In my last post, I mentioned that the LDS church recently changed the introductory summary of 2 Nephi 5 from this:
The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the law of Moses, and build a temple -- Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cursed, receive a skin of blackness, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.to this:
The Nephites separate themselves from the Lamanites, keep the law of Moses, and build a temple—Because of their unbelief, the Lamanites are cut off from the presence of the Lord, are cursed, and become a scourge unto the Nephites.
The reason for the change is obvious: the former summary was too racist, even for the LDS church. So they softened it up and toned it down a bit. But the racism of 2 Nephi 5 remains.
Here's what it says about the Lamanites (Native Americans in the Book of Mormon):
He had caused the cursing to come upon them... that ... wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome ... God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them ... that they shall be loathsome unto thy people. ...Cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. ...
Because of their cursing ... they did become an idle people, full of mischief. 2 Nephi 5:21-24
I'm sure the LDS church would like to do to the text of 2 Nephi 5 what they did to its chapter summary. Soften it up, tone it down, throw it out. And maybe they'll do that some day while no one is looking. But for now, at least, they are stuck with it.
Like the American Family Association is stuck with Bryan Fischer.
You remember, Bryan Fischer, don't you? He's the guy that thinks we should kill the bears, stone the whales, and become more Phinehas-like (by impaling interracial couples while they're having sex).
Now he tells us about Native Americans.
I'd link to his post, bit it's been removed from the AFA website. It seems that the AFA is as embarrassed by Fischer's post as the LDS church is with 2 Nephi 5.
Here are some excerpts from the original post.
The native American tribes at the time of the European settlement and founding of the United States were, virtually without exception, steeped in the basest forms of superstition, had been guilty of savagery in warfare for hundreds of years, and practiced the most debased forms of sexuality....
The [Lewis and Clark] journals record the morally abhorrent practice of many native American chiefs, who offered their own wives to the Corps of Discovery for their twisted sexual pleasure. (Regrettably, many members of the Corps, Lewis and Clark excepted, took advantage of these offers and contracted numerous and debilitating sexually transmitted diseases as a result.)
...
Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.
...
God explained to the nation of Israel that because of the “abomination(s)” of the indigenous Canaanite tribes, the land had become unclean and “vomited out its inhabitants (Lev. 18:25).”
Is this to say the same holds true for native American tribes today? In many respects, the answer is of course no. But in some senses, the answer is yes. Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.
OK. Maybe my title is a bit exaggerated. I'm not sure which is more racist, Bryan Fischer or the Book of Mormon. What do you think?
12 comments:
My vote is for Bryan Fischer. The BOM was written in an time when racism was basically the norm. The BOM claims didn't seem that wrong, and probably made sense to many people.
But Bryan Fischer, he should know better. He's living in more enlightened times, but chooses to be ignorant. That takes a special kind of stupid.
Bryan Fischer, hands down. I started to write a blog post on how awgful he was, but new news kept coming in faster than i could update. I couldn't rewrite as fast as he spewed. Finally I just gave up.
Mormons do not seem to realize how ancient the indigenous cultures of the Americas really are.
By comparison, one of the oldest Jewish known cities is Hebron (around 1730 B.C.), originally Jewish, later Egyptian.
The human fossils found in Paisley, Oregon 2 years ago (2008) are native american (DNA tested) and were carbon dated to around 12300 B.C.
These were not the descendants of the Jews.
As for Mr. Fischer and his interesting view of world history, I have some P'urhepecha friends that would appreciate having a word or two.
named and shamed !
I'm curious. What makes a statemnt racist? If a statement is true, then it is just FACT, right? So, if the statement is untrue, then it is racist? Where is the untruth?
Annie..
You are *kinda* right.
IF the BOM WAS true, then it would be a FACT that god had cursed people with a skin of blackness - It would not then be racist to say this.
BUT
that would then mean that god needlessly created racism and all its' evils on a whim, thus creating human misery for years.
Does that answer your question ?
I'm just waiting for the inevitable day when Bryan Fischer is caught with a gay hooker in a seedy motel (hard drugs optional).
Just angels and demons are made not born it is by choice they become what they are. We make the
choices here on Earth. Much of
what is anti Mormon is from porn-
ographers whom want to brinbg the Church down to their level. They
don't like to hear about eternal punishment, therefore they deny it.
What a rude awakening awaits them
as well as others that fight the Lord and promote evil in life.
What a rude awakening awaits them
as well as others that fight the Lord and promote evil in life.
Yeah, we'll be eating our own flesh and getting drunk on our own blood, just like it says in 2 Nephi 6:8. Right, Julie?
You accuse the Book of Mormon of being racist, but you conveniently leave out the promises that it makes to the "Lamanites" or Native Americans, that they will eventually be a choice and blessed people, and will rule over the "Gentiles" who possess their land if the "Gentiles" reject the "Gospel" that will come among them. Those promises are much more prominent in the Book of Mormon than the "curses" you mention. There are also many places in the Book of Mormon that imply that skin color per se makes no difference at all to God's love for his children. You just paint the picture to match what you want to believe, taking a few lines out of context. It also does not preclude the possibility of many other inhabitants of the Americas who were unassociated with those mentioned in the Book of Mormon, who could have come to America thousands of years earlier.
The original definition of racism was a system of belief that race, culture and civilization were linked with race or biology being the determing factor. In other words bad genes causes bad behavior. The idea that bad behavior causes racial difference is not racism and is in fact antithetical to racism. Furthermore, although the prophet Jacob ascribes the change in color to God's intervention, there is no obligation to believe that on the part of Mormons. Two British scientists observed a strikingly similar phenomanon between 1960 and 1989 in the Habbani Jews. This group diverged into two phenotypes in the space of a couple generations; one being significantly darker skinned than the other.
Markus Arelius,
The Book of Mormon mostly contains the religious writings of pre-Columbian Israelite settlers in America and their descendants. In Mormon lingo, the previous inhabitants who were in America long before these Israelite dettlers, are called Jaredites. The Book of Ether within the Book of Mormon is an exception. It is the history of the first Americans (Jaredites) recorded on metal plates that were discovered by the descedants of Israelite and Phonecian settlers in a ruined city, and translated by a guy named Mosiah.
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