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Statements about race in the Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon teaches that African Americans are inferior and loathsome, – 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 it does state that they may eventually be saved. However, even in Heaven, they will be servants to others in 2 Nephi 30:6, the the Book of Mormon as originally translated by Joseph Smith said that if Lamanites accepted the true gospel, 3 Nephi 2:15 reads: “And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites ”…their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and a delightsome people.“ Ham is described in Genesis 9 as a son of Noah who had seen his father naked. Ham himself was not punished. But Ham’s son, Canaan, was cursed. Genesis 9:25-27: Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, ‘Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave’.” This became known as the Curse of Ham racist statements by LDS leaders Brigham Young, who led many of the Mormons to Salt Lake City, UT wrote: 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. Cain slew his brother… and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin Joseph Fielding Smith – not to be confused with Joseph Smith, the founder of the church – was the sixth President of the LDS church. He wrote: “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 came 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. Racist statements by LDS leaders during the 1950s: In 1954, Mormon elder Mark E. Peterson discussed blacks and the priesthood in an address to a Convention of Teachers of Religion at the College Level at Brigham Young University. He said: “The reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a Negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. ‘No person having the least particle of Negro blood can hold the Priesthood’ (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth Negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the Priesthood marries a Negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the Priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a Negro is to forfeit a ‘Nation of Priesthood holders’….” That is, all male descendents of a racially-mixed marriage in which one spouse had even a single distant black ancestor would be forever prohibited from becoming a Mormon priest. [All female descendents are also prohibited from ordination, as are females of all other races]. However, a black or partially black person could be baptized in the Mormon faith and attain heaven after death. Peterson concluded: “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.” It is not clear whether Peterson’s reference for servant status for all persons of African-Americans ancestry refers to status as a literal servant, or as a slave. In theological terminology, as in many translations of the Bible, “servant” often means a human slave owned by a slavemaster Mormon Apostle and apologist, Bruce R. McConkie, (1915-1985) touched on the black issue in his book “Mormon Doctrine:” “…this is the standard LDS guide to church doctrine, found in nearly every active Mormon household.” He wrote in the first edition of his book – 1958 – about the repercussions on earth of a war in heaven: “In the pre-existent eternity various degrees of valiance and devotion to the truth were exhibited by different groups of our Father’s spirit offspring… some were more valiant than others… 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. Such spirits are sent to earth through the lineage of Cain, the mark put upon him for his rebellion against God and his murder of Abel being a black skin… Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty… The present status of the negro rests purely and simply on the foundation of pre-existence… The negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom, 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.” 4 In other words, racism and sexism – as exhibited by refusing the priesthood to anyone who has an African-American ancestor or who is female – is perfectly moral if it comes from God.