{"id":42688,"date":"2017-06-08T11:57:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T17:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=42688"},"modified":"2017-06-08T12:01:50","modified_gmt":"2017-06-08T18:01:50","slug":"race-mormonism-thirty-nine-years-revelation-priesthood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/06\/race-mormonism-thirty-nine-years-revelation-priesthood.html","title":{"rendered":"Race and Mormonism, Thirty-Nine Years after the Revelation on Priesthood"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Accra Ghana Temple (LDS Media Library)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

First of all, racial bigotry is hateful, and an offense against the Gospel of Jesus Christ. \u00a0Just to be clear.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Salt Lake Tribune<\/em> has just published two relevant articles on the topic of Mormonism<\/a> and race:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201c39 years later, priesthood ban is history, but racism within Mormon ranks isn\u2019t, black members say\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSteps the Mormon church<\/a> could take to enhance race relations within the faith\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s a response to the Tribune<\/em> from Tarik LaCour, an insightful and well-informed Latter-day Saint thinker who, as it happens, is black:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

http:\/\/tarikdlacour.blogspot.com\/2017\/06\/response-to-salt-lake-tribune-article.html?spref=fb<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s well worth a look.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Permit me to offer my own brief (and hasty) responses to the suggestions offered by the Tribune. \u00a0<\/em>There will be some formatting issues, but I don\u2019t have time at the moment to deal with them:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cast a black Adam and Eve (or an interracial couple) in the film shown to faithful members in LDS temples.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I have no strong objection to either of these, except that I think using an interracial couple might\u00a0raise distracting and needless theological questions in the minds of some temple patrons.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Use more African-American faces in church art and manuals and display more artwork depicting Christ as he would appear: as a Middle Eastern Jewish man.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
I would be happy with both ideas. \u00a0I\u2019ve actually called for the latter on numerous occasions.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Pick more blacks for highly visible leadership positions \u2014 if not an apostle, at least in the general authority Seventy or in the general auxiliary presidencies.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Again, I\u2019m fine with this. \u00a0But I object to racial quotas in principle. \u00a0The leaders should call those whom the leaders are inspired to call. \u00a0In the future, I\u2019m confident, this will lead to more blacks in leadership roles.<\/div>\n
\n
Repudiate and apologize for the faith\u2019s past priesthood\/temple ban on blacks, which the church lifted in 1978.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Hmmm. \u00a0I have reservations about this one. \u00a0I never understood the ban, I was never happy about it, and I was delighted when it was removed. \u00a0But I\u2019m not sure that I can simply \u201crepudiate\u201d it or apologize for it. \u00a0I don\u2019t know why the Lord permitted it to remain in place as long as he did, but he seems to have done so.<\/div>\n

Show the documentary film \u201cNobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons\u201d to every all-male priesthood quorum, women\u2019s Relief Society class and Young Men and Young Women groups.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Again, no real\u00a0objection.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Quote from the church\u2019s Gospel Topics essay \u201cRace and the Priesthood\u201d regularly at LDS General Conference and translate it into all the languages that the church uses to communicate with its global membership.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m all for translating it, and I would be happy to have it quoted. \u00a0Even multiple times. \u00a0But \u201cregularly\u201d? \u00a0That begins to smack of indoctrination to me.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Direct that the essay be read from the pulpit in every Mormon congregation and mission in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Again, it seems a bit like indoctrination.<\/p>\n

Have the Book of Mormon scripture found in 2 Nephi 26:33 \u2014 \u201cAll are alike unto God\u201d \u2014 be a yearlong Young Women or Primary theme and make it part of the curriculum to talk about the sin of racism.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

2 Nephi 26:33 would be a good theme. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure that I like the idea of making the sin of racism a part of the curriculum, though. \u00a0I think it can be adequately handled as a part of lessons on kindness, charity, the universal fatherhood of God, respect for all humankind (including women, too) as children of God, and so forth.<\/p>\n

Bring more blacks to LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University as students and faculty, while providing sensitivity training for all students about racial issues and interactions with people of color.<\/span><\/p>\n

I would the delighted to see more black faculty and students at BYU. \u00a0However, I dislike the very idea of \u201csensitivity training.\u201d \u00a0It makes me think of Communist \u201cre-education camps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teach children about the heroic black Mormon lives, such as LDS pioneers Jane Manning James and Elijah Abel.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m enthusiastically for this one.<\/p>\n

Expand the LDS hymnbook to include more diverse songs and styles.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I\u2019m very much for expanding the LDS musical range. \u00a0I\u2019m less convinced that this needs to be done in the hymnal. \u00a0(For one thing, the thought of predominantly white Mormon congregations trying to sing gospel makes me queasy.) \u00a0I would encourage musical numbers in sacrament meetings from outside the hymnal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Enlist more people of color in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Certainly, if they\u2019re available.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Invite the choir from the Genesis Group \u2014 a longtime Utah-based support organization for black Mormons and their families \u2014 to sing at General Conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fine with me. \u00a0Might be fun. \u00a0(Are they good?)<\/p>\n

Use the Genesis Group to assist in improving relationships with the African-American community.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure.<\/p>\n

Give the Genesis Group greater authority to exist in all states and to visit wards and assist lay bishoprics in how to avoid and overcome racism in their congregations.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Perhaps. \u00a0Something to think about. \u00a0But there would be other groups \u2014 including apologetic organizations \u2014 that would like to have authority to go around and talk locally. \u00a0This could set a dangerous precedent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Create a church-sponsored Mormon and black website akin to the one found at\u00a0mormonandgay.org<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seems a good idea.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Treat the members of the Genesis Group\u2019s presidency as an auxiliary, seating them on the stand with other high-ranking authorities during General Conference \u2014 and invite at least one of them to speak during the sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Unless and until their role is expanded as proposed above, I don\u2019t think that the Genesis Group would really be a general Church auxiliary organization in the same sense that, say, the Relief Society and the Sunday School are.<\/p>\n

Provide training on racial issues for newly called mission presidents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Hmmmm. \u00a0Maybe. \u00a0But, again, I dislike anything remotely like \u201csensitivity training.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Include a mandatory class at Missionary Training Centers that teach the \u201cRace and the Priesthood\u201d essay so missionaries are better prepared when they go out to preach.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

I would like to see all<\/em> of the Gospel Topics Essays taught at the Missionary Training Centers \u2014 and elsewhere throughout the Church<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gotta go.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Posted from Richmond, Virginia<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 First of all, racial bigotry is hateful, and an offense against the Gospel of Jesus Christ. \u00a0Just to be clear. \u00a0 The Salt Lake Tribune has just published two relevant articles on the topic of Mormonism and race: \u00a0 \u201c39 years later, priesthood ban is history, but racism within Mormon ranks isn\u2019t, black […]<\/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-42688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nRace and Mormonism, Thirty-Nine Years after the Revelation on Priesthood<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    First of all, racial bigotry is hateful, and an offense against the Gospel of Jesus Christ. \u00a0Just to be clear.   The Salt Lake Tribune\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, 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