45
“[A Negro] looks
as though he has been put in an oven and burnt
to a cinder.... His hair baked crisp, his nose melted to his face, and
the color of his eyes runs into the whites. Some men look as if they
had only been burned brown; but he appears to have gone a stage
further, and been cooked until he was quite black.”
-
“From Caucasian to Negro,” quoted in Bush, Mormonism’s
Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview, pp. 57-58, endnote #99
R.L.D.S. Prophet,
Joseph Smith III
“It is expedient in me
that you ordain priests unto me, of every race
who receive the teachings of my law, and become heirs accourding to the
promise.... Be not hasty in ordaining men of the Negro race...”
-
RLDS Prophet Joseph Smith III, revelation to the
RLDS Church, May 4, 1865; online at http://www.centerplace.org/hs/dc/rdc-116.htm
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The Case of Douglas A.
Wallace:
For more on this topic,
see Wallace’s autobiography, available
online at:
http://www.dougwallace.com/utmtfinalwebbook.htm or check out
http://www.utlm.org/newsletters/no39.htm#A%20REAL%20COVER-UP
“Salk Lake City police
officers admitted Thursday that the accidental
wounding of an undercover officer occurred during surveillance of
Mormon dissident Douglas A. Wallace.”
- Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 17, 1977
Douglas A. Wallace was
excommunicated from the LDS church for giving
the priesthood to a black man. Wallace claimed that the Mormon
Church: “was behind April police surveillance... that led to the
accidental shooting of a Salt Lake City police officer.”
- Salt Lake Tribune, Sept. 17, 1977
David Olson, the disabled
police officer, condemned LDS President “Spencer
W. Kimball for his incorrect press release concerning the police
involvement combined with the LDS church’s efforts to restrict Douglas
A. Wallace from the temple grounds, specifically the Tabernacle, on
April 3, 1977. His denial of these actions is wrong. Any
man who can take such actions and still call himself a prophet deserves
more than I to be confined to this wheelchair.”
- Salt Lake Tribune, Jan. 18, 1978
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The 1978 “Revelation”
No written document of
this revelation has ever been produced, nor
do participants claim that one exists. All participants have
simply described a positive, overwhelming feeling after asking God what
they should do about the priesthood ban on blacks.
I think it is obvious that this revelation came in direct response to
the pressure the church was receiving from potentially damaging
lawsuits, media focus, and an ever-increasing negative image of the LDS
Church in society (thus decreasing conversions, alienating existing
members). While allowing blacks into the LDS priesthood was a positive
step forward for the church, only the truly indoctrinated Mormon could
possibly believe the change occurred by a real revelation from God
which just happened to coincide with unprecedented scrutiny the
LDS Church was receiving from outside forces.
Even more obvious is the fact that LDS prophets do NOT speak with God.
If they did, certainly they would be able to show their members the
words of God. Every LDS prophet claiming to have received
revelation has been able produce a written document purporting to be
the words of God.
Prophet Spencer W.
Kimball (1895-1985) describes the “revelation”:
“It went on for some
time as I was searching for this, because I wanted
to be sure. We held a meeting of the Council of the Twelve
[Apostles] in the temple on the regular day. We considered this
very seriously and thoughtfully and prayerfully.
“I asked the Twelve
not to go home when the time came. I said,
‘Now would you be willing to remain in the temple with us?’ And
they were. I offered the final prayer and told the Lord if it
wasn’t right, if He didn’t want this change to come in the Church that
I would be true to it the rest of my life, and I’d fight the world
against it if that’s what He wanted.
“We had this special
prayer circle, then I knew the time had
come. I had a great deal to fight, of course, myself largely,
because I had grown up with this thought that Negroes should not have
the priesthood and I was prepared to go all the rest of my life till my
death and fight for it and defend it as it was. But this
revelation and assurance came to me so clearly that there was no
question about it.”
-
Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, Deseret News,
Jan. 6, 1979, p. 4 (Church Section)
“The Lord could have
sent messengers from the other side to deliver it,
but he did not. He gave the revelation by the power of the Holy
Ghost.... I cannot describe in words what happened; I can only say that
it happened and that it can be known and understood only by the feeling
that can come into the heart of man. You cannot describe a
testimony to someone.”
-
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, “All Are Alike Unto
God,” speech, p. 2-3; online at http://www.zionsbest.com/alike.html
“Kimball refused to
discuss the revelation that changed the church’s
148-year-old policy against ordination of blacks, saying it was a
‘personal thing.’”
- Salt Lake Tribune, June 13, 1978; online at http://www.exmormon.org/journey/journey_g.htm
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After the 1978 Revelation
“Joseph Freeman, 26,
the first black man to gain the priesthood in the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Friday went in the Salt
Lake Temple with his wife and sons for sacred ordinances... Thomas S.
Monson, member of the church’s Quorum of Twelve Apostles, conducted the
marriage and sealing ceremonies.”
- Salt Lake Tribune, June 24, 1978; online at http://www.bible.ca/mor-blacks-racism.htm
Apostle Bruce R.
McConkie responds to the “revelation:”
“Forget everything
that I have said.”
-
Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, “The New Revelation,” Priesthood,
p. 132
“According to
the actor who portrayed the minister in the third
filmed version, the role of Satan [during the endowment ceremony film]
was to have originally been filled by an African-American, but due to
protests by LDS Polynesians, a Caucasian filled the role.”
-
Davis John Buerger, Mysteries of Godliness,
p. 169
“... was this change
of doctrine really a revelation from the Lord, or
did the church leaders act on their own? Why don’t they publish
that revelation and let the Lord speak in his own words? All we
saw was a statement of the First Presidency, and that is not how a
revelation looks.
“When God speaks the
revelation starts with the words: ‘Thus sayeth the
Lord....’ It seems when the Lord decides to change a doctrine of
such great importance he will talk himself to the people of his
church. If such a revelation cannot be presented to the members
it is obvious that the First Presidency acted on its own, most likely
under fear of public pressure to avoid problems of serious consequences
and to maintain peace and popularity with the world.”
-
Eugene Wagner, Salt Lake Tribune, June 24,
1978, Letter to Editor
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Blacks and the LDS Church
Today
LDS Prophet Gordon B.
Hinckley:
“I don’t see anything
further that we need to do. I don’t hear any
complaint from our black brethren and sisters. I hear only appreciation
and gratitude wherever I go.”
-
Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, “Mormon Leader Defends
Race Relations,” Los
Angeles Times,
September 12, 1998
"It's [LDS racism]
behind us. Look, that's behind us. Don't worry about
those little flicks of history."
-
Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, 60 Minutes Interview
with Mike Wallace, online at http://www.lds-mormon.com/60min.shtml
Others:
“Most black Americans
who have joined the LDS church experience genuine
and heartfelt acceptance; at the same time they have concerns over the
past priesthood exclusion and latent forms of racism and prejudice
exhibited by some white members.”
-
Embry, Black
Saints, p. 234
“He [David Jackson,
black Mormon] says that with most black Mormons,
‘when they find out about this [ban], they exit’; he estimates that
thousands have become inactive, although few have formally resigned.
‘You end up with the passive African Americans in the church,’ he says.
‘Those who remain tell me, you go and ahead and do this, but don’t use
my name. They all want the change, but few want to take direct
responsibility.’”
-
Richard and Joan Ostling, Mormon America,
p. 105
“False ideas that were
invented to rationalize our earlier racist
practices are still with us... a majority of bright, well-educated
Mormon students say they believe that blacks are descendants of Cain
and Ham and thereby cursed and that skin color is an indication of
righteousness in the premortal life. They tell me these ideas came from
their parents or seminary and Sunday school teachers, and they have
never questioned them.”
- Eugene
England, BYU English professor emeritus, “Becoming
a World Religion: Blacks, the Poor – All of Us,” Sunstone,
21:2, no. 110 (June 1998), see pp. 49-60 for all of England’s comments
“As a white Mormon, I
proudly accepted the teaching that my fair skin
and Mormon parentage signified that I had been one of God’s most
intelligent and obedient born-in-heaven spirit children.... As a reward
for my superior attributes and attitudes, I had been singled out,
trained, and qualified to be born a white Latter-day Saint, deserving
of emulation, adulation, and eventual deification. All dark-skinned
people, even darker-complexioned Caucasians... had been inferior
spirits in heaven.”
-
Thelma Geer, Mormonism, Mama & Me,
1986, pp. 24-25
“Since they believe in
‘continuous revelation,’ Mormons have a
mechanism that enables them to reverse previous positions without
repudiating the past.... That the church will invoke such a mechanism
to resolve the racial issue is not too unlikely... this approach has a
serious drawback. It is the tendency not to acknowledge the
errors of the past. While revelation could be used to legitimate
a new racial policy and to redefine Mormon relations with black people,
Mormons might still be unwilling to condemn the racism involved in
their history. They might be inclined to argue that Mormons in
earlier periods were under a different mandate than the one binding
them. This obviously implies that the church is never
wrong. Thus, change may come through the notion of continuing
revelation, but the racist aspects of Mormon history will not
necessarily be condemned.”
- The Journal of Religious
Thought,
Autumn-Winter 1973, pp. 57-58
