Survey clarifies Mormons' beliefs about race [Church: 1 in 11 Lds racist; 35 & up--jumps to 1 in 9]

...if Mitt Romney becomes the...nominee...Critics of Mormonism could well attack the LDS Church's racially-exclusionary past, while its defenders could charge prejudice against the...contemporary LDS Church.

The current controversy was sparked when the Washington Post published statements attributed to Randy Bott, a professor at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, repeating..."folk doctrine"...once offered to explain the ban...

In a nutshell, the folk doctrine alleged that blacks were "cursed" by choices made in a pre-mortal confrontation, known among Mormons as the "war in heaven."...

The Washington Post article provoked a strong reaction in Mormon circles...The president of Genesis, a support group for black Mormons, labeled the folk doctrine "vile," while numerous blog posts and op-ed pieces similarly denounced them.

But what do rank-and-file Mormons actually believe? Does the folk doctrine on race hold any sway?...

A few weeks before this controversy flared up, we surveyed a nationally representative sample of American Mormons, and happened to ask about this...

...our question...: "In the past, some Mormons have said that blacks had to wait to hold the priesthood because they were less valiant in the war in heaven, or the pre-mortal existence. Have you ever heard this?" Those who had heard of the statement were then asked whether they agree or disagree.

Less than half of all Mormons, 45 percent, report having heard this teaching. When we combine awareness and agreement, just 9 percent of all Mormons have both heard of, and agree with, the folk doctrine (just 2 percent strongly agree).

Young Mormons are slightly less likely to be aware of this folk doctrine...Among Mormons born since the priesthood ban ended in 1978 (under 35 years of age), just 40 percent have heard of it but only 5 percent are both aware and agree (merely 1 percent strongly agree)...

Note 1: The Deseret News is owned by the Mormon church.

From the article: ...if Mitt Romney becomes the...nominee...Critics of Mormonism could well attack the LDS Church's racially-exclusionary past, while its defenders could charge prejudice against the...contemporary LDS Church.

Hmm...People are just figuring this out????

The article mentions the controversy from statements made by a BYU professor...I'll address that in another post.

From the DesNews article: In a nutshell, the folk doctrine alleged that blacks were "cursed" by choices made in a pre-mortal confrontation, known among Mormons as the "war in heaven."...

Yup. Official Mormons officially talk that...so 'twas more than the mere "folk doctrine" Lds leaders are pretensing it to be...

From the article: The Washington Post article provoked a strong reaction in Mormon circles...The president of Genesis, a support group for black Mormons, labeled the folk doctrine "vile," while numerous blog posts and op-ed pieces similarly denounced them.

Iow...the PR-happy Mormon church got beat-up with not so "happy" thoughts. But...the PR-happy Mormon church had "just happened" to ask a race-based survey question of "nationally representative...American Mormons."

Here's the Question and its results:

"In the past, some Mormons have said that blacks had to wait to hold the priesthood because they were less valiant in the war in heaven, or the pre-mortal existence. Have you ever heard this?" Those who had heard of the statement were then asked whether they agree or disagree.

Results? Less than half of all Mormons, 45 percent, report having heard this teaching. When we combine awareness and agreement, just 9 percent of all Mormons have both heard of, and agree with, the folk doctrine (just 2 percent strongly agree).

So...1 in 11 Lds agree with this teaching...and 20% of those who heard it or were taught it...agree with it! [9% is 1/5th of 45%]

What about the under 34 crowd? Young Mormons are slightly less likely to be aware of this folk doctrine...Among Mormons born since the priesthood ban ended in 1978 (under 35 years of age), just 40 percent have heard of it but only 5 percent are both aware and agree (merely 1 percent strongly agree)

1 in 8 younger Mormons who have heard it or taught it -- agree with it [5% is 1/8th of 40%]

Now...where did I get the "1 in 9" ratio in the bracketed part added to the headline? Well...if only 5% of 34 & under Lds agree with it...that means to level it out @ 9% among the overall respondents, that the 35& up Mormons represent a higher racist ratio. I assumed about 1/3rd of the respondents were 34 & under...which means 11% -- or 1 in 9 -- of Lds 35 & up agree with the doctrine as so taught.

This all shows that this teaching got a lot more official Mormon teaching traffic than they want to acknowledge.

In a nutshell, the folk doctrine alleged that blacks were "cursed" by choices made in a pre-mortal confrontation, known among Mormons as the "war in heaven."...

HMMmm...

All I ever find in a nutshell are NUTS!!!

"You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind.

The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings.

This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race--that they should be the 'servant of servants', and they will be, until that curse is removed."

Brigham Young-President and second 'Prophet' of the Mormon Church, 1844-1877- Extract from Journal of Discourses.

Here are two examples from their 'other testament', the Book of Mormon.

2 Nephi 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.'

Alma 3: 6 '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.'

August 27, 1954 in an address at Brigham Young University (BYU), Mormon Elder, Mark E Peterson, in speaking to a convention of teachers of religion at the college level, said:

"The discussion on civil rights, especially over the last 20 years, has drawn some very sharp lines. It has blinded the thinking of some of our own people, I believe. They have allowed their political affiliations to color their thinking to some extent.I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after."
"He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage."
"That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, 'First we pity, then endure, then embrace'...."

(Rosa Parks would have probably told Petersen under which wheel of the bus he should go sit.)

1967, (then) Mormon President Ezra Taft Benson said,

"The Communist program for revolution in America has been in progress for many years and is far advanced. First of all, we must not place the blame upon Negroes. They are merely the unfortunate group that has been selected by professional Communist agitators to be used as the primary source of cannon fodder."

We are told that on June 8, 1978, it was 'revealed' to the then president, Spencer Kimball, that people of color could now gain entry into the priesthood.

According to the church, Kimball spent many long hours petitioning God, begging him to give worthy black people the priesthood. God finally relented.

Sometime before the 'revelation' came to chief 'Prophet' Spencer Kimball in June 1978, General Authority, Bruce R McConkie had said:

"The Blacks are denied the Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty.
The Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from, but this inequality is not of man's origin, it is the Lord's doings."
(Mormon Doctrine, pp. 526-527).

When Mormon 'Apostle' Mark E Petersen spoke on 'Race Problems- As they affect the Church' at the BYU campus in 1954, the following was also said:

"...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, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."

When Mormon 'Prophet' and second President of the Church, Brigham Young, spoke in 1863 the following was also said:

"Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God is death on the spot. This will always be so."
(Journal of Discourses, Vo. 10, p. 110)

Yeah; Native Americans are althroughout the Book of MORMON; too.

“I saw a striking contrast in the progress of the Indian people today ... they are fast becoming a white and delightsome people.... For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised.... The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.

At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen-year-old daughter were present, the little member girl-sixteen-sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents—on the same reservation, in the same hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather.... These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness.

One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.

(Improvement Era, December 1960, pp.922-23). (p. 209)

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