christian mormon said:
to you have any documentation? I mean Good ones....not some quote from anothers website
From religioustolerance.org
THE LDS CHURCH
RACISM IN THE LDS CHURCH
Two conflicts between the LDS and the the federal government:
The LDS church has had a fascinating and turbulent history. They have had two major conflicts with the federal government. The first occurred in the mid-19th century when he Mormon practice of polygamy was the main reason why statehood for Utah was initially refused. Six additional refusals followed, between 1849 and 1887. In 1890, the LDS Church received a revelation from God --the "Great Accommodation" that changed suspended the practice of polygamy. On 1896-JAN-4, Utah became the 45th state in the union.
Pressure was also felt by the LDS during the 1970's over the LDS' institutionalized racism.
Theological foundation for racism in the LDS church:
According to sociologist Amand L. Mauss, a president of the Mormon History Association, the church's racist beliefs originated within protestant denominations from which many Mormons converted. He said in 1998: "Every major Protestant denomination in history has taught that blacks are descendants of Cain and Ham." 1
Cain is described in the book of Genesis of the Hebrew Scriptures (a.k.a. Old Testament) as a son of Adam. Cain was jealous of his brother Abel, because God had rejected Cain's offering, while accepting Abel's. In Genesis 4:8, he is described as having "attacked his brother Abel, and killed him."
Ham is described in Genesis 9 as a son of Noah who had seen his father naked. Ham himself was not punished. But Ham's son, Canaan, was cursed. Genesis 9:25-27 "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers. He also said, 'Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japeth live in the tents of Shem and may Canaan be his slave.' " This became known as the Curse of Ham.
Protestant denominations once interpreted the Bible as implying that the black race was formed from Cain and Abel's descendents. The Curse of Ham was used extensively prior to the Civil War to justify slavery as a biblically condoned, recognized and regulated practice. The abolition movement caused a great deal of distress among Christians because they had to reject slavery as profoundly immoral -- a practice which the bible accepted. Beliefs of the ancestry of blacks died a natural death among the leading denominations: Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc. But the LDS church was an exception. The Pearl of Great Price is one of four source texts that are accepted by Mormons as divinely inspired and authoritative scripture --the "Standard Works." The Pearl had specifically prohibited the ordination of anyone who was black or who had even one distant black ancestor. Its teachings could not be easily altered. Another inspired scripture is the Book of Mormon.
In 2 Nephi 5:21-23, it discusses the Lamanite race, and how they received dark skins and a degenerate status:
"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.
And thus saith the Lord God: I will cause that they shall be loathsome unto thy people, save they shall repent of their iniquities.
And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done.
And because of their cursing which was upon them they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey.
In 2 Nephi 30:6, the original version of the Book of Mormon said that if Lamanites accepted the true gospel, "...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 white and a delightsome people." After 1981, the term "white and delightsome" was changed to read "pure." 5
3 Nephi 2:15 reads: "And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites." 5
Early racist statement by a LDS leader:
The sixth President of the LDS church was Joseph Fielding Smith -- not to be confused with the founder of the church, Joseph Smith. He wrote: "There is a reason why one man is born black and with other disadvantages, while another is born white with great advantages. The reason is that we once had an estate before we came here, and were obedient, more or less, to the laws that were given us there. Those who were faithful in all things there received greater blessings here, and those who were not faithful received less. " 6,7
Racist statements by LDS leaders during the 1950s:
In 1954, Mormon elder Mark E. Peterson discussed blacks and the priesthood in an address to a Convention of Teachers of Religion at the College Level at Brigham Young University. He said: "The reason that one would lose his blessings by marrying a Negro is due to the restriction placed upon them. 'No person having the least particle of Negro blood can hold the Priesthood' (Brigham Young). It does not matter if they are one-sixth Negro or one-hundred and sixth, the curse of no Priesthood is the same. If an individual who is entitled to the Priesthood marries a Negro, the Lord has decreed that only spirits who are not eligible for the Priesthood will come to that marriage as children. To intermarry with a Negro is to forfeit a 'Nation of Priesthood holders'...." That is, all male descendents of a racially-mixed marriage would be forever prohibited from becoming a Mormon priests. However, a black or partially black person could be baptized in the Mormon faith and attain heaven after death. Peterson concluded "If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get celestial glory."
Mormon Apostle and apologist, Bruce R. McConkie, (1915-1985) touched on the black issue in his book "Mormon Doctrine." "...this is the standard LDS guide to church doctrine, found in nearly every active Mormon household." He wrote in an early edition of his book about the repercussions on earth of a war in heaven: "Of the two-thirds who followed Christ, however, some were more valiant than others....Those who were less valiant in pre-existence and who thereby had certain spiritual restrictions imposed upon them during mortality are known to us as the negroes. Such spirits are sent to earth through the lineage of Cain, the mark put upon him for his rebellion against God and his murder of Abel being a black skin. (Moses 5:16-41; 12:22) Noah's son Ham married Egyptus, a descendant of Cain, thus preserving the negro lineage through the flood. (Abraham 1:20-27) Negroes in this life are denied the priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty. ...The present status of the negro rests purely and simply on the foundation of pre-existence....The negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from." 3
In the 1979 posthumous printing of his book, the above text was deleted and replaced by new wording that was in agreement with the 1978 revelation.
Pressures on the LDS church during the 1960s and 1970s:
In spite of the ban on ordination for Afro-Americans, ordination and higher levels in the priesthood were permitted for Australian aboriginal males, Polynesian men, and other non-whites. In Brazil, it was often quite difficult or impossible to determine the racial origin(s) of many church members. The LDS suspected that many men of who were probably of African descent had been ordained into the priesthoods.
There was a groundswell of opinion against racism by many Americans who recognized the centuries of injustice against Afro-Americans. It was an era of desegregation and drive for civil rights. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service threatened LDS's tax exempt status because of the church's level of discrimination against Afro-Americans. Additional opposition came from sports groups which threatened to cancel events with the LDS' Brigham Young University. Anti-Mormon religious groups promoted boycotts of church businesses and of Utah tourism.
The matter of racism was neatly resolved when church received a new revelation from God. On 1978-JUN-6, LDS leaders announced that "all worthy male members of the Church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color." Racism within the church was instantly terminated. Male Afro-Americans are now regarded as full members of the LDS and are eligible for consideration for ordination. Black women are still excluded, as are all other women.
Reference:
Bill Broadway, "Black Mormons Resist Apology Talk," Washington Post, 1998-MAY-30, Page B09. See:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/lds_race.shtml
Tom Mathews, "Mormon racism in perspective: An example for possible future changes in policy relating to women and gays," at:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/racism.shtml
Bruce R. McConkie, "Mormon doctrine," (1958) Page 476-477.
"Contradictions in Mormon Teaching," Mormons in Transition, at:
http://www.irr.org/mit/WDIST/wdist-contradictions.html
Bill McKeever & Eric Johnson, "White and Delightsome or Pure and Delightsome? - A Look at 2 Nephi 30:6," at:
http://www.mrm.org/articles/
Tom Mathews, "An example for possible future changes in policy relating to women and gays," at:
http://www.lds-mormon.com/racism.shtml
Joseph Fielding Smith, "Doctrines of Salvation," Page 61.
