June 13, 1978 edition of BYU student newspaper The Universe about the end of the Latter-day Saint ban on Black male ordination
The 1978 Declaration on Priesthood was an announcement by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) that reversed a long-standing policy excluding men of Black African descent from ordination to the denomination's priesthood and both Black men and women from priesthood ordinances in the temple. Leaders stated it was a revelation from God.
Beginning in the 1850s, individuals of Black African descent were prohibited from ordination to the LDS Church's priesthood—in other cases held by all male members who meet church standards of spiritual "worthiness"—and from receiving temple ordinances such as the endowment and celestial marriage (sealing).[1][a] LDS Church presidents Heber J. Grant[2] and David O. McKay[3] are known to have privately stated that the restriction was a temporary one, and would be lifted at a future date by a divine revelation to a church president.
In 2013, the LDS Church posted an essay about race and the priesthood revelation.[4]
Men of Black African descent were permitted to hold the priesthood in the early years of the Latter Day Saint movement, when Joseph Smith was alive.[5] After Smith died, Brigham Young became leader of the LDS Church and many were excluded from holding the priesthood. This practice persisted after Young's death, and was maintained until the announcement of the 1978 revelation.
Events leading up to the revelation
In the decades leading up to the 1978 revelation, it became increasingly difficult for the church to maintain its policy on Africans and the priesthood. The difficulties arose both from outside protests and internal challenges encountered as the membership grew in far away areas of the world outside of the predominantly white Utah. Internal challenges in administering the priesthood ban were mainly due to the difficulty in determining which peoples were of African ancestry in areas such as Brazil, the Philippines and Caribbean and Polynesian Islands as well as shortages of available people for local church leadership positions in areas with a predominantly Black population such as Nigeria or the Dominican Republic.
The majority of the protests against the policy coincided with the rise of the civil rights movement in the United States during the 1960s. In 1963, Hugh B. Brown made a statement on civil rights during General Conference in order to avert a planned protest of the conference by the NAACP.[6] During the late 1960s and 1970s, Black athletes at some universities refused to compete against teams from church owned Brigham Young University.[7] A protest in 1974 was in response to the exclusion of Black scouts to become leaders in church sponsored Boy Scout troops.[8] By 1978, when the policy was changed, external pressure had slackened somewhat.[citation needed]
In the 1960s, an effort was made to establish a church presence in Nigeria where many natives had expressed interest. Church leaders found it difficult to make progress in establishing the church in that region without a change in the priesthood policy.[9] Issues regarding possible expansion in Nigeria were considered in correspondence between the South African Mission and church general authorities from as early as 1946.[5] LDS Church leaders in the Caribbean, notably in the Dominican Republic (described at the time as 98% Black), had expressed the difficulty of proselytizing efforts in the region due to priesthood restrictions.[5]
In 1969, during a weekly meeting the apostles voted to overturn the priesthood ban. However, Harold B. Lee, a senior apostle at the time, was not present due to travel. When he returned he made the argument that the ban could not be overturned administratively but rather required a revelation from God. Lee called for a re-vote, which did not pass.[10]
On March 1, 1975, LDS Church presidentSpencer W. Kimball announced plans to build a temple in São Paulo, Brazil. Before the 1978 revelation, not only were men of Black African descent denied ordination to the priesthood, but men and women of Black African descent were also excluded from performing most of the various ordinances in the temple. Determining priesthood and temple eligibility in Brazil was problematic due to the considerable intermarriage between Amerindians, Europeans, and Africans since 1500, and high uncertainty in tracing ancestral roots. Furthermore, in the Brazilian culture, racial identification had more to do with physical appearance and social class than blood lines.[11] The cultural differences in understanding race created confusion between the native Brazilians and the American missionaries. When the temple was announced, church leaders realized the difficulty of restricting persons with various bloodlines from attending the temple in Brazil.[12]
During the first half of the 20th century, most church members and leaders believed the priesthood ban had originated with church founder Joseph Smith. Because of this belief, church leaders were hesitant to overturn the ban. Scholars in the 1960s and 1970s found no evidence of the prohibition before Brigham Young.[13]:196–97 This evidence made it easier for Kimball to consider making a change.[14]
Softening of the policy
Prior to the complete overturning of the priesthood ban by revelation, several administrative actions were taken to soften its effect.
Before David O. McKay visited the South Africa mission in 1954, the policy was that any man desiring to receive the priesthood in the mission was required to prove a lack of African ancestors in his genealogy. Six missionaries were tasked with assisting in the necessary genealogical research but even then it was often difficult to establish lack of African ancestry.[15] McKay changed the policy to presume non-African ancestry except when there was evidence to the contrary.[16] This change allowed many more people to be ordained without establishing genealogical proof.
Four years later, McKay gave permission for Fijians to receive the priesthood despite their dark skin color. Thus, the priesthood ban was restricted to those people who were specifically of African descent.[16] In 1967, the same policy that was used in South Africa was extended to cover Brazilians as well.[17] In 1974, Black people were allowed to serve as proxies for baptisms for the dead.[18]
In the years prior to his presidency, Spencer W. Kimball kept a binder of notes and clippings related to the issue.[19] In the first years of his presidency, he was recorded as frequently making the issue one of investigation and prayer.[20] In June 1977, Kimball asked at least three general authorities—apostles Bruce R. McConkie, Thomas S. Monson, and Boyd K. Packer—to submit memos "on the doctrinal basis of the prohibition and how a change might affect the Church", to which McConkie wrote a long treatise concluding there were no scriptural impediments to a change.[20] During 1977, Kimball obtained a personal key to the Salt Lake Temple for entering in the evenings after the temple closed, and often spent hours alone in its upper rooms praying for divine guidance on a possible change.[21] On May 30, 1978, Kimball presented his two counselors with a statement he had written in longhand removing all racial restrictions on ordination to the priesthood, stating that he "had a good, warm feeling about it."[22]
On June 1, 1978, following the monthly meeting of general authorities in the Salt Lake Temple, Kimball asked his counselors and the ten members of Quorum of the Twelve Apostles then present[b][23] to remain behind for a special meeting.[24] Kimball began by describing his studies, thoughts, and prayers on removing the restriction and on his growing assurance that the time had come for the change.[24] Kimball asked each of the men present to share their views, and all spoke in favor of changing the policy.[24] After all present had shared their views, Kimball led the gathered apostles in a prayer circle to seek final divine approval for the change.[24] As Kimball prayed, many in the group recorded feeling a powerful spiritual confirmation.[25] Bruce R. McConkie later said: "There are no words to describe the sensation, but simultaneously the Twelve and the three members of the First Presidency had the Holy Ghost descend upon them and they knew that God had manifested his will .... I had had some remarkable spiritual experiences before ... but nothing of this magnitude."[26]L. Tom Perry described: "I felt something like the rushing of wind. There was a feeling that came over the whole group. When President Kimball got up he was visibly relieved and overjoyed."[27]Gordon B. Hinckley later said: "For me, it felt as if a conduit opened between the heavenly throne and the kneeling, pleading prophet of God who was joined by his Brethren."[28]
The church formally announced the change on June 9, 1978. The story led many national news broadcasts and was on the front page of most American newspapers, and in most largely Latter-day Saint communities in Utah and Idaho telephone networks were completely jammed with excited callers.[29] The announcement was formally approved by the church at the October 1978 general conference, and is included in LDS Church's edition of the Doctrine and Covenants as Official Declaration 2.
Revelation accepted at general conference
On September 30, 1978, during the church's 148th Semiannual General Conference, the following was presented by N. Eldon Tanner, First Counselor in the First Presidency:
In early June of this year, the First Presidency announced that a revelation had been received by President Spencer W. Kimball extending priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy male members of the Church. President Kimball has asked that I advise the conference that after he had received this revelation, which came to him after extended meditation and prayer in the sacred rooms of the holy temple, he presented it to his counselors, who accepted it and approved it. It was then presented to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who unanimously approved it, and was subsequently presented to all other General Authorities, who likewise approved it unanimously.[30]
On that day, the general conference unanimously voted to accept the revelation "as the word and will of the Lord."[30]
Ramifications
Following the revelation, Black male members were allowed to be ordained to the priesthood. Black members and their spouses regardless of race were allowed to enter the temple and undergo the temple rituals, including celestial marriages. Black members could be adopted into a tribe of Israel through a patriarchal blessing.[31][32][33] Black members were also allowed to serve missions and hold leadership positions. Proselytization restrictions were removed, so missionaries no longer needed special permission to teach Black people, converts were no longer asked about African heritage, and marks were no longer made on membership records indicating African heritage.
There are statements in our literature by the early brethren which we have interpreted to mean that the Negroes would not receive the priesthood in mortality. I have said the same things, and people write me letters and say, "You said such and such, and how is it now that we do such and such?" And all I can say to that is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.... We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don't matter any more.... It doesn't make a particle of difference what anybody ever said about the Negro matter before the first day of June of this year.[34]
On the topic of doctrine and policy for the race ban lifting the apostle Dallin H. Oaks stated in 1988, "I don't know that it's possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet. ... I'm not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood."[35] In 2013, the LDS Church posted an essay on the priesthood ban, stating that the ban was based more on racism than revelation. The essay places the origin of the ban on Brigham Young, arguing there was no evidence any Black men were denied the priesthood during Joseph Smith's leadership. The essay also disavowed theories promoted in the past including "that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else."[4]
Official Declaration 2
Official Declaration 2 is the canonized formal 1978 announcement by the church's First Presidency that the priesthood would no longer be subject to restrictions based on race or skin color.[36] The declaration was canonized by the LDS Church at its general conference on September 30, 1978, through the process of common consent.[37] Since 1981, the text has been included in the church's Doctrine and Covenants, one of its standard works of scripture.[38] It is the most recent text that has been added to the LDS Church's open canon of scripture.[39] The announcement that was canonized had previously been announced by a June 8, 1978, letter from the First Presidency, which was composed of Spencer W. Kimball, N. Eldon Tanner, and Marion G. Romney.
Unlike much of the Doctrine and Covenants, Official Declaration 2 is not itself presented as a revelation from God. However, its text announces that Jesus Christ "by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood."[30] Thus, it is regarded as "the official declaration of the revelation."[40] No text of the revelation has been released by the church, but it is common for Latter-day Saints to refer to the "revelation on the priesthood" in describing the changes wrought by the announcement and canonization of Official Declaration 2.[41]
Modern disavowal of previously given reasons for restrictions
Sometime between 2014 and 2015, the LDS Church published an essay titled "Race and the Priesthood". As part of that essay, the church officially stated that the reasons for the previous racial restrictions were unknown, and officially disavowed the racist explanations for the policy, but did not disavow the restrictions themselves.[42] As part of the 40th anniversary celebration of the revelation Dallin H. Oaks said that, "the Lord rarely gives reasons for the commandments and directions He gives to His servants," but acknowledged the hurt that the restrictions caused before they were rescinded, and encouraged all church members to move past those feelings and focus on the future.[43] As of 2019 the LDS Church has not apologized for its race-based policies and former teachings.[44][45]
↑ There were a handful of exceptions to this rule, such as some descendants of Elijah Abel, the first black Latter-day Saint to hold priesthood office. See Newell G. Bringhurst (2006), "The 'Missouri Thesis' Revisited: Early Mormonism, Slavery, and the Status of Black People" in Newell G. Bringhurst and Darron T. Smith, Black and Mormon (Urbana: University of Illinois Press) p. 30
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the second anointing is the pinnacle ordinance of the temple and an extension of the endowment ceremony. Founder Joseph Smith taught that the function of the ordinance was to ensure salvation, guarantee exaltation, and confer godhood. In the ordinance, a participant is anointed as a "priest and king" or a "priestess and queen", and is sealed to the highest degree of salvation available in Mormon theology.
During the history of the Latter Day Saint movement, the relationship between Black people and Mormonism has included enslavement, exclusion and inclusion, and official and unofficial discrimination. Black people have been involved with the Latter Day Saint movement since its inception in the 1830s. Their experiences have varied widely, depending on the denomination within Mormonism and the time of their involvement. From the mid-1800s to 1978, Mormonism's largest denomination – the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – barred Black women and men from participating in the ordinances of its temples necessary for the highest level of salvation, and excluded most men of Black African descent from ordination in the church's lay, all-male priesthood. During that time the LDS Church also opposed interracial marriage, supported racial segregation in its communities and church schools, and taught that righteous Black people would be made white after death. The temple and priesthood racial restrictions were lifted by church leaders in 1978. In 2013, the LDS Church disavowed its previous teachings on race for the first time.
Spencer Woolley Kimball was an American religious leader who was the twelfth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bruce Redd McConkie was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1972 until his death. McConkie was a member of the First Council of the Seventy of the LDS Church from 1946 until his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Blood atonement was a practice in the history of Mormonism still adhered to by some fundamentalist splinter groups, under which the atonement of Jesus does not redeem an eternal sin. To atone for an eternal sin, the sinner should be killed in a way that allows his blood to be shed upon the ground as a sacrificial offering, so he does not become a son of perdition. The largest Mormon denomination, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has denied the validity of the doctrine since 1889 with early church leaders referring to it as a "fiction" and later church leaders referring to it as a "theoretical principle" that had never been implemented in the LDS Church.
This is a timeline of major events in Mormonism in the 20th century.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that Adam and Eve were the first man and the first woman to live on the earth and that their fall was an essential step in the plan of salvation. Adam in particular is a central figure in Mormon cosmology.
Mormon Doctrine is an encyclopedic work written in 1958 by Bruce R. McConkie, a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was intended primarily for a Latter-day Saint audience and has been used as a reference book by church members because of its comprehensive nature, and was a highly influential all-time bestseller in the LDS community. It was viewed by many members both then and now as representing official doctrine despite never being endorsed by the church. It has been both heavily criticized by some church leaders and members and well regarded by others. After the book's first edition was removed from publication at the instruction of the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve, corrections were made in subsequent editions. The book went through three editions but has been out of print since 2010.
Joseph Freeman Jr. is the first man of black African descent to receive the Melchizedek priesthood and be ordained an elder in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints after the announcement of the 1978 Revelation on Priesthood, which allowed "all worthy male members of the Church" to "be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color."
Warner "William" McCary was an African American convert to Mormonism who was excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1847 for claiming to be a prophet. Some researchers have suggested that McCary's actions led to the Church's subsequent policy of not allowing people of black African descent to hold the priesthood or participate in temple ordinances.
From 1852 to 1978, temple and priesthood policies in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints prohibited both Black women and men from temple ordinances and ordination in the all-male priesthood. In 1978, the church's highest governing body, the First Presidency, declared in the "Official Declaration 2" statement, that the restriction had been lifted. Between 1830 and 1852, a few Black men had been ordained to the Mormon priesthood in the Latter Day Saint movement, under Joseph Smith.
Since Mormonism's foundation, Black people have been members; however, the church placed restrictions on proselytization efforts among Black people. Before 1978, Black membership was small. It has since grown, and in 1997, there were approximately 500,000 Black members of the church, mostly in Africa, Brazil and the Caribbean. Black membership has continued to grow substantially, especially in West Africa, where two temples have been built. By 2018, an estimated 6% of members were Black worldwide. In the United States, approximately 1% of members are Black.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was established in Brazil in 1926 with the opening of the South American Mission. Missionary work was focused on small German immigrant colonies in South Brazil. The LDS Church was forced to expand missionary work to Brazilians and Portuguese speakers when non-Portuguese languages were banned in public meetings in 1938. The Brazil Mission was opened on February 9, 1935, with Rulon S. Howells as mission president. The first Portuguese translation of the Book of Mormon was published in 1939.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marriage between a man and a woman is considered to be "ordained of God". Marriage is thought to consist of a covenant between the man, the woman, and God. The church teaches that in addition to civil marriage, which ends at death, a man and woman can enter into a celestial marriage, performed in a temple by priesthood authority, whereby the marriage and parent–child relationships resulting from the marriage will last forever in the afterlife.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and a topical guide to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In the past, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints including Brigham Young have consistently opposed marriages between members of different ethnicities, though interracial marriage is no longer considered a sin. In 1977, apostle Boyd K. Packer publicly stated that "[w]e've always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. ... The counsel has been wise." Nearly every decade for over a century—beginning with the church's formation in the 1830s until the 1970s—has seen some denunciations of interracial marriages (miscegenation), with most statements focusing on Black–White marriages. Church president Brigham Young taught on multiple occasions that Black–White marriage merited death for the couple and their children.
Lucy Stanton McCary was a Mormon woman who married and followed William McCary during his time as a prominent member of the LDS community at Winter Quarters in Ohio. She played a prominent role during William McCary's apostasy and followed him during his excommunication and prophetic claims. Her relationship with William McCary influenced early Latter Day Saint policy and doctrine in regards to race, sexuality, and gender roles. Many scholars argue that the LDS Church's ban on interracial marriage and the ordination of peoples of African descent to the priesthood was influenced by Lucy Stanton's relationship with Milliam McCary and the events that followed in Winter Quarters Ohio.
Lester Earl Bush Jr. was a historian and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints who published influential research into the origins of the "Negro doctrine," a now-abandoned church policy which excluded African-Americans from membership in the church's priesthood and from participation in a number of other church practices. He also published historical research into other topics, including a medical history of Brigham Young and reviews of LDS health and medical practices.
↑ Prince, Gregory A. (2016). Leonard Arrington and the writing of Mormon history. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. p.324. ISBN978-1-60781-479-5.
↑ McConkie, Bruce R. (June 30, 1978). "The Receipt of the Revelation Offering the Priesthood to Men of All Races and Colors". Kimball Papers. cited in Kimball (2005:222) and McConkie (2003:373–79).
↑ McConkie, Bruce R. (August 18, 1978). All Are Alike Unto God (Speech). A SYMPOSIUM ON THE BOOK OF MORMON, The Second Annual Church Educational System Religious Educator's Symposium. BYU, as found in: McConkie, Bruce R. (2006), I believe: a retrospective of twelve firesides and devotionals, Brigham Young University, 1973-1985, Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, ISBN0-8425-2647-1
↑ "New policy occasions church comment". The Times-News. Associated Press. June 9, 1988. AP: Was the ban on ordaining blacks to the priesthood a matter of policy or doctrine? ... OAKS: I don't know that it's possible to distinguish between policy and doctrine in a church that believes in continuing revelation and sustains its leader as a prophet. ... I'm not sure I could justify the difference in doctrine and policy in the fact that before 1978 a person could not hold the priesthood and after 1978 they could hold the priesthood. AP: Did you feel differently about the issue before the revelation was given? OAKS: I decided a long time ago, 1961 or 2, that there's no way to talk about it in terms of doctrine, or policy, practice, procedure. All of those words just lead you to reaffirm your prejudice, whichever it was.
↑ See, e.g.: "Chapter Ten: The Worldwide Church", Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church, 1996, pp.120–131.
Prince, Gregory A.; Wright, Wm. Robert (2005). David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN0-87480-822-7.
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