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| Brigham Young |
The Mormon church has issued its most comprehensive explanation yet about its past exclusion of black people from the priesthood.
The statement disavowing previous teachings was posted on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' website.
It says an era of great racial divide influenced the early teachings of the church, founded in 1830. The article pins the ban on an announcement in 1852 from Brigham Young, the church's then president.
The church barred men of African descent from the lay clergy until 1978, when church leaders had a revelation. In the 35 years since that landmark moment, however, the church had never explained the reasons behind the ban or addressed the once widely held notion that black people were spiritually inferior, said Matthew Bowman, an author and assistant professor of religion at Hampden-Sydney College in Virginia.
In the new article, posted on Friday, the church finally addresses what had become a sensitive topic for current leaders and members.
"The church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavour 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," the statement read. "Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form." » | Associated Press in Salt Lake City | Tuesday, December 10, 2013
