Young Mormon children are exposed to this:

"Laman and Lemuel’s followers called themselves Lamanites. They became a dark-skinned people. God cursed them because of their wickedness. The Lamanites became lazy and would not work."

Children can see it in a cartoon or a children's book.

Video
http://broadcast2.lds.org/scripture-stories/book-of-mormon/2010-12-09-chapter-9-a-new-home-in-the-promised-land-1000k-eng.mp4

Book
http://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/scripture-stories/book-of-mormon-stories/2010-12-11-chapter-9-a-new-home-in-the-promised-land-eng.pdf

The good guys are dressed like nice Bible people pictures, the bad guys are dressed like Indians. The bad guys got cursed and their skin turned dark. They were lazy and wouldn't work. Is this LDS multimedia tool for children harmful?

Here is an interesting PBS article about children and multimedia.
http://www.pbs.org/parents/childrenandmedia/article-stereotypes.html

"Some common stereotypes show women as weak and certain ethnic groups as lazy or scheming. Challenge your child to question what she sees and hears, so she develops an eye for sexism, racism and other prejudices in mainstream media portrayals."

How can a parent challenge their child to question the Book of Mormon? Children can be taught that what they see on television and in movies is not real, but LDS children are taught that the Book of Mormon is real. Is this children's multimedia stereotype of the American Indian harmful?

Here is an article about the impact of stereotyping on young people.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/aboriginal_people/aboriginal_impact.cfm

Don't let Mormons use the excuse that children are innocent and won't see the stereotype. Studies have shown that children begin as young as 3 years old to make stereotypes.

http://faculty.business.utsa.edu/tlowrey/JCR2009.pdf
page 3
"Children’s awareness and knowledge of broadly held stereotypes occur as young as age 3 (Daniel and Daniel 1998), increase throughout childhood (McKown and Weinstein 2003), and by middle childhood resemble stereotypes held by adults (Aboud 1988). When children’s knowledge of the stereotype domain peaks, their knowledge becomes consolidated into a rigid, oversimplified fashion (Miller, Trautner, and Ruble 2006). We view stereotype rigidity as the degree to which children are unable or unwilling to waiver from a strong myopic view of the set of characteristics associated with a particular social role."

Another study found that when people are primed with one stereotype, they are more likely to increase their stereotyping of other minority groups.
http://www.indianmascots.com/kim-prieto_-_web_etal_effec.pdf

The Book of Mormon teachings about the American Indian includes the idea that they are wicked, lazy and cursed. Those that become LDS are the good ones, those that won't accept the gospel remain cursed. These ideas are given to young LDS children in cartoons and reinforced by LDS leaders like Elder Uchtdorf did at last month's temple dedication.

"Thou kind and gracious Father, our hearts are filled with gratitude for Thy remembrance of the sons and daughters of Lehi. Thou hast heard their cries and seen their tears. Thou hast accepted their righteous sacrifices."
http://www.ldschurchnews.com/articles/61840/Quetzaltenango-Guatemala-Temple-Accept-our-thanks.html

As long as they are still singing "Book of Mormon Stories" during the Primary Sacrament, I think you may have a point.

All that nonsense is harmful to adults as well.

The belief that the book is TRUE makes it so much more dangerous. When these children (or adults) ask how and why a god would make one group have dark skin there is a literal answer that they were lazy, idolotrous, wicked, and evil.

Then they take it to the extreem by teaching that even if you were so lucky to have white skin....if your starting to become evil or have bad behavior you can turn into a lamanite with dark skin.

But of course......only god knows why!!!! I believe it is a hateful and damaging teaching to force on children. I hope the media catches up on the bigotry and KKK philosophy of mormonism and sticks it to Romney in public forum.

Maybe that could make an entire group of people wake up and realize they are being taught to hate.

Parents should make reading time enjoyable and stimulate children's imagination. It shouldn't be a chore.

My ex takes our daughter to cult meetings on the weekends (her visitation time).

I fully intend to use the BoM as a teaching tool to make sure our daughter knows it is false. Especially the church's teachings about lamanites since my daughter is 1/4 native American then I can tell her about DNA evidence.

My job is to make sure the door to sanity and truth is kept propped open so my daughter can make the right decision for herself when she turns 18.

It's especially harmful to children of Native American descent- To grow up with the idea that you come from a cursed race is painful and damaging. Being raised in a religion that teaches complete and utter falsehoods about your heritage is revolting.

If you have a child who is afraid of the dark, you can let some light into the room by using the book as a doorstop.

A table with a short leg can be propped up by the world's most correct lump.

It may have other uses as well.

Just this past Sunday a woman in church (mormon for more than 30 years) expressed her gratitude to her "ancestors" in the Book of Mormon.

writing that god made him do it?

I don't think Nephi existed at all but your question raises a good point.

This is the lesson taught to children (From the story book version of Laban) -
http://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/scripture-stories/book-of-mormon-stories/2010-12-05-chapter-4-the-brass-plates-eng.pdf

"Nephi saw Laban’s sword and picked it up. The Holy Ghost told Nephi to kill Laban, but Nephi did not want to kill him. The Holy Ghost again told Nephi to kill Laban so Nephi could get the brass plates. Lehi’s family needed the plates so they could learn the gospel. Nephi obeyed the Holy Ghost and killed Laban. Nephi then put on Laban’s clothes and armor."


Children are taught that the Holy Ghost told Nephi to kill and that we should obey the Holy Ghost. Notice how it wasn't God that told Nephi, it was the Holy Ghost. At the end, children are taught that the Holy Ghost will tell them if the Book of Mormon is true.

"Moroni promised that if people would ask sincerely, with faith in Christ, the Holy Ghost would help them know the records are true."
http://media.ldscdn.org/pdf/scripture-stories/book-of-mormon-stories/2010-12-58-chapter-54-the-promise-of-the-book-of-mormon-eng.pdf

So children learn that the same spirit that tells someone to kill will tell also tell us that the Book of Mormon is true. And if it is true, the American Indian are lazy and cursed unless they become LDS.

ask Brenda Lafferty's daughter, Erica, about that and the pre 1990 LDS temple ceremony.

It was to me. I had nightmares of bloodstained streets and dead bodies all over the place after reading about the wars.

T-Bone

Hey! I just learned that Nephites were healthy organic farmers and lazy Lamanites broke the WoW by eating nothing but meat!

Stop Pulling my leg, youse guys

I had posted about a 20/20 program on the Pine Ridge Reservation back in October.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,316503,316503#msg-316503

Many Lakota considered that 20/20 progam to be a negative presentation and their responses were remarkable. I'm bringing this back up because the Mormons are trying to promote a positive LDS image and complaining about negative media. So take a look at what the "lazy" "cursed" people who are not even mentioned in the Bismark Temple dedicatory prayer have done.

The High School on my wife's reservation made a video in response to the 20/20 program. "Utilizing available technology on the campus, the students put together a creative package that no public relations firm could have done." http://64.38.12.138/News/2012/004087.asp

Here is a link to the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhribaNXr7A

How "lazy" are these people that the LDS scriptures say are "cursed"?

http://64.38.12.138/News/2012/004087.asp
“In the minds of many Americans, the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe embodies all the problems of American Indians and Alaska Natives. Yet on this, one of the nation’s largest Native American Reservations, four American Indian scholars have set a standard virtually any town or city in the United States will find it very difficult to match. In 2011, four scholars who were raised in the historic village of Oglala, pop. 1290 (2010 Census), were honored for their work at the graduate level, one of whom is pursuing a Ph.D. degree and three having received Ph.D. degrees during the year. Some experts have speculated that, at least this year, it may be the highest per capita number of Ph.D.s of any municipality in the nation.”

These Doctorate degrees were earned by people from the Reservation where the Mormons had closed and locked a meeting house. http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/article_7a4343d3-eca4-5031-bcc9-79579a21aa22.html