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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.
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Joseph F. Smith finally admits | A FAIR Analysis of: One Nation Under Gods, a work by author: Richard Abanes
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McConkie's Mormon Doctrine and race issues |
The author spends an entire chapter berating the LDS on the issue of race and either misrepresenting or misunderstanding LDS teachings on this matter. LDS views and sources are portrayed in the most hostile, prejudicial light possible.
Racism has become one of the most strident and damaging accusations that can be leveled in our society, and as such has become a useful weapon for those who wish to harm an organization or individual. As Southern Baptists know, "Few chapters in American religious history prove as embarrassing as the response of the American churches to the issue of race."[1]:33 ONUG is obviously hoping its target audience will not notice that Latter-day Saints have always had integrated churches while Protestant churches struggle with the residual division brought about by their own prolonged discrimination against, or outright expulsion of, black members. Emerson and Smith assess the problem in the following manner:
Latter-day Saints are, of course, not immune from the same human foibles. We, like all Christians, might wish that we had played a larger role in correcting social injustices. We must all look at our past and learn from it. But for the here and now, the LDS do have a decided advantage in our centralized leadership and our historical practice of maintaining congregations based on geographical boundaries rather than on personal preference or race. Our members have never traveled past a white or black church to get to their own. We cannot fire ministers who do not succumb to the wishes of a congregation to remain racially segregated. Yet, we join all concerned followers of Christ in acknowledging that we have work ahead of us in putting aside differences accumulated through centuries of misunderstanding and intolerance.
Several chapters later, however, the author admits:
Unfortunately, this admission is only in the "Postscript," and is not found in the hardcover edition of ONUG. This perspective is nowhere to be found in Chapter 16. This concession thus provides the illusion of fairmindedness, while actually providing little context or balance to the book's portrayal of members of the Church of Jesus Christ and their beliefs.
Furthermore, the author ignores the fact that leaders of the Church have also repudiated many past remarks by previous leaders. His statement leaves the impression that the Southern Baptists have done so, while leaders of the Church have not.
For a detailed response, see: Repudiated ideas, Pre-1978 statements, and Racist statements by Church leaders?
The author of ONUG even goes so far as to quote Bruce R. McConkie's Mormon Doctrine without telling readers that this apostle published a revised version of his book, and repudiated some of his own remarks.
For a detailed response, see: Use of sources: Mormon Doctrine and race issues
Perhaps the double standard being applied to the Church would be better understood if the author's complaint—that the Church has "underlying white supremacist beliefs," (353) and so they didn't support the Civil Rights movement (364)—is placed next to the image of Ferrell Griswold, pastor of the Minor Heights Baptist Church, addressing Klan supporters as Birmingham public schools began their first week of desegregation in 1963.[1]:41 Would the author really have the reader believe there were no Christian leaders among those who refused blacks their basic civil liberties and denied them entrance to their churches, schools, civic centers, and voting booths? What were other high profile white religious leaders saying and doing to give blacks basic rights, let alone positions of leadership within their own churches? Two scholars have outlined how white leaders left the battle for civil rights to the black churches.
Three years later on October 9, 1966, Martin Luther King gave his "The Pharisee and Publican" sermon to the Ebenezer Baptist Church in which he said:
It is easy to look at the worst in one another, as ONUG has chosen to do. There are enough quotes indicting every religious tradition to make any thoughtful person cringe. There are also well-researched, honest, and informative books and articles available from scholars on every aspect of race and religion. So one must ask, why does the author of ONUG persist in this course of action? What purpose does it serve?
ONUG's barrage of the most negative and obscure data that can be mustered against the Latter-day Saints might lead one to conclude that all other Christian churches were fully integrated with all races participating in leadership positions in 1963, or even in 1978 when blacks were given the priesthood by the Church. The following quotes from varied and respected sources are provided so that the reader has the appropriate historical context. They are not meant in any way to criticize other churches who are working so diligently to close the racial divide.
These statistics readily bring to mind the biblical teaching about the mote and the beam (see Matthew 7:3-4).
The author of ONUG seems to delight in recounting LDS leaders' ideas about skin color and the "curse of Cain." For the benefit of the reader we will here provide a few references from the widely available literature on the origins of this unfortunate concept:
Once again, the reader is left to wonder whether the author of ONUG is ignorant of the history of race theory, anthropology, and the centuries-old Christian use of the Bible to justify slavery or if he is simply race-baiting. The distinct lack of material that would reflect positively on Mormons, and the pronounced use of outdated quotations, is something that calls for serious consideration. The author draws upon little-known "Mormon" writers instead of using authoritative sources that the Saints recognize as accurately representing their beliefs. Modern Church practice and teachings are conspicuously lacking and context is not sufficiently considered. Thus, ONUG attempts to use Joseph Smith's racist-sounding quote about "confining" "the negro" "to his own species," as an indictment against the modern Church. Yet, ONUG fails to tell us everything else that Joseph Smith said on this subject that was progressive, and even radical, for its time (see Notable omissions, p. 355).
Another example of problematic usage of LDS material on this issue is when Brigham Young is represented as describing inter-racial marriage as "one of the most heinous of deeds" (361). Yet, ONUG fails to acknowledge that there was no inter-racial marriage at the time and in the place where the comment was made. And any sexual relations with someone of African descent usually happened in a context of rape (see: Brigham_Young_on_race_mixing).
Here is one portion of the same sermon that the author neglects to show his readers:
Compare this to the views of the founder of American evangelicalism, George Whitefield, who "urged kinder treatment of slaves, but noted that cruelty can have the positive effect of heightening 'the sense of their natural misery,' thereby increasing receptivity to the Christian message."[2]:26 Or the stories of "Christian slaveholders, including clergymen, 'brutalizing their slaves' which 'abound in the narratives of former slaves.'"[13]
Critical sources |
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Notes
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