- Aug 27, 2014
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As many of your already know, I am always on the lookout for intersections of the BOM/LDS and language (in their apologetics, pseudo-academic studies, etc.) due to my own background as a linguist, but I know there are also related disciplines from which the LDS religion likes to borrow in an effort to defend itself and strengthen its members' faith, such as anthropology, geography, and so on.
So you can imagine how interesting it was to find yesterday the following photo, reproduced on Wikipedia, of a real live (well, live at the time) Lamanite girl, as published in Elizabeth Rachel Cannon's book The Cities of the Sun (1910):
I have no idea how on earth the author could have identified this specific girl as a "Lamanite", but I suppose the whole thing makes a bit more sense when you consider that the full title of the book (which is available for free on Google Books, if anyone is curious) is The Cities of the Sun: Stories of Ancient America founded on historical incidents in the Book of Mormon (and it was published by the LDS-owned Desert News).
So that's easily dismissed as work of pious fiction, meant perhaps to increase LDS member interest in the stories found in their scripture, which is fine.
But what's less fine, at least to me, is how the LDS identification of Native Americans (I'm assuming the above girl must be some kind of Native American?) with the BOM's peoples has directly effected the Native Americans. This LDS 'racial theology' or whatever you could call it led to things like the "Indian Placement Program" (also apparently sometimes referred to as the Lamanite Placement Program) which the LDS ran from 1954 to 1996 (shockingly recently!). From wiki's article on the program (emphasis added):
The article goes on to discuss sexual abuse cases that happened in the program, as well other things about it. I suspect that a Mormon reading this (or even a non-Mormon reading this) could and probably would say that such programs were incredibly common (and sadly so were such abuses) in the past, and often tied to religious institutions (e.g., the Roman Catholic mission system, which was a primary means by which the Natives of California were transformed into Catholics -- not by choice, or at least not always by choice; I am a native of Northern California, where some of the missions are found, and I remember as a child and teenager having to visit them on school trips and not really being told their actual history), and that is a very true and disturbing fact.
What is unique to Mormonism, however, is how their running of such a program and their identification of these people as "Lamanites" is tied to their theological and pseudo-historical defense of the reality of their central religious scripture, the BOM. In all my time as a Roman Catholic (ending 2009), and all my time as a Californian who grew up in an area where all the mission stuff happened (ending whenever I die, I suppose), I never once heard any Roman Catholic or anyone talk about the Natives of this area (the Wappo, the Kashaya Pomo, etc.) being in any way related to any Biblical people.
Of course, we wouldn't expect to find such talk in the first place, as Christianity of any type does not follow any Mormon-style narrative, so any connections made like that would just come off sounding crazy. But the fact that Mormons do this is not crazy, when you think of it from a practical/functional standpoint, rather than theologically or historically: it makes sense relative to the narrative that they believe in, and it certainly provides much more 'evidence' for their book and their belief in it than something that even they recognize there is basically no record of, like my favorite bugaboo "Reformed Egyptian". I mean...say whatever you will about Mormonism, the girl in that photo actually existed, whether or not she was what they said she was.
But I have noticed at the same time a tendency to back away from these kinds of claims: the statement that the Lamanites are the principle ancestors of the Native Americans is apparently 'not canonical' and has been modified in newer editions of the BOM. I couldn't tell you when the change happened (though I bet someone reading this can!), but now it reads as follows concerning the Lamanites (excerpted from LDS.org; emphasis added):
"The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians."
The change is that now they are no longer the principle ancestors, but "among the ancestors" of the Native Americans.
Okayyy...
So my questions to any Mormons reading this are:
I find this subject interesting and important, because again I don't believe it has any analogue in any form of Christianity, and also because it has had a real and lasting impact on many people who were (are?) apparently identified as "Lamanites" by the LDS Church and/or its leadership and people. (I have also read quotes from LDS leaders talking about Mayan people being descendants of some BOM peoples, but I cannot find them right now. I may add them to this thread later if I can find them.)
So you can imagine how interesting it was to find yesterday the following photo, reproduced on Wikipedia, of a real live (well, live at the time) Lamanite girl, as published in Elizabeth Rachel Cannon's book The Cities of the Sun (1910):
I have no idea how on earth the author could have identified this specific girl as a "Lamanite", but I suppose the whole thing makes a bit more sense when you consider that the full title of the book (which is available for free on Google Books, if anyone is curious) is The Cities of the Sun: Stories of Ancient America founded on historical incidents in the Book of Mormon (and it was published by the LDS-owned Desert News).
So that's easily dismissed as work of pious fiction, meant perhaps to increase LDS member interest in the stories found in their scripture, which is fine.
But what's less fine, at least to me, is how the LDS identification of Native Americans (I'm assuming the above girl must be some kind of Native American?) with the BOM's peoples has directly effected the Native Americans. This LDS 'racial theology' or whatever you could call it led to things like the "Indian Placement Program" (also apparently sometimes referred to as the Lamanite Placement Program) which the LDS ran from 1954 to 1996 (shockingly recently!). From wiki's article on the program (emphasis added):
The Indian Placement Program, or Indian Student Placement Program (ISPP), also called the Lamanite Placement Program,[1] was operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the United States, officially operating from 1954 and virtually closed by 1996. It had its peak during the 1960s and 1970s. Native American students who were baptized members of the LDS Church were placed in foster homes of LDS members during the school year. They attended majority-white public schools, rather than the Indian boarding schools or local schools on the reservations.
The program was developed according to LDS theology, whereby conversion and assimilation to Mormonism could help Native Americans, who had been classified as Lamanites in terms of theology in the Book of Mormon. An estimated 50,000 Native American children went through the program.[2][3] The foster placement was intended to help develop leadership among Native Americans and assimilate them into majority-American culture. The cost of care was borne by the foster parents, and financially stable families were selected by the church. Most of these placements took place in the Navajo Nation, with a peak participation of 5,000 students in 1972. The program decreased in size after the 1970s, due to criticism, changing mores among Native Americans, and restriction of the program to high school students as schools improved on reservations. Many of the students and families praised the program; others criticized it and the LDS Church for weakening the Native Americans' ties to their own cultures.
The program was developed according to LDS theology, whereby conversion and assimilation to Mormonism could help Native Americans, who had been classified as Lamanites in terms of theology in the Book of Mormon. An estimated 50,000 Native American children went through the program.[2][3] The foster placement was intended to help develop leadership among Native Americans and assimilate them into majority-American culture. The cost of care was borne by the foster parents, and financially stable families were selected by the church. Most of these placements took place in the Navajo Nation, with a peak participation of 5,000 students in 1972. The program decreased in size after the 1970s, due to criticism, changing mores among Native Americans, and restriction of the program to high school students as schools improved on reservations. Many of the students and families praised the program; others criticized it and the LDS Church for weakening the Native Americans' ties to their own cultures.
The article goes on to discuss sexual abuse cases that happened in the program, as well other things about it. I suspect that a Mormon reading this (or even a non-Mormon reading this) could and probably would say that such programs were incredibly common (and sadly so were such abuses) in the past, and often tied to religious institutions (e.g., the Roman Catholic mission system, which was a primary means by which the Natives of California were transformed into Catholics -- not by choice, or at least not always by choice; I am a native of Northern California, where some of the missions are found, and I remember as a child and teenager having to visit them on school trips and not really being told their actual history), and that is a very true and disturbing fact.
What is unique to Mormonism, however, is how their running of such a program and their identification of these people as "Lamanites" is tied to their theological and pseudo-historical defense of the reality of their central religious scripture, the BOM. In all my time as a Roman Catholic (ending 2009), and all my time as a Californian who grew up in an area where all the mission stuff happened (ending whenever I die, I suppose), I never once heard any Roman Catholic or anyone talk about the Natives of this area (the Wappo, the Kashaya Pomo, etc.) being in any way related to any Biblical people.
Of course, we wouldn't expect to find such talk in the first place, as Christianity of any type does not follow any Mormon-style narrative, so any connections made like that would just come off sounding crazy. But the fact that Mormons do this is not crazy, when you think of it from a practical/functional standpoint, rather than theologically or historically: it makes sense relative to the narrative that they believe in, and it certainly provides much more 'evidence' for their book and their belief in it than something that even they recognize there is basically no record of, like my favorite bugaboo "Reformed Egyptian". I mean...say whatever you will about Mormonism, the girl in that photo actually existed, whether or not she was what they said she was.
But I have noticed at the same time a tendency to back away from these kinds of claims: the statement that the Lamanites are the principle ancestors of the Native Americans is apparently 'not canonical' and has been modified in newer editions of the BOM. I couldn't tell you when the change happened (though I bet someone reading this can!), but now it reads as follows concerning the Lamanites (excerpted from LDS.org; emphasis added):
"The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians."
The change is that now they are no longer the principle ancestors, but "among the ancestors" of the Native Americans.
Okayyy...
So my questions to any Mormons reading this are:
- Given the change in the BOM introduction, the ending of the Lamanite exchange program, etc., can it be fairly said that the LDS church has de-emphasized this idea that the Native Americans are Lamanites or Lamanite descendants, or is this something that is still taught and believed within the church?
- Would any of you point out specific Indians (individuals or tribes) such as the girl in the photo and say "That person is a Lamanite"? If so, how do you make that determination? Who is a Lamanite and who is not?
- Since apparently many Navajo were sent through the Indian Placement Program, it is probably safe to assume that they are descendant from Lamanites, no? If so, are there other tribes that are not descended from Lamanites? And again, if so, how do you make that determination?
I find this subject interesting and important, because again I don't believe it has any analogue in any form of Christianity, and also because it has had a real and lasting impact on many people who were (are?) apparently identified as "Lamanites" by the LDS Church and/or its leadership and people. (I have also read quotes from LDS leaders talking about Mayan people being descendants of some BOM peoples, but I cannot find them right now. I may add them to this thread later if I can find them.)