Criticism of Mormonism/Books/The Changing World of Mormonism/Chapter 10

Response to claims made in "Chapter 10: Changing the Anti-Black Doctrine"


Chapter 9
A FAIR Analysis of:
The Changing World of Mormonism
A work by author: Jerald and Sandra Tanner
 Chapter 11

291-293

Claim
  • It was taught that the denial of priesthoods to blacks was due to some behavior in the pre-existence.

Author's source(s)
  • Alma 3:6
  • Race Problems—As They Affect The Church, Address by Mark E. Petersen at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, delivered at Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 27, 1954"
Response

294

Claim
  • Blacks were said to be the descendants of Cain.

Author's source(s)
Response

296

Claim
  • Brigham Young said that the penalty for marrying a black person was "death."

Author's source(s)
Response

302

Claim
  • Joseph Smith is said to have endorsed slavery.

Author's source(s)
  • History of the Church 2:436-38
  • History of the Church 3:29
Response
Outsiders do not seem to have regarded members of the Church in the 1830s as sharing typical American ideas about race. In 1835, a skeptical account of their doctrines and beliefs noted:
As the promulgators of this extraordinary legend maintain the natural equality of mankind, without excepting the native Indians or the African race, there is little reason to be surprised at the cruel persecution by which they have suffered, and still less at the continued accession of converts among those who sympathize with the wrongs of others or seek an asylum for their own.
The preachers and believers of the following doctrines were not likely to remain, unmolested, in the State of Missouri.
“The Lord God hath commanded that men should not murder; that they should not lie; that they should not steal, &c. 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.” Again: “Behold! the Lamanites, your brethren, whom ye hate, because of their filthiness and the cursings which hath come upon their skins, are more righteous than you; for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father, &c. Wherefore the Lord God will not destroy them; but will be merciful to them; and one day they shall become [58] a blessed people.” “O my brethren, I fear, that, unless ye shall repent of your sins, that their skins shall be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God*. Wherefore a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of the darkness of their skins,” &c. “The king saith unto him, yea! if the Lord saith unto us, go! we will go down unto our brethren, and we will be their slaves, until we repair unto them the many murders and sins, which we have committed against them. But Ammon saith unto him, it is against the law of our brethren, which was established by my father, that there should any slaves among them. Therefore let us go down and rely upon the mercies of our brethren.” [1]
  • When in the midst of hostile non-Mormons who were pro-slavery, the leaders of the church (making clear they were speaking only for themselves) did not take an anti-slavery line.
  • When more secure in Nauvoo, Joseph was anti-slavery. His presidential campaign platform, for example, called for the abolition of slavery by selling public lands to pay slaveholders.

303

Claim
  • Slavery was accepted in Utah.

Author's source(s)
  • Millennial Star, 1851, p.63
  • New York Herald, May 4, 1855, as cited in Dialogue, Spring 1973, p.56
Response
  •  Presentism or anachronism: Slavery was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, and it took a war to end it.
  • LDS scripture forbade slavery (Alma 27꞉9-10, DC 101꞉79), but Latter-day Saints (like believers in every age) did not always live up to the light given them. Those who practiced slavery during a historical time in which it was legal will have to answer to God's justice and mercy.
  • The authors, however, apparently hope that readers will judge the Church or its members or leaders harshly. This is a dangerous wish, since "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again" (Matthew 7:2).

306

Claim
  • Church leaders defended segregation.

Author's source(s)
  • Race Problems—As They Affect The Church, an address delivered by Apostle Mark E. Petersen at Brigham Young University, August 27, 1954
  • Mormon Doctrine, 1958, pp.107-8
Response
  •  Misrepresentation of source: The authors quote the first edition of Mormon Doctrine, while ignoring that many Church leaders were displeased with it, and that a second edition had been released eleven years before their book was published.
  •  Double standard: some Protestant denominations—such as the SBC—were formed specifically to support slavery.
  •  Author(s) impose(s) own fundamentalism on the Saints: Church doctrine/Statements by Church leaders
  • Repudiated ideas

312-314

Claim
  • Brigham Young said that blacks would not received the priesthood until all of Adam's other children received it, otherwise the church would be destroyed.

Author's source(s)
Response

322-323

Claim
  • The revelation granting the priesthood to blacks was necessary after a temple was built in Brazil.

Author's source(s)
  •  [ATTENTION!]
Response
  •  Mind reading: author has no way of knowing this.
  • The authors again make a sweeping assertion with no evidence whatever.
Notes
  1. ↑ E.S. Abdy, Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States of North America, from April, 1833, to October, 1834, 3 Vols., (London: John Murray, 1835), 3:57-58. (emphasis added)
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