In attempting to justify the Mormon church's long-standing bigoted beliefs and doctrines targeting Blacks, the First Presidency of David O. McKay sent the following letter “[t]o General Authorities, Regional Representatives of the Twelve, Stake Presidents, and Bishops.” (Note: Although McKay did not sign the original letter, less than a month later the LDS church-owned “Church News” carried the letter with this explanation: “President David O. McKay has authorized publication in the 'Church Section' of the 'Deseret News' of the following letter sent to various Church officers, December 15, 1969"):

“Dear Brethren:

“In view of confusion that has arisen, it was decided at a meeting of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve to restate the position of the Church with regard to the Negro both in society and in the Church . . .

“We believe that the Constitution of the United States was divinely inspired. . . . It follows, therefore, that we believe the Negro . . . should have his full Constitutional privileges of society, and we hope rights are held inviolate. Each citizen must have equal opportunities and protection under the law with reference to civil rights.

“However, matters of faith, conscience, and theology are not within the purview of the civil law. . . .

“The position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affecting those of the Negro race who choose to join the Church falls wholly within the category of religion. It has no bearing upon matters of civil rights. In no case or degree does it deny to the Negro his full privileges as a citizen of this nation. . . .

"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 know to God, but which he has not made full 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 many 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.'

“Until God reveals His will in this matter, to him whom we sustain as a prophet, we are bound by that same will. Priesthood, when it is conferred on any man, comes as a blessing from God, not of men. . . .

“Were we the leaders of an enterprise created by ourselves and operated only according to our own earthly wisdom, it would be a simple thing to act according to popular will. But we believe that this work is directed by God and that the conferring of the priesthood [on the Negro] must await His revelation. . . .

“Without prejudice [those who do “not wish for membership in the Church”] should grant us the privilege afforded under the Constitution to exercise our chosen form of religion just as we must grant all others a similar privilege. They must recognize that the question of bestowing or withholding priesthood in the Church is a matter of religion and not a matter of Constitutional right. . . .“

(Hugh B Brown and N. Eldon Tanner, “The First Presidency," letter “To General Authorities, Regional Representatives of the Twelve, Stake Presidents, and Bishops," 15 December 1969, excerpted from text of “Church News” article, 15 December 1970, in Lester E. Bush, compiled notes on history of Blacks in Mormon Church, pp. 301-02, copy in my possession)


But in the same letter where the First Presidency attempted to blow off growing non-Mormon societal criticism of its anti-Black doctrines as having "no relevancy whatever to those who do not wish to join the Church," the First Presidency was hiding its gnawing little secret: It really did care what non-Mormon America thought.

Greg Prince, author of “David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism,” notes that contrary to the assertions of the First Presidency, the Mormon church, in fact, yearned to have bestowed upon it by larger American society the respected status of being a supporter of civil and constitutional rights for Blacks, even in matters religious.

Prince told the PBS program “Frontline”:

“Until the early 1960s there had not been overt pressure on the church to reverse this ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood, but then it started to pop up as the civil rights movement began to mature. The Salt Lake chapter of the NAACP . . . threatened to picket [the church's] General Conference if the church didn't come out and make a positive statement on civil rights, not even demanding at that point that they reverse that policy. They just wanted the church to go on record as being supportive of the civil rights movement. And eventually that happened, and it avoided that picketing of the General Conference. A couple years later the same issue emerged, and the church again had to restate its support of the civil rights movement, even though some members of the church, including President McKay, did it begrudgingly.”

(Greg Prince, interview in “The Mormons,” from Frontline” documentary on the “American Experience,” under “The Prohibition of Blacks in the Priesthood,” at: http://www.pbs.org/mormons/themes/prohibition.html)
_____


In the end, the Mormon church did exactly what it said it would not do: it bent to popular will and bowed to public pressure.

After having, for nearly a century-and-a-half, aggressively promoted its inhumane, racist doctrines against Blacks, the Mormon Church gave in to common decency by giving the priesthood to Blacks.

It seems the white supremacist Mormon God finally realized that he couldn't have his Blacks and curse them, too.



Edited 13 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2012 01:12AM by steve benson.

That was yet another controversial "doctrine" to explain (when testimony bearing & side stepping didn't work) while on a mission.

It doesn't appear that the "Negro" race has joined the church in droves since SWK got his revelation.

They were driven into slavery once but not twice!

Another good read Steve!

Quote from above:
Our living prophet, President David O. McKay, has said, 'The seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with many 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.'

Quote from yesterday's proph8 LDSinc release:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regrets today’s decision. California voters have twice determined in a general election that marriage should be recognized as only between a man and a woman. We have always had that view.

Quote from the LDSinc proclamation on the family:
marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children.

All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose.

Thanks Steve! I wasn't born until '78, and I've been curious about how policy during the years between gaining civil rights for minorities and the church caving in '78 was justified.

"Religion is a private matter", essentially...

Not curious enough to want to dig for the smelly details though. When the student is ready, or something. I'm sure there's plenty more to the story, buried in history.
Of course, I attended a ward that sent all non-whites to the Spanish speaking ward well into the '80s. THAT I do remember.

The part about Joseph Smith's believing that African Americans were not to receive the priesthood was a blatant lie. If JS did not believe African American's should get the priesthood, then why did he ordain one?

Mormon apologists desperately point to the case of African-American Elijah Abel, who was ordained to the Mormon priesthood by Joseph Smith.

Abel, however, was a rare exception to the Mormon church's official rule. In fact, it did not take long for the Mormon church to deny this Mormon Black man the full benefits of Mormon church membership. Abel asked to receive his Mormon temple "endowments" (which are taught by the Mormon church as being necessary for eternal salvation). Abel's request was denied by inveterate racist and Mormon church president Brigham Young.

Young, of course, was Smith's presidential successor (after Smith was taken out by a mob while in jail for burning down newspaper that had exposed him as a fraud and a philanderer). Young officially taught, as Mormon church president, that Blacks were "cursed" by the Mormon God with a dark skin;; that Blacks were unworthy of receiving the Mormon priesthood which, he declared, was reserved for Whites only (at least until the rest of" Adam's children" had received it and had been resurrected); that Blacks were unfit to serve in government; and that mixing White blood with the blood of the "African race" meant death "on the spot," as decreed by "the law of God."

Abel's case does nothing, therefore, to service the claim of Mormon apologists that the Mormon church is unburdened with a long track record of official, racist, anti-Black doctrine and practice.

As has been noted by critics of the Mormon church's documented history of official doctrinal denigration of Blacks:

"If the prophets after Joseph Smith were responsible for the ban on Blacks from receiving the priesthood and if indeed this was a false doctrine then how could any of those men possibly be prophets?

"For men of God to deny an entire race the benefit of the priesthood for 150 years is inexcusable. The Church would have been much better off to have been governed by a group of men that did not claim divine authority and therefore could have been responsive to the will of the members.

"If Brigham Young instituted the priesthood ban on blacks without being directed to from God, then this is just too serious to ignore. And if all the prophets since Brigham Young until Spencer W. Kimball let it go unchallenged, then how can anyone say these men are truly prophets of God?

"It's ironic that all the other Christian churches, that do not claim to have prophets, allowed blacks the same rights as whites long before the prophet-led LDS church did. If the LDS prophets made this big of an error then why should they be believed on other matters?"

http://mormonthink.com/blackweb.htm



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/08/2012 04:20PM by steve benson.