"...[I]n a broad sense, CASTE SYSTEMS have their root and origin in the gospel itself, and when they operate according to the DIVINE DECREE, the resultant RESTRICTIONS AND SEGREGATION ARE RIGHT AND PROPER and have the APPROVAL OF THE LORD. To illustrate: Cain, Ham, and the whole negro race have been cursed with a black skin, the mark of Cain, so they can be identified as A CASTE APART, a people with whom the other descendants of Adam should NOT INTERMARRY."

LDS "Apostle" Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 108-109, 1966 edition, emphasis added.

That's from 1966, not 1866!!?? The same same type of stuff I've been studying with my daughter on how slavery was defended in the Old South.
As far as intermarriage goes, I say anything that could produce Halle Berry is OK by me....

That was doctrine right up until 1978.

After the ban was lifted, McConkie said for us to forget everything he had said previous to that date.

“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question” (“Marriage and Divorce,” in 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1977], p. 144).

http://lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?hideNav=1&locale=0&sourceId=1f4fa41f6cc20110VgnVCM100000176f620a____&vgnextoid=198bf4b13819d110VgnVCM1000003a94610aRCRD

They're STILL publishing crap like this!

© 1995 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
English approval: 1/92

Note that on the table at the following link, "Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3" is in the rotation for 2011. And if you click on the "Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3" link on that page it will take you to the table of contents for this manual. Scroll down to "Lesson 31: Choosing an Eternal Companion" and click. That will take you to the same link I included in my previous post.

http://lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,5099-1,00.html


Anyway, it's good to see they're planning ahead and teaching 'em young. And YOUNG would be proud that the cult he molded so carefully hasn't completely given in to the wicked world on this point (my guess is that BKKKP demanded the inclusion).

The really telling thing about this whole issue is that the church tells its members to "fast and pray and meditate" over such and important decision as marriage, but then includes the caveat to be especially careful about mixing races. I mean, if God is going to answer you directly, why qualify with such a warning?

Anyway, I don't want to beat a dead horse--but it's clear this particular animal still has some life in it as far as the Mormon church is concerned!

Thanks for your post!

Hey, come on guys...McConkie corrected himself when the great revelation of 1978 came out:

“There are statements in our literature by the early brethren which we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, ‘You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?’ And all I can say to that is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. “We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter any more. “It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year (1978). It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. As to any slivers of light or any particles of darkness of the past, we forget about them. We now do what meridian Israel did when the Lord said the gospel should go to the gentiles. We forget all the statements that limited the gospel to the house of Israel, and we start going to the gentiles.” (Bruce R. McConkie - “All Are Alike Unto God,” CES Symposium on the Book of Mormon, 18 August 1978)

Or maybe he took the Journal of Discourses seriously.

Yes he did. As well as Joseph Fielding Smith who wrote the Doctrines of Salvation and also The Way to Perfection. Both of which quote heavily from the Journal of Discourses.

McConkedout edited the DoS, and also borrowed heavily from it for his own Mormon Doctrine.

The Way to Perfection is an all-out Klanfest.

He was only speaking "as a man", so it wasn't official :)

17 Aug 51
"The attitude of the church regarding Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not the matter of a declaration of 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 operations of the principle. President Brigham Young said: "Why a skin of blackness? It comes as a 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 other children have recieved their blessings in the holy priesthood, then their curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will come up and posess the priesthood, and recieve all the blessings which we are now entitled to."
President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: "The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and recieve all of the blessings which we now have."

That's another lovely section. Of course, it has morphed and changed along with the shifting doctrinal sands of Mormonism, so you'll want to read it from an earlier printing of the 2nd edition.

All races of men stem from certain common ancestors. Adam and Eve are our first parents (1 Ne. 5:11), "And they have brought forth children; yea, even the family of all the earth." (2 Ne. 2:20.) Noah occupies a like position of parenthood over humankind. All but the members of his family were destroyed in the flood; and of his three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth "was the whole earth overspread." (Gen. 9:19.)

Racial degeneration, resulting in differences in appearance and spiritual aptitude, has arisen since the fall. We know the circumstances under which the posterity of Cain (and later of Ham) were born with the characteristics of the black race. (Moses 5:16-41; 7:8, 12, 22; Abra. 1:20-27.) The Book of Mormon explains why the Lamanites received dark skins and a degenerate status. (2 Ne. 5:21-23.) If we had a full and true history of all races and nations, we would know the origins of all their distinctive characteristics. In the absence of such detailed information, however, we know only the general principle that all these changes from the physical and spiritual perfections of our common parents have been brought about by departure from the gospel truths. (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1, pp. 148-151; vol. 3, pp. 313-326.)

The race and nation in which men are born in this world is a direct result of their pre-existent life. All the spirit hosts of heaven deemed worthy to receive mortal bodies were foreordained to pass through this earthly probation in the particular race and nation suited to their needs, circumstances, and talents. "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam," Moses said with reference to pre-existence, "he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel." (Deut. 32:8.) Not only Israel but all groups were thus foreknown and their total memberships designated in the pre-mortal life. Paul spoke similarly when he averred that God "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation." (Acts 17:26.)

Re “races of men”

On a side note, that idea completely contradicts the apologists who argue for a local flood instead of a world wide flood. It's crazy how they can't get their stories straight.

I've been wanting to vent on the interracial marriage thing for awhile. I am younger so I never got the whole blacks were less valiant in the pre-exsistance lessons, BUT I remember getting a lesson when I was very young - BEFORE 12 - that we were not supposed to marry people with a different color skin. This was in the 90's mind you!!! I have a hunch looking back now that my teacher gave the lesson because an interracial couple moved into the ward sometime around then I think, but I could be getting my timeline mixed up.

Anyways this topic still makes my blood boil...

Obviously the mormons don't believe "all men are created equal" How did/do they get around that?

why do we accept the dogma and stand idly by
we love being tormented and shaken, that's why
"we'll overlook this one thing", we say, "we'll try..."
while it shatters our senses and makes us cry
why "annointed men" corrupt the true meaning of life
caste systems lead to happiness, a future bright?
give me a freakin' break, what a pack of bloody lies!
don't you believe it, don't even lift an eye
it's a farce without reconcile, not a earthly trial
follow your heart, believe with purpose, not denial
reject the agenda of the brethren when it's vile
walk outside "their" shadow, go the extra mile

...not AN earthly trial

This is out of the **CURRENT** LDS Church Institute Manual (A college course on some LDS college campuses), which can be found at http://institute.lds.org/content/languages/english/Institute%20of%20Religion%20Materials/Student%20Manuals/Religion%20121-122,%20Book%20of%20Mormon%20Student%20Manual~eng.pdf

p.62

"2 Nephi 5:20–25. The Lamanites Were Cursed.

1. What was the curse?
The curse is clearly defined in verse 20 as being “cut off from the presence of the Lord.”

2. What caused the curse?
According to verse 21, the cause of the curse came “because of their iniquity” and “hardened . . . hearts.” Since the days of Adam’s Fall, wickedness has resulted in being cut off from the presence of the Lord (see 1 Nephi 2:21; 2 Nephi 4:4; 9:6; Alma 9:13; Ether 10:11).

3. What was the mark or sign set upon the Lamanites?
It is also explained in verse 21 that so “they might not be enticing unto my people [the Nephites] the Lord did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them [the Lamanites].” It would appear that this was done to limit the spreading of more wickedness. Later Alma suggested this same motive when he explained that “the skins of the Lamanites were dark . . . that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions” (Alma 3:6, 8). Throughout scripture we find warnings of the Lord not to marry unbelievers (see Deuteronomy 7:2–3; 2 Corinthians 6:14); the result of doing so was often that the righteous were turned away from the Lord (see Deuteronomy 7:4; 1 Kings 11:4; D&C 74:5). Some people have mistakenly thought that the dark skin placed upon the Lamanites was the curse. President Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) explained that the dark skin was not the curse: “The dark skin was placed upon the Lamanites so that they could be distinguished from the Nephites and to keep the two peoples from mixing. The dark skin was the sign of the curse [not the curse itself ]. The curse was the withdrawal of the Spirit of the Lord. . . . “The dark skin of those who have come into the Church is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse. . . . These converts are delightsome and have the Spirit of the Lord” (Answers to Gospel Questions, comp. Joseph Fielding Smith Jr., 5 vols. [1957–66], 3:122–23)....."

What exactly is dark skin then? Does anyone have the handbook which spells out how to classify unbelievers, past and present, according to their darkness? Who writes these Institute manuals anyway? It's all just so absurd.

According to Mormon Doctrine, I thought everyone was given a clean slate when they were born without having to carry the sins of their forefathers. Does God carry a grudge through the generations? Ridiculous...

You can readily tell who is righteous by their skin...so anyone who tans up like a brown paper bag in warmer climates even though they are descended from the Caucasian races...is from a "fallen" linage!

I had a cousin of my TBM BIC spouse tell me “your skin turns black” if you sin and don’t repent! To the Morons any skin that turns brown is on it’s way to being “black”!

there is no pleasure in the pain
there is no peace here I claim
there is no comfort, no gain
there is no love, I do exclaim

tell me the mysteries of him who creates
tell me the reason for all these debates
tell me the challenges we continually face
tell me the answer why we don't love, but hate

there is no answer, only what is here and now
there is no magic here to lift us into the clouds
there is no doctrine eternal, so utterly profound
there is no logic to explain racial separation, no doubt

don't believe them when they say the truth is with us
don't believe them when they sit on golden thrones, pompous
don't believe them when they say god is the source of all this
don't believe them while others are hurt by their righteousness

be the constant beacon, a light for others to see
be the strong pillar, rooted strength for the weak
be the force within, to balance the equation, if you please
be the voice of reason, when the "doctrine" reeks of tyranny

"Caste" systems are very widespread in Mormon cultures. The church actively promotes it by picking the wealthy and good looking to be "leaders" at most every level, especially when they have people that fit that description (obviously, many times, the wealthy/beautiful person is not available and then they had to pick me...). The system is supported by lessons supporting the idea of "prosperity protestantism", i.e., the idea that God will make you rich when you do his will (a good New Yorker--I think--article on this about a year ago when Mittster was running). If you are poor you will be relegated to support roles...building cleanup and maintenance, primary, nursery, etc. If you are "dark skinned" you will only be used as a prop when someone brings up how we think dark skinned people were "less valiant". Anyway, to be a good Mormon, you have to know your place and stand in it!