Blacks and the priesthood/Lifting the ban

From FAIRMormon

FAIRwiki portal
Race & cultural issues
FAIRwiki articles
FAIR BlackLDS site
Blacks and the priesthood: Summary Blessings denied by race? Origins of the ban Pre-1978 statements LDS scripture and the ban Lifting the ban Pre-existence? Social pressure and the ban? Repudiated ideas Racist statements? Blacks slaves in heaven Death for race mixers? Prophetic fallibility Slaves in heaven?
FAIR Wiki Topical Guide
Race and Cultural Issues
FAIR web site
Blacks and priesthood Race & culture issues
FARMS web site
[Pending]
Additional reading
[Pending]
Other portals

Contents 1 Criticism 1.1 Source(s) of the Criticism 2 Lifting the ban 2.1 Notes on the revelatory process 2.2 Social and cultural obstacles 2.3 Circumstances which preceded the 1978 revelation 3 Endnotes 4 Further reading 4.1 FAIR wiki articles 4.2 FAIR web site 4.3 External links 4.4 Printed material

Criticism

Critics claim that the Church has never produced a copy of the revelation granting Blacks the ability to receive the priesthood.

Source(s) of the Criticism

• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 435. ( Index of claims )

Lifting the ban

Notes on the revelatory process

Revelation is a process which generally follows a model in which "man inquires and then God inspires." In other words, mortals must generally seek guidance before they receive inspiration. God will generally not provide answers to questions which have yet to be asked.

Furthermore, if we are unable to receive and implement an answer regarding a given issue, due to personal limitations or circumstances which would prevent obedience, God will generally refrain from communicating with us about it. This is not due to any limitation or lack of desire on his part, but due to mortal limitations.

God rarely—if ever—uses his prophets as "teletype machines" who mindlessly transmit God's will word for word—he requires his prophets to inquire with some thought as to potential answers (D&C 9:7-9). After they seek confirmation, the Lord can gently correct or confirm. A striking Biblical example of this principle comes from King David: He announced to Nathan, the prophet, that he wished to build a temple. Nathan thought this a grand idea, and replied "Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the LORD is with thee." However, despite Nathan's sincere belief that God concurred with David's plan, he later received a revelation which contravened his initial enthusiasm. (See 2_Sam. 7:2-17.) God corrected his prophet and enhanced his imperfect understanding of the divine will.

Viewing revelation as a process often requiring patient preparation helps us understand why the priesthood ban wasn't lifted sooner. Lester Bush points out "three principle factors," while allowing for others, that created obstacles: "...the authority of decades of vigorous and unwavering First Presidency endorsement of the policy; a preconceived and highly literalistic reading of several verses in the Pearl of Great Price; and an ambient culture which was indifferent to, if not supportive of, Mormon attitudes toward blacks."^[1]

Social and cultural obstacles

Sometimes critics from other Christian faiths excuse beliefs and behaviors in their denominations' pasts, while suggesting a much higher standard should have been met by a community led by revelation. This criticism seems to ignore dynamics manifest in Biblical times in which inspired leaders such as Moses and Paul accepted slavery as part of the cultural norm and even promoted regulations for it (Ex. 21:20-27; Lev. 25:44-46; Deut. 23:15-16; Eph. 6:5-9; Philm. 1:8-12; 1_Tim. 6:1; Titus 2:9). While what these leaders faced is not perfectly parallel to those in modern times, these prophets did not receive more socially progressive revelation than modern readers would have expected.^[2] It is clear that sometimes less than ideal practices were permitted and upheld because of the "hardness of [Moses's followers'] hearts [Mark 10:5]."

Biblical history is replete with examples of the difficulty of gaining widespread conformity even after a paradigm-shifting revelation has been received. The New Testament apostles debated over how best to transition from preaching the Gospel only to the Jews to accommodating Gentile converts (Acts 15). Despite numerous miraculous manifestations to motivate them, the Israelites had to wander 40 years (Deut. 8:2) to weed out idolatrous beliefs keeping them from inheriting a promised land. Mormon history also has its examples of this type, including the length of time it took the general membership to come into full compliance with the Word of Wisdom and the Manifesto. If a revelation ending the priesthood ban had been received earlier, the Saints might not have accepted it. (Elder Marion D. Hanks is reported to have said "For me it was never that blacks [were unqualified but that] the rest of us had to be brought to a condition of spiritual maturity...to meet the moment of change with grace and goodness.^[3]")

Circumstances which preceded the 1978 revelation

In 1954, after visiting the struggling South African mission, David O. McKay began to consider lifting the ban. In a conversation with Sterling McMurrin, he said, "It is a practice, not a doctrine, and the practice will some day be changed."^[4] This was a departure from a 1949 First Presidency statement defending the ban as doctrinal, indicating a shift in his opinion. Leonard Arrington reported that President McKay formed a special committee of the Twelve that "concluded there was no sound scriptural basis for the policy but that church membership was not prepared for its reversal."^[5] However, David O. McKay felt that only a revelation could end the ban. Sometime between 1968 and his death in 1970 he confided his prayerful attempts to church architect, Richard Jackson, "I’ve inquired of the Lord repeatedly. The last time I did it was late last night. I was told, with no discussion, not to bring the subject up with the Lord again; that the time will come, but it will not be my time, and to leave the subject alone."^[6].

As McKay's health declined, his counselor, Hugh B. Brown, attempted to lift the ban as an administrative decision. However, it became even clearer that a century of precedent was difficult to reverse without a revelation, especially when some members and leaders—echoing George Q. Cannon—felt there might be a revelatory basis for the policy. As the church expanded its missionary outreach and temple building programs, leaders continued to run into problems of black ancestry preventing the building of local leadership in certain areas, most notably Brazil. The prayerful attempts to obtain the will of God intensified. Finally in June 1978, a revelation that "every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood" was received and later canonized as Official Declaration 2.

Endnotes

1. [back] Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, eds., Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church, (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1984), 209–210. ISBN 0941214222. off-site
2. [back] For a pre-Civil-Rights-movement Catholic perspective on this issue see the entry on "Philemon" in The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913). off-site and "Moral Aspect of Divine Law" off-site
3. [back] Edward L. Kimball, Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 203. ISBN 1590384571 (CD version)
4. [back] Gregory A. Prince and Wm. Robert. Wright, David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2005), 79–80. ISBN 0874808227.
5. [back] Leonard J. Arrington, Adventures of a Church Historian (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press 1998), 183.
6. [back] David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism, 104.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

1978 Priesthood revelation wiki articles

• Blacks and the priesthood (summary)
  • Blessings denied by race?
  • Origins of the ban
  • Understanding pre-1978 statements
  • LDS scripture and the ban
  • Lifting the ban
  • Social pressure and the ban?
  • Repudiated ideas
• Fallibility of prophets
• Racist statements by Church leaders
  • Do blacks go to heaven as slaves?
  • Death the penalty for race mixing?

FAIR web site

1978 Priesthood revelation FAIR articles

• FAIR Topical Guide: Blacks and the priesthood FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Infallibility of prophets FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Personal beliefs of prophets FAIR link
  
• FAIR Topical Guide: Race and cultural issues FAIR link
  
• FAIR BlackLDS site: FAIR link (Key source)
• Marcus H. Martins, "A Black Man in Zion: Reflections on Race in the Restored Gospel" (2006 FAIR Conference presentation). FAIR link PDF link
• Mike Parker, "Dispelling the Myth of the 'Curse of Cain'" (one-page handout that argues against Cain's curse being black skin and a priesthood ban). PDF link

External links

1978 Priesthood revelation on-line articles

• Lester E. Bush, Jr., "Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 8:1 (Spring 1973): 11–68. (Bush argues for Brigham Young as author of the priesthood ban.) off-site
• Lester E. Bush, Jr. and Armand L. Mauss, eds., Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church, (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1984). ISBN 0941214222. off-site
• Ronald K. Esplin, "Brigham Young and Priesthood Denial to the Blacks: An Alternate View," Brigham Young University Studies 19:3 (Spring 1979): 394–402.. (Esplin argues for Joseph Smith as the author of the priesthood ban.) PDF link
• Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Need for Greater Kindness," Ensign (May 2006): 58–61. off-site
• Marcus H. Martins, "All Are (Really) Alike Unto God: Personal Reflections on the 1978 Revelation." off-site
• Marcus H. Martins, "'Thinking Way Back': Considerations on Race, Pre-Existence, and Mortality," expanded version of a talk presented at a meeting of The Genesis Group, a branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, held in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 1 August 1999. off-site
• Seth R. Payne, "A Work in Progress: The Latter-day Saint Struggle with Blacks and the Priesthood," paper submitted at Yale Divinity School, 5 May 2006. PDF link
• John A. Tvedtnes, "The Charge of 'Racism' in the Book of Mormon," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): 183–198. off-site PDF link

Printed material

1978 Priesthood revelation printed materials

• David M. Goldberg, The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003). ISBN 0691123705 (2005 paperback edition).
• Stephen R. Hayes, Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002). ISBN 0195313070 (2007 paperback edition).
• Edward L. Kimball, Lengthen Your Stride: The Presidency of Spencer W. Kimball (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), Chapters 20–24. ISBN 1590384571 (CD version)
• Armand L. Mauss, All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage (Chicago and Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 2003). ISBN 0252028031.
• Alexander B. Morrison, Dawning of a Brighter Day (Salt Lake City, UT: Deseret Book Co., 1990). ISBN 978-0875793382. ISBN 087579338X.