Saturday, July 19, 2008

Blacks and the Priesthood discussed in "CNN Presents: Black in America"

Forty years after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., CNN
launches a sweeping on-air and digital initiative, CNN Presents: Black
in America. These documentaries, "The Black Woman and Family" and "The
Black Man," focus on fresh analysis from new voices about the real
lives behind the stereotypes, statistics and identity politics that
frequently frame the national Dialog about Black America.

Included is the story of Marvin Perkins, a black Mormon who talks
about his membership in the church and the ban against black men
having the priesthood.

Here is a preview of his interview.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/living/2008/07/11/bia.marvin.perkins1.cnn

The program airs Wednesday, July 23, 9 p.m. ET

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I disagree about this why should it make a difference what the color of a mans skin should be God does not care of you skin make up he wants a man that will do his will and rember that this man can only proclaim the will of God. I happen to have a priest in my parish and he is brown in color. I hope someday it wont make a difference what color you are. I hope that people like Whoopie Goldberg will wake up and until the day the N word is stopped and she should be ashamed yes ashamed that she used the N word so many times on the view the other day that they had to continusly bleep her words out and Barbara Walters said it right and i quote, "If I were to have said it i would have been run out of town. Wake up America 2008 is almost over and 2009 is just around the corner

Anonymous said...

(I am not the same anonymous as above). The teaching on how God views his children is found in the scriptures. The Book of Mormon clearly teaches that "He inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile" (2 Nephi 26:33). For those trying to over read into this scripture, heathen is not interpreted as a racial distinction, heathen likely meant gentile or non-believer given that the writer of this passage was jewish, originally from the Palestine area.

From this it is clear that the ban on the priesthood for blacks had nothing to do with a question of inferiority, or inherent unrighteousness. There are lots of rumors and ideas out there, many of which are racist and wrong. All we can say with difinitiveness is that Joseph Smith ordained at least one black Elder to the Priesthood, that some subsequent members of the church speculated on why further ordinations were not performed, and that today all men willing to fulfill their responsibilities as a man, a husband, a father and someone trying to do what Christ would have them do is worthy of the Priesthood.

Bruce R. McKonkie said it well when he called members to repent when he said: "...all I can say is that it is time disbelieving people repented and got in line and believed in a living, modern prophet. Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or President George Q. Cannon or whomsoever has said in days past that is contrary to the present revelation. We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world.

We get our truth and our light line upon line and precept upon precept. We have now had added a new flood of intelligence and light on this particular subject, and it erases all the darkness and all the views and all the thoughts of the past. They don’t matter any more."