FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Racial issues and the Church of Jesus Christ/Blacks and the priesthood/Pre-existence
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Criticism
- Critics claim that LDS scripture states that those with lighter skin color "are favored because of what they did as spirits in a pre-earth life."
- Critics claim that the Church taught that people who were born with dark skin were "neutral" in the pre-existence.
Source(s) of the criticism
- The God Makers (Cartoon)
- Simon Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2004) 12. ( Index of claims )
- Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 291–293.( Index of claims )
Response
Joseph Smith never taught the idea that those born with black skin were "neutral" during the war in heaven. Brigham Young, when asked this question, repudiated the idea:
- ...no, they were not, there were no neutral [spirits] in heaven at the time of the rebellion, all took sides…. All spirits are pure that came from the presence of God.[1]
Conclusion
Endnotes
None
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide: