Revelation

Mormonism is by far the largest of the made-in-America religions. But its drive for respectability has had a major impediment: Mormon insistence that blacks could not be priests. The policy was sweeping, because in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "priesthood" is not a clergy rank but a status achieved by nearly all male members.

Last week, in a terse letter issued from Salt Lake City, the church's First Presidency (President Spencer Kimball, 83, and two counselors) declared that henceforth "all worthy male members of the church may be ordained to the priesthood without regard for race or color."

It was a historic moment for Mormons, who believe that the prohibition against blacks as priests goes back as far as the sons of Adam. It is taught in the Book of Abraham, one of three scriptures revealed to Prophet Joseph Smith and accepted as holy writ only by Mormons. According to the key verse, descendants of Cain (identified elsewhere in Mormon scripture as blacks) are "cursed as pertaining to the priesthood." Because of this the racial bar could only be lifted by a "revelation" direct from God. The church leaders said they had spent many hours in the Upper Room of the Salt Lake City Temple. Eventually God "confirmed that the long-promised day has come."

The letter did not alter the church's antipathy to interracial marriage or examine the theological implications of the new policy. For one thing, Mormons hold that all people possess an unremembered spirit existence before birth. Discussing black priesthood in 1951, the First Presidency stated that the church rejects original sin and believes that each individual is punished in earthly life for his own failings. This implies, the Presidency said then, that "the Negro is punished or allotted to a certain position on this earth ... because of his failure to achieve other stature in the spirit world."

There are fewer than 1,000 blacks among the world's 4 million Latter-day Saints. Among other privileges, these few black Mormons will now be able to hold church office and undergo such temple rites as "sealing" their marriages for eternity and vicariously baptizing their deceased relatives.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.