Why did the mormon church discriminate against black men in the name of GOD by denying them priesthood?

Question

God who created all of us equal and is not the author of confusion could not be the blame for a racist tradition in a racist church. It sort of makes me believe if blacks were still slaves mormons would be one of the religions saying it is for their own good instead of trying to liberate blacks like the quakers did.

Answer 1

According to Mormon history and authoritative Mormon teachers, the *****, as they were referred to, are a cursed race because they were not faithful to God in their first estate (the pre-existent life with God). Hence, when they are born they are born in black skinned families.
The early Mormon church was highly prejudicial against black people. And though there has been a change in attitude to blacks as of June 9, 1978 when they were finally allowed into the Mormon priesthood, it cannot be denied that Mormonism was, up until very recently, a segregated church.

"At the time the devil was cast out of heaven, there were some spirits that did not know who had authority, whether God or the devil. They consequently did not take a very active part on either side, but rather thought the devil had been abused, and considered he had rather the best claim to the government. These spirits were not considered bad enough to be cast down to hell, and never have bodies; neither were they considered worthy of an honorable body on this earth." A speech by Elder Orson Hyde, delivered before the High Priests' Quorum,, in Nauvoo, April 27th, 1845, printed in Liverpool, page 30.

"The very fact that God would allow those spirits who were less worthy in the spirit world to partake of a mortal body at all is further evidence of his mercy." Mormonism and the *****, part I, pages 48-50.

"It is the Mormon belief that in our pre-mortal state there were a large number of individuals who, due to some act or behavior of their own in the pre-existence, forfeited the right to hold the Priesthood during their mortal lives...the ***** is thus denied the Priesthood because of his own behavior in the pre-existence." The Church and the *****, pages 42-43.

"As a result of his rebellion, Cain was cursed and told that "the earth" would not thereafter yield him its abundance as previously. In addition he became the first mortal to be cursed as a son of perdition...The Lord placed on Cain a mark of a dark skin, and he became the ancestor of the black race. (Moses 5; Gen. 4; Teachings, p. 169)." Mormon Doctrine by Bruce McConkie, page 109.

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. 10, page 110.

The reader should be reminded that Brigham Young, the second prophet of the Mormon church said that whatever he preached was as good as scripture -- J. D. Vol. 13, page 95, 264.

"...the church went to court on several occasions to block Negroes from moving into the San Francisco neighborhood in which the headquarters was located." The Christian Century, Sept. 29, 1965, page 1184.

On Oct. 28, 1865, the Mormon Church paper Millennial Star printed an article which stated that "Mormonism is that kind of religion the entire divinity of which is invalidated, and its truth utterly rejected, the moment that any one of its leading principles I acknowledged to be false..."

Answer 2

First off, Negroes is not the "most correct term" for African Americans. The negative connotations with that word are sufficient enough that I have never heard anyone use that term who has had much contact with blacks. I work and have many friends who are African American, and I've only heard that word used in novels written before the sixties or by people who live in areas where blacks are a huge minority.

Second, God created each of us equal. The LDS church was against slavery and supported the abolition movement in the early 19th century. About the 1850s or so, the "curse of cain" theory gained movement. And those of african lineage were denied the priesthood. During the '60s the church came under a lot of fire about this policy. In 1978, the policy was reversed. These days, there's a lot of members in Africa and the church is growing at a rapid pace there.
As far as the policy goes, I don't think I'll ever understand why it was put in place. However, there's a lot of things we'll never know why. If my religion was racist, I'd never be a member in my adult years. But I am, and I do believe it was a policy, not doctrine.

Answer 3

This question has been asked several times already. By the way, Mormons were anti-slavery.
Here is an idea: God was waiting to extend the Priesthood to the blacks until there were a significant number of men not only in America, but also in Africa, who were willing to commit to a single family unit and communicate with each other on an ongoing, weekly basis. The Church is growing by leaps and bounds over in Africa right now. If you want a different take on it by a black man who is a member of the Church, you can check out the book called "Son of Ham" at sonofham.com - So anyway, have a happy day, and I send you a gummy bear.
P.S. You might also want to do some research into some great black Mormon pioneers like Green Flake and Jane Manning James.

Answer 4

First thing I would like to say is that Joseph Smith gave a Black gentleman his horse so that he could use it to buy his families freedom. The Church as a whole non racist. Yes there are individual exceptions to this but those nothing more than a display of individual weaknesses not a statement of the churches position.
In response to your question of why blacks could not hold the Priesthood until 1978. I ask you why, in the Old Testament did God restrict the priesthood to the Tribe of Levi and the descendants of Aaron? When you find that answer you will also find the answer to your question.

Answer 5

Begging to differ with the past two answers, I must point out that this is an important part of mormon history that cannot be ignored, justified, nor has it been apologized for. The stigma attached to the church's highest authorities, several who became 'prophets', were they speak for the lord, as indicated above. These inspired men have gone on record making extremely racist statements (in the nicest way) regarding blacks the church remains unapologetic for. The present lds reply is that these men were just speaking as men, not prophets, but the General Authorities from Joseph Smith to current insist they speak scripture. Period.

Simply dismissing this as "Who Cares?" is not the best way to promote racial harmony and appears as callous disregard. Plus, if this was out of the mouths of Prophets, is this what god would want them to say? The current policy of ignoring it is detrimental, and undermines the sincerity of the church's motives.

Answer 6

The church did not enable blacks to connect the priesthood (apart from some properly primary exceptions), because of the fact they did not have faith it became the prefer of God. that all and sundry replaced in 1978 while Spencer W. Kimball gained a revelation in the corporate of the apostles, directing that each and every worth guy receive the priesthood.

Answer 7

Until you realize that revelation from God exists you will never understand your question. It was the priesthood of God that was denied the descendants of Cain, and the black skin came as a result of a warning to others not to bring harm to them.

Blacks, or as correctly termed, Negroes, were not forbidden to join the Church; they were not allowed to hold the priesthood until President Spencer W. Kimball, in 1978, received the revelation from the Lord that the prohibition could be lifted. Since then, wards and stakes--particularly in Africa--have blossomed as a rose having the majority of membership of African ancestry.

In my stake, it so happens that the second counselor to the stake presidency is black. The color of his skin means nothing, but the spirit in him matters all the more to the membership.

It is important to remember that the LDS Church has never been prejudiced against blacks. One reason for their ouster from Missouri during the early years of the Church was their stance against slavery. The Missourians wanted no part of Mormons in their state and issued an extermination order against them.

Once you and others understand the reality and importance of direct revelation from God you will come out of the darkness of ignorance and intolerance.

Answer 8

Mormons believe that those with dark skin, blacks, Asians, Indians, etc. were actually white at one time, but God punished them by giving them a different skin color. No, the punishment was not the different skin color, it was just a way for others to say "Hey, his ancestor sinned against God." It's like the Nazi's making Jews wear stars...just a way of identifying them...

I dunno...anyway, all Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe that. Because Noah's son was the first black man. According to the Bible anyway.

Answer 9

What exactly is the difference between revelation from god and either mental illness or pretense?

For those who actually speak to god, I have a good shrink for them - for all others who claim to speak to god, it is simply that they must or else be shunned as "not worthy."

This revelation thing has done more for mental illness than anything else I can think of (Lafferty brothers, Elizabeth Smart's abductor Emmanuel etc. etc.) Score for the Schizophrenics!

By the way, what a genius business model for the church! They say "We believe in change and revelation" so they don't NEED to be held accountable or apologize for being racist or sexist or captors of young wives.

Answer 10

And yet, the Mormons were pretty much staunch abolitionists.

We believe the priesthood is GOD'S priesthood, and it's His to give or deny as He sees fit.

Look at it this way: if it were not GOD'S priesthood, but MAN's, then weren't we doing the blacks a huge favor by NOT giving them this false priesthood?