From: "Perry L. Porter" Subject: ---> Information on OD2 Date: 15 Jan 1998 21:29:09 -0700 Theologically Grandfather [Hugh B. Brown] had tried for years to effect a change in the Mormon Policy that denied the priesthood to blacks. As he explained in his memoirs, he never believed this policy had the slightest doctrinal justification, and he succeeded in initiating a number of administrative changes to mitigate the effects of this ban. He changed the way racial heritage was determined, which smoothed the way to priesthood ordination for thousands of people in nations such as Brazil. With President McKay's support he also attempted to open an African mission. But this plan ultimately failed. Grandfather was eventually able to get a proposal allowing full priesthood for blacks approved by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Harold B. Lee was not present when this proposal was approved, and because of the advanced age of Joseph Fielding Smith, then president of the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Lee was the dominant senior voice among the Twelve. Convinced that the ban was doctrinally based, Elder Lee sought to memorialize his belief by drafting a statement on the matter for the First Presidency's consideration. At the time, President McKay's health was failing and he did not sign such documents. Grandfather managed to add language to Elder Lee's statement endorsing full civil rights for all citizens, but he still resisted signing the statement. However, he suffered from advanced age and the late stages of Parkinson's disease and was ill with the Asian flu. With Grandfather in this condition, Elder Lee brought tremendous pressure to bear upon him, arguing that with President McKay incapacitated Grandfather was obliged to join the consensus within the Quorum of the Twelve. Grandfather, being deeply ill, wept as he related this story to me just before he signed the statement that bore his and President Tanner's names. Grandfather was dropped from the First Presidency when it was reorganized under Joseph Fielding Smith in 1970. Although his health was declining, Grandfather did not believe this was the reason for his return to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. I believe without the slightest doubt that his position on blacks and the priesthood was the matter that led to his removal from the new First Presidency. This policy change on blacks - so vital in freeing all our souls - would come several years later during the presidency of Spencer W. Kimball, a man Grandfather loved dearly. By then all the major protagonists in the earlier struggle would have already died: Harold B. Lee, Joseph Fielding Smith, and Grandfather. From "The Memoirs of Hugh B. Brown: An Abundant Life," edited by his grandson, Edwin B. Firmage, p. 142-143. Note that the editor refers to Hugh B. Brown as "Grandfather." | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Statement by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on the Negro Question August 17, 1951 The attitude of the Church with reference to Negroes remains as it has always stood. It is not a matter of the declaration of a policy but of direct commandment form the Lord, on which is founded the doctrine of the Church since the days of its organization, to the effect that Negroes may become members of the church but that they are not entitled to the Priesthood at the present time. The prophets of the Lord have made several statements as to the operation of the principle. President Brigham Young said: "Why are so many of the inhabitants of the earth cursed with a skin of blackness? It comes in consequence of their fathers rejecting the power of the Holy Priesthood, and the law of God. They will go down to death. And when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the priesthood, and receive the blessings which we now are entitled to." President Woodruff made the statement: "The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have." The position of the Church regarding may be understood when another doctrine of the Church is kept in mind, namely, that the conduct of spirits in the pre-mortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality, and that while the details of this principle have not been made known, the principle itself indicates that the coming to this earth and taking on mortality is a privilege that is given to those who maintained their first estate; and that the worth of the privilege is so great that spirits are willing to come to earth and take on bodies no matter what the handicap may be as to the kind of bodies they are to secure; and that among the handicaps, failure of the right to enjoy in mortality the blessings of the priesthood, is a handicap which spirits are willing to assume in order that they might come to earth. Under this principle there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes. Why the Negro was denied the Priesthood from the days of Adam to our day is not known. The few known facts about our pre-earth life and our entrance into mortality must be taken into account in any attempt at an explanation. 1. Not all intelligences reached the same degree of attainment in the pre-earth life. And the Lord said unto me: These two facts do exist, that there are two spirits, one being more intelligent than the other; there shall be another more intelligent than they; I am the Lord thy God, I am more intelligent than they all. The Lord thy God sent his angel to deliver thee from the hands of the priest of Elkenah. I dwell in the midst of them all; I now, therefore, have come down unto thee to declare unto thee the works which my hands have made, wherein my wisdom excelleth them all, for I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath, in all wisdom and prudence, over all the intelligences thine eyes have seen from the beginning; I came down in the beginning in the midst of all the intelligences thou hast seen. Now the Lord had shown unto me, Abraham, the intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good; and he said unto me: Abraham, thou art one of them; thou wast chosen before thou wast born. And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them; And they who keep their first estate shall be added upon; and they who keep not their first estate shall not have glory in the same kingdom with those who keep their first estate; and they who keep their second estate shall have glory added upon their heads for ever and ever.(26) 2. Man will be punished for his own sins and not for Adam's transgression. (2nd Article of Faith) If this is carried further, it would imply that the Negro is punished or allotted to a certain position on this earth, not because of Cain's transgression, but came to earth through the loins of Cain because of his failure to achieve other stature in the spirit world. 3. All spirits are born innocent into this world. Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God.(27) 4. The Negro was a follower of Jehovah in the pre-earth life. (There were no neutrals.) One of the best explanations is that given by President David O. McKay: November 3, 1947 Dear Brother, In your letter to me of October 28, 1947, you say that you and some of your fellow students "have been perturbed about the question of why the Negroid race cannot hold the priesthood." In reply I send you the following thoughts that I expressed to friend upon the same subject: Stated briefly your problem is simply this: Since, as Paul states, the Lord "hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth," why is there shown in the Church of Christ discrimination against the colored race? This is a perplexing question, particularly in the light of the present trend of civilization to grant equality to all men irrespective of race, creed, or color. The answer, as I have sought it, cannot be found in abstract reasoning, for, in this case, reason to the soul is "dim as the borrowed rays of moon and stars to lonely, weary, wandering travelers." I know of no scriptural basis for denying the Priesthood to Negroes other than one verse in the Book of Abraham (1:26); however, I believe, as you suggest, that the real reason dates back to our pre-existent life. This means that the true answer to your question (and it is the only one that has ever given me satisfaction) has its foundation in faith--(1) Faith in a God of Justice, (2) Faith in the existence of an eternal plan of salvation for all God's children. Faith in a God of Justice Essential I say faith in a god of Justice, because if we hold the Lord responsible for the conditions of the Negro in his relationship to the Church, we must acknowledge as an attribute of the Eternal, or conceive Him as a discriminator and therefore unworthy of our worship. In seeking our answer, then, to the problem wherein discrimination seems apparent, we must accept the Lord as being upright, and that "Justice and judgment are the habitation of His throne." (Psalm 89:14) , and we must believe that he will "render to every man according to his work," and that He "shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." (Eccl. 12-14) Accepting the truth that God is just and righteous, we may then set our minds at rest in the assurance that "Whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall be received of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." (Eph. 6:8) I emphasize Justice as an attribute of Deity, because it is the Lord who, though He made of one blood all nations," also "determined the bounds of their habitation." In other words, the seeming discrimination by the Church toward the Negro is not something which originated with man, but goes back into the Beginning with God. It was the Lord who said that Pharaoh, the first Governor of Egypt, though "a righteous man, blessed with the blessings of the earth, with the blessings of wisdom . . . could not have the Priesthood." Now if we have faith in the justice of God, we are forced to the conclusion that this denial was not a deprivation of merited right. It may have been entirely in keeping with the eternal plan of salvation for all of the children of God. The Peopling of the Earth is in Accordance with a Great Plan Revelation assures us that this plan antedates man's mortal existence, extending back to man's pre-existent state. In that pre-mortal state were "intelligences that were organized before the world was; and among all these there were many of the noble and great ones; "And God saw these souls that they were good, and he stood in the midst of them, and he said: "These I will make my rulers; for he stood among those that were spirits, and he saw that they were good." Manifestly, from this revelation, we may infer two things: first that there were many among those spirits different degrees of intelligence, varying grades of achievement, retarded and advanced spiritual attainment; second, that there were no national distinctions among those spirits such as Americans, Europeans, Asiatics, Australians, etc. Such "bounds of habitation" would have to be "determined" when the spirits entered upon their earthly existence or second estate. In the "Blue Bird" Materlinck pictures unborn children summoned to earth life. As one group approaches the earth, the voices of the children earthward tending are heard to cry: "The earth! The earth! I can see it; how beautiful it is! How bright it is!" The following these cries of ecstasy there issued from out of the depth of the abyss a sweet song of gentleness and expectancy, in reference to which the author says: "It is the song of the mothers coming out to meet them." Materlinck's fairy play is not all fantasy or imagination, neither is Worthword's "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" wherein he says: Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting, The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting And cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home; For, as we have already quoted, it is given as a fact in revelation that Abraham was chosen before he was born. Songs of expectant parents come from all parts of the earth, and each little spirit is attracted to the spiritual and mortal parentage for which the spirit had prepared itself. Now of none of these spirits was permitted to enter mortality until they were all good and great and had become leaders, then the diversity of conditions among the children of men as we see them today would certainly indicate discrimination and injustice. But if in their eagerness to take upon themselves bodies, the spirits were willing to come through any lineage for which they were worthy, or to which they were attracted, then they were given the full reward of merit, and were satisfied, yes, and even blessed. Accepting this theory of life, we have a reasonable explanation of existent conditions in the habitations of man. How the law of spiritual attraction works between the spirit and the expectant parents, has not been revealed, neither can finite mind fully understand. By analogy, however, we can perhaps get a glimpse of what might take place in that spirit world. In physics we refer to the law of attraction wherein some force acting mutually between particles of matter tends to draw them together and to keep them from separating. In chemistry, there is an attractive force exerted between atoms, which causes them to enter into combination. We know, too, that there is affinity between persons--a spiritual relationship or attraction wherein individuals are either drawn towards others or repelled by others. Might it not be so in the realm of spirit--each individual attracted to the parentage for which it is prepared. Our place in this world would then be determined by our advancement or conditions in the pre-mortal state, just as our pace in our future existence will be determined by what we do here in mortality. When, therefore, the Creator said to Abraham, and to others of his attainment "You I will make my rulers," there could exist no feeling of envy or of jealousy among the million other spirits, for those who were "good and great" were but receiving their just reward, just as do members of a graduation class who have successfully completed their prescribed courses of study. The thousands of other students who have not yet attained that honor still have the privilege to seek it, or they may, if they choose, remain in satisfaction down in the grades. By the operation of some eternal law with which man is yet unfamiliar, spirits come through parentages for which they are worthy--some as Bushmen of Australia, some as Solomon Islanders, some as Americans, as Europeans, as Asiatics, etc., etc., with all the varying degrees of mentality and spirituality manifest in parents of the different races that inhabit the earth. Of this we may be sure, each was satisfied and happy to come through the lineage to which he or she was attracted and for which, and only which, he or she was prepared. The Priesthood was given to those who were chosen as leaders. There were many who could not receive it, yet who knew that it was possible for them at sometime in the eternal plan to achieve that honor. Even those who knew that they would not be prepared to receive it during their mortal existence were content in the realization that they could attain every earthly blessing--progress intellectually and spiritually, and possess to limited degree the blessing of wisdom. George Washington Carver was one of the noblest souls that ever came to earth. He held a close kinship with his heavenly Father, and rendered a service to his fellowmen as few have ever excelled. For every righteous endeavor, for every noble impulse, for every good deed performed in his useful life George Washington Carver will be rewarded, and so will every other man be he red, white, black or yellow, for God is no respecter of persons. Sometime in God's eternal plan, the Negro will be given the right to hold the Priesthood. In the meantime, those of that race who receive a testimony of the Restored Gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice and mercy of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation. Nephi 26:33, to which you refer, does not contradict what I have said above, because the Negro is entitled to come unto the Lord by baptism, confirmation, and to receive the assistance of the Church in living righteously. Sincerely yours, Signed by David O. McKay | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | Mark E. Petersen was an apostle when he spoke at BYU on Aug 27, 1954 on civil rights. "The discussion of civil rights, especially over the last 20 years, has drawn some very sharp lines. It has blinded the thinking of some of our own people, I believe. They have allowed their political affiliations to color their thinking to some extent, and then, of course, they have been persuaded by some of the arguments that have been put forth . . . We who teach in the Church certainly must have our feet on the ground and not be led astray by the philosophies of men on this subject . . . I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the negro seeks absorbtion [sic] with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. This is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, 'First we pity, then endure, then embrace.' . . . Now we are generous with the negro. We are willing that the negro have the highest kind of education. I would be willing to let every negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the negro and who is man to change that segregation? It reminds me of the scripture on marriage, 'What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.' Only here we have the reverse of the thing - What God hath separated, let not man bring together again." (address to Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, "Race Problems as They Affect the Church.") | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - | ... In a meeting with the Quorum of the 12 in the late '60s, 1st counselor Hugh B. Brown obtained approval for his proposal to end the LDS Church's ban against African-Americans receiving the Priesthood. Apostle Harold B. Lee was absent during this vote and opposed it on his return. He did not believe LDS blacks should receive the Priesthood. Apostle Lee managed to convince the rest of the Quorum to rescind its previous vote. Then in Dec 1969, a month before President McKay's death, Lee pressured 2nd Counciler, Hugh B. Brown, to sign a statement which reaffirmed the Priesthood restriction on the blacks. Brown's grandson relates Brown surrendered his deeply felt convictions to Lee's successful reversal of the 12's vote. "Grandfather managed to add language to Elder Lee's statement endorsing full civil rights for all citizens (which wasn't there in the original statement that Elder Lee presented). But he still resisted signing the statement. However President Brown suffered from advanced age and advanced stages of Parkinson's disease and was ill with the Asian flu. With grandfather in this condition, Elder Lee brought tremendous pressure to bear upon him, arguing that with President McKay incapacitated, grandfather was obligated to join the consensus within the 12. Grandfather, deeply ill, wept as he related this story to me just before he signed the statement that bore his and President Tanner's names." The Church newspaper published this as a statement of the First Presidency reaffirming the restriction of the Priesthood against blacks. Five years after President Lee's death, President Kimball announced a revelation in 1978 that gave the Priesthood to all African Americans and blacks throughout the world. President Kimball had been among the apostles who had originally voted for this proposal a decade earlier, but reversed it under Apostle Lee's influence. Excerpts from Mike Quinn's presentation at the 1996 SLC Sunstone Symposium entitled _Decision Making and Tension in the Mormon Hierarchy_ Ciao Perry http://pobox.com/~plporter -