I think some former Mormon Church Leaders were Racist. Your thoughts?

Question

Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, loved black people and even gave the priesthood to two black men (Elijah Abel, Walker Lewis). Why then, after his death, did his successor Brigham Young prevent Blacks from receiving the priesthood? The Mormon Scripture 2nd Nephi 26: 33 says "he (God) denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free." If the “Book of Mormon” says God wants blacks to come to him, why did Brigham Young stop them from entering the Temple? Didn't he believe the book of Mormon?

Here is another interesting thing.
At a time when blacks were still not allowed to enter the temple, a black woman named Jane Manning James was sealed to Joseph Smith (after his death) as a SERVANT on May 18th, 1894. Joseph F. Smith served as the proxy of Joseph Smith (the Original).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elizabeth_Manning_James (look at the 3rd paragraph)

Does God call racists as prophets?

Here are some Mormon Leader quotes:

"Those who were LESS VALIANT IN PRE-EXISTENCE and who thereby had certain spiritual restrictions imposed upon them during mortality are known to us as the NEGROES." LDS "Apostle" Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 527, 1966 edition, emphasis added.

THE NEGROES ARE NOT EQUAL WITH OTHER RACES where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, ...but this inequality is not of man's origin. IT IS THE LORD'S DOING, is based on his eternal laws of justice, and grows out of the LACK OF SPIRITUAL VALIANCE OF THOSE CONCERNED IN THEIR FIRST ESTATE [the Mormon pre-existence]." LDS "Apostle" Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p. 527 - 528, 1966 edition,

here are some of Brigham Youngs Quotes:

"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."

"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind....Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin."

Answer 1

I think an argument can be made that everyone has an ancestor that was racist.

Answer 2

I am no spokesman for the church, but here are my two cents on the issue:

1. Could a church leader be prejudice? Yes. Read about Peter’s account, when he was told to preach to the Gentiles. He thought that they were unclean, until God helped him to see otherwise.
2. Yes, Brigham Young believed the Book of Mormon. Did Peter believe the words or Christ? Yes, but the Gentiles still weren’t given access to the Gospel until he received his famous revelation. Brigham Young’s situation was similar to Peter’s.
3. A person cannot be sealed as a Servant.
4. Mormon Doctrine is a book, written by Bruce R. McConkie. It is not part of our scriptural cannon. We do not read and follow its teachings. Not every word that a church leader says is scripture and church leaders are not infallible. Read the bible and you will see that there were disagreements between Paul and Peter, for example, on circumcision. Much of the New Testament was written to clarify misunderstandings.
5. I will not excuse Brigham Young’s remarks because they certainly sound racist. Perhaps a little context might make them more understandable. I believe Brigham Young is expressing his understanding of the curse of Cain as outline in the Old Testament. He believed that blacks, because of Cain, lost the right to the priesthood. Death on the spot is not literal, but rather a spiritual death in the sense that one would be married outside of the covenant to someone who was denied the Priesthood. It would have been like marrying a gentile in Christ’s time. Interestingly enough, he also made many positive quotes about the African race and condemned the whites’ treatment of them saying that they would be held accountable for their unchristian behavior. Despite his seemingly harsh comments, I do not think that Brigham Young was racist in the sense of the word today.
6. We are not perfect. There may have been and may be some members with racist tendencies. The teachings of the church, however, are Christian and racism is not tolerated.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Unfortunately as we can see most mormons do believe that when their leaders get a "revelation" it's true. It makes sense though they also believe a guy who had little education and no proof of his claims wrote the book of mormon and it is the word of God. So it makes sense why they would be blinded by their leaders there are blinded by the start. But then that is no different then any religion. In order to survive most religions tweak there bibles or spiritual books to represent modern morality. Funny though people state that women are treated equally in their church, but do you know the bible teaches that women should not just be submissive to their husbands, but silent at church. So if your church has REAL equality for women (as in they can become church leaders, preach to the church, or teach in the church) then it is also not following the bible which it preaches from. By the way those that say the book of mormon doesn't say anything about being racist towards blacks hasn't read the book. Joseph Smith was defiantly racist which is why it is reflecting in the book of mormon. Also it is a known fact that blacks were not allowed in their church and that they were discriminated against. It doesn't matter where there was mass slavery that fact of the matter was that it was everywhere at the time, and the only reason the church changed their opinion was because everyone else was changing theirs. The mormon church would still be racist and not allow blacks in today if everyone was racist and still believed in slavery..

Answer 4

Some people who also happened to be Mormon church leaders were undoubtedly racist.

Your quotes from McConkie are probably one of the main reasons why his book, Mormon Doctrine, is not considered scripture by us. As for your quote from President Young, I can only say that the part about the curse of Cain being that of a flat nose and black skin is not to be found anywhere in any of the our scriptures. That part of the quote was his opinion of what the curse was - specifically. I have never heard anyone say what the actual curse was, or that it even went further than just to Cain himself. Many have offered their opinion, but that's all it is, opinion.
I have heard of Jane Manning, and it doesn't surprize me that she was sealed to Joseph Smith post-mortum. Hundreds were. That's why the practice was discontinued. Many women who did not even know the Prophet wanted to be sealed to him after his death, or sealed to him as one of his kids. The problem occurs in that we believe that a sealing (weather as a spouse or as a child) is an eternal thing and by being sealed to someone other than your parents or the spouse to whom you were married to is depriving those family members of a vital link to you. I am unaware of anyone being sealed as a "servant" to anyone else. It may have happened due to the times in which they lived. If it happened that way, rest assured it does not occur in that manner now.

Does God call racists as prophets? God calls whom He calls. God calls the willing, not the perfect. We all have things that hold us back, as the old saying goes, We're all here because we're not all there. Meaning that we (Mormons as well as Humankind) are here (on Earth) because we're not all there (all there as in ALL of us Mormon and Non-Mormon, as well as all THERE, as in Heaven, back Home). God calls the person, but that person is still a PERSON, not a perfected being, but a MORTAL person who has flaws and issues and problems to work through. For some that includes being what we consider a racist today, but they were not considered a racist in their own time.

Answer 5

None of the quotes cited above are canon doctrine of the mormon church...I dare say some of the explanations the mormons here make are not canon either...

I suggest you check out this history timeline that describes the evolution of black involvement in the mormon church...

http://www.blacklds.org/mormon/history.html

by your logic, there should be a huge outcry against all Southern Methodists and Southern Baptists who at one time argued that scripture sustained the belief in ownership of slaves...doctrines that until only recently in the past ten years or so were formally rescinded....

mormon leaders were unclear on what their doctrine should be, as it was commonplace among the vast majority of denominations of the time to view blacks as inferior, and the common doctrine of the curse of Cain was often cited....

In 1978, The Mormon doctrine was officially canonized, stating that Black and White were at all times in this life and the "pre-existence" on an equal par...

The official announcement can be found here:

http://www.blacklds.org/mormon/declare2.html



It just took God this long to "reveal this" to the Mormon church leaders....

Answer 6

You are making the mistake of assuming that just because a Mormon leader makes a comment on something, that that comment is automatically binding on the entire Church. Mormons believe their leaders are inspired of God, but we do not believe they are infallible. I could quote-mine the history of any religion and find questionable comments from past leaders.

Most churches have a past history of discrimination (Catholics discriminated against Jews and Muslims in the middle ages, southern Protestants discriminated against African Americans in the 18th and 19th centuries, some Muslims have discriminated against "infidels" in recent years, etc). Unfortunately, in the past (before I was born), Mormons taught some of the same things about blacks that Southern Protestants taught (Curse of Cain/Ham, etc) and so did not allow blacks to hold leadership positions in the church. Unlike Southern Protestants, however, Mormons never segragated their congregations and always taught that blacks could go to heaven.

A far more important question is what Mormons believe now. Modern Mormonism is very much opposed to discrimination of any kind. Ironically, many who discriminate against us (professional anti-Mormons) hypocritically accuse us of being discriminators!

The Mormon Church is not a racist church. I'm Mormon, and my wife is black. We were married in a Mormon temple, where the officiator told us that God approved of our marriage. My wife is treated well at church, as are the other African American members of our congregation. I've had a black bishop in several different Mormon congregations of which I've been a member.

Many anti-Mormons, however, intentionally misrepresent Mormon teachings in an attempt to discredit Mormonism. I've written about this type of discrimination on my site at http://www.allaboutmormons.com/brief_critique_anti-mormon_propaganda.php . Pay careful attention to the video at http://www.allaboutmormons.com/ENG_Video62.php .

To learn more about racial diversity in the Mormon church, visit http://www.allaboutmormons.com/racial_diversity_mormon_church.php .

Also, to see videos of black Mormons, visit these sites:

http://www.allaboutmormons.com/ENG_Video44.php
http://www.allaboutmormons.com/ENG_Video76.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6VOBVDcSec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8V0oh2lNA0

Answer 7

Absolutely not, and this isn't really a question, just an argument, disguised as a question, by asking for confirmation of your ridiculous statement.

Since the days of Brigham Young, up to 1978, all prophets of the Church, including the aforementioned Brigham Young, taught that blacks were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons known only to God, but would someday receive it. In 1978, that revelation came to pass. You are right, in assuming that a "perfect" church can not be wrong, and I would argue that it wasn't the Church that was wrong, but the society in which the church was set. This is just my opinion, but, Anti-black sentiment ran strong in our country in the founding days of the Church; and the last thing an already persecuted Church needed was more adversity, by going in the face of common racist sentiment. In 1978 racism had died down significantly due to the social movements of the 60's and early 70's, allowing the Church to finally invite it's black brethren to enjoy full membership in the Church.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all humans are literally the spirit offspring of the eternal Heavenly Father. In the sight of God, race, color, and nationality make no difference, an idea stressed in the Book of Mormon: "He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; . . . and all are alike unto God" (2 Nephi 26:33). Spencer W. Kimball, former President of the Church, said that racism was of the devil and had no part in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus Christ came to earth to die for all humankind and to teach them how to live—to love both God and their fellow men and women. Prior to June 1978, priesthood denial to blacks within the Church aroused both concern about and accusations of racism in the Church. For more than a century, Presidents of the Church had taught that blacks were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons known only to God, but would someday receive it. In 1978, President Kimball received a revelation making all worthy male members of the Church eligible for the priesthood without regard for race or color.

Answer 8

Our prophets are not infallible, he let his personal opinions cloud his judgment as most do.

The Curse of Cain is dark skin.

Abraham had a black as a slave.

Early Christian Leaders(not just Mormons) believed that the Curse of Ham was black skin. Noah put the curse on Ham, making him and his descendents the slaves of his brothers.(google it).

Take from that what you will....

Answer 9

I would like to know who told you brigham young was Racist?

None of our church leaders and prophets are racist, in fact our current prophet, Gordon b. Hinkley, is the most lovable and caring person you will ever meet. Many members will be sad to see him go.

You realize wikipediea is edited often, and frequently doesn't say the truth? In fact, many books do that alot. For example, in a book of world religions, it said tha tmormons behead their sinners. LOL that's crazy. If we beheaded our sinners, all members would be headless, because no one's perfect!!!

Answer 10

I'm sorry but the Mormon missionaries we have had over the years have been very decent American boys who you would be proud and pleased to accept into your family. however for this reason it is sad to think that they are victims of a huge fraud by a man trying to get himself some money.

The spiritual search in the USA sadly means that they more than most are often victims of the cynical ( if you want to get rich in the USA sssstart a new religeon"