Anti-Mormon Wra... Er... Slc Tribune Stirs Up The Blacks And The Priesthood Ban Again.

[Zakuska]

An opinion piece in the Salt Lake City Tribune stirs up the Blacks and the Priesthood ban AGAIN. In the context of Mitts run for President.

Why is LDS Church denying past doctrine?

...

First Presidency statements (1949), authoritative books (Doctrines of Salvation; Mormon Doctrine) and church magazines (Improvement Era), general conference addresses, manuals — all taught that blacks descended from Cain.

Church officials now deny that they ever taught the divine-curse doctrine. "This folklore is not part of and never was taught as doctrine by the church," LDS spokesman Mark Tuttle boldly declared in 2008 on the 30th anniversary of the extension of the priesthood to men of African descent. The church reaffirmed this position in a recent press release, claiming that a few misguided leaders gave "some explanations" about the "origins of priesthood availability" that "do not represent church doctrine."

And yet, the new official line cannot be reconciled with the hundreds, maybe thousands, of authoritative statements the church has made on the subject throughout its 182-year history. Nor can it be squared with its own policies for establishing official doctrinal positions.

As the presidential campaign of Mitt Romney for the White House continues to generate interest in the church’s theological past, LDS leaders would be well-served to acknowledge this doctrine, apologize for it and move on. Until they have the courage to do that, more people like Bott will get their knuckles rapped, and more people will ask why the church sweeps its racial history under a rug.

Matthew L. Harris is an associate professor and director of graduate studies in history at Colorado State University-Pueblo in Pueblo, Colo.

http://www.sltrib.co...s-bott.html.csp

Doesn't the 1978 manifesto in the official cannonized scriptures of the church do exactly what this "journalist" is asking for? It acknowledges it unashamedly. So how in the world is it being "denied"?

Thousands of "authoritative" statements? Since when were any of the things he listed "authoritative"? Not to mention that not even the "Mormonism Guru Extrordinare" Sandra Tanner can come up with 100 quotes on the curse of cain doctrine.

[thesometimesaint]

If someone is looking for an excuse ANY will do.

[cdowis]

Unashamed, with great courage, the Trib now admits that it is a worthless antimormon rag, pretending to be a newspaper.

[BCSpace]

The solution is simple:

authoritative books (Doctrines of Salvation; Mormon Doctrine)

...are not authoritative books at all because they are not published by the Church.

[cdowis]

Along with the Journal of Discourses, the Trib recognizes them as being canonized texts by the antimormons.

[Deborah]

You know it's politically motivated when they describe it as if it's still going on rather than praising the church for changing what they consider a "discrimination" issue. Notice they don't talk about how Joseph Smith opened up his home to blacks and in fact Jane Manning lived with them not as a servant but part of the family while communities in the south well into the 20th century had separate facilities and "back of the bus" policies.

[cdowis]

When JS ran for president, he ran on an anti-slavery platform, and one reason for the Missouri persecutions was anti-slavery sentiment of the church members (who were from the North). Slavery was a big issue in Missouri at the time.

[Stargazer]

I think that their strategy is poorly thought out. If their actual goal is to stir up resentment and bad feelings towards the Mormons, then they should actually shut up for the time being and in fact do what they can to make sure Mitt gets elected. My reasoning:

With Mitt as President they would have 4 long years of good excuses to raise Cain, Ned and any other long-dead name about Mormons. Much like a conservative talk-show host has more to fuss about when a Dem is Prez, so would the anti-Mormons have more to scream bloody murder about if Mitt were Prez.

I'm sure they are not thinking ahead properly.