As for the preexistant role of any one race I cannot say that I know nor can I claim a witness of the truthfulness of any general authorities opinion on the subject beyond it being their own opinions…

However, I have the scriptures which do contain doctrine concerning lineage (not race) in both the old and the new testiment. Also the Book of Mormon itself speaks of equality of men in God\’s eyes as far as the value of their souls and speaks specifically against slavery.

I did read one post in this thread that I have to disagree with… the statement that the Church should apologize that some of its members were slave owners is rediculous. The Church did not cotrol the decision of the individual regarding this issue…

Joseph Smith Jr. The Churche\’s founder was an Abolitionist.

In the Times and Seasons printed in Nauvoo May 15th 1844 just weeks before the assasination of Joseph and Hyrum it was printed Joseph Smith\’s entire presidential platform (he was a candidate for President of the United States) which reads in part:

\”Petition also, ye goodly inhabitants of the slave states, your legislators to abolish slavery by the year 1850, or now, and save the abolitionist from reproach and ruin, infamy and shame. Pray Congress to pay every man a reasonable price for his slaves out of the surplus revenue arising from the sale of public lands, and from the deduction of pay from the members of Congress. Break off the shackles from the poor black man, and hire them to labor like other human beings; for \”an hour of virtuous liberty on earth, is worth a whole eternity of bondage!\”

Joseph had many other more controversial opinions at the time against slavery and the hypocritical imbalance of liberty procliamed for all men in the US constitution.

This was one of the motivating factors in the assasination of Joseph Smith. Abolition was an unpopular stance to take among many who lived in the area.

The issue of Blacks and the priesthood is an issue of lineage… not just skin color. Lineage and priesthood are doctrines as old as the old testiment and the Levitical priesthood.

Does the Church need to issue an apology for the opinions of its members even if they are prominent and possibly served as General Authorities?

One of the basic beliefs of the Church is that men are responsible for their own transgretions (see the articles of faith).

Racism existed and exists among church members, it exists in our society, not just among white churches either but among the black churches, jewish synagogs, in islam, and in our society as a whole.

The church\’s doctrine exists in the cannonized scripture, proclamations to the church and world signed by the first presidency. Other publications may contain opinion and doctrinal insight but we are left to ourselves to dicern truth by the Gift and power of the holy ghost.

Personally, I have no doubt that lineage and race have roles to play in our earthly experience but as to dwelling on theories of premortal performance the only clear picture we have as a Church is found in the old testiment, new testiment, book of mormon, doctrine and covenants, and pearl of great price.

In my own \”non doctrinal\” opinion I think in the realm of blessings those who suffered as slaves, who were persecuted and hated for their skin color, and yet were among the first to recieve the Gospel were blessed…

Among those were my ancestors who were slaves in Egypt and who crossed the Red Sea on dry ground lead by a prophet of God and also the ancestors of good families of African Americans who ancestors were brought over as slaves, lived in bondage, freed through the blood of millions and by the effort of nobel men, and who were blessed to be among the first of their race to hear the Restored Gospel taught in its fullness and receive it by baptism.

I could care less whether someone \”sat on the fence\” in the premortal existance and I have no clue if anyone did because I do not remember that time nor have I seen it in vision. I

n my eyes the fact that all people are here on this earth attests that they chose to follow Jesus and now is a great time when all men and woman no matter what lineage can enjoy all the blessings and powers of the priesthood… that has been God\’s plan from the beginning but as illustrated in the Old testiment there is a time and a season for all things and all things shall be revealed and all things shall be fulfilled acording the prophecies that God has given us through Prophets past and prophets current.

I’m happy to discuss my own work.

My publications in this area are Slavery as a Takings Clause Violation, 53 American University Law Review 191 (2003), and Causation and Attenuation in the Slavery Reparations Debate, 40 University of San Francisco Law Review 279 (2005). I’ll drop reprints of these in the mail for you. (Ditto for you if you’d like, Craig, although I’ll need an address. Margaret’s address is easy, since she’s at BYU.)

I also organized, chaired, and spoke at a reparations conference at Thomas Jefferson Law School this past March. I previously posted an abstract of my remarks on this blog, at http://www.timesandseasons.org/?p=2967 . The conference proceedings have not yet been published, but will be published later this year by the Thomas Jefferson Law Review. (My final published piece will differ slightly from the initial abstract I posted on the blog, but is not substantially different.)

I will also be participating as an invited panelist on a panel at this year’s annual legislative conference of the Congressional Black Caucus (later this week, actually). I’m not sure whether that panel discussion will be transcribed, but if it is, I’ll send you a copy.

Finally, I’m continuing to write and research in this area. I have a few works in progress – back-burnered at present, due to time commitments – and I’ll let you know if any of those are picked up for publication (assuming that I finish them).

Let me turn the question back to you, if I may. Is there a central repository of “the interesting work of Margaret and Darius (and others, for that matter) on Blacks in the church?� I ask both out of general curiosity, and because I’d be interested in incorporating relevant work into my own research. Where should I start?

And on an even broader level, what resources would you suggest for general research on Blacks and Mormons? Given my research, I’ve got literally dozens of books on race and slavery sitting in my office bookcase – Randall Robinson, Roy Brooks, Paul Finkelman, Thomas Morris, Eric Foner, Al Brophy, Leon Higginbotham, Mark Tushnet, Derrick Bell, and many more – but I think my only Blacks-and-Mormons book may be Mauss and Bush. I’m a relative neophyte in the Mormon studies arena. What sources would you recommend?

The difference here is that generally speaking LDS members do not believe it is our choice to make, but rather it is the responsibility of the leaders of the Church to do what is required. Now that does not mean we cannot do what we can, both personally, and within the scope of our stewardships and assignments, it just means that there is a presumptive trust (hope in some cases) that the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve will make the appropriate statements as necessary, so far as any formal repudiations are concerned.

Thanks for your comments so far, I’ve really enjoyed them.

You’re right, of course, that many other denominations adopted explicitly racist policies. The Mormons were really small potatoes when it came to racist theology; many other groups had very problematic rhetoric. I’ve got some of these speeches in a book at my office, Defending Slavery by the historian Paul Finkelman — it’s a real eye-opener.

I’m also horrified by the broad perception of Mormons as racists. I wish the church would take steps to distance itself from past doctrines, and to apologize for past acts. Absent an official statement from the church, the only way to change the perception is incrementally. This puts the responsibility in the hands of individual members.

One of the very nice side effects of my own academic work — which relates to reparations for slavery — is that I feel like I’m helping in this area. I’m relatively sure no one who knows my work could honestly say “all Mormons have racist attitudes against Blacks.” This isn’t the main reason why I research and write in this area, but it’s a very nice side effect. People know me through my reparations work, and this may change their perception of Mormons.

On the other hand, the problem with hoping for incremental change is that small individual positive acts are so easily negated by equally small and individual negative acts. I like to think that I do my part to project a non-racist image. I’m writing articles and participating in conferences on reparations. On the other hand, for every positive message that I’m able to send out, another member may cancel by making disparaging racist statements at work or school. I have my worries that the overall net incremental effect, taking into account actions by individual members everywhere, may in fact be negative. This saddens me, yet I can’t deny that it’s potentially true. There are still a lot of racist members of the church; I still hear statements sometimes in church settings that make me wince; I wonder how many similar statements are made to others, that reinforce the existing perceptions.

I feel like I’m outnumbered sometimes. That’s one reason I particularly enjoy your posts and comments. Statements affirming the number of people for whom this matters make me feel less alone in my hope to incrementally change both the perception of the church, and the member attitudes and beliefs that so often lead to and reinforce that perception.

It is a personal article of faith of mine that most things (even worldly things) are net goods, i.e. they are better than nothing. Anything that is properly speaking a net evil is inspired of or in league with the devil. There are doctrines of God, and of men, and of devils. We are instructed to contend against no church save it be the church of the devil. No church or government who promotes or maintains the life and peace of a truly flourishing society is the church of the devil. The way of the devil is lust, sin, and death.

In terms of legitimate scope of one’s discretion, there’s wisdom in what you say. In my experience, however, that kind of wisdom finds some rocky road when it comes to questions of injustice. If my brother or sister is being harmed by my church, private protest seems to me to be a pretty weak response. I agree that there is a need for the proper respect of leaders so that they can lead effectively. Margaret’s example illustrates this need well. For issues of justice, however, I do my leaders no good if I let them off the hook in the name of supporting their authority.

I’m not sure what you mean or whom you have in mind when you write of the dishonest and irresponsible behavior of subverting the church. I would argue that a church unable to repent of its past racist beliefs and behavior is its own worst enemy. If I were to ask my Presbyterian congregation to list ten things they know about Mormonism, I can assure that almost all would include prejudice against African Americans as one point. You might conclude from this that Presbyterians don’t know too much about Mormons (and there’s truth to this, at least in my own case), but it seems to me that these negative impressions are part of the cost of a policy that refuses to forthrightly state something like, “We excluded blacks from the priesthood and that was not from God. It was our own error. This error caused much pain and suffering and for this we seek forgiveness.�

When you say “Either the Church is a legitimate institution that is acting within the scope of her discretion (even if it isn’t perfect) or it is an enemy to all righteousness�, that seems like a pretty harsh either or. Is this true of all churches or just the LDS church?

If you could answer my question about the official LDS explanation of how the early church (by this I mean the church of the first few centuries AD) lost its authority I think that would give me a better understanding of how you see authority.

Thanks for your patience with me. I highly value the opportunity this blog gives for real conversation.