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| + | #REDIRECT[[Repudiated ideas about race#What are the "curse of Cain" and the "curse of Ham"?]] |
| − | {{Resource Title|Do Latter-day Saints believe and teach that blacks are descendants of Cain, and that they are cursed?}}
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| − | {{RacePortal}}
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| − | <onlyinclude>
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| − | == ==
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| − | {{QA label}}
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| − | {{:Source:Gospel Topics:Race and the Priesthood:2013:Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor}}
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| − | {{:Source:Gospel Topics:Race and the Priesthood:Even after 1852, at least two black Mormons continued to hold the priesthood}}
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| − | {{:Question: What are the "curse of Cain" and the "curse of Ham"}}
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| − | {{:Question: When did the "mark of Cain" become associated with black skin?}}
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| − | {{FME-Source
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| − | |title=Question: When did the "mark of Cain" become associated with black skin?
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| − | |category=Racial issues
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| − | <onlyinclude>
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| − | ==Question: When did the "mark of Cain" become associated with black skin?==
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| − | ===The biblical “mark of Cain” associated with black skin by Protestants to justify slavery===
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| − | The idea that the “mark of Cain” and the "curse of Ham" was a black skin is something that was used by many Protestants as a way to morally and biblically justify slavery. This idea did not originate with Latter-day Saints, although the existence of the priesthood ban prior to 1978 tends to cause some people to assume that it was a Latter-day Saint concept.
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| − | Dr. Benjamin M. Palmer, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in New Orleans from 1856 until 1902, was a "moving force" in the Southern Presbyterian church during that period. Palmer believed that the South's cause during the Civil War was supported by God. Palmer believed the Hebrew history supported the concept that God had intended for some people to be formed "apart from others" and placed in separate territories in order to "prevent admixture of races." <ref>Haynes, ''Noah's Curse: The Biblical Justification of American Slavery'', p. 127-8 citing Palmer, "The Import of Hebrew History," ''Southern Presbyterian Review 9 (April 1856) 591</ref> Palmer claimed that, "[t]he descendants of Ham, on the contrary, in whom the sensual and corporeal appetites predominate, are driven like an infected race beyond the deserts of Sahara, where under a glowing sky nature harmonized with their brutal and savage disposition." <ref>Haynes, p. 129, citing Palmer, ''Our Historic Mission, An Address Delivered before the Eunomian and PhiMu Societies of La Grange Synodical College, July 7 1858'' (New Orleans: True Witness Office, 1859), 4-5.</ref> Palmer declared:
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| − | Upon Ham was pronounced the doom of perpetual servitude—proclaimed with double emphasis, as it is twice repeated that he shall be the servant of Japheth and the servant of Shem. Accordingly, history records not a single example of any member of this group lifting itself, by any process of self-development, above the savage condition. From first to last their mental and moral characteristics, together with the guidance of Providence, have marked them for servitude; while their comparative advance in civilization and their participation in the blessings of salvation, have ever been suspended upon this decreed connexion [sic] with Japhet [sic] and with Shem. <ref>Haynes, p. 132, citing Cherry, ''God's New Israel'', 179-180 who in turn is citing one of Palmer's sermons.</ref>
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | Unfortunately, among some, the Protestant concept that God has separated people by race has persisted even into modern times.
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | God has separated people for His own purpose. He has erected barriers between the nations, not only land and sea barriers, but also ethnic, cultural, and language barriers. God has made people different one from another and intends those differences to remain. (Letter to James Landrith from Bob Jones University, 1998) <ref>Haynes, p. 161.</ref>
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | </onlyinclude>
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| − | {{endnotes sources}}
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| − | {{:Question: How did the "curse of Ham" or "curse of Cain" become associated with Mormonism?}}
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| − | {{FME-Source
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| − | |title=Question: How did the "curse of Ham" or "curse of Cain" become associated with Mormonism?
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| − | |category=Racial issues
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| − | }}
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| − | <onlyinclude>
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| − | ==Question: How did the "curse of Ham" or "curse of Cain" become associated with Mormonism?==
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| − | ===Early members of the Church brought this culturally-conditioned belief in the "curse of Ham" with them into Mormonism===
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| − | Prior to 1978, the doctrinal folklore that blacks are the descendants of Cain and Ham and that they carry the “mark of Cain” was a belief among some members of the Church, and is occasionally heard even today. The dubious “folk doctrine” in question is no longer even relevant, since it was used to incorrectly explain and justify a Church policy that was reversed over thirty years ago. Prior to the 1978 revelation, however, the Saints used the “mark of Cain” to explain the policy of denying priesthood ordination to those of African descent—a policy for which no revelation or prophetic explanation was ever actually given.
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| − | Early members of the Church were, for the most part, converts from Protestant sects. It is understandable that they naturally brought this culturally-conditioned belief in the "curse of Ham" with them into Mormonism. Many modern members of the Church, for instance, are unaware that Joseph Smith [[Blacks and the priesthood/Origin of the priesthood ban|ordained at least one African-American man to the priesthood]]: Elijah Abel.
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| − | At some point during Brigham Young's administration, the priesthood ban was initiated. No revelation, if there ever was one, was published, although many throughout the history of the Church have assumed that the reason for the ban must be that blacks were the cursed seed of Cain, and therefore not allowed the priesthood (usually stemming from a misreading of Abraham 1). The correct answer as to why the ban was put into place is: we don't know. For further information on the priesthood ban, see [[Blacks and the priesthood]].
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| − | Bruce R. McConkie in 1978, after the revelation granting blacks the priesthood:
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| − | <blockquote>
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| − | It is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young…or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter any more. It doesn’t make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year. It is a new day and a new arrangement, and the Lord has now given the revelation that sheds light out into the world on this subject. <ref>Bruce R. McConkie, [http://www.zionsbest.com/alike.html “All Are Alike unto God,”] address in the Second Annual CES Symposium, Salt Lake City, August 1978.</ref>
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| − | </blockquote>
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| − | Prior to this statement by Elder Bruce R. McConkie in 1978, the doctrinal folklore that blacks are the descendants of Cain and Ham and that they carry the “mark of Cain” was a belief among some members of the Church, and is occasionally heard even today. The dubious “folk doctrine” in question is no longer even relevant, since it was used to incorrectly explain and justify a Church policy that was reversed over thirty years ago. Prior to the 1978 revelation, however, the Saints used the “mark of Cain” to explain the policy of denying priesthood ordination to those of African descent—a policy for which no revelation or prophetic explanation was ever actually given.
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| − | The speculation was that in the [[Premortal existence|premortal existence]], certain spirits were set aside to come to Earth through a lineage that was cursed and marked, first by Cain’s murder of his brother and covenant with Satan ({{b||Genesis|4|11–15}}; {{s||Moses|5|23–25}}, {{s||Moses|5|36–40}}), and then again later by Ham’s offense against his father Noah. The reasons why this lineage was set apart weren’t clear, but it was speculated they were somehow [[Blacks and the priesthood/Pre-existence|less valiant than their premortal brethren]] during the war in heaven. In this life, then, the holy priesthood [[Blacks and the priesthood|was to be withheld]] from all who had had any trace of that lineage.
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| − | As neat and coherent as that scenario might seem, the scriptures typically cited in its support cannot logically be interpreted this way unless one starts with the priesthood ban
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| − | itself and then works backward, looking for scriptures to support a predetermined belief.
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| − | </onlyinclude>
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| − | {{endnotes sources}}
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| − | (''For further discussion see:'' FAIR wiki article: [[Fallibility_of_prophets|Official Church doctrine and statements by Church leaders]].)
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| − | </onlyinclude>
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| − | {{CriticalSources}}
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| − | {{endnotes sources}}
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| | + | <!-- PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE ANYTHING BELOW THIS LINE --> |
| | + | [[es:Las cuestiones raciales y el Mormonismo/Los negros y el sacerdocio/La "maldición de Caín" y la "maldición de Cam"]] |
| | [[de:Schwarze und das Priestertum/Der Fluch Kains und der Fluch Hams]] | | [[de:Schwarze und das Priestertum/Der Fluch Kains und der Fluch Hams]] |
| − | [[fr:Blacks and the priesthood/The "curse of Cain" and "curse of Ham"]] | + | [[pt:Mormonismo e Assuntos Raciais/Negros e do sacerdócio/A "maldição de Caim" e "maldição de Cam"]] |
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| | [[Category:MormonThink]] | | [[Category:MormonThink]] |
