Ask a Question
or
Create a Poll
  1. Home /
  2. Questions /
  3. Social Sciences
  4. / Religions
  5. / Religions A - Z

by noletters on February 21st, 2007

noletters

Question

Help answer this question below.

Bill Maher said on his show that Mormons believe that the only way a black person can go to heaven is as a slave. Is this true or was he just making a joke?

  • Like
  • Report
Share:
Other

Answers. Showing one answer.

  • by MrLugubrious on February 21st, 2007

    MrLugubrious

    In *theory*
    "Following the succession crisis, leaders of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints excluded blacks from priesthood ordination from 1844-1978 when President Spencer W. Kimball declared that he had received a revelation from God "extending priesthood and temple blessings to all worthy male members of the Church." Other Mormon denominations dealt with the issue differently. The Community of Christ and the Strangites had already begun to allow blacks to hold the priesthood, their exclusion being thought as racist, while the Fundamentalists continue the exclusionist policy." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blacks_and_Mormonism
    Of course theories often differ from the reality. In my personal experience, as well as that of many other people, LDS are unfortunately still very much racist. The worst part being that they mostly mean nothing bad by it. But the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
    http://www.slweekly.com/editorial/2004/feat_2004-12-16.cfm
    http://www.mormoncurtain.com/topic_racism.html
    http://www.salamandersociety.com/blacks/

    Comments

    • Hmm... last week I played basketball in a Mormon church league my neighbor belongs to (I'm not Mormon). There were several black men in the game, it seemed clear that they knew the others well and were well regarded -- and not just for basketball skills. What experiences have you had personally?

      Stableboy

      by Stableboy on February 21st, 2007

    • I've got a fair number of friends who are themselves member of the religion, and my grandfather often invited Mormon missionaries inside for discussions about their religion; I've heard their justifications for it it first hand. But to be fair, I'm not sure whether they identified as Fundamentalist Mormons or not. :)

      MrLugubrious

      by MrLugubrious on February 21st, 2007

    • Furthermore, I wouldn't necessarily say that it's the individual members so much as it is the institution.

      MrLugubrious

      by MrLugubrious on February 21st, 2007

    • So is this a belief that individual members have that the church does not endorse or a belief that the church has that it's memebers do not indorse or the church endorses it so it's members do?

      noletters

      by noletters on March 5th, 2007

    • When the Church was first established, one of the reasons that it was attacked so much was that they were anti-slavery. This bothered a lot of people. Also they took in a lot of freed slaves.

      CurtisAndWilbur

      by CurtisAndWilbur on January 10th, 2008

    • Furthermore, the very page MrLugubrious references states that “most blacks of African descent—along with a smaller number of non-blacks that the Church also deemed to be Canaanites—were ineligible to be ordained to the Priesthood.” That just confirms my earlier comment: the polity neither applied to all blacks nor applied only to blacks.

      the Otter

      by the Otter on May 14th, 2008

    • Just because the church isn't racist, doesn't mean there aren't racists who are also members of the church. Which is certainly something that they need to overcome.

      As a simplification of past matters, there have been some things the church members were ready for, and some things that they weren't.

      Davireigns

      by Davireigns on September 19th, 2008

    • Like
    • Report

    7 comments | Post one | Permalink

Want to attach an image to your answer? Click here.

Did this answer your question? If not, then ask a new question or create a poll.

More Questions. Additional questions in this category.

You're reading Bill Maher said on his show that Mormons believe that the only way a black person can go to heaven is as a slave. Is this true or was he just making a joke?

Follow us on Facebook!

Related Ads

Related Questions

Professionally Researched

Answerbag

a Demand Media company