honorentheos wrote:SPG -
Did you grow up believing that the LDS church in Salt Lake was wrong to extend the priesthood to all people? Was your dad the leader of one of those groups that split off over that? Or did it go back further to some other issue like one of the statehood/polygamy compromise splinter groups?
My understanding that was that the Masons had a very powerful influence on Mormonism, and were strongly about being "chosen race."
My father left the church in the 1920's, but the purity of priesthood remained. I read that Joseph Smith gave the priesthood to a black man named, Ike. Those around Joseph were very upset and pressured him into "taking it back."
I see Joseph Smith as someone with malice and didn't have a problem with giving priesthood to blacks or women, but it probably would have destroyed the church.
Myself, yeah, in my teens I thought we were special, and the things that lead on a different path were more about our beliefs of women than race. I've never treated anyone poorly because of their race, that I can think of. I mean, I am an asshole, but it wasn't based on race.