Race and the Priesthood
1. In theology and
practice, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embraces the universal human family. Latter-day Saint
scripture and teachings affirm that God loves all of His children and makes
salvation available to all. God created the many diverse races and ethnicities
and esteems them all equally. As the Book of Mormon puts it,
“all are alike unto God.”
2. The structure and
organization of the Church encourage racial integration. Latter-day Saints
attend Church services according to the geographical boundaries of their local ward, or congregation. By
definition, this means that the racial, economic, and demographic composition
of Mormon congregations generally mirrors that of the wider local
community. The Church’s lay ministry also tends to facilitate integration:
a black bishop may preside over a mostly white congregation; a Hispanic woman
may be paired with an Asian woman to visit the homes of a racially diverse
membership. Church members of different races and ethnicities regularly
minister in one another’s homes and serve alongside one another as teachers, as
youth leaders, and in myriad other assignments in their local congregations.
Such practices make The Church a thoroughly integrated faith.
3. Despite this modern
reality, for much of its history—from the mid-1800s until 1978—the Church did
not ordain men of black African descent to its priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in
temple endowment or sealing ordinances.
4. The Church was
established in 1830, during an era of great racial division in the United
States. At the time, many people of African descent lived in slavery, and
racial distinctions and prejudice were not just common but customary among
white Americans. Those realities, though unfamiliar and disturbing today,
influenced all aspects of people’s lives, including their religion. Many
Christian churches of that era, for instance, were segregated along racial
lines. Toward the end of his life, Church founder Joseph Smith openly opposed slavery. There has never been a
Churchwide policy of segregated congregations.
5. During the first two
decades of the Church’s existence, a few black men were ordained to the
priesthood. One of these men, Elijah Abel, also participated in temple
ceremonies in Kirtland, Ohio, and was later baptized as proxy for deceased
relatives in Nauvoo, Illinois. There is no reliable evidence that any black men
were denied the priesthood during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. In a private Church
council three years after Joseph Smith’s death, Brigham Young praised Q. Walker
Lewis, a black man who had been ordained to the priesthood, saying, “We have
one of the best Elders, an African.”
6. In 1852,
President Brigham Young publicly
announced that men of black African descent could no longer be ordained to the
priesthood, though thereafter blacks continued to join the Church through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy
Ghost. Following the death of Brigham
Young, subsequent Church presidents restricted blacks from receiving the temple
endowment or being married in the temple. Over time, Church leaders and members advanced many
theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions. None of these
explanations is accepted today as the official doctrine of the Church.
7. The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints was restored amidst a highly contentious racial culture in
which whites were afforded great privilege. In 1790, the U.S. Congress limited
citizenship to “free white person[s].” Over the next half century, issues
of race divided the country—while slave labor was legal in the more agrarian
South, it was eventually banned in the more urbanized North. Even so, racial
discrimination was widespread in the North as well as the South, and many
states implemented laws banning interracial marriage. In 1857, the U.S.
Supreme Court declared that blacks possessed “no rights which the white man was
bound to respect.” A generation after the Civil War (1861–65) led to the
end of slavery in the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
“separate but equal” facilities for blacks and whites were constitutional, a
decision that legalized a host of public color barriers until the Court
reversed itself in 1954. Not until 1967 did the Court strike down laws
forbidding interracial marriage.
8. In 1850, the U.S.
Congress created Utah Territory, and the U.S.
president appointed Brigham Young to the position of territorial governor.
Southerners who had converted to the Church and migrated to Utah with their
slaves raised the question of slavery’s legal status in the territory. 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.
9. The justifications for
this restriction echoed the widespread ideas about racial inferiority that had
been used to argue for the legalization of black “servitude” in the Territory
of Utah. According to one view, which had been promulgated in the United
States from at least the 1730s, blacks descended from the same lineage as the
biblical Cain, who slew his brother Abel. Those who accepted this view
believed that God’s “curse” on Cain was the mark of a dark skin. Although
slavery was not a significant factor in Utah’s economy and was soon abolished,
the restriction on priesthood ordinations remained.
10. Even after 1852, at
least two black Mormons continued to hold the priesthood. When one of these
men, Elijah Abel, petitioned to receive his temple endowment in 1879, his
request was denied. Jane Manning James, a faithful black member who crossed the
plains and lived in Salt Lake City until her death in 1908, similarly asked to
enter the temple; she was allowed to perform baptisms for the dead for
her ancestors but was not allowed to participate in other ordinances. The
curse of Cain was often put forward as justification for the priesthood and
temple restrictions. Around the turn of the century, another explanation gained
currency: blacks were said to have been less than fully valiant in the premortal battle against
Lucifer and, as a consequence, were restricted from priesthood and temple
blessings.
11. By the late 1940s and
1950s, racial integration was becoming more common in American life. Church
President David O. McKay emphasized that
the restriction extended only to men of black African descent. The Church had
always allowed Pacific Islanders to hold the priesthood, and President McKay
clarified that black Fijians and Australian Aborigines could also be ordained
to the priesthood and instituted missionary work among them. In South Africa,
President McKay reversed a prior policy that required prospective priesthood
holders to trace their lineage out of Africa.
12. Nevertheless, given
the long history of withholding the priesthood from men of black African
descent, Church leaders believed that a revelation from God was needed to alter
the policy, and they made ongoing efforts to understand what should be done.
After praying for guidance, President McKay did not feel impressed to lift the
ban.
13. As the Church grew
worldwide, its overarching mission to “go ye therefore, and teach all
nations” seemed increasingly incompatible with the priesthood and temple
restrictions..” While there were no limits on whom the Lord invited to
“partake of his goodness” through baptism, the priesthood and temple
restrictions created significant barriers, a point made increasingly evident as
the Church spread in international locations with diverse and mixed racial
heritages.
14. Brazil in particular
presented many challenges. Brazil prided itself on its open, integrated, and
mixed racial heritage. In 1975, the Church announced that a temple would be
built in São Paulo, Brazil. As the temple construction proceeded, Church
authorities encountered faithful black and mixed-ancestry Mormons who had
contributed financially and in other ways to the building of the São Paulo
temple, a sanctuary they realized they would not be allowed to enter once it
was completed. Their sacrifices, as well as the conversions of thousands of
Nigerians and Ghanaians in the 1960s and early 1970s, moved Church leaders.
15. Church leaders
pondered promises made by prophets such as Brigham Young that black members
would one day receive priesthood and temple blessings. In June 1978, after
“spending many hours in the Upper Room of the [Salt Lake] Temple supplicating
the Lord for divine guidance,” Church President Spencer W. Kimball, his
counselors \ and members of the 12 Apostles received a
revelation. “He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the
long-promised day has come,” the 1st Presidency announced on June 8. They stated
that they were “aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of
the Church who have preceded us” that “all of our brethren who are worthy may
receive the priesthood.” The revelation rescinded the restriction on
priesthood ordination. It also extended the blessings of the temple to all
worthy Latter-day Saints, men and women. The statement regarding the revelation
was canonized in the D&C as Official Declaration 2.
16. This “revelation on
the priesthood,” as it is commonly known in the Church, was a landmark
revelation and a historic event. Those who were present at the time described
it in reverent terms. Gordon B. Hinckley, then a member of the 12, said: “There
was a hallowed and sanctified atmosphere in the room. For me, it felt as if a
conduit opened between the heavenly throne and the kneeling, pleading prophet
of God who was joined by his Brethren. … Every man in that circle, by the
power of the Holy Ghost, knew the same thing. … Not one of us who was
present on that occasion was ever quite the same after that. Nor has the Church
been quite the same.”
17. Reaction worldwide was
overwhelmingly positive among Church members of all races. Many LDS wept for
joy at the news. Some reported feeling a collective weight lifted from their
shoulders. The Church began priesthood ordinations for men of African descent
immediately, and black men and women entered temples throughout the world. Soon
after the revelation, Elder Bruce R. McConkie, an apostle, spoke of new “light
and knowledge” that had erased previously “limited understanding.”
18. Today, the Church
disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine
disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life;
that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race
or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today
unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.
19. Since that day in
1978, the Church has looked to the future, as membership among Africans,
African Americans and others of African descent has continued to grow rapidly.
The number of Church members of African descent is now in the hundreds of
thousands.
20. The Church proclaims
that redemption through Jesus Christ is available to the entire human family on the
conditions God has prescribed. It affirms that God is “no respecter of
persons” and emphatically declares that anyone who is righteous—regardless
of race—is favored of Him. The teachings of the Church in relation to God’s children
are epitomized by a verse in the 2nd Nephi: “[The Lord] denieth none that
cometh unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; … all
are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”
21.
(ABMorrison, Oct. 1987) Moro.
10:32 -
Indeed, that is the very purpose of The Church—to invite, encourage, and assist
all of God’s children, both living and dead, to come to Christ and “lay hold
upon every good gift” Moro.
10:30 that
“ye may receive a remission of your sins, and be filled with the Holy Ghost,
that ye may be numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel” 3 Ne. 30:2
22.
That is why we do missionary work. Acts 1:8- That phrase, “unto
the uttermost part of the earth,” was very much in my mind a few weeks ago as I
was privileged to accompany Elder Marvin J. Ashton of the 12 to a great, green
land I dearly love—the continent of Africa. Under authority of the holy
Apostleship, Elder Ashton dedicated 3 African countries—Liberia, Ivory Coast
& Zaire—to the work of the Lord and the preaching of the gospel. Those countries join others in
so-called “Black Africa,” where the great work of bringing souls to Christ has
already commenced.
23.
Our black African brothers & sisters truly “receive the word with joy. The
vast majority are very poor; famine and pestilence dog their steps and visit
their homes regularly. Opportunities for education & employment are
extremely limited. But through it all they are a happy people, generous &
loving, anxious to learn & eager to obey the commandments of Christ. There
is a great understanding of the importance of families. If 1 works, a dozen
eat.
24.
Brother Flake was born into slavery in North Carolina
in 1828. He was baptized into the Church in 1844 but remained a slave, taking
the name of his master, James Flake. It was Green Flake who was driving the
wagon in which President Brigham Young was riding when he first gazed at the
Salt Lake Valley. “This is the right place; drive on.” A note written by
Brother Flake responding to an invitation to him to attend a 50-year jubilee
honoring the 1847 pioneers. He wrote (spelling preserved from original): “Dear
friend: I reseved you most kind and wellcom leter and ticket and was glad to
rseved it and I will bee down to the Julile. Yours truly, Friend Green Flake.”
25. Darius Gray’s conversion-He had returned home from working on the West Coast,
and his mother informed him of a new family in the neighborhood, “white, but
they seem awful nice.” She said they had “a whole slew of kids.” The next day,
Brother Gray was walking with a friend and passed by the home of the new
family. A group of children ran up to them and said, “Hi! You’re Aidan [Brother
Gray’s middle name]. We’re the Felixes. We’re Mormons, you know.” Later the
father, John Felix Sr., and the mother, Barbara Felix, shared a copy of the
Book of Mormon with Brother Gray. He read it reluctantly at first, but he soon
had questions about it. That led to his meeting with missionaries. He accepted
their message. On the day of his pre-baptism interview, he had a question
arising from his Book of Mormon reading. He wondered about the implications of
his own dark skin.
“Well, Brother Gray, the
primary implication is that you won’t be able to hold the priesthood,” one of
the missionaries replied. “He went on to give me more detail, but I did not
hear a word after that,” Brother Gray recounted, “I thought, ‘How foolish of me
to have put my trust in this new faith." That evening, covered with a
blanket in bed in his unheated bedroom in December, he opened his window and
prayed. He received no answer. He repeated the prayer. “And this time, I
received personal revelation,” he said. “I did not see God the Father, Jesus
Christ, angels, but I heard, ‘This is the restored gospel, and you are to
join.’
“There was no mention of
the priesthood restriction, whether it was just or unjust, whether it was of
God or of man, simply, ‘This is the restored gospel, and you are to join.’
“Based on that, the next
day, December 26, 1964, I entered into the waters of baptism. … I have known with
a firmness from that date that this is the restored gospel. I can’t say I
believe; I have to say, ‘I know.’”
