Marvin Perkins, "Race and the Priesthood" -- why no person is black, and no person is white

[AnchoredinChrist]

I considered myself to have a good idea of the topic of race in the scriptures, but there were several new concepts in this video that I hadn't considered before. I'm super grateful for this presentation.

 

[Calm]

Glad you found it (member of FAIR here, though pretty dormant lately)

[MrShorty]

Perhaps it is because this comes up at the same time as another thread talking about race, but the first thing that stood out to me was Br. Perkins "confidence" in what he is teaching here. Br. Perkins seems pretty confident that the ban wasn't based in divine inspiration (like many others), which I find an interesting contrast with what @smac97 said in the other thread that the church prefers a kind of we really don't know one way or the other. Considering this is FAIR (10 years ago), I find it Br. Perkins also contrasts with the late Sarah Allen's FAIR response to the CES letter where she tends to insist that we don't know and maybe can't know if the ban was divinely inspired. In keeping with the B. H. Roberts Foundation data that church membership is roughly evenly divided over the three stances, I can contrast Perkins and Allen with Bruce Porter's (semi-retired CES) youtube channel where he insists that race is real and that it traces back to Old Testament figures.

Perhaps part of what makes this observation so interesting is that Perkins makes it seem like his conclusions that race isn't real and that scripture never teaches anything about race are clear and obvious to those who have a correct understanding of scripture. When he gets asked how 19th and 20th century LDS (leaders and members) seemed unable to understand these scriptures correctly, he attributes it to the near universal beliefs about racism in the broader culture, implying that, when such beliefs are ubiquitous, we can't expect even prophets to see past the cultural blindspots.

I think the main conclusion I draw is that there is still room in the church for people who believe all kinds of different things race and the priesthood and temple ban. I'm inclined to agree with Br. Perkins, but there are plenty of others who seem to believe differently, and we're all members in good standing. That kind of diversity of belief seems to be the most interesting observation when discussing this issue.

[3DOP]

I used to watch this guy on Sunday afternoons after football. But he has changed. If anything he is younger than his days on Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.