Some people see a connection between the church’s past restrictive policy toward blacks in the church and the church’s current restrictive policy towards gays in the church, specifically prohibiting gay temple marriage. In what ways are these two issues similar, and in what ways are they different? How can church members reconcile A, the teaching that the prophet won’t ever lead the church astray, with B, the fact that church presidents for over a century taught false doctrine about blacks? How might the scriptural basis of the Lamanites being cursed with a skin of blackness have influenced early church leaders’ thoughts on justifying the initial priesthood and temple restrictions, and what should we make of that curse anyway? And why didn’t God clearly communicate earlier to his prophets that it was his will that all his children would receive the blessings of the priesthood and the temple? In this episode of Church History Matters, we dive into all these questions and more with our special guest, Dr. Paul Reeve, a scholar on race in Latter-day Saint history.
This is the seventh and final episode of our 7-part podcast series on the history of Race and the Priesthood in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For a full transcript of this episode, as well as show notes and additional resources, visit our website at doctrineandcovenantscentral.o...
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Originally published August 15, 2023
DISCLAIMER: While we try very hard to be historically and doctrinally accurate in what we say on this podcast, please remember that all views expressed in this and every episode are our views alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Scripture Central or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.