Because of the priesthood ban, which was in effect from about the 1850s to 1978 in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the church often comes under scrutiny for racism. One of the elements of the church that receives much of this scrutiny is the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon is unique to the LDS Church because it was translated by the founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So, the question is often, are Mormons racist and is the Book of Mormon racist?
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon shares the story of a family, whose patriarchs were Lehi and Sariah. The story of the Book of Mormon focuses on the family and their descendants’ relationship with God but also describes the events of their lives. The family left the city of Jerusalem after Lehi received a vision of the city’s destruction and journeyed to the Americas. After Lehi’s death, the family split into two groups, one that wanted to follow God called the Nephites, and one that didn’t, the Lamanites. One of the most notable references to skin color is found in the context of the separation of the Nephites from the Lamanites.
The Lamanites are cursed because of their disobedience and rebellion against God. The curse is described in 2 Nephi 5:20-21 as being “cut off from the presence of the Lord.” As a sign of this, “the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them.”
Generations later, the curse was still upon the Lamanites because they did not repent or return to full fellowship with God.
- Alma 3:6: “And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men.”
These verses suggest that the dark skin of the Lamanites came as a physical manifestation of their ancestors’ disobedience, but stayed because of their personal disobedience. Some scholars argue that the dark skin was given as a sign of the curse so that the Nephites would know not to intermarry with anyone who was not keeping the covenants of God. This is similar to a prohibition in the Old Testament when the Israelites were forbidden to marry the Canaanites in Deuteronomy 7:3–4.
As further evidence of the fact that the curse was being cut off from the presence of God, whenever the Lamanites repented, the curse was taken away. There are several examples of this, but the primary one is the Lamanites who are converted by Ammon and his brethren, “and the curse of God did no more follow them.” In one instance, the Book of Mormon records that not only was the curse taken away from the repentant Lamanites, but the sign, as well.
- 3 Nephi 2:15: “And their curse was taken from them, and their skin became white like unto the Nephites.”
Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon
One of the claims from the anti-Mormon piece of literature called the CES Letter is there have been over 100,000 changes to the Book of Mormon. The argument is that for a supposedly inspired, translated book, this is a lot of changes. However, when the first edition of the Book of Mormon was published in 1830 it was sent without punctuation or standardized spelling. The majority of these 100,000 were not substantive changes but dealt with punctuation and spelling.
One of the more substantive changes that some people believe deals with race comes from 2 Nephi 30:6. The current verse reads “And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people.” However, in 1930, the last phrase of the verse read “save they shall be a white and delightsome people.” This was changed from white to pure by Joseph Smith in the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon.
In the context of this verse, the words white and pure have very similar connotations. Some scholars of the Book of Mormon argue that Joseph Smith made this change because he was aware of the racial connotations of the word white and wanted the meaning to be completely clear, avoiding any racial meanings.
By Todd Noall, Source Expert
Todd Noall is an author and religious scholar at Mormonism Explained with a focus on the history and theology of religion.
Fact Checked by Mr. Kevin Prince, Source Expert
Kevin Prince is a religious scholar and host of the Gospel Learning Youtube channel. His channel has garnered over 41,000 subscribers and accumulated over 4.5 million views. Mr. Prince also created the Gospel Learning App, a reliable platform where individuals seeking truth can access trustworthy answers to religious questions from top educators worldwide.
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