Rantings of a Black Polemicist

Racism and the Mormon Faith

Wednesday, June 16th, 2004 | Free Thought | 29 Comments

One of my closest friends is a Mormon, a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints. He’s one of the most refreshingly warm and honest people I’ve ever met. We used to work together and I’ve kept in touch with him and his family ever since. Despite our great relationship, I sometimes wonder if he believes the stuff his church teaches him - about me.

During one of my Christian fundamentalist father’s signature theological rants, I was informed that, among other things, racism is deeply embedded in the church’s doctrines. After some investigation of my own, I was appalled at what I found.

Some Background

Latter Day Saints (LDS) believe that in 1827, their church’s founder, Joseph Smith, saw a vision of an angel who revealed a set of gold plates containing what is now the Book of Mormon. The book was written in “reformed Egyptian”, but by gazing into two stones Smith could translate the text into English. Smith allowed no one else to see the gold plates citing that instant death would befall them. After two-and-a-half years translating the 275,000-word document, Smith returned the gold plates to the angel that revealed them to him.

Dark-Skinned People Are Cursed by God

In the book of Mormon, it is made clear that dark skin is a curse from God, as darker-skinned people are descendants of Cain, who killed his brother Abel. Any children born from a union between a “fair and delightsome” white person and a dark-skinned person will be cursed just the same.:

2 NEPHI 5:21-24 (emphasis added)

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.

And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.

And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.

And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.

According to Apostle Mark E. Peterson, blacks want more than just equal rights. They want to intermarry with whites absorb completely into the white race.

From “Race Problems - As They Affect The Church,” Address delivered at Brigham Young University, August 27, 1954 (emphasis added):

I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn’t just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn’t that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, “First we pity, then endure, then embrace”…

One of the great leaders of the Church, Joseph Fielding Smith (1876 - 1972) wrote in his Doctrines of Salvation, pp. 65-66 (emphasis added):

There were no neutrals in the war in heaven. All took sides either with Christ or with Satan. Every man had his agency there, and men receive rewards here based upon their actions there, just as they will receive rewards hereafter for deeds done in the body. The Negro, evidently, is receiving the reward he merits.

“Revelation” in 1978 Declares Blacks Can Have Full Equality

On March 6, 1978 a revelation was given to General Authority Spencer W. Kimball stating that blacks could become priests in the church. The change was incorporated into the Mormon book of scripture Doctrine and Covenants. Interestingly enough, although the practice of the church has changed here, the doctrine regarding blacks being cursed still remains.

Wearing dead people’s clothes

Wednesday, June 9th, 2004 | Personal | 55 Comments

I like clothes, but looking good can get expensive. My wife turned me on to an excellent comprimise a few years ago - buying from thrift shops in upscale neighborhoods. I love it. I still visit the outlets from time to time, but buying clothes that used to hang in someone else’s closet is kind of neat in its own way.

I especially like the treasures I come across that still have the previous owner’s name on the inside. As it turns out, not only do a lot of people give away their clothes for a tax break, but some clothes arrive because people have died and obviously have no more use for them.

Everything has been drycleaned before it comes in. I’ve found everything from lambswool sweater-vests made in Ireland for $5 to the usual Ralph Lauren shirt for $1-3. This is a recent find, previously owned by some guy named “Rosenblum”. It’s one of my favorites.

Thanks Mr. Rosenblum, wherever you are.