Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a>, basing its belief on divine revelation, ancient and modern, declares man to be the direct and lineal offspring of Deity. . . . \u00a0Man is the child of God, formed in the divine image and endowed with divine attributes (see Appendix, \u201cDoctrinal Expositions of the First Presidency\u201d).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe scriptures tell why man was created, but they do not tell how, though the Lord has promised that he will tell that when he comes again (D&C 101:32-33). In 1931, when there was intense discussion on the issue of organic evolution, the First Presidency of the Church, then consisting of Presidents Heber J. Grant, Anthony W. Ivins, and Charles W. Nibley, addressed all of the General Authorities of the Church on the matter, and concluded,<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nUpon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church. . . .<\/span><\/p>\nUpon one thing we should all be able to agree, namely, that Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund were right when they said: \u201cAdam is the primal parent of our race.\u201d [First Presidency Minutes, Apr. 7, 1931].<\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, relating to President Hinckley, here\u2019s an item from\u00a0Larry A. Witham,\u00a0Where Darwin Meets the Bible <\/em>(New York:\u00a0Oxford University Press, 2002, pg. 176-177]:<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Few American theologies are more complex than that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but its flagship Brigham Young University teaches off-the-shelf, industry-standard evolution. \u00a0That has been the case since 1931, when the church officially said: \u201cLeave biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research.\u201d . . . \u00a0What the church requires is only belief \u201cthat Adam was the first man of what we would call the human race,\u201d says Gordon Hinckley, the church\u2019s living prophet. \u00a0Scientists can speculate on the rest, he says, recalling his own study of anthropology and geology: \u00a0\u201cStudied all about it. Didn\u2019t worry me then. Doesn\u2019t worry me now.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a0 \u00a0 What follows is an excerpt from\u00a0William Evenson, \u201cEvolution,\u201d in\u00a0Daniel Ludlow, et al., eds.,\u00a0Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York:\u00a0Macmillan, 1991). It\u2019s important to note, however, that, although Professor Evenson is identified as the author, President Gordon B. Hinckley was closely involved with the writing of this particular article and approved every word of it. \u00a0He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Mormonism and Evolution<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" What follows is an excerpt from\u00a0William Evenson, \u201cEvolution,\u201d in\u00a0Daniel Ludlow, et al., eds.,\u00a0Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/mormonism-and-evolution.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mormonism and Evolution\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\" What follows is an excerpt from\u00a0William Evenson, \u201cEvolution,\u201d in\u00a0Daniel Ludlow, et al., eds.,\u00a0Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/01\/mormonism-and-evolution.html\" \/>\n<meta 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<\/a>