Damming words from a false prophet
Brigham Young is consideredas a major prophet and leader of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. His racist words and views are self condemming.Young said, "You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, uncomely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind …. Cain slew his brother.
Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race - that they should be the ‘servant of servants’
This too appears to be the teaching of Joseph Smith the organisation's founder. My conclusion is that not only were they false prophets but appear to be quite evil!
Comments
“What shall we Christians do with this rejected and condemned people, the Jews? Since they live among us, we dare not tolerate their conduct, now that we are aware of their lying and reviling and blaspheming. If we do, we become sharers in their lies, cursing and blasphemy. Thus we cannot extinguish the unquenchable fire of divine wrath, of which the prophets speak, nor can we convert the Jews. With prayer and the fear of God we must practice a sharp mercy to see whether we might save at least a few from the glowing flames. We dare not avenge ourselves. Vengeance a thousand times worse than we could wish them already has them by the throat. I shall give you my sincere advice:
First to set fire to their synagogues or schools and to bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will ever again see a stone or cinder of them. This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians, and do not condone or knowingly tolerate such public lying, cursing, and blaspheming of his Son and of his Christians. For whatever we tolerated in the past unknowingly and I myself was unaware of it will be pardoned by God. But if we, now that we are informed, were to protect and shield such a house for the Jews, existing right before our very nose, in which they lie about, blaspheme, curse, vilify, and defame Christ and us (as was heard above), it would be the same as if we were doing all this and even worse ourselves, as we very well know.
Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed. For they pursue in them the same aims as in their synagogues. Instead they might be lodged under a roof or in a barn, like the gypsies. This will bring home to them that they are not masters in our country, as they boast, but that they are living in exile and in captivity, as they incessantly wail and lament about us before God.”
Yes, this is a curious statement, yet I find it odd that you refer to it as ‘evil’. In what way do you mean ‘evil’? Is it because of the overt racist quality of the quote? Or because the fact you see this religion as a ‘false’ religion. Are you saying one implies the other or both are traits of the same error?
First and foremost, ALL religion is discriminatory: ‘true prophets’ vs. ‘false prophets’; saved vs. unsaved; orthodoxy vs. heresy; righteous vs. unrighteous. A good quantity of the blood spilled throughout history has been as a result of such discrimination and the belief of fighting for truth over error – well, outwardly many wars are based on such premises, in reality, as with much in life, there is almost always an element of self-seeking: religion is often a useful ideological tool by which self-interest can be manifest as piety!
Your condemnation of this quote also raises some interesting questions concerning mainstream Christianity, particularly in Northern America. Remember it was an overtly Christian immigrant society that endorsed slavery and the brutal genocide which are the foundations of white settlement in America (and a good portion of European colonialism, throughout the world). Moreover this pernicious and often fierce racism continued, particularly in the Southern States (i.e. Bible Belt states) until well into the 20th century. Mainstream Christian thinking (mainly of an Evangelical or Reformed flavour) has been an ideological bulwark of racial division and white domination ideologies (not least use of ‘The Curse of Ham’(Gen 9:20-27)) – and is now being used (ironically) by churches in the developing world).
I suppose at this point it is usual among Christians is to mention Wilberforce, Bright etc. (no doubt there were other voices of protest in America). Obviously their work is laudable (tho’ it is ironic that their focus was overseas when the British working classes lived lives little better than slaves themselves until well into the 20th century!). There is also the temptation to bask in the reflected glory of such social reformers by some Christians: they were Christians, demonstrating this is what ‘we’ Christians do. When the counter argument is pretty damning – Southern Baptists, New England Puritans, Jesuits in South America were Christians - slavery, genocide, cultural domination, assimilation and destruction is what they did...’ Yet many Christians bleat the names of reformers in the hope of justifying themselves, without mention of the many ‘Christian’ activities that would (rightly) condemn them also.
Hence I wouldn’t seek to condemn Brigham Young without some careful reflection on mainstream Western Christianity’s own use of racism. Moreover, it is difficult to be too condemnatory of the Mormon pioneer spirit, when you consider what they underwent to establish the State of Utah. I was giving a paper at an academic conference in Las Vegas earlier this year (‘Socially Engaged Religion in a Global Context’!) and as I had a day’s leisure before my return flight and had no desire to sample the delights of Las Vegas’ Strip (which is like Blackpool on speed, but 44oC in the shade!) I visited the Old Mormon Fort, which was the original settlement of Las Vegas. Whatever my feelings and thoughts on the land grabbing of pioneers, I could not but be in awe of the faith that led them to such desolate and inhospitable places.
Regards:
P.
(P.S. Have you read Conan Doyle’s ‘Study in Scarlet’ – the first of the Sherlock Holmes’ books? The foundation of the story is an escape from Mormonism; there is much in the book that would probably delight you!)
I am not a follower of Luther or any other teacher, I follow no-one else but Jesus Christ. The difference is that Smith and Young are the founders and establishers of Mormonism - Mormons follow their teachings rather than that of Jesus Christ.