New LDS manual teaches racism. Mistake?

[_reflexzero]

So if that section of the Book of Mormon in question is meant to be interpreted as metaphorical, perhaps they could just go ahead and point out all the other bits of the Book of Mormon that are not meant to be literal. I would gladly donate a red marker.

[_fetchface]

If that part of the Book of Mormon is metaphorical or applies only to some stylistic clothing choices, how is that supposed to make it so that they were not "enticing" to the Nephites? I mean if bad style choices kept people from mating, shouldn't the human race have gone extinct in the '80s? I mean, there were guys with hot pink pants who still got action back then...

The curse has to be an actual thing because we are told it will have an actual effect. I don't buy this new apologetic explanation. The obvious explanation is that the author of the Book of Mormon thought that dark skin was ugly and wrote this bigoted view into the text of the book. Mormons would be best served by admitting that scriptures can contain errors and state that this is one. They can even blame the "ancient prophet" if they want to, but continuing to defend racism is only going to cost them their most sensitive and morally upright people.

[_Shulem]

Nephite & Lamanite!

White & delightsome vs. dark & loathsome.



Brethren, you may now remove your loin cloths.

Lemmie, no peeking!

[_Shulem]

Behold WHITE & delightsome Nephites!



Behold DARK & loathsome Lamanites!



You can be white one minute and black the next! The Book of Mormon really is true!

[_Dr Exiled]

Their lack of commitment to the very people Jesus commanded them to care for is evident in so many ways. I don't see how this organization well reflects the spirit of the Savior whose name it bears. The global catastrophe described in scripture is upon us, and it feels like the leadership of the LDS Church is whistling as it walks past the graveyard. I do not see strong leadership in the face of oppression, poverty, illness, and cataclysm. I hear a deafening silence from the COB.

The world is dying, guys. What are you going to do to save it?

So far, it seems like effectively nothing.

They probably don't see what you do. They have 100 Billion reasons to think we live in the best of times. Also, I don't think the Wall Street Journal or Fox News covers what is really happening out there.

[_Kishkumen]

They probably don't see what you do. They have 100 Billion reasons to think we live in the best of times. Also, I don't think the Wall Street Journal or Fox News covers what is really happening out there.

I have often heard that the leadership of the LDS Church is not 100% made up of Republicans. Is no Church leader concerned about these problems? Were these issues not once considered “signs of the times”? Would they all remain blind to the many indicators that some massive global change is in the offing?

Setting aside the very real mass extinction currently going on, and the very obvious changes in our weather patterns, what does it say that the Church gives such a tiny percentage of its donations to the world’s poor? I see no effective justification for not heeding the command to do unto the least among us as we would do for Christ.

My standards for what constitutes Christian behavior and identity are apparently quite different from theirs.

[_I have a question]

LDS leaders are trying to explain away the racist views in their “Follow Me” manual. This manual is based on the racist Book of Mormon, which claims that the American Indians (“Lamanites”) got their skin color from the “cursing” of God.

One verse says, “... the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.” Another verse says that those who mix their seed with the Lamanites will have children who are cursed.

It’s unfortunate that the LDS leaders of today have never stated that biological evolution has caused the many skin colors of earthly inhabitants. I guess they don’t fully accept Darwin’s factual theory.

https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/letters/ ... t-explain/

It’s a good question. How do LDS Leaders account for black skin if they no longer subscribe to the idea that it is caused by a curse from God?

[_consiglieri]

Bill Reel and Jonathan Streeter join RFM for an in depth discussion of the latest fiasco. Going up tomorrow morning.

"Mormon Racism Revival."

[_Shulem]

WIKIPEDIA Black people and Mormonism

As early as 1908, a church publication stated that blacks could not receive the priesthood because their spirits were less valiant in the pre-existence. Church leaders used this explanation until 1978, when Kimball publicly refuted it; later church leaders have called the explanation a folk belief. Joseph Smith and Brigham Young reasoned that black skin was a result of the Curse of Cain or the Curse of Ham. They used these Biblical curses to justify slavery. Young believed the curse made black people ineligible to vote, marry white people, or hold the priesthood. Successive church presidents continued to use the Biblical curses to justify excluding black men from priesthood ordination and excluding black men and women from the church's temples.

Brigham Young was an evil despot void of basic enlightenment exhibited by an honorable human spirit.

The Mormon Church needs to apologize for the teachings and doctrines passed down by this evil man which were embraced by every Church President until Spencer Kimball finally caved into political pressure.

Evil Mormonism! I, Shulem, rebuke it! Brigham Young -- YOU are disgusting! Evil!

[_sunstoned]

I find the hand-wringing over this kind of strange given that the Book of Mormon so prominently uses dark skin as a sign of disfavor from God.

Yes, and even the fixed up version of this in the online manual is still problematic. This isn't a study manual issue. It is a problem with core LDS scripture and 150 years of the teachings of leaders.

TSCC should just bite the bullet and purge its scriptures and racist teachings. That would be a big overhaul, but anything short of that and these types of issues will keep coming up.