The Latest "Expert" in Mormonism: Janet Langhart Cohen

[jonny]

I don't know if I can take this for two more years - much less another four or eight years if Romney actually becomes president. Janet Cohen, wife of former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, gave her two cents on Mormonism on the Today show.

Ms. Cohen - "I hate to talk about anybody's faith, but if you understand the Mormon faith, up until 1978 an interracial marriage, the Mormons would have considered a sin...They would have considered me as an African America cursed, that God didn't hear my prayers."

She forgot to mention that an interratial marriage was ILLEGAL in 30 out of 50 states until the 1960s. It wasn't a sin, it was against the law. That's just the beginning of the problems with her statement.

Hmmm... I wonder who the next moronic Mormon expert will be who takes it upon themselves to make a complete fool out of themselves on national TV. I guess that most of the country is too ignorant to know that difference though. They just sit back and think, "those racist Mormon ********."

 

[Bishka]

. I guess that most of the country is too ignorant to know that difference though. They just sit back and think, "those racist Mormon ********."

We've heard it before, we hear it now and we'll hear it again...unfortunatley.

 

[PetShopBoy88]

Hmmm... I wonder who the next moronic Mormon expert will be who takes it upon themselves to make a complete fool out of themselves on national TV.

You're only a fool if people know you're being foolish, and most people today will take what's said on tv to be the truth, without bothering to look at things for themselves.

 

[kiwimac]

I always found it interesting that the Church of Jesus Christ ordained at least one Negro Seventy in 1836 under JS Jr but no ordinations of negroes took place under Brigham Young and not again until 1977 / 78.

kiwimac

 

[jonny]

I always found it interesting that the Church of Jesus Christ ordained at least one Negro Seventy in 1836 under JS Jr but no ordinations of negroes took place under Brigham Young and not again until 1977 / 78.

kiwimac

Actually, there were a few who were ordained after Joseph Smith died - although not when Brigham Young was the prophet. Enoch Abel was ordained in 1900 and Elijah Abel was ordained in 1934 and again in 1935 (first as a priest and then as an elder). Also, blacks in other areas of the world such as South America and the Phillipeans were ordained before 1978. You can read a timeline on the history of Africans in the LDS church here: http://www.blacklds.org/mormon/history.html.

I don't know all the reasons for the ban and I don't think we'll ever know. Any guess is pure speculation. I'm just glad it was lifted and is gone.

What I find interesting is that the church never made the ban official. From everything I've ever been able to find it was always, "I heard that Joseph Smith said..."

 

[Comprehend]

Actually, there were a few who were ordained after Joseph Smith died - although not when Brigham Young was the prophet. Enoch Abel was ordained in 1900 and Elijah Abel was ordained in 1934 and again in 1935 (first as a priest and then as an elder). Also, blacks in other areas of the world such as South America and the Phillipeans were ordained before 1978. You can read a timeline on the history of Africans in the LDS church here: http://www.blacklds.org/mormon/history.html.

I don't know all the reasons for the ban and I don't think we'll ever know. Any guess is pure speculation. I'm just glad it was lifted and is gone.

What I find interesting is that the church never made the ban official. From everything I've ever been able to find it was always, "I heard that Joseph Smith said..."

Personally, I think it was because of the Book of Abraham, which was translated in 1837 and first published in 1842.

Joseph Smith likely stopped allowing blacks to be ordained after he translated the Book of Abraham.

Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1-4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992),, p.125
HISTORY. Though few in number, blacks have been attracted to the Church since its organization. Early converts (such as Elijah Abel) joined during the 1830s; others (such as Jane Manning James) joined after the Saints moved to Illinois. Among those who came to Utah as pioneers were Green Flake, who drove Brigham Young's wagon into the Salt Lake Valley, and Samuel Chambers, who joined in Virginia as a slave and went west after being freed. Throughout the twentieth century, small numbers of blacks continued to join the Church, such as the Sargent family of Carolina County, Virginia, who joined in 1906; Len and Mary Hope, who joined in Alabama during the 1920s; Ruffin Bridgeforth, a railroad worker in Utah, converted in 1953; and Helvecio Martins, a black Brazilian businessman, baptized in 1972 (he became a general authority in 1990). These members remained committed to their testimonies and Church activities even though during this period prior to 1978 black members could not hold the priesthood or participate in temple ordinances.

The reasons for these restrictions have not been revealed. Church leaders and members have explained them in different ways over time. Although several blacks were ordained to the priesthood in the 1830s, there is no evidence that Joseph Smith authorized new ordinations in the 1840s, and between 1847 and 1852 Church leaders maintained that blacks should be denied the priesthood because of their lineage. According to the book of Abraham (now part of the Pearl of Great Price), the descendants of Cain were to be denied the priesthood of God (Abr. 1:23-26). Some Latter-day Saints theorized that blacks would be restricted throughout mortality. As early as 1852, however, Brigham Young said that the "time will come when they will have the privilege of all we have the privilege of and more" (Brigham Young Papers, Church Archives, Feb. 5, 1852), and increasingly in the 1960s, Presidents of the Church taught that denial of entry to the priesthood was a current commandment of God, but would not prevent blacks from eventually possessing all eternal blessings.

 

[jonny]

You may be right on that. That's the only real explanation I've ever heard.

I've always had a difficult time with the whole idea of a "curse". I don't like thinking about anyone as being cursed simply because of the color of their skin. Funny thing is that a few black friends that I have really believe that there was a curse placed on them because of what Cain did. I guess this is one of those things that we'll have to wait and see on in the next life.

 

[KEG83]

There is always going to be persecution against the church. And it is only going to get worse.

 

[Comprehend]

There is always going to be persecution against the church. And it is only going to get worse.

Hey, welcome to the forum. I hope you stick around and join us. We have quite a few LDS members here.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

She forgot to mention that an interratial marriage was ILLEGAL in 30 out of 50 states until the 1960s. It wasn't a sin, it was against the law.

If you had not said that I would not have believed it.
Interracial marriage has neve been illegal in the UK.
Where did they get the idea from for it to be Illegal?
Most early settlers if not all, were from europe where it was not a problem.

 

[jonny]

If you had not said that I would not have believed it.
Interracial marriage has neve been illegal in the UK.
Where did they get the idea from for it to be Illegal?
Most early settlers if not all, were from europe where it was not a problem.

Search for miscegenation and you'll find some good information. I don't know why they decided to make it illegal. The supreme court made these laws illegal in the 1960s, but my understanding is that Alabama just changed its laws in 2000. I think that was the last state to make the change.

I just get so frustrated when people pass judgment on the church without taking the culture into context.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

Search for miscegenation and you'll find some good information. I don't know why they decided to make it illegal. The supreme court made these laws illegal in the 1960s, but my understanding is that Alabama just changed its laws in 2000. I think that was the last state to make the change.

I just get so frustrated when people pass judgment on the church without taking the culture into context.

I don't see it as having been a church problem. yours or any on elses.
But it seems to have been a very ingrained American cultural problem.