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| Brigham Young |
Mormon racism.
Yes, it’s a hot topic right now
with the release of the church article entitled “Race and the Priesthood” on
the church’s website, lds.org.
The article admits something that I
didn’t learn until after I’d left the church: “…for much of its history—from the
mid-1800’s until 1978—the church did not ordain men of black African descent to
its priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in temple endowment
or sealing ordinances.”
Essentially, these people were
denied the necessary ordinances for the Celestial Kingdom, according to Mormon
beliefs, just because of the color of their skin.
The article attempts to blame the
teachings behind this on the culture of the time, even going so far as to point
out that many Christian churches were racially segregated and in favor of
slavery. However, this ignores the fact that is has been Christians and
Christian churches that have sought to end slavery in many places in the world
because of the Bible’s clear teachings that all are equal in God’s eyes, and
revolutionary thinking towards slaves as “brothers” such as is found in the
book of Philemon. If Mormon prophets have such a direct line to God, you would
think they would come to the same conclusions as Paul did.
The article mentions that Brigham
Young began the racist doctrines of the church, but glossed over the sort of
things he actually said.
“The Lord put a mark on [Cain]; and
there are some of his children in this room. When all the other children of
Adam have had the privilege of receiving the Priesthood, and of coming into the
kingdom of God, and of being redeemed from the four quarters of the earth, and
have received their resurrection from the dead, then it will be time enough to
remove the curse from Cain and his posterity.” Journal of Discourses 2:143
“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. …the Lord put a mark upon [Cain], which is the
flat nose and the black skin.” Journal of Discourses 7:290
“Ham will continue to be the servant
of servants, as the Lord has decreed, until the curse is removed. Will the
present struggle free the slave? No…our Christian brethren think that they are
going to overthrow the sentence of the Almighty upon the seed of Ham. They
cannot do that…” Journal of Discourses 10:250
Brigham Young made it clear on more
than one occasion that, while blacks would someday receive the priesthood, it
was only after every single non-black person
who believed already had, after the resurrection of the dead had already taken
place. He declared this was the will of the Lord, but Spencer W. Kimball and
his first presidency received a different version of the will of the Lord in
1978, when the ban was lifted.
One of the things glaringly lacking
in the essay is an apology for the priesthood ban. The closest it comes is by
saying that the current church condemns all racism, past and present.
As profound and disturbing as the
lack of an overt apology is, even more important are the implications of these doctrines
and revelations.
For instance, Ezra Taft Benson
promised that “the prophet will never lead the church astray” in his Fourteen Fundamentals
speech. Other General Authorities such as Wilford Woodruff have expressed the
same thing. Yet as this “Race and the Priesthood” article, and the history
behind it, clearly show, the prophets from Brigham Young until Spencer Kimball did lead the church astray on this
issue.
Furthermore, Brigham Young and
other prophets after him presented and taught these teachings as doctrine, as
being from God. Since the church’s position on it now is that they were,
essentially, wrong and misled by the prejudices of the time, this means that
these prophets taught revelation that was not from God. And frankly, I cannot accept that the same God who freed His people from slavery and made laws regarding the release of slaves every seven years in the Old Testament, and who inspired the book of Philemon and statements like that in the Galatians 3:28, could have inspired these revelations. Putting forward doctrine as revealed by God and in line with God's teachings, but which is in reality neither, is false
revelation, making those who taught and endorsed it false prophets. (Deut. 18:20-22)
And that is really the big issue
here. As important as the history, racism, changes, and lack of real apology in
the LDS church are significant issues requiring consideration, the real problem
rests in the fact that these men who are supposedly prophets of God gave and
supported false doctrine for over 100 years.
They had no support from the Bible.
The slavery practiced in the Bible was not based on skin color, and God even
had a provision for the releasing of slaves every seven years in the Old
Testament, since people were usually made slaves to pay off outstanding debt.
The New Testament is even more radical, in its open declaration of equality in
Christ in Galatians 3:28, and in Paul’s fatherly attitude toward a runaway
slave and his exhortations to the slave’s owner to treat the returned slave as
a brother and with love in the book of Philemon.
They knew the opposing view from
the culture they lived in; they even knew that many Christians opposed slavery.
Many of the Mormons came from the North, where slavery was outlawed and
abolitionism began. Joseph Smith, though not against slavery for much of his
leadership, made his presidential run near the end of his life on a platform of
abolitionism. Brigham Young maintained his doctrine in the face of the Civil
War, even falsely declaring that the slaves were supposed to remain as slaves
and that Christians wouldn’t be successful in freeing them. And even in the
1960’s in the face of the Civil Rights movement, David O. McKay didn’t feel
that the priesthood ban should be lifted.
And yet, in the face of all this,
the false and racist revelations persisted. There is no way to say that that
was from God. Revelation from man, prophecy from man, that is not of God, is
false. The one who utters it is a false prophet.
The Mormon Church needs to do more
than just issue a public apology for the long-standing racist teachings. They
need to admit that the real issue is the false prophets that have led them.
