Main Street Plaza A Community for Anyone Interested in Mormonism.

Archive for the ‘Race’ Category

About those International Conversion Rates

08.11.2011 · Posted in Converts and Conversion, Race

Church spokesman Michael Otterson wrote recently about just how white the Church is not.  Although, naturally, Utah will always be associated with the church … today there are more Mormons outside the U.S. than in it.  Today, Mormons are Bolivians, Ghanaians, Koreans and Russians, all an integral part of the church family. He gives us ...

Oh how racism haunts Mormonism

04.28.2011 · Posted in BYU, Race, Uncategorized

You remember the whole Brandon Davies basketball debacle a few weeks ago?  You know, the situation where a black BYU basketball player was suspended for having sex with his girlfriend?  Yeah, so, it turns out someone did a little digging and found out that: Of the 70 athletes suspended from BYU since 1993, 54 of them ...

Why the Curse of Cain remains in the Mormon imaginary

03.17.2011 · Posted in Race, Revelation

Have any of you read Black and Mormon?  The authors explain why even though present-day Church leaders have said “NO, NO, NO!” about the curse of Cain folklore, why Mormons like Jason and even his stake president continue to believe and espouse it.  It’s not just racism and/or residual notions held by the uninformed, but ...

Poll: Does it bother you when Mormon politicians endorse known neo-Nazis?

Before you take the poll, be sure to watch this video: From YouTuber Humanleague002: This video shows State Senator Russell Pearce endorsing JT Ready (Arizona’s most famous White Supremacist) in 2006 for Mesa City Council. The footage has never been seen by the public until now. The footage and the Mormon Document and picture was ...

“I’m rubber and you’re glue!”

10.15.2009 · Posted in Politics, Public Relations, Race

It has got to be the most popular rhetorical trick in the bag these days! It goes something like this: Someone criticizes you (accusing you of, say, “X”), but you don’t want to have to answer the charge. You don’t want to even have to think about whether the charge is accurate. What do you ...

Way back when blacks were denied the priesthood…

01.07.2009 · Posted in BYU, Race

Since we now know that the “priesthood ban” was only temporary — from the days of Ham and Abraham (1:27) up through 1979 — it’s easy to selectively remember what things were like back when Mormons knew that the negro’s role was an eternal and immutable part of God’s plan. But our recent discussion of ...

Latter-Day Protest? Proposition 8 and Sports

By Dave Zirin x-posted from Edge of Sports with permission. As supporters of Gay Marriage have discovered, it’s never easy to be on the Mormon Church’s enemies list. The Church of Latter-Day Saints backed the anti-Gay Marriage Proposition 8 in California with out-of-state funds, and gave the right a heartbreaking victory this past election cycle. ...

Interracial marriage still not OK for LDS either…?

06.26.2008 · Posted in Marriage, Race

Apparently not according to this year’s Aaronic Priesthood manual. Here’s a quote from Aaronic Priesthood Manual 3, Lesson 31: “We recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and ...

Why not denounce Brigham Young’s racist statements?

05.16.2008 · Posted in Mormon Doctrine, Race

It should come as no surprise to MSP readers that Brigham Young made racist statements. As there are 26 volumes in the Journal of Discourses, Brigham Young said a great deal about many things. I think most current LDS (including Brigham himself) acknowledge the doctrine that sometimes an LDS prophet is speaking as a prophet ...

I’m Anti-Mormon? Really??!?

01.28.2008 · Posted in Apologetics, LDS History, Race

I believe this “anti-mormon” label is thrown around haphazardly and without merit. This post by chanson (and the ensuing comments) show a little of what I’m talking about. From baptism… I’m not sure when this trend began. After all my analysis, many may choose to consider me (and others) anti-mormon. That is their right. I ...