What do you feel or know about the church's history/beliefs with race and the Priesthood?

Other churches had issues w/racism as well, but the LDS church still has not apologized. I'm impressed though that the Gospel Topics Essay does say (pulls up shy of apologizing) that the beliefs once taught (curse of Cain, curse of Ham, less worth pre-existence) are no longer doctrine or taught (they were taught by BY and other prophets and apostles -- those where the contemporary worldviews of the time).

I respect the Community of Christ, a restoration branch (Emma and many stayed behind in Nauvoo, mainly over the issue of polygamy), which gave blacks the right to have the priesthood in 1865, and gave women the right to have the priesthood in 1984, and all members (regardless of sexual orientation) the right in 2003.

In 1978 the LDS church was being threatened by the IRS, under authority of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with their tax-exemption status. missedinsunday.com/category/memes/race/
missedinsunday.com/tag/priesthood/

Why did apostles, right through the 1960s, say that the church's stand and priesthood racial prohibition would never be lifted?

What did ETB say about the Civil Rights Act (CRA) of 1964? (he said it was a communist ploy to overthrow America).

Are you familiar with the IRS starting to seize church assets in the years before 1978, secondary to the statutory authority of the CRA of 1964.

Are you familiar with BYU sports getting boycotted prior to 1978 by some teams, and sit-ins by fans at some road games, for the church being racists?

Why has the church never apologized for racial prohibition of blacks from temples and priesthood?

Did God change his mind in 1978? Or had social progress and laws caught up with the church?

Is the church led by 15 older men? As such, will there always be a tendency to be behind the times socially?

How many other churches have progressed socially and no longer tout non-LGBTQ inclusion? It's the LDS church (and a minority of evangelical churches) who are doubling down on LGBTQ, e.g. DHO in 2022 Oct GC said "It is an irrevocable decree." Sounds similar to the 1960s comments of apostles on racial prohibition.

Do you see correlations socially of the church's position on polygamy, on racial prohibition, and on LGBTQ non-inclusion? 2 of those 3 things changed over time, and the church will continue to soften its LGBTQ stance in the coming decades, just as it did on polygamy and racism (excluding a group of people based on the color of their skin). The church can't apologize or admit it's wrong though, which is what troubles me. It's sad and understandable that our institutions make cardinal mistakes -- but the LDS church has a self-made mystique that its Divinely-inspired (and therefore ego does not permit them to apologize). DHO made a comment eg in 2006 (approx, with regards to Mountain Meadows Massacre), that "the church is not in the business of issuing apologies." If we don't acknowledge the mistakes of our past, how can we learn from them? (nothing to see here, just move on, don't ask questions, we'll never know why it was the way it was, everything is good, the white telephone is still in place, please continue paying your tithing and bearing your testimony that God only has one true church).

shawnmatheson

I found this topic very troubling as a Mormon and researched it more than almost anyone else in the world, hoping that at some point it would make sense. That didn't happen. The church's history/beliefs with race (including but not limited to the Priesthood) are abysmal, full stop, and in my opinion there simply is no adequate explanation for why an organization led by God screwed up so badly on such a basic issue as the equality of God's children. And no, it's not true that "everyone was just as racist back then." Many people opposed slavery and supported the civil rights movement while this church did the opposite. Recognizing that its stance on race was never inspired helped me to recognize that its stances on women and LGBT+ individuals aren't either.

alien236

This is an example of steering the boat. the mormon god is not racist and would never have kept men out of the priesthood based on their race. The leadership found that integration was inevitable, so they reversed the ban.

Anonymous