As an African-American Mormon leader, I was both outraged and disappointed to see your newspaper publish a Wespeak filled with slanderous, wildly inaccurate statements lifted from anti-Mormon propaganda. Contrary to Scott Ugras’ assertion (“Religion in 2008,” March 4, vol. CXLIII, no. 34), the Mormon Church has had black members since the days of founding prophet Joseph Smith, who ordained Elijah Able, a black man, an elder and sent him on several missions for the church. As Christians, we most certainly believe blacks have souls, are God’s children, and will go to heaven on the same terms as everyone else.
While the Church of Latter-day Saints was never an “officially racist” organization, it did not ordain black men to the priesthood from the days of Brigham Young until 1978. (Before 1978, blacks were hardly bench warmers in the church: they taught Sunday School, preached sermons, offered prayers, sang in church choirs, etc.) We do not know the reason for this, but I suspect that it is the same reason that the priesthood was restricted to male Levites in the Old Testament and the gospel of Jesus Christ was not preached to Gentiles until Peter’s dream recounted in Acts chapter 10. That is, we don’t always understand why God operates the way he does. Both the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodox Judaism join Mormons in declining to ordain women to the priesthood or rabbinate. Does that mean that all three religious traditions are misogynistic?
I would encourage Mr. Ugras to spend more time conducting research before putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and less time demanding apologies from presidential candidates for doctrines that their churches have never espoused.
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