47 replies to this topic

[Lightbearer]

Expositor, on Jul 31 2008, 07:11 PM, said:

I'm asking this without an agenda, I'm really just curious.

There are some older people here who were members at the time of the 1978 revelation that allowed Black men to become priesthood holders. Do you know of any people that left the church because of this revelation?

The thought occurred to me because it was a fairly dramatic change and I figure there must have been some people who thought the church was going down an incorrect road. For instance, if the church brought back polygamy today (assuming it was legalized in the U.S.) I would imagine there would be some people that would leave over it, just as there were in Joseph Smith's time.

Having been born and raised in the south (NE Florida) some may think this odd, but I did not know of anyone who left the Church because of the revelation in 1978. In fact quite the opposite, people rejoiced when the revelation was announced and I was relieved since I would be going on a Mission the following year. That is the way it was in the area in which I lived, I cannot speak for Utah or any other part of the country but it seemed to be will received throughout the Church except maybe among some apostates that I never heard about. The first black Missionary I ever saw was in the MTC when I was there (Oct 1979) and the first convert baptisms I had were a black couple from the Dominican Republic who lived in Toronto Canada. It was wonderful that the revelation occurred in my lifetime and especially before my serving a mission. It is a shame that our "critics" still whine and complain and try to make some sort of Anti-Mormon issue out of it after 30 years. But this generation seems to be like that, they love to criticize things from another time that they did not live through and cannot possibly understand.

[thesometimesaint]

I knew some one who left....because the Church changed the name of it magazines.  

[USU78]

Expositor, on Jul 31 2008, 05:11 PM, said:

I'm asking this without an agenda, I'm really just curious.

There are some older people here who were members at the time of the 1978 revelation that allowed Black men to become priesthood holders. Do you know of any people that left the church because of this revelation?

The thought occurred to me because it was a fairly dramatic change and I figure there must have been some people who thought the church was going down an incorrect road. For instance, if the church brought back polygamy today (assuming it was legalized in the U.S.) I would imagine there would be some people that would leave over it, just as there were in Joseph Smith's time.

I heard at the time that some folks of a certain political bent in certain remote parts of Idaho left, but never saw anything like confirmation of the [alleged] fact.

[AddamS]

Thanks for all of the responses, I was really curious what thinsg were like then.

[rayhale]

USU78, on Aug 1 2008, 08:23 AM, said:

I heard at the time that some folks of a certain political bent in certain remote parts of Idaho left, but never saw anything like confirmation of the [alleged] fact.

I donâ??t think that the Priesthood issue was about racism, on a similar note, the Church never had an official or unofficial policy about inter-racial marriages.

[emeliza]

rayhale, on Aug 1 2008, 11:41 AM, said:

I donâ??t think that the Priesthood issue was about racism, on a similar note, the Church never had an official or unofficial policy about inter-racial marriages.

I thought there was sort of an unofficial policy on this one or at the very least it was said that it would make life much harder and was discouraged.

[AddamS]

rayhale, on Aug 1 2008, 09:41 AM, said:

I donâ??t think that the Priesthood issue was about racism, on a similar note, the Church never had an official or unofficial policy about inter-racial marriages.

Except that since the black person in the relationship couldn't enter the temple, they could not be sealed (in life at least).

[busybee]

Expositor, on Aug 1 2008, 05:37 PM, said:

Thanks for all of the responses, I was really curious what thinsg were like then.

I was in my mid teens living in South Africa at the time. I don't recall hearing about any one leaving the church because of the revelation. I do remember feeling great excitement about how the gospel in South Africa could now be actively taken to the Black people and the effect it would have.

[thesometimesaint]

Expositor:

I was 27. It was a great time. Every Saint I knew rejoiced, some even jumped up and down with joy.  

Edited by thesometimesaint, 01 August 2008 - 11:21 AM.

[Avatar4321]

Looks like the overwhelming majority is that no one knows anyone.

[HiJolly]

emeliza, on Aug 1 2008, 10:43 AM, said:

I thought there was sort of an unofficial policy on this one or at the very least it was said that it would make life much harder and was discouraged.

I don't know about 'policy', but my parents didn't want me to date blacks, and felt as you describe.  President Lee, Elder Peterson, BYU president Wilkinson, etc. all didn't like the idea of interracial marriage, according to a presentation I saw a couple of years ago at the annual FAIR conference.  


HiJolly

[ElGuapo]

Pa Pa, on Aug 1 2008, 06:33 AM, said:

1. One guy left because JS misspelled his name in a revelation

2. A married couple left because JS was rolling around on the floor with some kids playing...they felt that was undignified.

Those seem like odd reasons to leave a faith you otherwise believe in.

[Deborah]

ElGuapo, on Aug 1 2008, 01:00 PM, said:

Those seem like odd reasons to leave a faith you otherwise believe in.

The point is those who want to leave will find a reason to give for leaving which leaves them blameless.

[MormonPeasant]

I don't know anyone personally who left the Church over the 1978 revelation.  I had a friend from high school serve a mission in Mississippi a couple of years after the revelation and he noted there were some racists in the Church that he came across.  Of course, he noticed it more since he is of African descent.  

Overall, we were all elated about the revelation as we had a couple of African-American members in our ward who were quickly ordained Elders and took their families to the temple.  

I lived in Los Angeles at the time.

[NauvooSaint]

If there was a "revelation" today granting women to be ordained to the priesthood....would there be a similiar membership outcome among the LDS in leaving?

This type of thing occurred among RLDS in 1984 and the 1980s in general.  The late 1970s had articles in the 'Saints Herald' magazine that were supportive toward that direction as well that was causing tension.  Community of Christ D&C 156 later led to other theological departures in beliefs for the RLDS until the leadership went so far as to change their name to Community of Christ.

Regards,

Bradley.

[calmoriah]

NauvooSaint, on Aug 2 2008, 01:35 PM, said:

If there was a "revelation" today granting women to be ordained to the priesthood....would there be a similiar membership outcome among the LDS in leaving?

This type of thing occurred among RLDS in 1984 and the 1980s in general.  The late 1970s had articles in the 'Saints Herald' magazine that were supportive toward that direction as well that was causing tension.  Community of Christ D&C 156 later led to other theological departures in beliefs for the RLDS until the leadership went so far as to change their name to Community of Christ.

Regards,

Bradley.

How did the RLDS/CoC approach the change?  Is it considered a revelation from God?

[juliann]

Expositor, on Aug 1 2008, 09:37 AM, said:

Thanks for all of the responses, I was really curious what thinsg were like then.

I never felt old until I read this thread....

There was a lot of talk about people leaving but I never heard of anyone who did.  The overwhelming reaction was tears of relief.   It was becoming increasingly uncomfortable to be in a church with such a policy.   Most people can tell you where they were when they heard the news...just as we can when JFK was shot.

[SolarPowered]

juliann, on Aug 2 2008, 02:38 PM, said:

Most people can tell you where they were when they heard the news...just as we can when JFK was shot.

What??! John Kerry's been shot?

[The_Monk]

My BoM prof at BYU years back told us that there was a full-page ad in one of the SLC newspapers (presumably the Trib), declaring President Kimball a false prophet, on the basis of scripture (interpretation) and past GA statements on the ban. It had been signed by a few hundred LDS.

Can anyone confirm this? I've never gone back through the microfilm...

[calmoriah]

The_Monk, on Aug 2 2008, 05:08 PM, said:

My BoM prof at BYU years back told us that there was a full-page ad in one of the SLC newspapers (presumably the Trib), declaring President Kimball a false prophet, on the basis of scripture (interpretation) and past GA statements on the ban. It had been signed by a few hundred LDS.

Can anyone confirm this? I've never gone back through the microfilm...

According to the UTLM site, this ad in the Tribune on July 23, 1978 was put out by a fundamentalist group.  Do a search on "president kimball" ban "full page ad" and several cites come up.  The first two look like the only relevant ones.

Lester Bush makes a comment about the ad here:  http://www.sunstoneo.../mag-text15.asp

Edited by calmoriah, 02 August 2008 - 04:27 PM.