Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood

For an outsider, the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with its lay leadership, can seem unusual. Some of the positions are familiar, but don’t always have the same meaning as other churches. The concept of priesthood is also different. Every worthy male member over a certain age holds priesthood authority in the LDS church, while priesthood in many other denominations is generally limited to those in leadership roles. Within the LDS Church, it is understood that the leadership and governance of the church is universally linked with priesthood authority which is widely distributed throughout its membership. For over 120 years, that authority was restricted by racial heritage. Many current members of the church may not be old enough to have personally experienced the policy that banned members of African descent from holding priesthood offices and restricted their access to temple ordinances, or the revelation that ended the policy 45 years ago. That history raises questions leaving many members looking for answers. Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood, by Paul Reeve, is a small volume from Deseret Book that does an excellent job of answering many of those questions, but not all. Reeve is particularly well qualified to write on the priesthood/temple ban. He has devoted much of his academic career to studying and writing about the topic of race and the Church, including his previous work, Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness. Reeve has also led the effort at the University of Utah to create and maintain a database, A Century of Black Mormons, that documents the names and biographical information on Black members of the Church during the years of the priesthood/temple ban. The topic of race and priesthood has long been of interest to this reviewer. Reeve succinctly and comprehensively relates the history of the ban with many new details previously unknown to me. Reeve has organized the book into three sections, the first dealing with the universal acceptance of Blacks who joined during the Church’s first twenty years. Black male members were ordained to the priesthood and served missions, and individual Black members received as much of the temple ordinances as existed during the brief period when those rites were introduced in Kirtland and Nauvoo. Reeve’s second section then deals with the beginnings of the ban during the presidency of Brigham Young, and the racially-based segregation of temple ordinances and priesthood that lasted until 1978. Reeve correctly identifies the most likely and well-documented reasons for the ban as the fear of miscegenation, or mixing of the races through marriage. He explains how over time, as succeeding church leaders dealt with the issues of the ban, various justifications were articulated, despite some obvious conflicts with scriptural admonishments about the universal nature of Christ’s restored gospel. This led to concepts such as the Black race being cursed as descendants of Cain who slew Abel, or the idea that Blacks were fence-sitters during the pre-existent War in Heaven. Reeve deals with each of justifications, providing as much an answer as can be found. Reeve notes that the search for justification came at a cost:“[At the turn of the 20th Century}…Church leaders moved incrementally away from their own Black members towards whiteness and its corresponding acceptability. It was a racial passage, however, that came with a price. That price included racial prejudice, policies, teachings, and practices that became tightly woven into the fabric of the Church and would take another seventy years to begin to unravel.” [p87] Over time, those justifications became more and more problematic, as the church expanded internationally into South America and Africa. Reeve shows how attitudes among the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve struggled with the issues resulting from the ban, and President Spencer W. Kimball’s year’s long struggle leading up to the 1978 revelation ending the ban.One of the most vexing questions for members has to do with whether or not the ban was instituted by revelation, either to Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, during their presidencies. Reeve does not believe that such a revelation occurred. As Reeve notes, there is no contemporary evidence for such a revelation. [Note 1] As with much of history, there continues to be gaps in knowledge that can’t easily be filled. As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “To be perfectly frank, there have been times when members or leaders in the church have simply made mistakes…God is perfect…but he works through us---His imperfect children---and imperfect people make mistakes.”[p122] The third and final section is about post-1978 inclusion and how we move forward as a church from this legacy of what has the appearance of racist theology. It includes a number of quotations on turning away from racism and prejudice. Bruce R. McConkie of the Twelve made perhaps the most emphatic statement in 1978 when he proclaimed “Forget everything that I have said, or what President Brigham Young or 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 has now come into the world.” [p110] President Dallin H. Oaks said “we must do better to help root out racism.” [p111] Another question that Reeve responds to is how we react to the idea that our leaders that we confirm and sustain as prophets, seers and revelators, may have gotten something so wrong. He quotes Jeffrey R. Holland of the Twelve saying “Be kind regarding human frailty---your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women…imperfect people are all that God has ever had to work with. That must be terribly frustrating to Him, but he deals with it. So should we.” [p122] As Reeve says it, “…the message seems clear: God is accustomed to working through fallible folks.” [p123] Every page in Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood reveals solidly researched information and insights that will help readers better understand the many questions surrounding the ban.. This small volume has a greater chance of being read by more members of the Church, both due to its availability, and the important perceived endorsement as a book produced by Deseret Book, the Church’s official publishing outlet.Some readers will have difficulty with the information in this book. Reeve notes that in 2010, 32 years after the ban ended, he was asked by a twelve-year-old deacon in his ward, “Why are Black people cursed?” indicating that the problem is still very much with us. [p113] While the thrust of Reeve’s book may be about helping individuals come to terms with race and the priesthood as it pertains to the Church, its greater lesson may be about increasing our awareness of how institutions, including the Church, can succumb to cultural and societal norms that are not in tune with Christ’s restored gospel. Current Church President Russell M. Nelson, along with leaders of the NAACP, recently issued a joint statement recognizing how racism goes beyond individual feelings and attitudes. In the statement, they called on “government, business, and educational leaders at every level to review processes, laws, and organizational attitudes regarding racism and root them out once and for all. [p129] Understanding leads to individual change, and individuals then can influence families, business, government, and organizations, no matter how large, to change as well. Let’s Talk About Race and Priesthood is an important step to understanding the priesthood/temple ban, and then furthering that process of change.1. Normally even an unpublished revelation would have created some kind of paper trail. No evidence of such a revelation can be found in any of the minutes of First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve meetings from that time, nor is there any reference to such a revelation in their journals, personal correspondence, or public speaking on the matter. Lack of evidence, however, is not evidence of lack in any conclusive way. Given the amount of research on this topic, and the huge volume of documents and information gathered by the Joseph Smith Papers Project, it seems unlikely that such a revelation beginning the ban occurred. See also Real vs. Rumor: How to Dispel Latter-day Myths, Keith Erekson, Deseret Book, 2021, pps 15-17; also, discussion in a Church History conference call for America Northwest Area, May 6, 2021, reviewer’s notes.

This book itself is relatively short—just shy of 140 pages without counting footnotes. But it does a marvelous job of recounting the history of race-based policies and history in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as well as providing a modern look at the issue, a call to action, and finding a path forward.This is an absolute must-read book for anyone interested in this topic. And it’s one that I wish every member of the Church would read to better understand this history and how we can do better moving forward.Some believers may be troubled by Professor Reeve’s conclusion that the previous priesthood ban did not come from God. However, Professor Reeve makes compelling arguments for that conclusion and for rejecting several theories that people have used in attempting to justify the ban.For me—as a believing, practicing member of the Church—Dr. Reeve’s conclusion is logical, compelling, and the only one I find to be in line with core Church teachings and revelation. At the end of the day, we are left with a choice between believing that either:(A) imperfect, mortal men made mistakes due to their own prejudices, biases, and flaws, or(B) that contrary to scripture, God is a respecter of persons who discriminated against an entire race without any justification.Presented with that choice, it seems to me—and to Professor Reeve—that the only reasonable explanation is the first: that the priesthood ban was the product of flawed mortal men rather than an act of discrimination and prejudice on God’s part. Indeed, choosing the latter would be squarely at odds with biblical and Latter-day Saint scriptures that teach that God is no respecter of persons and that “all are alike unto God,” regardless of race or other attributes.With respect to the book, I would also add that Darius Gray’s foreword and perspective is equally worth reading and consideration. Few people in the Church have grappled with these issues more deeply and faithfully than Darius Gray. Would that more of us were like him and gave greater consideration to his experience and perspective.

A fair and in depth view of this troubling issue. Many thanks to the author! Hopefully this book can help us all be more inclusive and loving.

This is a great overview of the history around the priesthood ban. Reeves does a wonderful job of connecting events of the past both in the Church as well as outside to bring to pass a sound understanding of how things evolved over time, including the erroneous interpretations of leaders as well as false memories of others.

What a book. Great researched information and knowledge on topic of LDS interest. And you thought it was Joseph Smith....

Very well written and concise. After exploring the history of race in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints, the chapters of synthesis addressed many of the questions that would naturally come up. This book gives you a lot to think about and helps direct subsequent questions and two possible fruitful directions.I couldn't help but wonder what other issues do we have that fall in a similar category? Once we accept without really questioning on an institutional level? Gender inequality and lesbian/ gay issues come to mind first 🤔

If you want a simple read that steps you through the history of race in the Latter Day Saint tradition this book is for you. It put so many questions to bed. It doesn’t sugar coat the issues.

I have been waiting for an honest explanation of where this doctrine came from for over 60 years. Here is an explanation that is not offensive to a God who is a good and loving God. In the hearts of almost all members of the church this doctrine never did fit with the nature of the God we have faith in..