Burden of the Cross – Part III

Apostle Mark E. Peterson, concerned about the negativity coming from all the attention placed on the church by the NAACP and the New York Times, sent a letter to the editor of the Times in 1966 defending the Churches’ position in response to an exposé done by Wallace Turner.  He argued that the Church while holding the ban on priesthood was valid it did not mean that the church expected blacks to end up in hell or some lesser part of a segregated heaven.[1]

Burden of the Cross – Part II

Professor England was not alone in this argument.  In the late 1960s a few graduate students and Professors, most of whom were LDS established Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought as a journal to present scholarly studies of Mormon history and theology.  With this forum several of the writers presented articles critical of the ban.  The first major work was done by LDS scholar Stephen Taggart.  Taggart published an article called Mormonism’s Negro Policy: Social and Historical Origins.  The Article was supposed to be published first in Dialogue in the 1969 winter edition but Taggart passed away prior to publication.  His argument was that the ban on blacks was simply an outgrowth of the violent Missouri period in Mormon History and the common prejudices which existed at the time.[1]

Resurrection in the eyes of Clement

I have been thinking a bit about Christ and his resurrection through Good Friday.  I have wanted to blog a bit about this subject due to how central his life and mission is to our faith.  By his overcoming the world he built a bridge over a gap that we could not cross. 

So with this in mind I have been looking at different places to get quotes and I have two in an epistle sent by Clement, sometimes called Bishop of Rome, or the Pope, though the pontifex position was actually usually held by the pagan emperor among their many titles as the chief priest.  Modelling themselves in the image of Julius Caeser who first used the Pontiff position for earthly power in Rome.

Anyway here is what he said on the matter of Christ and his resurrection, this is taken from the 16th and 24th chapters:

Burden of the Cross – Part I

The purpose of this essay is to argue that liberal members, LDS politicians and outside activists who wanted the push the church towards a removal of the ban on blacks ultimately failed and possibly prolonged the ban.   It will also discuss how this discrimination affected African American membership in the church.  This essay will argue that pull factors of expanding church membership in the world and problems with racial mixing in Brazil were the real motivations for change amongst leaders in the church. 

Burden of the Cross – Introduction

I have been thinking about this for a while, and I think I am going to post my essay from last semester.   I will break it into parts because I know 20 Paper pages would be huge in a blog, as well as removing my explainations of what priesthood authority and the different leadership positions because my audience is different.

When originally written it had two cross thesis, which I have left in mainly to understand my original argument as well as give some discussion of the experiences of African American Mormons.

Orson Hyde, on the Mount of Olives

In April of 1841 Orson Hyde had travelled from Nauvoo, his trip took him half way around the world to Jerusalem.   Orson was specifically sent on a mission to reach out to the Jews. 

Elementary, my dear reader…

So you are coming to this blog, and for some reason you think… gee what level of reading is this?

I have no idea why you might, but stay with me.

Movie Reviews

I do not know if this is compliment or a criticism but nonetheless, even my kids can read this blog.