The Lamanite curse

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Criticism

• Critics claim that the Church believed that Lamanites who accepted the Gospel would become light-skinned.
• "Mormon folklore" claims that Native Americans and Polynesians carry a curse based upon "misdeeds on the part of their ancestors."
• God cursed the Lamanites with a "red skin."

Source(s) of the criticism

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 43. ( Index of claims )
• Simon Southerton, Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA, and the Mormon Church (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 2004) 40, 184. ( Index of claims )

Response

The curse and the mark

It is often assumed by critics that the change in skin color that the Lord applied to the Lamanites was a curse. As critic Fawn Brodie succinctly described it in her book No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, “God cursed the Lamanites with a ‘red skin’.” It should be noted in this particular instance that nowhere in the Book of Mormon does it state that the Lamanites’ skin was turned red—this is an obvious allusion by Brodie to Native Americans.

The Bible does indeed use the word curse to describe a punishment to be inflicted as the result of disobedience to God’s commandments. For example, in Deuteronomy we see:

The Lord shall send upon thee cursing, vexation, and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine hand unto for to do, until thou be destroyed, and until thou perish quickly; because of the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me. Dueteronomy 28꞉20

Dr. John A. Tvedtnes notes the distinction between the curse and the mark (a change in skin color) that the Lord set upon the Lamanites. ^[1] The Book of Mormon clearly notes the distinction between the curse and the mark:

Thus the word of God is fulfilled, for these are the words which he said to Nephi: Behold, the Lamanites have I cursed, and I will set a mark on them that they and their seed may be separated from thee and thy seed, from this time henceforth and forever, except they repent of their wickedness and turn to me that I may have mercy upon them. Alma 3꞉14 (emphasis added)

And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men. And their brethren sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women. Alma 3꞉6-7 (emphasis added)

The mark of a dark skin came upon the Lamanites as a result of their curse: The darkness of their skin did not constitute the curse itself. In addition, the Book of Mormon indicates that the curse was applied prior to the mark. This indicates that the Lamanites were cursed prior to the change in their skin color. ^[2] The curse applied to the Lamanites was that they were cut off from the presence of the Lord. Nephi states:

Wherefore, the word of the Lord was fulfilled which he spake unto me, saying that: Inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy words they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And behold, they were cut off from his presence. 2 Nephi 5꞉20

Conclusion

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Endnotes

None

Further reading

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide: