• On December 6th, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, officially abolishing slavery.

• On December 1st, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a public bus.

• On August 28th, 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech.

• On July 2nd, 1964, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

• On April 4th, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated.

Today, it is widely accepted that slavery and racial discrimination are wrong, even “evil” practices. If that is a universal, timeless principle, then it has always been wrong to practice these things, even if it was socially accepted at different points throughout history.

Mormons believe that God exists and is perfect. If this is true, then God has always understood that slavery and racial discrimination are wrong, even if men and women, in all their weakness, have not always been able to comprehend that same principle.

The Mormon church professes to be led by a prophet; one who is direct communication with God; one who is responsible to communicate an all-wise, all-knowing God’s will to all people here on earth.

• On June 8th, 1978, the First Presidency of the Mormon church officially put an end to the ban on people of African descent holding the Mormon priesthood.

Mormonism’s own form of discrimination was finally (and rightfully) overturned 10 years after MLK was assassinated, 23 years after the Civil Rights Movement was in its early stages, and more than 100 years after slavery was officially abolished.

How is it possible, then, that the Mormon church, supposedly led by prophets who are in direct communication with a God who obviously always has understood that racial discrimination is wrong, was so late to the party?

Unfortunately, there was plenty of reason for everyone to believe that God had already spoken through his Mormon prophets.

On February 5th, 1852 (nearly 16 years before slavery was abolished), Brigham Young proclaimed, “If there never was a prophet, or apostle of Jesus Christ spoke it before, I tell you, this people that are commonly called negroes are the children of old Cain. I know they are, I know that they cannot bear rule in the priesthood [sic], for the curse on them was to remain upon them, until the residue [sic] of the posterity of Michal and his wife receive the blessings, the seed of Cain would have received had they not been cursed; and hold the keys of the priesthood [sic], until the times of the restitution shall come, and the curse be wiped off from the earth, and from michals seed. Then Cain's seed will be had in rememberance [sic], and the time come when that curse should be wiped off.”

This is just one of may examples of how Mormonism ended up on the wrong side of history. It was because the “prophets”, people who profess to know God’s will, had already spoken! And according to them, God had evidently condoned withholding his priesthood from one single race [edit: at least until "the times of the restitution shall come"]. Giving Blacks the priesthood would be in direct violation of a former prophet’s teachings!

Today, Mormons point to Brigham Young’s statements as an example of human weakness. He was simply a product of his time, they say. Perfection shouldn’t be required of anyone, even prophets.

Fair enough, but just as perfection shouldn’t be expected of anyone, neither should being nothing more than just another man be expected of a prophet.

Mormonism being late to the party isn’t just about human weakness, it’s about a flawed model. Assuming that God knew and understood that discrimination is and always will be wrong, he was unable to communicate that through his prophets for well over 100 years! In fact, something completely and diametrically opposed to that principle is what ultimately ended up being communicated and embraced by the entire organization!

You want to know how to end up on the wrong side of history? Take a look at the Mormon model.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2011 05:45PM by xtbm.

"...[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.




“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;

“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;

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



"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.

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." (Apostle Mark E. Peterson, Race Problems - As They Affect The Church, Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 27, 1954)

First Presidency:
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."

------------

How come people like different colored dogs...





but not different colored people?





Just wondrin'...

Yer colorful pal,
Reggie, The StalkerDog™

And as soon as I can dye myself midnight blue I'm going for it!

;)

Who fought more valiantly in the pre-existence, black labs or yellow labs?

So does that mean marriage is obsolete because that is not the thing to do today?

edmarc Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> So does that mean marriage is obsolete because
> that is not the thing to do today?

Its not obsolete, its just that people don't marry the right person.

On-topic-ish. I hate the argument with the gay marriage is that they won't make good parents, who can say that????

Marriage is still alive and well and far from obsolete.

However it isn't needed to serve the same purposes it did 100 or more years ago.

cultural propriety by necro-baptizing Martin Luther King a Mormon multiple times. http://famousdeadmormons.com/index.php?id=26

Martin Luther King
Male

Event(s):
Birth: 15 JAN 1929 Atlanta, Campbell, Georgia

Death: 04 APR 1968

LDS Ordinances:

Baptism: 05 NOV 1991 SLAKE

Endowment: 14 NOV 1991 SLAKE

Sealing to Parents: 17 NOV 1992 SLAKE Martin Luther King /

Baptism: 23 JAN 1993 PORTL

Baptism: 06 OCT 1992 PROVO

Endowment: 10 OCT 1992 PROVO
......................

Attn: xtbm - Your post is excellent with its timing, detail, logic and power. I feel honored to have departed the Morg officially and joined you on the "Right Side of History." Thanks for taking the time to share you heart felt thoughts and feelings on this timely subject.

The 1978 revelation is a fuckin' joke.
It pretends to rejoice in the "long awaited day", therefore admitting that the prejudice was deliberate.
The Books of Mormon, Abraham, and Moses remain replete with specific examples of racism by God.

The Mormon church can do nothing but stammer and stutter about racism. "Look, that's behind us" (Gordon B. Hinckley).

Yes, it certainly is, for all to see. It goes WAY back.

In 18 years of activity I only met one competent black family in the church, and THAT was in a sizeable Great Lakes city where, proportionately, you'd expect more. Every single instance otherwise was a single mother and her kids on church assistance, or recent immigrants not of the African American slavery heritage.
Such patronizing "tolerance" isn't what MLK had in mind, I'm sure.

My mission (to a Great Lakes state), started out, week one, with a young black female college student encounter. My trainer and previous comp had placed a BoM with her earlier, and we had an appointment to followup up on her reading progress.
She answered the door shaking, and VERY alert. She said come in, and stand here (not sit). She fetched her book and with trembling hands pointed out a highlighted 2Ne5:21, the "sore cursing" verse.
She didn't say anything, just looked at us to see if we were even aware that verse was there! It's fucking self-explanatory! Any attempts to "explain" it are just adding to it. Which we did.
Oh, the church had a revelation on that
Oh, later in the book the Lord favors the Lamanites after all
Oh, that was their time, it doesn't apply to our time
Oh, we don't know all things, the Lord works in mysterious ways
Oh, well in the NT Jesus only went to Israel at first, and the Gentiles had to wait their turn too.
Oh, now the church is FULL of happy blacks greatful to have the blessings of the gospel (and other inalieable rights that were denied for so long), see, they just got over it.

Actually, no black ever asked a favor from me. My personal beef with the gospel is that it's known that black skin predates white skin by probably millions of years. Actually white skin is the acquired trait, not the other way around. White skin is nothing but a gradual deletion of melanin expression over many generations as it became less necessary in northern human migrations.

Not eloquent. But heartfelt.

Great summary. This was the first huge issue I grappled with as a doubting member of the religion. Allow me to add to this thread by anticipating the reaction of defenders of the faith, who suggest that this was simply the mood of the times. It was not. The Mormons were hunkered down in the desert, preferring to live in an isolated place where their old testament social structure was under much less scrutiny and debate...just like the leaders wanted it. In the meantime, brave, visionary men and women were making great social advances for America preceding the civil war. Entire segments of American society were advancing the cause of freedom and equality on an accelerating pace...120 years before the blacks and the priesthood announcement, which was hardly a watermark in terms of social acceptance and fluency of black culture and achievements. Consider these occurences at the same time that Young made his infamous curse of Cain comments:


1852

- Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin sells one million copies within the year. This book energized anti-slavery forces in the American North, while provoking widespread anger in the South.

1854

- Emigrant Aid Society encourages anti-slavery settlers to move to Kansas

- Wendell Phillips and others lead anti-slavery mob to attack a Federal court house in Boston that holds Anthony Burns, a fugitive slave.

- Abraham Lincoln gives a speech condemning the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

- Lincoln University chartered. Initially known as Ashmun Institute, Lincoln University was chartered in Oxford, Pennsylvania, on January 1. It was one of America's earliest Negro colleges.

1855

- After pro-slavery Missourians cross the Kansas border to elect a territorial legislature, Free State Kansans vote to outlaw slavery and set up their own capital at Topeka.

- Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom

1856

- Senator Charles Sumner delivers a stinging speech in the U.S. Senate, "The Crime against Kansas," in which he attacks slavery, the South, and singles out his Senate colleague, Andrew Butler of South Carolina, for criticism. In retaliation, Butler’s nephew, Congressman Preston Brooks of South Carolina, attacks Sumner with a cane while the Massachusetts senator is seated at his desk on the floor of the Senate. The injuries he sustains cause Sumner to be absent from the Senate for four years.


1857

- Frank J. Webb, The Garies and their Friends, "second novel published by an African American"

1858

- Lincoln is nominated to oppose Stephen Douglas for the Senate; Lincoln-Douglas debates.


1859

- Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig: or, Sketches in the Life of a Free Black, first novel by an African American woman

There were many Mormons who had a liberal orientation towards these trends, especially in the Kirtland and Missouri eras. But they blinked. And the wheels really fell off once Brigham Young took complete control and had unchallenged authority in Utah. What could have been...

"The Mormons were hunkered down in the desert, preferring to live in an isolated place where their old testament social structure was under much less scrutiny and debate...just like the leaders wanted it. In the meantime, brave, visionary men and women were making great social advances for America preceding the civil war. Entire segments of American society were advancing the cause of freedom and equality on an accelerating pace."

And it's still the same, Mormons hunkered down in Utah while the rest of the world progresses, or tries to. TSCC - same as it ever was...

That is so, so true, lostinutah. The difference this time is that there are visionary men and women pushing for equality within the borders of Utah. In certain regards, this state is an epicenter for gay rights, by shining the bright light on the cockroaches and making them scurry. A difference is being made here, oh so slowly, but they are making a difference.

To your point, the TSCC will be dragged along--kicking and screaming. Bringing up the rear, as usual. What could have been...

if it had been led by revelation?

If the church was led by revelation then the civil rights movement and the NAACP should have been pointing to the church and saying to the rest of the world "This is the standard for all men to follow, and we will align ourselves with it."

But no, we know how it really played out.

But that is the problem with the infallibility of prophets- Brigham decides to ban Blacks from enjoying the blessings of the Priesthood and nobody dares to undo it because they sustain him as a prophet.

Lamanites

Are they supposed to be Native Americans or Black Americans?

Follow up question

Were Native Americans banned from the Priesthood?

Remember that most TBM's look at these data and the social realities and say "the Lord said we would be mocked for living the gospel". Then, after taking a breath, they can bury their heads again.