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

The change in skin color that the Lord applied to the Lamanites is often described as 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]

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)

Referring to the passage above, Dr. Tvedtnes notes the distinction between the Lamanites having been cursed and having the mark set upon them, implying that there is a distinction between the two. The Book of Mormon, however, sometimes does call the mark a curse, as shown in Alma 3:6-7.

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)

Although this passage refers to the mark as the curse, it later makes a distinction between the curse and the mark. This suggests that the mark of a dark skin came upon the Lamanites as a result of their curse. These passages also indicated that the curse was applied prior to the mark. ^[2]

What is the curse?

Dr. Tvedtnes suggests that 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

Particularly interesting is the case of a group of Nephites who joined the Lamanites. Their skin color was not changed, yet, because of their rejection of the Gospel, the curse was applied to them. Hugh Nibley describes the situation of the Amlicites:

Thus we are told (Alma 3꞉13-14,Alma 2꞉18) that while the fallen people "set the mark upon themselves," it was none the less God who was marking them: "I will set a mark upon them," etc. So natural and human was the process that it suggested nothing miraculous to the ordinary observer, and "the Amlicites knew not that they were fulfilling the words of God when they began to mark themselves; . . . it was expedient that the curse should fall upon them" (Alma 3꞉18). Here God places his mark on people as a curse, yet it is an artificial mark which they actually place upon themselves. The mark was not a racial thing but was acquired by "whosoever suffered himself to be led away by the Lamanites" (Alma 3꞉10);^[3] (emphasis added)

Is the lifting of the curse associated with a change in skin color?

The Lamanites are promised that if they return to Christ, that "the scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes:"

And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers.

And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people.2 Nephi 30꞉5-6

This passage is often quoted relative to the lifting of the curse since prior to 1981, the phrase "pure and delightsome" read "white and delightsome." Critics suggest that this change was made in order to hide racism in the Book of Mormon.

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Conclusion

Although the curse of the Lamanities is often associated directly with their skin color, it seems evident that the mark that was placed upon them was done so for the purpose of identifying them and separating them from the Nephites. The curse itself came upon them as a result of their rejection of the Gospel. It was possible to be subject to the curse, and to be given a mark, without it being associated with a change in skin color, as demonstrated in the case of the Amlicites. A change in skin color can rightly be said to have been one result of the curse, however, the curse itself is apparently a separation from the Lord.

Endnotes

1. [note] John A. Tvedtnes, "The Charge of 'Racism' in the Book of Mormon," FARMS Review 15/2 (2003): 183–198. off-site
2. [note] Tvedtnes.
3. [note] Hugh W. Nibley, Lehi in the Desert, the World of the Jaredites, There Were Jaredites, edited by John W. Welch with Darrell L. Matthew and Stephen R. Callister, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company; Provo, Utah: Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1988), Chapter 4.

Further reading

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide: