On many occasions, Young taught that blacks were denied the priesthood because they were “the seed of Cain”. In 1863, Young stated: “Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.”
Who is this guy? From “Got Questions:”
Brigham Young (1801 – 1877) was the second president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) and a pioneer in the western United States. He has been nicknamed the “American Moses” or the “Mormon Moses.”
Born and raised on a frontier settlement, Brigham Young only had formal schooling for a total of eleven days. Young left home at the age of 16 to become an itinerant carpenter, joiner, painter, and glazier. He converted to Methodism in 1823 and married his first wife in 1824. Brigham Young discovered Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon at the age of 28, and two years later he was baptized into the Mormon Church. After his wife died in 1833, Brigham Young led family and friends to join Joseph Smith’s group of followers. The rest of his life was dedicated to the spread of Mormonism.
Brigham Young was a polygamist; he had fifty-five wives in his lifetime. He also had fifty-seven children, many of whom survived to adulthood. Several wives died, and Young divorced ten others. One wife, Ann Eliza Young, wrote a memoir about her experience with Young: Wife No. 19: The Story of a Life in Bondage.
Brigham Young’s legacy continues to this day. One of the universities he founded is named after him: Brigham Young University. He also founded the University of Deseret, now the University of Utah, as well as the Salt Lake Theatre. Brigham Young oversaw construction of the Mormon Tabernacle in Salt Lake City and began the building of the Salt Lake Temple. He established “Young Men” and “Young Women,” auxiliary youth clubs for the LDS Church. There are more than five hundred extant sermons that he delivered over his thirty years as president of the Mormon Church.
Brigham Young died on August 29, 1877, of a ruptured appendix. His legacy is seen in the impact he had on millions of Mormons. As the “Mormon Moses,” Brigham Young led the Mormon people to a so-called earthly promised land, but where did he lead them spiritually? In promoting a religion of works, a doctrine of multiple gods, and a false view of Jesus, Brigham Young can only be considered a false teacher on a grand scale who led millions away from the heavenly promised land (see 2 Peter 2:1–3).
That pesky adopted son … the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
Historian Will Bagley firmly believes that Mormon prophet Brigham Young ordered the massacre, but he acknowledges there’s no solid evidence of that. He believes the validity of the Mormon faith is at stake when explaining the Mountain Meadows massacre.
In 1857, the Utah War broke out after President James Buchanan replaced Brigham Young as Utah’s territorial governor with a non-LDS appointee. In the ensuing conflict, a Utah militia and their Native American allies massacred a California-bound wagon train of Arkansas settlers – including women and children – at Mountain Meadows, despite promising them safety for turning back. The leader of the massacre was Young’s adopted son, John D. Lee, who was tried for treason against the United States in 1876 and executed. The Latter-day Saints Church maintains the massacre was solely Lee’s decision – Young just wanted to expel the settlers without killing them.
Official statement, LDS Church website:
In theology and practice, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints embraces the universal human family. Latter-day Saint scripture and teachings affirm that God loves all of His children and makes salvation available to all. God created the many diverse races and ethnicities and esteems them all equally. As the Book of Mormon puts it, “all are alike unto God.”
The structure and organization of the Church encourage racial integration. Latter-day Saints attend Church services according to the geographical boundaries of their local ward, or congregation. By definition, this means that the racial, economic, and demographic composition of Latter-day Saint congregations generally mirrors that of the wider local community. The Church’s lay ministry also tends to facilitate integration: a black bishop may preside over a mostly white congregation; a Hispanic woman may be paired with an Asian woman to visit the homes of a racially diverse membership. Church members of different races and ethnicities regularly minister in one another’s homes and serve alongside one another as teachers, as youth leaders, and in myriad other assignments in their local congregations. Such practices make The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a thoroughly integrated faith.
Despite this modern reality, for much of its history—from the mid-1800s until 1978—the Church did not ordain men of black African descent to its priesthood or allow black men or women to participate in temple endowment or sealing ordinances.
The Church was established in 1830, during an era of great racial division in the United States. At the time, many people of African descent lived in slavery, and racial distinctions and prejudice were not just common but customary among white Americans. Those realities, though unfamiliar and disturbing today, influenced all aspects of people’s lives, including their religion. Many Christian churches of that era, for instance, were segregated along racial lines. From the beginnings of the Church, people of every race and ethnicity could be baptized and received as members. Toward the end of his life, Church founder Joseph Smith openly opposed slavery. There has never been a Churchwide policy of segregated congregations.
During the first two decades of the Church’s existence, a few black men were ordained to the priesthood. One of these men, Elijah Abel, also participated in temple ceremonies in Kirtland, Ohio, and was later baptized as proxy for deceased relatives in Nauvoo, Illinois. There is no reliable evidence that any black men were denied the priesthood during Joseph Smith’s lifetime. In a private Church council three years after Joseph Smith’s death, Brigham Young praised Q. Walker Lewis, a black man who had been ordained to the priesthood, saying, “We have one of the best Elders, an African.”
In 1852, President Brigham Young publicly announced that men of black African descent could no longer be ordained to the priesthood, though thereafter blacks continued to join the Church through baptism and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost. Following the death of Brigham Young, subsequent Church presidents restricted blacks from receiving the temple endowment or being married in the temple. Over time, Church leaders and members advanced many theories to explain the priesthood and temple restrictions. None of these explanations is accepted today as the official doctrine of the Church.
Nice try guys…
Enter Mason the ExMormon
Church leaders pondered promises made by prophets such as Brigham Young that black members would one day receive priesthood and temple blessings. In June 1978, after “spending many hours in the Upper Room of the [Salt Lake] Temple supplicating the Lord for divine guidance,” Church President Spencer W. Kimball, his counselors in the First Presidency, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles received a revelation. “He has heard our prayers, and by revelation has confirmed that the long-promised day has come,” the First Presidency announced on June 8. The First Presidency stated that they were “aware of the promises made by the prophets and presidents of the Church who have preceded us” that “all of our brethren who are worthy may receive the priesthood.”
Let’s cut to the chase …
Brigham Young is officially recognized as a prophet and as such, he spoke on behalf of God. Fact.
LDS Church: Why Do We Need Prophets?
By President Dieter F. Uchtdorf
Second Counselor in the First Presidency
Heavenly Father reveals this wisdom to His children on earth through His servants the prophets (see Amos 3:7). From the days of Adam, God has spoken to His children through appointed oracles who are charged with revealing His will and counsel to others. Prophets are inspired teachers and are always special witnesses of Jesus Christ (see D&C 107:23). Prophets speak not only to the people of their time, but they also speak to people throughout all time. Their voices echo through the centuries as a testament of God’s will to His children.
Prophets Are Inspired
By Elder David B. Haight
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I have been impressed with all of the prophets since the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith—he who by revelation received the message, the visit from God the Father and His Son, as Brother Aldin Porter has explained to us in detail this morning. I know that in order to usher in this work, that visitation took place, giving the Prophet Joseph Smith the vision and the determination and the ability to withstand all that he did in order to help bring about the Restoration. Heavenly messengers and revelations came to the Prophet Joseph Smith to help usher in this great work, which we declare to all the world and that I know to be true. I know that the prophets who have followed since the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith were all called of God.
Give Heed unto the Prophets’ Words
By Elder Quentin L. Cook
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
As the priesthood holders of the Church, it is our solemn responsibility to follow our prophet … Prophets are inspired to provide us with prophetic priorities to protect us from dangers. As an example, President Heber J. Grant, the prophet from 1918 to 1945, was inspired to emphasize adherence to the Word of Wisdom,10 the principle with a promise revealed by the Lord to the Prophet Joseph.
LDS website: Prophets of God
Prophets Are God’s Representatives on the Earth
Many people live in darkness, unsure of God’s will. They believe that the heavens are closed and that people must face the world’s perils alone. How fortunate are the Latter-day Saints! We know that God communicates to the Church through His prophet. With grateful hearts, Saints the world over sing the hymn, “We thank thee, O God, for a prophet to guide us in these latter days” (Hymns, no. 19).
A prophet is a man called by God to be His representative on earth. When a prophet speaks for God, it is as if God were speaking (see D&C 1:38). A prophet is also a special witness for Christ, testifying of His divinity and teaching His gospel. A prophet teaches truth and interprets the word of God.
LDS website: We Believe in Following the Prophet.
Because the President of the Church speaks for the Lord (see D&C 1:38), it is not wise to pick and choose just the parts of his counsel that we want to follow. Rather, we treat his counsel and invitations as if we had received them directly from Jesus Christ, “in all patience and faith” (D&C 21:5).
As we sustain the prophet and apostles, we gain a testimony of them as servants of God. Even though they are not perfect, Heavenly Father will not allow them to lead us astray (see Deuteronomy 18:18–20).
Oops…
Wikipedia: Black people and Mormonism.
The LDS Church’s views on Black people have alternated throughout its history. About Black slavery, early church leaders went from neutrality to abolitionism to a pro-slavery view. As early as 1844, church leaders taught that Black people’s spirits were less righteous in premortal life (before birth). Mormonism founder Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, his most influential successor as church president, said that Black people’s skin color was the result of the mark of Cain and the curse of Ham. During the 20th century, many leaders of the LDS Church vocally opposed the civil rights movement. In recent decades, the church has condemned racism and increased its outreach efforts in Black communities. It is still accused of perpetuating implicit racism by not apologizing for, acknowledging, or adequately counteracting the effects of its past discriminatory practices and beliefs. Church leaders have worked with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (the NAACP) since the 2010s, and have donated millions of dollars to Black organizations.
Smith said that Black and white people would be better off if they were “separate but legally equal”, advocating segregation: “Had I anything to do with the negro, I would confine them by strict law to their own species, and put them on a national equalization.”
After Smith’s murder in 1844, most Latter-day Saints followed Young to Utah (part of the Mexican province of Alta California until 1848) in 1847. Some enslaved people were brought to Utah, although others escaped. Brigham Young began teaching that enslaving people was ordained by God, but remained opposed to creating a slave-based economy in Utah.
The Utah Territory, under Young’s governance, legalized the purchase of Black and Native American people for enslavement in 1852. Under him, Utah passed laws supporting slavery and forbidding Black people from voting, holding public office, joining the local military, or marrying white people.
Many prominent church members enslaved people, including William H. Hooper, Abraham O. Smoot, Charles C. Rich, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball. Members bought and sold people, gave the church enslaved people as a tithe, and recaptured those who escaped their enslavers.
Until 1963, many church leaders supported legalized racial segregation; David O. McKay, J. Reuben Clark, Henry D. Moyle, Ezra Taft Benson, Joseph Fielding Smith, Harold B. Lee, and Mark E. Petersen were leading proponents.
Brigham Young taught that the punishment for Black–white marriages was death; the killing of a Black–white couple and their children was part of a blood atonement which would be a blessing to them. Young also said that if the church approved of white intermarriage with Black people, it would be destroyed and the priesthood would be taken away.
Donnie Osmond: “That’s the way the Lord wants it.”
History reveals that the LDS church attends to “social pressures” rather than the dictates of its prophets…
The LDS church has adapted to environmental pressures throughout its history, including going from polygamy to monogamy, from political separatism to assimilation with the United States, and from communitarian socialism to corporate capitalism. On June 8, 1978, the LDS Church’s First Presidency released a declaration allowing “all worthy male members of the church [to] be ordained to the priesthood without regard to race or color”, which gave Black women and men access to temple endowments and sealings. It was the most significant church-policy change in decades. According to accounts by several present, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles received the revelation to remove the racial restrictions while they prayed in the Salt Lake Temple. Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote that all present “received the same message”, and were able to understand “the will of the Lord”. Many factors led to the change, including pressure from the NAACP, growing membership and a temple in Brazil, pressures from member activists, negative publicity, and the need to resolve doctrinal contradictions. Due to the publicity from Lester Bush’s seminal article “Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine” in 1973, BYU vice-president Robert Thomas feared that the church would lose its tax-exempt status. The article detailed the church’s racially-discriminatory practices and inspired discussion among church leaders, weakening the idea that the temple and priesthood bans were doctrinal.
Let’s bring in Nemo the Mormon for comment…
And here is a discussion about how late in the game the church confronts its uncomfortable past…
Of course, we can’t leave out those trusted folks at FAIR (Faithful Answers, Informed Response). Formerly known as FairMormon and the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR), is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization that specializes in Mormon apologetics and responds to criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
It was a complex issue.
Insert laugh track here.
Can we just agree on this? The “prophet” Brigham Young was a full-blown racist.
As enlightening as the opinions of scholars, writers, and Latter-day Saint researchers may be, direct quotes from Brigham Young clearly show he had strong and certain personal beliefs about race, religion, and superiority.
The purpose of this piece isn’t to frame Young as simply a racist or any other one ‘thing’ because all humans are a complicated combination of thoughts, choices, opinions, and actions. The purpose is to disprove the opinion that Young wasn’t racist.
An equally significant inquiry arises: Was Brigham Young truly a “prophet”?
Latter-day Saints past and present consider Brigham Young to be a prophet of God.
This writer on Reddit has a conflicting view…
So here’s the thing. Even from a fully-believing perspective, the best anyone has to say for Brigham is that “he kept the church together” or “he made the desert flourish” or “he was what the Lord needed to get the Saints out to Utah”. Even my fully-believing mother is eternally grateful that she did not live during Brigham’s reign. But working wonders is no mark of a true prophet, and all throughout the Bible there are warnings against accepting prophets based on their ability to work wonders.
So, if you take everything that Brigham did in his life, especially during his reign as prophet, what is the balance? Were his works predominantly good or evil? Do any of his good works sufficient to outweigh any one of his evil works?
More importantly, given the Adam-God doctrine and all the rest, what did Brigham produce at any point in his life that showed he had any connection to God whatsoever? Keep in mind that he regularly taught many false doctrines (adam-god, curse of cain, blood atonement, to name a few) and regularly made false prophesies. Either one of these conclusively mark a false prophet. Why should we make a special exception for Brigham?
Giving all the evidence fair weight, there is simply no doctrinal way to conclude that Brigham was anything other than a false prophet. The only way to conclude that Brigham Young was a prophet is to ignore doctrine or be ignorant of history. Merely having a vague testimony of Brigham is not enough, since the scriptures say that even the elect will be deceived by false prophets.
It is noteworthy that we emphasize the importance of a fundamental doctrine of orthodox Christianity … the immutability of God. The REAL prophets of God in the Old Testament did not equivocate.
The immutability of God (His quality of not changing) is clearly taught throughout Scripture. For example, in Malachi 3:6 God affirms, “I the Lord do not change.” (See also Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29; Isaiah 46:9-11; and Ezekiel 24:14.)There are several logical reasons why God must be immutable, that is, why it is impossible for God to change. First, if anything changes, it must do so in some chronological order. There must be a point in time before the change and a point in time after the change. Therefore, for change to take place it must happen within the constraints of time; however, God is eternal and exists outside of the constraints of time (Psalm 33:11; 41:13; 90:2-4; John 17:5; 2 Timothy 1:9).
Second, the immutability of God is necessary for His perfection. If anything changes, it must change for the better or the worse, because a change that makes no difference is not a change. For change to take place, either something that is needed is added, which is a change for the better; or something that is needed is lost, which is a change for the worse. But, since God is perfect, He does not need anything. Therefore, He cannot change for the better. If God were to lose something, He would no longer be perfect; therefore, He cannot change for the worse.
Third, the immutability of God is related to His omniscience. When someone changes his/her mind, it is often because new information has come to light that was not previously known or because the circumstances have changed and require a different attitude or action. Because God is omniscient, He cannot learn something new that He did not already know. So, when the Bible speaks of God changing His mind, it must be understood that the circumstance or situation has changed, not God. When Exodus 32:14 and 1 Samuel 15:11-29 speak of God changing His mind, it is simply describing a change of dispensation and outward dealings toward man.
Numbers 23:19 clearly presents the immutability of God: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” No, God does not change His mind. These verses affirm the doctrine of God’s immutability: He is unchanging and unchangeable.
Myth-making in LDS history explains how Brigham Young’s story became the basis of believing in his prophetic position. This is a long dissertation on how that took place:
After Joseph Smith died, there was no clear succession plan left behind to proclaim the next prophet of the church. Due to this confusion, a meeting was convened as both Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young both felt they should lead the church moving forward (Rigdon as the prophet, Young as the leader of the twelve). As told in LDS history, the following happened:
“Brigham Young, a man fiercely loyal to the Prophet Joseph Smith, current President of the Twelve and later to become known as the “Lion of the Lord”, takes the stand. Suddenly, the people arise “en-masse to their feet astonished.” One eyewitness later remembered, “it appeared that Joseph had returned and was speaking to the people.” As Brigham Young commences speaking, hundreds in the audience believe “in every possible degree it [is] Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance [it is] Joseph himself, personified.” (ldsanswers.org)
This is a crucial moment in the history of the church, because following Joseph Smith’s death the church split off into many factions, with all of the living witnesses following Emma Smith to form the Reorganized LDS church due to their belief that polygamy was not from God. This moment is used to explain why Brigham Young was truly chosen by God to lead this church, why this is the true and living branch of God’s church, and that Brigham Young was truly a prophet of God.
The reason I find the transfiguration of Brigham Young to be such an important story is that the evolution of this miraculous event all took place after the church was founded and that we can see how easily it was both created, retrofitted, and accepted by members of the church. If the transfiguration of Brigham Young can be so easily established, then it becomes easy to understand why Joseph Smith was able to retrofit stories without resistance from members.
When I began doing the deep dive into church history, I was shocked to learn about the issues with the history of the Book of Mormon translation, the backdating of the revelation on polygamy, and how Joseph Smith changed the Charles Anthon story to backdate the fulfillment of prophecy. But when you look at how the transfiguration of Brigham Young was both created and embraced within a community, everything made a lot more sense. Suddenly all of the changes we find within the history of Mormonism can be better understood, because we can see how these stories evolved as the needs of the church and their leaders changed.
As the website LDS Answers said, “If this transfiguration never took place, the very foundations of our LDS faith and history are weakened.” They are absolutely right, because once you realize this event never happened, you begin to understand just how weak Brigham Young’s place as the next prophet of God is, and it begins to show you how all of these miraculous stories could be created after the fact to create faith in a church that is simply not what it claims to be.