Part 32: CES Letter Prophet Questions [Section F]

by Sarah Allen

 

Last week, we discussed the history of race in the Church up to the institution of the Priesthood restriction on black members. This week, I’d like to finish the history of the ban and discuss the shifting reasoning people came up with to justify it. I was thinking this week would wrap up the entire subject, but I don’t think it will all fit. I think we’ll probably have to extend this topic for a third week. It’s still a lot to cover, so I’m just going to dive right in.

Before I do, though, I need to remind everyone that we’re going to be discussing some extremely offensive comments today, and I’m not going sugar-coat or excuse the things being said. However, no matter how distasteful some of this may be, we need to remember that these were flawed children of God who deserve our charity rather than our judgment. It’s not always easy. I struggle with it sometimes, too. But God doesn’t call perfect people to achieve His plan. If He did, the Savior would have been the only one He ever called. The rest of us can and do make mistakes. We need mercy from Him and from each other. Let’s all try to keep that in mind, please?

And again, the first part of this history is taken chiefly from Lester Bush Jr.’s Mormon Negro Doctrine, Paul Reeve’s Religion of a Different Color, and his 2015 FAIR presentation, unless otherwise noted. When we reach President McKay’s tenure, the main source for that information is an article entitled Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood by Edward Kimball.

Throughout the bulk of Brigham Young’s tenure as president of the Church, the primary rationale for the Priesthood restriction was that black people were descended from Cain, the lineage having been preserved during the flood through Ham and his Canaanite wife, and that his curse carried on to them in the present day. Slavery was both proof of that curse and the result of it, in a fantastic piece of circular logic that makes absolutely no sense today. Brigham added that, after all of Adam’s other children have had the chance to receive the Priesthood, then would the children of Cain be allowed. He believed this would take place after the Second Coming and Millennium, because he seemed to believe that this meant that it would happen after every single person from every other race had their temple work done.

[Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 32

Part 31: CES Letter Prophet Questions [Section E]

by Sarah Allen

 

Today and next week, I’ll be covering one of the very most controversial topics in our church’s history, the Priesthood ban on black members. I’ll say right up front that I don’t know exactly where this ban came from, but it’s a lot more complicated than just saying that “Brigham Young was racist.” However, racism—both casual and overt—was certainly a large element of the history we’re going to cover and some of the quotes I read this week made me physically sick to my stomach. I can’t even imagine thinking of other children of God like that, especially not over something as trivial as skin color. There will be some things I’ll have to quote that will be difficult to read, and I want to say clearly from the outset that I do not endorse the things being said or the language being used. Some people I love very much have African heritage, and the thought of some of these labels and attitudes being applied to them is absolutely horrifying to me. I apologize for any offense these quotes may cause. The intent is to explain the context and history, not to cause anyone pain or to defend the things that were said.

We need to remember right from the start of this, though, that these things were being said and done in a very different day than ours, and casual racism was much more common than it is in the world today. It doesn’t excuse it, but it helps explain it. We can’t view the past through today’s lens. This is called “presentism,” and it’s considered a logical fallacy. If we judge the people who lived back then by our standards today, it simply doesn’t work. Looking down on them doesn’t make us much better than the way they looked down on black people in their day. That can be a difficult thing to remember when reading some of these quotes. Believe me, I’m right there with you on that. But we have to at least try to keep in mind that some of these beliefs were held by virtually everyone in the entire Western World during the time period, and had been for centuries. Their entire culture was shaped by these beliefs. It’s easy for us to look back on it and say that we’d have been different had we lived during that time, but the truth is, we probably wouldn’t have been. It would’ve been all we’d have ever known. So, judge their words, absolutely, but try not to judge the people saying them, okay? We haven’t been in their shoes. Like Moroni says, Heavenly Father shows us the mistakes of the past so that we can learn from their example and be better than they were. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 31

Part 29: CES Letter Prophet Questions [Section C]

by Sarah Allen

 

Today, we’re going to talk about one of my favorite weird/controversial topics of Church history, Blood Atonement and the way it was so badly misconstrued. You can see a highly biased approach to the topic here for an example of what I’m talking about. It’s such a caricature of the actual teaching, I honestly thought it was facetious satire at first before I realized the author was serious. To be honest, on its own, Blood Atonement is just not that interesting or even very strange. It’s basically just exaggerated rhetoric to make a point.

In my free time, though, I like to write fiction. I love stories: watching them, reading them, writing them, imagining them. It’s one of the reasons I enjoy history so much, because it’s just a compilation of a million different stories. Because of that, I love the larger mythology of Blood Atonement and the way something so simple could become so exaggerated and ludicrous and take on a life of its own. It’s fascinating to me. This is why, later in the post, I also want to touch on the stories of the Danites and also Mountain Meadows, and how they both tie into the folklore surrounding Blood Atonement. I’m going to try to put it all into some historical context for you guys so that it all makes sense. [Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 29

Part 28: CES Letter Prophet Questions [Section B]

by Sarah Allen

 

Last week, I focused heavily on the words of Brigham Young. I did this because he’s often seen as a stumbling block to members of the Church today due to some of the comments and policies we’ll be discussing in this set of questions/concerns. I wanted to point out that he frequently exhorted the Saints to pray to receive their own revelation concerning the things he said, and to reject the things he taught if they felt they didn’t come from God.

There are some other things we all need to know and understand about “Brother Brigham” before we can put these subjects in context, though. The first is that he had a very theatrical style, sort of like today’s televangelists. He was fond of the old “fire and brimstone” style of preaching that was so common in his day, where he’d exaggerate and threaten damnation and the Saints going to Hell if they turned away from the Gospel, that kind of thing. He would also often act out the things he was saying—like if he was talking about searching for something, he’d stand there at the pulpit, checking all of his pockets like he couldn’t find what he was looking for. The people loved it; it was like going to a show every time they watched him preach. It was very entertaining, and he would play up the theatrics while he was preaching in response to their reactions. But things like that don’t always translate very well when you’re reading them over a century later, so it’s hard to tell when he was being serious and when he was playing to the crowd or exaggerating for effect.

President Young was also very blunt. He did not beat around the bush, and he could be abrasive and somewhat authoritative, especially in his later years. He sometimes went off on rants when he felt he wasn’t being listened to. He had a notoriously contentious relationship with Emma Smith, among others, and used to claim she was going to Hell and that Joseph would have to go there to get her back. He was fiercely loyal to Joseph and to the restored Gospel, however, and he did not take criticism of them lightly.

He seems to be much like Peter as he tried to step into the Savior’s shoes to lead the Church after His death—they had many of the same personality traits (brashness, impetuousness, stubbornness, loyalty, etc.), they both made clear and obvious mistakes that their predecessors never did, and they were both willing to defend to the death the things of God.

[Read more…] about The CES Letter Rebuttal — Part 28