Race and Dark-Skinned People in the Priesthood
LDS Summary:
The LDS introduced the doctrine in 1852 of preventing dark-skinned people from holding priesthood office - the doctrine was terminated in 1978 (126 years later)
RLDS Summary:
The RLDS has never prevented dark-skinned people from holding priesthood office
 Scripture ComparisonThe LDS Book of Moses and RLDS Inspired Version both agree that Cain listened no more to God and rejected His counsel. | |
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Book of Moses, Chapter 5 22 And the Lord said unto Cain: Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? 23 If thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted. And if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door, and Satan desireth to have thee; and except thou shalt hearken unto my commandments, I will deliver thee up, and it shall be unto thee according to his desire. And thou shalt rule over him; 24 For from this time forth thou shalt be the father of his lies; thou shalt be called Perdition; for thou wast also before the world. 25 And it shall be said in time to come—That these abominations were had from Cain; for he rejected the greater counsel which was had from God; and this is a cursing which I will put upon thee, except thou repent. 26 And Cain was wroth, and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Abel, his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord. |
Inspired Version, Genesis, Chapter 5 9 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? Why is thy countenance fallen? If thou doest well, thou shalt be accepted; and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door; and Satan desireth to have thee; and except thou shalt hearken unto my commandments, I will deliver thee up, and it shall be unto thee according to his desire; and thou shalt rule over him, for from this time forth thou shalt be the father of his lies. 10 Thou shalt be called Perdition, for thou wast also before the world; and it shall be said in time to come that these abominations were had from Cain, for he rejected the greater counsel which was had from God; and this is a cursing which I will put upon thee, except thou repent. 11 And Cain was wroth and listened not any more to the voice of the Lord, neither to Abel his brother, who walked in holiness before the Lord. |
Scripture ComparisonThe LDS Book of Moses and RLDS Inspired Version describe the people of Cainan as having blackness come upon them because they were separated from God. | |
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Book of Moses, Chapter 7 7 And the Lord said unto me: Prophesy; and I prophesied, saying: Behold the people of Canaan, which are numerous, shall go forth in battle array against the people of Shum, and shall slay them that they shall utterly be destroyed; and the people of Canaan shall divide themselves in the land, and the land shall be barren and unfruitful, and none other people shall dwell there but the people of Canaan; 8 For behold, the Lord shall curse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever; and there was a blackness came upon all the children of Canaan, that they were despised among all people. 22 And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam; and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam save it was the seed of Cain, for the seed of Cain were black, and had not place among them. |
Inspired Version, Genesis, Chapter 7 7 And the Lord said unto me, Prophesy. And I prophesied, saying, 8 Behold, the people of Cainan, which are numerous, shall go forth in battle array against the people of Shum and shall slay them, that they shall be utterly destroyed. 9 And the people of Cainan shall divide themselves in the land; and the land shall be barren and unfruitful, and none other people shall dwell there but the people of Cainan; for behold, the Lord shall curse the land with much heat, and the barrenness thereof shall go forth forever. 10 And there was a blackness came upon all the children of Cainan, that they were despised among all people. 29 And Enoch also beheld the residue of the people which were the sons of Adam, and they were a mixture of all the seed of Adam, save it were the seed of Cain; for the seed of Cain were black and had not place among them. |
Scripture Comparison:The Hebrew word for blackness is pa'ruwr. Strong's number: 6289; Hebrew: pa'ruwr; Pronunciation: paw-roor' from 6286; properly, illuminated, i.e. a glow; as noun, a flush (of anxiety): --blackness. This concept of a "black glow" is mentioned as a condition which is the opposite of the shining on Moses face. "Black" is an analogy used to describe the separation of people from God. For a full description of this subject, go here. | |
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King James Version, Joel, Chapter 2 6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. |
Inspired Version, Joel, Chapter 2 6 Before their face, the people shall be much pained; all faces shall gather blackness. |
Scripture Comparison:The description here (empty, void, heart melts, pain) are the conditions that separate people from God. In Hebrew, the heart represents wisdom, so the reference to "heart melteth" indicates a lack of wisdom. | |
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King James Version, Nahum, Chapter 2 10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. |
Inspired Version, Nahum, Chapter 2 10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness. |
Scripture ComparisonThese are the verses that cause confusion about skin color. | |
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LDS Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi, Chapter 5 21 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. |
Inspired Version, 2 Nephi, Chapter 4 33 And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. 34 For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; 35 Wherefore, as they were white, and exceeding fair, and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. |
Scripture ComparisonThe LDS and RLDS Book of Mormon agree that God does not put limitations on people based on their physical skin color. | |
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LDS Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi, Chapter 26 32 And again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal; that they should not take the name of the Lord their God in vain; that they should not envy; that they should not have malice; that they should not contend one with another; that they should not commit whoredoms; and that they should do none of these things; for whoso doeth them shall perish. 33 For none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile. |
RLDS Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi, Chapter 11 110 And, again, the Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder, that they should not lie, that they should not steal, that they should not take the name of the Lord, their God, in vain, that they should not envy, that they should not have malice, that they should not contend one with another, that they should not commit whoredoms, and that they should do none of these things. 111 For whoso doeth them shall perish; for none of these iniquities come of the Lord; for he doeth that which is good among the children of men; 112 And he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; 113 And he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; 114 And he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; |
August 17, 1835The church stated that they would follow the laws of the government. The statement on spreading the Gospel to slaves was to be within the laws of the land. | |
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Latter Day Saints Messenger and Advocate, Vol. 1, No. 11, August 1835, page 164 (end of the General Assembly section) We do not believe it just to mingle religious influence with civil government, whereby one religious society is fostered and another proscribed in its spiritual privileges, and the individual rights of its members, as citizens, denied...We believe it just to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth, and warn the righteous to save themselves from the corruption of the world; but we do not believe it right to interfere with bond-servants, neither preach the gospel to, nor baptize them, contrary to the will and wish of their masters, nor to meddle with, or influence them in the least to be dissatisfied with their situations in this life, thereby jeopardizing the lives of men: such interference we believe to be unlawful and unjust and dangerous to the peace of every government allowing human beings to be held in servitude. |
Same reference (there was one church at this time - the LDS and RLDS had not split) |
March 3, 1836Elijah Abel ordained as an Elder December 20, 1836 Elijah Abel ordained as a Seventy | |
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Did Joseph Smith, Jr. Ordain Elijah Abel to the Priesthood? ...there is plenty of evidence—overwhelming evidence—that Elijah Abel, a black man, was ordained an Elder on 3 March 1836 and that Zebedee Coltrin then ordained him a Seventy, a member of the third quorum (a missionary quorum, not a general authority quorum as now constituted) on 20 December that same year. The record of Abel’s ordination as a Seventy is extant but the record of his ordination as an Elder is not. It is also clear that early Church leaders recognized Abel as black. In 1843, at a Church conference in Cincinnati, Apostles John E. Page and Orson Pratt both referred to him as “coloured” and advised him to missionize among “the coloured population.”...As Joseph F. Smith reported [in 1879], Abel asserted that “the Prophet Joseph told him he was entitled to the priesthood.” |
Same reference (there was one church at this time - the LDS and RLDS had not split) |
Summer 1843Walker Lewis ordained as an Elder | |
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Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness, page 106 The evidence that does survive indicates that in the summer of 1843, or perhaps the following summer, Mormon apostle William Smith, the younger brother of Mormon founder and prophet Joseph Smith Jr., ordained Lewis an elder in the Mormon lay priesthood. Lewis might be viewed historically as somewhat unremarkable, a barber by trade, a community activist, a leader in a fraternal order, and a member of the lay priesthood in a local Mormon congregation. None of those roles were striking enough in their own right to draw any undue attention—that is unless one understands that Walker Lewis was black. What set Lewis apart was that he was a radical black abolitionist, a founding member of the Massachusetts General Colored Association, a leader in Bostons African Grand Lodge of Masons, and a black elder in the Mormon priesthood. |
Same reference (there was one church at this time - the LDS and RLDS had not split) |
January 23, 1852Brigham Young stated that Black Africans "cannot share in the Priesthood." Note: This is a change from previous statements and actions. | |
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Brigham Young: We Must Believe in Slavery The African enjoys the right of receiving the first principles of the Gospel; this liberty is held out to all these servants. They enjoy the liberty of being baptized for the remission of sins and of receiving the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands; they enjoy the privilege of living [145] humbly before the Lord their great Master, so as to enjoy the spirit of the Lord continually. In short, as far as the common comforts of life, salvation, light, truth, enjoyment, and understanding are concerned, the Black African has precisely the same privilege as the white man. But they cannot share in the Priesthood; they cannot bear rule; they cannot bear rule in any place until the curse is removed from them; they are a “servant of servants.” |
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Feb. 5, 1852Brigham Young stated that negroes "cannot bear rule in the preisthood" | |
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Brigham Young's Speech on Slavery, Blacks, and the Priesthood, Feb. 5, 1852 Now I tell you what I know; when the mark was put upon Cain, Abels children was in all probability young; the Lord told Cain that he should not receive the blessings of the preisthood nor his seed, until the last of the posterity of Able had received the preisthood, until the redemtion of the earth. If there never was a prophet, or apostle of Jesus Christ spoke it before, I tell you, this people that are commonly called negroes are the children of old Cain. I know they are, I know that they cannot bear rule in the preisthood, for the curse on them was to remain upon them, until the resedue of the posterity of Michal and his wife receive the blessings, the seed of Cain would have received had they not been cursed; and hold the keys of the preisthood, until the times of the restitution shall come, and the curse be wiped off from the earth, and from michals seed...Now then in the kingdom of God on the earth, a man who has has the Affrican blood in him cannot hold one jot nor tittle of preisthood;...Therefore I will not consent for one moment to have an african dictate me or any Bren. with regard to Church or State Government. I may vary in my veiwes from others, and they may think I am foolish in the things I have spoken, and think that they know more than I do, but I know I know more than they do. If the Affricans cannot bear rule in the Church of God, what buisness have they to bear rule in the State and Government affairs of this Territory or any others? |
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May 4, 1865The RLDS stated that priests will be of every race. But, that priesthood should be chosen with care. Note: The Civil War ended on April 9 and slaves were now freed, so the church was cautioned to not move too hastily in ordaining former slaves although there will be ministers among them. | |
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RLDS D&C, Section 116 1a Hearken, ye elders of my church. I am he who hath called you friends. Concerning the matter you have asked of me, 1b Lo, it is my will that my gospel shall be preached to all nations in every land and that men of every tongue shall minister before me; 1c therefore, it is expedient in me that you ordain priests unto me of every race who receive the teachings of my law and become heirs according to the promise. 2a Be ye very careful, for many elders have been ordained unto me and are come under my condemnation, by reason of neglecting to lift up their voices in my cause; and for such there is tribulation and anguish; 2b haply they themselves may be saved (if doing no evil) though their glory, which is given for their works, be withheld or, in other words, their works are burned, not being profitable unto me. 3a Loosen ye one another's hands, and uphold one another, that ye who are of the Quorum of Twelve may all labor in the vineyard, for upon you rests much responsibility; 3b and if ye labor diligently, the time is soon when others shall be added to your number till the quorum be full, even twelve. 4a Be not hasty in ordaining men of the Negro race to offices in my church; for verily, I say unto you, 4b All are not acceptable unto me as servants; nevertheless, I will that all may be saved, but every man in his own order; and there are some who are chosen instruments to be ministers to their own race. Be ye content; I, the Lord, have spoken it. |
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Adopted April 10, 1875The RLDS stated that the operation of the Church was to be conducted "irrespective of color" | |
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RLDS General Conference Resolution 171 No. 171. That it is the opinion of this assembly that the gospel is to be offered to all mankind, irrespective of color, nationality, sex, or condition in life; and that elders in Christ are not justified in making, or insisting on being made, any separation in church privileges, worship or sacrament, other than is made in the church articles and revelations in regard to ministerial ordinations and labor; and that we advise all officers of the church to be governed by the spirit and tenor of this teaching and this resolution. |
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August 17,1949The LDS First Presidency stated "Negroes may become members of the Church but that they arc not entitled to the priesthood at the present time" | |
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The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History, page 66 From "LDS Church First Presidency Statement," August 17,1949, LDS Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. August 17,1949 The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment from the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church from the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the Church but that they arc not entitled to the priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: "Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the holy priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the holy priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we now are entitled to" President Wilford Woodruff made the following statement: "The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have." | |
September 30, 1978The LDS Church removed the Priesthood ban for African Americans | |
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Official Declaration 2 As we have witnessed the expansion of the work of the Lord over the earth, we have been grateful that people of many nations have responded to the message of the restored gospel, and have joined the Church in ever-increasing numbers. This, in turn, has inspired us with a desire to extend to every worthy member of the Church all of the privileges and blessings which the gospel affords. |
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March 4, 2006LDS Apostle Jeffrey Holland states that the priesthood ban for blacks was folklore and that the Church didn't know why the doctrine was in place | |
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PBS: Interview Jeffrey Holland Interviewer: I've talked to many blacks and many whites as well about the lingering folklore [about why blacks couldn't have the priesthood]. These are faithful Mormons who are delighted about this revelation, and yet who feel something more should be said about the folklore and even possibly about the mysterious reasons for the ban itself, which was not a revelation; it was a practice. So if you could, briefly address the concerns Mormons have about this folklore and what should be done. LDS Apostle Jeffrey Holland: One clear-cut position is that the folklore must never be perpetuated. ... I have to concede to my earlier colleagues. ... They, I'm sure, in their own way, were doing the best they knew to give shape to [the policy], to give context for it, to give even history to it. All I can say is however well intended the explanations were, I think almost all of them were inadequate and/or wrong. ... It probably would have been advantageous to say nothing, to say we just don't know, and, [as] with many religious matters, whatever was being done was done on the basis of faith at that time. But some explanations were given and had been given for a lot of years. ... At the very least, there should be no effort to perpetuate those efforts to explain why that doctrine existed. I think, to the extent that I know anything about it, as one of the newer and younger ones to come along, ... we simply do not know why that practice, that policy, that doctrine was in place. |
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