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| | #REDIRECT[[Origin_of_the_priesthood_ban]] |
| {{Summary}}
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| ==Criticism==
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| *Critics argue that God would not allow His church to ever deny blessings or privileges based on race.
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| *They are critical of the Church waiting until 1978 to lift the ban on ordaining black members to the priesthood.
| | [[Category:Mormonism and racial issues]] |
| *They [[Quote_mining%2C_selective_quotation%2C_and_distortion | mine quotes]] made by Latter-day Saint leaders prior to 1978 to portray the church as racist in its doctrines.
| | [[Category:Blacks and the priesthood]] |
| *They cite passages from LDS scripture that Latter-day Saints used to provide a rationale for the priesthood ban.
| | [[Category:Official declaration No. 2]] |
| *They question the revelatory process that brought about the policy shift, portraying it as a response to social pressure or government threats to remove the church's tax-free status.
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| ==Introduction==
| | [[fi:Mormonismi ja rotuasiat/Mustat ja pappeus]] |
| | | [[de:Schwarze und das Priestertum]] |
| Members of African descent were restricted from holding the LDS Church's lay priesthood until 1978. Critics with an agenda, as well as sincere seekers with a laudable abhorence of racism have used this fact to portray the former (or present) Church and its members as racist.
| | [[es:Las cuestiones raciales y el Mormonismo/Los negros y el sacerdocio]] |
| | | [[pt:Mormonismo e Assuntos Raciais/Negros e do sacerdócio]] |
| Understanding the priesthood ban is sometimes difficult, because the historical record is not entirely clear about the ban's institution. There is no contemporary, first-person account of the ban's implementation. Some members believe the ban was commanded by revelation. Others believe that Church leaders responded to threats and dangers facing the Church by restricting activities among black Americans in the pre-Civil War era, and that these policies and procedures persisted.
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| However, once the ban was in place—whether as a matter of revelation, or as a policy that arose out of the Church's 19th-century origins—members and leaders did not feel that they could simply "change" things.
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| Many modern Protestant denominations believe in a "priesthood of all believers," and settle doctrinal differences via councils, meetings, or plebescites. As new social realities develop (e.g., the civil rights movement, women's suffrage, "gay rights,"), denominations adapt or modify previous stances.
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| This is not how the Church functions, and non-members may not appreciate this fact. Members or leaders of the Church do not feel that they have the right to alter previous practices or doctrines without direct revelation from God. Much as the ban confused and troubled many members—black and white—leaders did not feel at liberty to alter them without divine guidance. Furthermore, efforts to use political pressure against the Church may have slowed the change, since members do not believe that God will allow the Church to appear 'manipulated' by outside forces to create a convenient 'revelation' merely to satisfy social pressures.
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| It also important to give credit to Church members' strengths in the pre-1978 period:
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| * Church doctrine never held that blacks were less than human or without souls
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| * Joseph Smith taught that any mental or economic weakness suffered by blacks was not due to any in-born defect, but simply due to not having ample opportunity to advance and receive the same education as whites
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| * Church members were overwhelmingly abolitionist and were even persecuted and driven out because of their anti-slavery leanings
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| * the Church never had segregated congregations; all members worshipped together
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| * the Church supported equal civil rights for many years before the 1978 revelation: to the Church, the issue of priesthood was not one of civil rights, but of revelation.
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| * sociologic studies demonstrated that pre-1978 Mormons were no more or less racist than their contemporaries
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| ==Further deails==
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| It is important to understand the history behind the priesthood ban to evaluate whether these criticisms have any merit and to contextualize the quotes with which LDS members are often confronted.
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| This is complex and sensitive issue, and definitive answers as to why God allowed the ban to happen await further revelation. There are some things we do not know, and we rely on faith that God will one day give us the answers to the questions of our mortal existence.
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| '''Please consult the sub-page which treats the issue(s) which interest you:'''
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| * Would God ever deny privileges based on race? {{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:Deny based on race?}}
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| * What was the origin of the priesthood ban? {{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:Origin of the priesthood ban?}}
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| * Given that the ban was rescinded in 1978, how should we understand pre-1978 statements by members and leaders of the Church?{{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:Understanding pre-1978 statements}}
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| * What about LDS scriptures cited in support of the band? {{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:LDS scriptures}}
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| * What can you tell me about lifting the ban?{{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:Lifting the ban}}
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| * Did social pressure play a role in lifting the ban?{{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:Social pressure?}}
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| * Are there any previously-taught ideas which have been repudiated by Church leaders since the ban?{{wikilink|url=Blacks_and_the_priesthood:Repudiated ideas}}
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| ==Conclusion==
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| Sometimes God withholds certain blessings from certain people without explaining why he does this. Sometimes this is a willful decision on his part expressed via direct revelation to his prophet. At other times, God allows his prophets to act as they feel best. In the case of the priesthood ban, we do not know which of these scenarios is applicable. What we ''do'' know, however, is that the ban was lifted by revelation in God's due time.
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| Past church leaders should be viewed as products of their times, no more racist than most of their American and Christian peers (and often surprisingly enlightened, given the surrounding culture). A proper understanding of the process of revelation creates a more realistic expectations of the Latter-day Saint prophet, instead of assumptions of infallibility foisted on the Saints by their critics.
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| Previous statements and scriptural interpretations that are no longer in harmony with current revelation should be discarded. We learn "line upon line, precept upon precept," and when modern revelation has shed new light, old assumptions made in the dark can be done away with.
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| ==Further reading==
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| ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodWiki}}
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| ===FAIR web site===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodFAIR}}
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| ===External links===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodLinks}}
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| ===Printed material===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodPrint}}
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