Church Separation The Mormons still haven't settled their race problem.

...Mormonism was a defiantly apartheid faith that denied blacks full participation based on doctrinal beliefs that whites are "pure" and "delightsome," while black-skinned people are "unrighteous," "despised" and "loathsome" descendants of the biblical Cain, who was cursed for killing Abel.

The priesthood proscription, which operated under a "one-drop rule," wasn't in place simply to keep blacks out of leadership posts. Ultimately, the ban was a manifestation of a central belief that blacks are unfit to be full members of the church on Earth, or to exist alongside whites in heaven...

Mormon leaders were applauded for finally ending the prohibition. But according to Mr. Mauss, the church has never repudiated the teachings that supported the policy. In 2004, he wrote, "ironically, the doctrinal folklore that many of us thought had been discredited, or at least made moot, through the 1978 revelation, continued to appear . . . [in church literature] written well after 1978 and continues to be taught by well-meaning teachers and leaders in the church to this very day." And "Mormon America," which was just re-released, notes plainly that "Mormon teaching against race-mixing remains in force."

Throughout his current campaign for the Republican nomination, Mr. Romney has declined to distance himself from the repugnant racial teachings of his church...

In his ballyhooed speech earlier this month, Mr. Romney said he wouldn't renounce any of Mormonism's precepts. And for all his claims to the contrary, Mr. Romney has, in fact, been willing to distance himself from past teachings of the church--just not those having to do with its treatment of black people...

Leisler wrote: Ah, we’re talking the President here. Like, elections. Like, politics. And your complaint that it is all politics is....like...what?

Like , like ya know..blah, blah ,blah... Politics..you know.. .Like Huskster is a"holier than thou"" "one trick " Southern Baptist Minister, and Like he wants to slam Mitt Romney's religion, because like he is all Baptist theological with him , like he has a degree from a Southern Baptist college, and like it is all he knows, so the only way Huckster can win is to make himself seem superior to Mitt Romney, blah blah blah...but in fact those who want to make this about Mitt Romney's faith are un-America, blah blah blah.. and well like you know, the media has picked up on the Huckster Scam, and well they are running with it, because they know that Romney is a winner, while Huckster is a loser, and if they can defeat Romney now on his religion, they can ensure that the Democrats can win the White House in 2008..blah blah blah..like ya know

Blacks anyone? The consensus in Utah seems to be...Not in MY back yard. Please.

It appears that there is a problem with racism among some LDS members in Utah. The church has publicly repudiated this attitude. Here is what LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley said in the April 2006 General Conference of the Chruch:

(link):
I remind you that no [person] who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ. How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color is ineligible?
Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His children.
There is no basis for racial hatred among the [membership] of this Church. If any within the sound of my voice is inclined to indulge in this, then let him go before the Lord and ask for forgiveness and be no more involved in such.

LDS Apostle Dallin H. Oaks explained in an interview for PBS:

Helen Whitney for PBS (HW): Another subject. Take me back to the time just before the ban on the priesthood was lifted.
LDS Apostle Dallin H. Oaks (DHO): I can’t remember any time in my life when I felt greater joy and relief than when I learned that the priesthood was going to be available to all worthy males, whatever their ancestry. I had been troubled by this subject through college and my graduate school, at the University of Chicago where I went to law school. I had many black acquaintances when I lived in Chicago, the years ’54 through ’71. I had many times that my heart ached for that, and it ached for my Church, which I knew to be true and yet blessings of that Church were not available to a significant segment of our Heavenly Father’s children. And I didn’t understand why; I couldn’t identify with any of the explanations that were given. Yet I sustained the action; I was confident that in the time of the Lord I would know more about it, so I went along on faith.
Nobody was more relieved or more pleased when the word came. I remember where I was when I learned that the priesthood would be available to all worthy males, whatever their ancestry. I was at a mountain home that our family had purchased to have a place of refuge. I had my sons up there, and we were digging something. We had a big pile of dirt there. I’ve forgotten what it was now, but the phone rang in the house. I went inside, and it was Elder Boyd K. Packer. He said: “I have been appointed to advise you as a representative of the academic people, many of whom have been troubled by the ban on the priesthood, professors, and students, and so on. As president of Brigham Young University and as their representative [Elder Oaks was president of BYU at this time], I’ve been appointed to advise you that the revelation has been received that all worthy male members will be eligible to receive the priesthood, whatever their ancestry.” I thanked him, and I went outside and I told my boys, and I sat down [voice cracks with emotion] on that pile of dirt and cried. And I still feel emotion for that moment. I cried for joy and relief that the Lord had spoken through His prophet, that His blessings were now available to all: the blessings of the priesthood, the blessings of the temple, the blessings of eternity. That’s what we desired. I praise God for it.

This does not 'apologize' for the Church doctrine prior 1978. The Church believes the priesthood restriction on blacks prior to 1978 was instituted by God and to 'apologize' for it would be to criticise God. Elder Oaks stated above:

I didn’t understand why; I couldn’t identify with any of the explanations that were given. Yet I sustained the action; I was confident that in the time of the Lord I would know more about it, so I went along on faith.

In another era, God revealed to his Apostles that a racial restriction on teaching the Gospel was removed. In Acts Chapter 10, Peter has a vision revealed to him indicating that the Gospel and baptism should be extended to the Gentiles. Prior to this, only Jews could be taught and baptized.

I'm sure this will not be sufficient 'answer' or 'apology' for those demanding one, but I don't think it's likely that the Church will do more than restate what is stated above.

Really...the Great Lakes area. How long did the LDS Church stay there. Three/four years until they amasses hundreds of followers. Then the LDS Church moved to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois for the next 17 years where tens of thousands joined.....all white.

Somehow they neglected to pick up any people of color during the time they were converting hundreds of thousands of white folks from Scandinavia, England, Scotland.....oh yeah.... I have a g-g-grandfather that converted to the LDS Chuch in South Africa.....but none of the “darkies” were allowed.

Here is an article in the September 1997 Friend magazine about a black members in Nauvoo in the early 1840's. See also an article in the August 1979 Ensign magazine about the same family.

When they reached Nauvoo, Orson Spencer directed them to the home of the Prophet. Joseph and Emma Smith welcomed them, inviting the Mannings to stay at the Mansion House until they found homes. Eventually all the members of the Manning family found jobs except Jane. The Prophet and his wife urged her to stay with them.
Jane died in 1908. President Joseph F. Smith and other General Authorities spoke at her funeral, praising her unwavering faith and commitment to the gospel.

Here is an article from the June 1977 Ensign magazine identifying a group of converts from Mississippi travelled to Utah in 1848.

The Mississippians helped the settlement put down roots; then a party left for Mississippi On 26 August 1847. John Brown was among them, traveling with Brigham Young to Winter Quarters and arriving in Mississippi in December. Ready to cross the plains for the fifth time, he led the remainder of the Mississippi Mormons toward St. Louis on 10 March 1848. The thirteen families—fifty-six white persons and thirty-four black—arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1848; there were now about two hundred white Southerners in the valley and thirty-seven blacks.

Here is an article in the May 1994 Liahona magazine about growth of the Church in Africa in the 1960's.

Although the Church was established in South Africa in 1853, more than a century passed before work officially began among blacks in Africa. In 1960, when Glen G. Fisher was released as mission president in South Africa, the First Presidency asked him to investigate some religious groups in Nigeria that had taken the name of the Church. Brother Fisher found them devoted to the restored gospel and recommended that missionaries be sent to them. For the next six years, Church leaders tried to secure permission for missionary work in Nigeria, but to no avail. The effort was abandoned in 1966, when visas could not be obtained. Despite the setbacks in formal missionary work, unbaptized converts in Africa received Church literature and inspired direction. Often these devout people went to great lengths to communicate with the Church and share their newfound knowledge and conviction with their neighbors.

President Gordon B. Hinckley - April 2006

Racial strife still lifts its ugly head. I am advised that even right here among us there is some of this. I cannot understand how it can be. It seemed to me that we all rejoiced in the 1978 revelation given President Kimball. I was there in the temple at the time that that happened. There was no doubt in my mind or in the minds of my associates that what was revealed was the mind and the will of the Lord.

Now I am told that racial slurs and denigrating remarks are sometimes heard among us. I remind you that no man who makes disparaging remarks concerning those of another race can consider himself a true disciple of Christ. Nor can he consider himself to be in harmony with the teachings of the Church of Christ. How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color is ineligible?

Throughout my service as a member of the First Presidency, I have recognized and spoken a number of times on the diversity we see in our society. It is all about us, and we must make an effort to accommodate that diversity.

Let us all recognize that each of us is a son or daughter of our Father in Heaven, who loves all of His children.

Brethren, there is no basis for racial hatred among the priesthood of this Church. If any within the sound of my voice is inclined to indulge in this, then let him go before the Lord and ask for forgiveness and be no more involved in such.

Most of the WASP churches made the change in the 1960s. "The split between the Northern and Southern Baptist organizations was over slavery and education of slaves, and by the 18th century, about 40 percent of Southern Baptist preachers in South Carolina owned slaves. At the time of the split, the Southern Baptist group used the curse of Cain as justification of the practice. In fact, most 19th and early 20th century Southern Baptist congregations in the southern United States taught that there were two separate heavens; one for blacks, and one for whites. "

"The doctrine was used to support a ban on ordaining blacks to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in the U.S. and Europe. The Coptic, Ethiopian, Orthodox, Thomasite and the Catholic church did not recognize these interpretations and did not participate in the religious movement to support them. Certain Catholic Diocese in the Southern United States did adopt a policy of not ordaining blacks to oversee, administer sacraments to, or accept confessions from white parishioners. This policy was not based on a Curse of Cain teaching, but was justified by any possible perceptions of having slaves rule over their masters. (Dictionary of African-American Slavery) "

"Baptists and other denominations including Pentecostals officially taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-to-late-20th century, though all races were accepted to worship services after the 1970s and 1980s when many official policies were changed. In fact, it wasn't until 1995, that the Southern Baptist Convention officially renounced its "racist roots." Nearly all Protestant groups in America had supported the notion that black slavery, oppression, and African colonization was the result of God's curse on people with black skin or of African descent through Cain or through the curse of Ham, and some churches practiced racial segregation as late as the 1990s, including Pentecostalism. Today, however, official acceptance and practice of the doctrine among Protestant ogranizations is limited almost exclusively to churches connected to white supremacy, such as the Aryan World Church and the New Christian Crusade Church."

Why are you so upset about this? The Mormons changed their position on race thirty years ago. Has Mitt Romney ever done anything that would make you think he’s hostile to blacks? His father was a big crusader for Civil Rights. I don’t understand what you’re so upset about.

It’s like someone saying they won’t vote for Ted Kennedy because he’s a Catholic, and the Catholic Church opposes abortion and the gay agenda, notwithstanding the fact that Kennedy supports abortion and the gay agenda. It would be even more ridiculous for someone to not support Kennedy if the Catholic Church had reversed itself thirty years ago and began supporting abortion and homosexuality.

I’m not a Mitt Romney supporter. But this fanaticism over some archaic policy the Mormons discarded three decades ago is ludicrous.

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