Are Mormons Racist?

In fairness to debate, I am going to try to give both sides of this argument. Obviously, my opinion sides in defense of the church on this, so I'm not really qualified to defend the accusation. But I try to be fair;

The accusation that the LDS church is racist is usually based on one of three points. 1. That the Book of Mormon claims that the Native Americans' ancestors' skins were darkened because of sin. 2. That the Pearl of Great Price (another LDS book of scripture) points to sin as the reason the Skin of the African ancestors were blackened. 3. That Blacks were not ordained to the Priesthood in the LDS church until the 1970s.

Let's start by getting rid of the twisted derivations drawn from these statements: nowhere does it say that all black people are sinners - nor does it claim that white people are particularly righteous.

And it doesn't say that all people who sin get their skins turned black. So apparently, the consequences of sin vary with type and magnitude. Shocking.

That the behavior of certain peoples in some generations was horrific is a well-documented fact. The part, then, that people take offense to is the implication that the Lord marked certain generations physically because of sin.

The only fact that I struggle with here at all is that there are other large masses of people have seemingly gone astray as a group who were never marked in that way. Why aren't all of Gengis Khan's descendant's black too?, one might ask. Apparently the Lord does not impose the same consequences for all situations. I'm going to assume that he knows more about what he's doing than I do.

So I don't really understand the reasons the Lord would turn skins dark because of sin. But I am comfortable knowing that it doesn't make me or my church racist. I have searched my soul honestly and find no ill-will towards anyone because of skin color. (In fact, on a slightly humorous side-note, I find myself eternally grateful for the invention of Potato Chips). I have searched my family's history and find honorable and courageous behavior towards other races is part of my heritage.

A closer look at Church history and doctrine indicate that the actual feeling of the church towards the Blacks and Native Americans is quite the opposite of the accusations made.

1. In the early history of the church, the Prophet Joseph Smith sent missionaries to try to convert the Native American peoples. They were at the top of the list. He seemed to want them as a part of his church. If he despised them or even disliked them or felt that God somehow hated them, offering them baptism probably would not have been his strategy.

2. Again, in the early history, the Church found itself in the awkward position of condemning slavery before it was politically acceptable to do so. The result is that we were driven from Missouri by our neighbors in what is referred to as the 'Mormon War of 1838'.

3. A study of the Book of Mormon reveals the divine destiny of some of the Native Americans. And since everything in the Book of Mormon is considered unadulterated doctrine to a Mormon, here is what we earnestly believe: That they have a divine destiny that outshines the Gentiles'. It says that we will 'carry them upon our shoulders'. Yep, we, the white Pioneer founders of the church, are to convert other races... so that they ultimately become the superstars of the church in the last days. So much for oppression.

That is our heritage. My ancestors were among those missionaries called by Joseph Smith to teach the Native Americans. And my ancestors were among those driven out of Missouri for supporting the abolition of slavery. And when I was called to serve a mission to Chile and teach people who were partially or wholly the descendants of Native Americans, it did not surprise me at all to find out how much I loved and admired those people. It's in my blood.

We are not alone in our struggle. The Brooklyn Diocese of the Catholic Church, which contains the largest percentage of Blacks in any Diocese in the United States, finally ordained its first Black minister in 1995. And the Lutheran Church (ELCA) reports that just barely over 1% of its membership is Black. Meanwhile, the Mormon Church, at less than 200 years old and with its roots in the soil of the United States, claims both the majority of its membership lives outside of the US and is non-English speaking.

Now let's get back to the fundamental questions: Does God at times change the physical characteristics of people because of sin? And do some of the consequences of sin ride out to coming generations? The answer to both questions is yes.

There is a risk in this doctrine - all doctrines can be perverted to become quite ugly. The place where one could potentially make an accusation of racism - is if one begins to believe that we are justified in pre-judging people or mistreating people because they look differently. In fact, I think that's one of the deliberate reasons that God permits these types of consequences of sin to persist - to teach us about loving His children and the test our behavior.

Unfortunately, there are Mormons who are racist (as there are Catholics, Lutherans, and so on). And if they attempt to misuse this doctrine to justify their faults they are doing the church and the Savior a disserrvice.

But there are a lot more of us who see our neighbors for what they are regardless of the color of their skin - they are Children of God and our equals before Him.