1978 - wasmormon.org

"The Salt Lake Chapter of the NAACP will enter a float in the Days of '47 parade on July 24 [1978]. The decision was made after considerable debate at their regular monthly meeting Monday. Some members of the organization felt by having a float in the parade it would be a means of recognition for the blacks who came across the plains with, and before the pioneers. One member said people of the state would see that blacks were early settlers and realize blacks had had an impact on the area." - SLC NAACP Eyes ’47 Parade Float, Salt Lake Tribune, April 4, 1978 | wasmormon.org — "The Salt Lake Chapter of the NAACP will enter a float in the Days of '47 parade on July 24 [1978]. The decision was made after considerable debate at their regular monthly meeting Monday. Some members of the organization felt by having a float in the parade it would be a means of recognition for the blacks who came across the plains with, and before the pioneers. One member said people of the state would see that blacks were early settlers and realize blacks had had an impact on the area." - SLC NAACP Eyes ’47 Parade Float, Salt Lake Tribune, April 4, 1978

Book of Mormon Most Racially and Ethnically Unifying Book on Earth

“The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most racially unifying organizations in the history of the world.” - Ahmad S. Corbitt, LDS General Authority Seventy, Personal Essay on Race and the Priesthood, 2014 | wasmormon.org

In 2014, the church published a series of “personal essays” from then Mission President and rising black LDS leader, Ahmad Corbitt. Admittedly, Corbitt says he was “asked to write this paper” on the “topic of the priesthood and African peoples.” This followed the church publishing the Gospel Topic Essays, and his paper specifically mentions the …

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Mark E Petersen, LGBT Are Worthy of Death

“Legislators are being asked to rule that adultery should no longer be considered a crime, that homosexuals and other deviates should be allowed to practice their depravities legally and without restriction... Apostasy through immorality is at least as bad as returning to paganism... Paul says of those who deviate from the path of virtue into some of the great perversions, "they which commit such things are worthy of death."” - LDS Apostle, Mark E. Petersen, General Conference Talk, April 1965 | wasmormon.org

Over time, the LDS Church’s perspective on homosexuality evolved from a stance of subdued disapproval to one of pronounced institutional homophobia. In the 1950s, church leaders increasingly characterized homosexuality as both a crime and a treatable mental disorder. In 1968, they further intensified their stance by including “homosexual acts” as grounds for excommunication, effectively aiming …

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Brad Wilcox On Asking the Wrong Questions

A lot of people get uptight about priesthood issues. It’s one of the most glorious things we have in the church, and yet people want to sit and fight about it and get uptight about it. “How come the blacks didn’t get the priesthood until 1978?” Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Instead of saying, “Why did the Blacks have to wait until 1978?”, maybe what we should be asking is “Why did the whites and other races have to wait until 1829?” - Brad Wilcox, Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, Tri-Stake Fireside in Alpine, Utah, February 6, 2022 | wasmormon.org

Brad Wilcox, the Second Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency gave a Fireside address in Alpine, Utah on February 6, 2022. He made quite a fool of himself and his rhetoric about members asking the wrong questions. He ridiculed a normal and valid question and then posed a racist question instead. He also accuses …

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McConkie Got It Wrong – Redacted Mormon Doctrine

"There are statements in our literature by the early brethren which we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, "You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?" And all I can say to that is that 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... [All the views and all the thoughts of the past] 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." - LDS Apostle, Bruce R. McConkie, BYU Devotional 1978 | wasmormon.org

Prior to 1978, LDS church leaders wrestled to understand the priesthood ban. They listened to explanations from Brigham Young and other church presidents who taught about the subject. They continued teaching the same things, and in some cases came up with new explanations. That changed in 1978, when the church flipped a 180 and granted …

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President Oaks Fibbing For The Lord Again – Prompt and Public Disavowal of Racism?

“Institutionally, the Church reacted swiftly to the revelation on the priesthood. Ordinations and temple recommends came immediately. The reasons that had been given to try to explain the prior restrictions on members of African ancestry — even those previously voiced by revered Church leaders — were promptly and publicly disavowed.” - President Dallin H. Oaks, 2018 'Be One' Celebration, 40 Years Since Priesthood Ban | wasmormon.org

The church celebrates its own decision to stop the racially discriminatory practice of banning the priesthood from anyone of African descent in 1978. To show that they are not racist, they wanted to point out that it has now been 40 years since they stopped being racist. There was a big self-congratulatory spectacle planned for …

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Church Claims Activism a Tactic of Satan and Gaslights Members

“Activism or advocacy directed toward or against The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a secular, worldly device misapplied in a spiritual, otherworldly context... When activism or advocacy is directed at the Kingdom of God on earth or its leaders, especially prophets and apostles, it is the wrong tool for the wrong job in the wrong place.”- Brother Ahmad S. Corbitt, Activism vs Disipleship, 2022, as First Counselor in Young Men General Presidency. Now Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt, LDS General Authority Seventy | wasmormon.org

Brother Ahmad S. Corbitt, the then First Counselor in the Young Men General Presidency, gave a talk to LDS Chaplains, on October 4, 2022, in which he teaches against activism directed towards the church. He doesn’t want members getting any ideas that they can influence or change things the church does by criticizing, complaining, or …

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Mormons and Interracial Marriage

“We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background, and above all, the same religious background, without question.” - LDS Church President, Spencer W. Kimball 1976 BYU Devotional, Marriage and Divorce | wasmormon.org

President Spencer W Kimball, as president of the church gave a speech at BYU about Marriage and Divorce in 1976. This talk is currently referenced frequently, nearly 50 years later, in church lesson manuals and by church leaders. In this talk, he spoke against interracial marriages. He advised against marriages between those from differing economic …

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Censoring ‘The Gospel and the Church’ Talk

Ronald E Poelman - 1984 - The Gospel and the Church. Comparing the original and the edited talk: "Both the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church of Jesus Christ are true and divine. However, there is a distinction between them which is significant and it is very important that this distinction be understood." vs "Both the gospel of Jesus Christ and the church of Jesus Christ are true and divine, and there is an essential relationship between them that is significant and very important." | wasmormon.org

In the October 1984 General Conference, Elder Ronald E. Poelman of the First Quorum of the Seventy gave a talk that many who saw, heard, or witnessed live thought was an amazing talk that addressed many things that had thus far remained unsaid regarding the relationship between the Mormon church and the Mormon Gospel. The …

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Apostle LeGrand Richards on Lifting the Priesthood Ban

“We had a meeting in the temple, and we discussed it as a group together, and then we prayed about it in our prayer circle, and then we held another prayer circle after the close of that meeting, and President Kimball lead in the prayer; praying that the Lord would give us the inspiration that we needed to do the thing that would be pleasing to Him and for the blessing of His children. And then the next Thursday—we meet every Thursday—the Presidency came with this little document written out to make the announcement—to see how we’d feel about it—and present it in written form. Well, some of the members of the Twelve suggested a few changes in the announcement, and then in our meeting there we all voted in favor of it—the Twelve and the Presidency.”- LeGrand Richards, Senior Apostle Recounting a behind-the-scenes look at the 1978 Priesthood Ban | wasmormon.org

In this interview, LeGrand Richards discusses the revelation to lift the priesthood ban for individuals of African descent and the subsequent Official Declaration 2. He highlights the role of Spencer Kimball, the then-president of the church, in seeking guidance on this matter. An admitted catalyst for the revelation is the concern about the growing number …

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Hinckley’s “I Don’t Know That We Teach It” Interview

Is this the teaching of the church today, that God the Father was once a man like we are? Hinckley: "I don’t know that we teach it. I don’t know that we emphasize it. I haven’t heard it discussed for a long time in public discourse. I don’t know. I don’t know all the circumstances under which that statement was made. I understand the philosophical background behind it. But I don’t know a lot about it and I don’t know that others know a lot about it." Gordon B Hinckley interview transcript for TIME Magazine article Kingdom Come of August 1997, in context compared to the printed article. | wasmormon.org

A famous saying within the Church states, “As man is now, God once was; as God is now, man may be.” This couplet, originating from Joseph Smith’s King Follet discourse, was popularized by the fifth Church President Lorenzo Snow. Time Magazine published an article about Mormons and asked President Gordon B Hinckley about this concept …

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Racist Brigham Young

Brigham Young, the second President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church), held racially discriminatory beliefs. These views included views on interracial marriage and the mixing of races and he taught them as doctrine from God at the pulpit of the church for decades. He calls it the law …

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First Presidency Urged for Segregation

"It seems to us that it ought to be possible to work this situation out without causing any feelings on the part of anybody. If the white sisters feel that they may not sit with them or near them, we feel very sure that if the colored sisters were discreetly approached, they would be happy to sit at one side in the rear or somewhere where they would not wound the sensibilities of the complaining sisters. We will rely upon your tact and discretion to work this out so as not to hurt the feelings on the part of anyone." - Letter to President Ezra T. Benson, Washington D.C. Stake President, From the First Presidency Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and David O. McKay, Dated 23 June 1942 | wasmormon.org

Let’s examine the common Mormon apologist argument that leaders are simply “men of their times” through a story of racist thoughts and practices in the church. Priesthood Ban The church enjoys celebrating the lifting of the priesthood ban in 1978. But we can’t give them any credit for doing it either, since it was the …

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Men Of Their Times

Church leaders assert that they directly follow God’s guidance, exempting themselves from apologies and social pressure, like for example addressing racism within church doctrine and culture. Apologists claim that church leaders are merely “men of their times” and can’t be judged by today’s standards. These two ideas don’t work together. Either the leaders are led …

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Gordon B Hinckley on Larry King Live | Interview Transcript 1998

"The church does not become involved in politics." - Gordon B. Hinckley on Larry King Live | wasmormon.org

Transcript of Larry King Live: Gordon Hinckley – Distinguished Religious Leader of the Mormons. Remember that time Hinckley was on Larry King in 1998? Looking back at the transcript, he said quite a few surprising things on air. Hinckley claimed that when people think of Mormons when polygamy is mentioned, they do it “mistakenly” and …

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60 Minutes: Gordon B. Hinckley Interview Transcript

Wallace: From 1830 to 1978... blacks could not become priests in the Mormon Church, right? Hinckley: That's correct. Wallace: Why? Hinckley: Because the leaders of the church at that time interpreted that doctrine that way. Wallace: Church policy had it that blacks had 'the mark of Cain'. Brigham Young said, 'Cain slew his brother and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin,' Hinckley: It's behind us. Look, that's behind us. Don't worry about those little flicks of history. - LDS Church President Gordon B Hinckley interviewed on 60 Minutes | wasmormon.org

The following is the transcript of the interview with Gordon B Hinckley, LDS Church President, Bill Marriott, Marriott Executive, Orrin Hatch, Utah Senator, Steve Young, Professional Football Player and an unnamed BYU Student. The original segment aired on April 7, 1996.

Standing Against Racism?

"How grateful I am that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has from its beginnings stood strongly against racism in any of its malignant manifestations." - Elder Alexander B Morrison, First Quorum of the Seventy | wasmormon.org

Unfortunately, racism—the abhorrent and morally destructive theory that claims superiority of one person over another by reason of race, color, ethnicity, or cultural background—remains one of the abiding sins of societies the world over. The cause of much of the strife and conflict in the world, racism is an offense against God and a tool …

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Apostles Discuss Reasons For Lifting the Priesthood Ban

Was the ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood a matter of policy or doctrine? "I don't know that it's possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet... I'm not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood." - Elder Dallin H Oaks, AP interview. Provo Daily Herald June 5 1988 | wasmormon.org

There has been a lot of discussion in Mormondom regarding race and the priesthood. The church denied the priesthood from black members (specifically those of African descent) from the 1850s until 1978. They did not relent through the end of slavery, through the proposed State of Deseret joining the United States as Utah, and through …

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Mormon Leadership Dismisses Racist Doctrines as Folklore

"One clear-cut position is that the folklore must never be perpetuated. I have to concede to my earlier colleagues. They, I'm sure, in their own way, were doing the best they knew to give shape to [the policy], to give context for it, to give even history to it. All I can say is however well intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong." - PBS: The Mormons. Elder Jeffrey R Holland Interview, March 4, 2006 | wasmormon.org

Not only does the church dismiss the previous racist doctrines of the church in today’s church essays, but the church publications and leaders also do the same. From the mid-1800s, the Church did not ordain men of black African descent to the priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in temple endowment or …

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1969 Official First Presidency Statement on the Doctrines of Banning Blacks from the Priesthood

"From the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith and all succeeding presidents of the Church have taught that Negroes, while spirit children of a common Father, and the progeny of our earthly parents Adam and Eve, were not yet to receive the priesthood, for reasons which we believe are known to God, but which He has not made fully known to man." - Statement of the LDS First Presidency David O McKay, Hugh B Brown, and N Eldon Tanner, December 15, 1969, regarding the position of the church with regard to the Negro. | wasmormon.org

Just as the statement from the First Presidency in 1949, there was another statement issued in 1969 regarding the stance of the church on denying the priesthood to any black member of the church. In 1949, the First Presidency consisted of George Albert Smith, J Reuben Clark & David O McKay. In 1969, the presidency …

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Byron Marchant, Accused Dissident, Unjustifiably Excommunicated for Opposing Priesthood Ban in 1977

Byron Marchant, opposed the church policy of withholding the priesthood from blacks, and voted opposed in General Conference, October 1977. He was quickly excommunicated. The priesthood ban was lifted in June 1978 and the Official Declaration 2 was canonized in the next General Conference, October 1978. | wasmormon.org

Among the first votes of dissent in the modern Mormon church occurred in 1977, in opposition to the church doctrine banning blacks from any priesthood ordination and temple endowment. A member voted opposed to sustaining church leadership in General Conference 1977 and was subsequently excommunicated. Then less than 1 year later the church downgraded the …

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Elder Anderson claims “We Are Not a Wealthy People”

"We want to help in every way we can. We are not a wealthy people but we are good people, and we share what we have." - Elder Neil L Andersen to Zimbabwean Vice President Kembo Mohadi | wasmormon.org

Elder Andersen met with the leaders of Zimbabwe and he said the significance of the meeting with Vice President Mohadi was to “express to him our desire to help improve Zimbabwe.” He noted that Vice President Mohadi had made a specific request for support with the development of clean-water wells in more remote areas of …

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Mormon Church Whitewashes Racist History in Essay

"In two speeches delivered before the Utah territorial legislature in January and February 1852, Brigham Young announced a policy restricting men of black African descent from priesthood ordination. At the same time, President Young said that at some future day, black Church members would “have [all] the privilege and more” enjoyed by other members." - Race and the Priesthood, LDS Church Gospel Topic Essay | wasmormon.org

The LDS Church had a longstanding policy that restricted men of African descent from holding the priesthood, which is the authority to act in God’s name, and even entering the temple, where members make holy covenants with God. This policy was based on teachings and interpretations that linked African lineage to the biblical story of …

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Russell Nelson to receive the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize

Russell M Nelson to receive the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize - Biographies for Russell M Nelson reveal nothing he's done towards equality, non-violence, promoting non-discrimination, or working to end racism or hatred in the world. It seems that they are recognizing him for the donation from the church, and if so, it would mean that the Mormon church leader is continuing the very Mormon tradition of conning the world into seeing him as an outstanding moral leader. The same way that Joseph Smith was able to eschew his treasure digging cont-artist past, and found a religion based on faith. The religion based on believing that emotion teaches truth, can't possibly be challenged. Nelson (Russell M) has made a pleasant extension of goodwill to the NAACP and they've apparently believed his emotion-laden discourse about loving one another and all being God's children over the mountain of evidence that the church is not anti-racist and has never even approached that side of the spectrum. This is the same church that denied full membership to blacks until 1978! That's a full decade after MLK was assassinated in 1968, and nearly 15 years after the civil rights act was passed in 1964. The act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin, and also the act which the church vehemently opposed. Supporting forgiveness and growth and second chances, but many still can't fathom giving a leader this award, when he has done nothing to warrant such recognition. He leads a church with a horrible track record for non-violence, non-discrimination, and racism. He leads a church that sustains policies of discrimination, systemic racism, and racist doctrines still today. The church continues to oppress those who it deems acceptable.

Mormon Church President, Russell M Nelson is being honored by the Martin Luther King Jr International Chapel on Morehouse College Campus in Atlanta, Georgia. He is to receive a new award, the first recipient, which is to be called the Gandhi-King-Mandela Peace Prize. This is in coordination with the Gandhi-King-Ikeda Institute at the chapel. What …

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Mormon Church Perpetually Gaslights Members

They think I don't know a buttload of crap about the gospel, but I do.

What Does Gaslighting Mean? The term “gaslighting” comes from the 1938 play Angel Street, which Alfred Hitchock later adapted into the film Gaslight, in which a man tries to convince his wife that she is going insane so he can steal from her. When he turns on the lights in the attic to search for her jewelry …

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Kelly Was a Mormon, an Ex-Mormon Profile Spotlight

Kelly has a story of conversion and deconstruction and deconversion. She went from being a “Golden Convert”, to feeling racist discrimination for the first time in her life in the Mormon church doctrines. She dug in to learn all the hidden issues in church history and despite her best efforts, could no longer believe the …

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Tag Archives: 1978

Year the LDS church ended its ban on Black members holding the priesthood and receiving temple ordinances through Official Declaration 2.