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| {{RacePortal}}
| | #REDIRECT[[Repudiated ideas about race#In the 1950s, did the Church teach that the only way a black man could get into heaven was as a slave?]] |
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| ==Criticism==
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| "...[I]n the [19]50s, the Mormons preached that the only way a black man could get into heaven was as a slave."
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| ===Source(s) of the criticism===
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| * Bill Maher, ''Real Time with Bill Maher'', HBO, 16 February 2007. {{link|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xqNbZKIQUs}}
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| ==Response==
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| Maher may have been referring to an address given by Elder Mark E. Petersen at Brigham Young University on 27 August 1954 entitled "Race Problems—As They Affect the Church." Elder Petersen said in this address:
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| :Think of the Negro, cursed as to the priesthood.... This Negro, who, in the pre-existence lived the type of life which justified the lord in sending him to earth in the lineage of Cain with a black skin, and possibly being born in darkest Africa.... In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory.{{ref|petersen1}}
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| ===The context of Elder Petersen's remarks===
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| At this time the priesthood and temple blessings were not available to people with black ancestry. Because black individuals could not be sealed in the temple, the fullest expression of exaltation was not available to them, which means the following scripture applied to them:
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| :Therefore, when they [those who marry for time only] are out of the world they neither marry nor are given in marriage; but are appointed angels in heaven, which angels are ministering servants, to minister for those who are worthy of a far more, and an exceeding, and an eternal weight of glory. ({{scripture||DC|132|16}}).
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| Based on the revelation he had available at the time, Elder Petersen was preaching true doctrine: Those whose marriages were not sealed in the temple were not eligible for the fullness of exaltation.
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| But Bill Maher, who probably does not know much (if anything) about Mormon doctrine, is confusing "angels [who] are ministering servants" with the antebellum practice of African slavery.
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| ==Conclusion==
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| Elder Peterson's comments were made during a very different time from our own. Most of American society almost certainly believed, as he did, that Blacks were socially and culturally inferior, and that the nascent American civil rights movement was a bad idea. The 1978 revelation on the priesthood was almost 25 years away.
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| Elder Petersen's comments were a reflection of the prevailing beliefs of his time, and were based on his interpretation of the limited light and knowledge he had available. The blessings of the temple are now available to people of all races, and his comments no longer apply.
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| ==Endnotes==
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| #{{note|petersen1}}Mark E. Petersen, "Race Problems—As They Affect The Church," address at Brigham Young University, 27 August 1954. This address is not available at the [http://speeches.byu.edu BYU Speeches] web site. The text is, unfortunately, only available on various anti-Mormon web sites.
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| ==Further reading==
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| ===FAIR wiki articles===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodWiki}}
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| ===FAIR web site===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodFAIR}}
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| ===External links===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodLinks}}
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| ===Printed material===
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| {{BlacksPriesthoodPrint}}
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