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Response to questions about racism in the Book of Mormon

Response to questions about racism in the Book of Mormon

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Response to claim: "the Book of Mormon....claims that God cursed the Native Americans with dark skin"

The author(s) of "Questions and Answers" on Mormon Stories make(s) the following claim:

(25 June 2014 revision): I began to feel deeply troubled by the racist narrative of the Book of Mormon, which to this day claims that God cursed the Native Americans with dark skin, as a result of their wickedness.

FairMormon Response

Fact checking results: The author has stated erroneous information or misinterpreted their sources

The "curse" was the lack of gospel blessings due to disobedience, though they were promised eventual salvation. The issue of color was intended for the Nephites' protection from cultural apostasy—though repentance and conversion removed any stigma from intermarriage or association, since it was sin and not skin that mattered.

The author ignores that the Nephites were also told very early that to "revile" the wicked "because of the darkness of their skins" was a sin, which God forbade (Jacob 3:9).

It is anachronistic and inaccurate to view these ideas in "racial" terms familiar to nineteenth and twentieth century Americans. The author is projecting his own views onto the text, not representing it fairly on its own terms.





Question: What was the Lamanite curse?

The Book of Mormon talks of a curse being placed upon the Lamanites

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. 2 Nephi 5:21

It is claimed by some that the Church believed that Lamanites who accepted the Gospel would become light-skinned, and that "Mormon folklore" claims that Native Americans and Polynesians carry a curse based upon "misdeeds on the part of their ancestors."

One critic asks, "According to the Book of Mormon a dark skin is a curse imposed by God on the unrighteous and their descendants as a punishment for sin. Do you agree with that doctrine? (Book of Mormon, 1 Nephi 12:22-23, Alma 3:6, 2 Nephi 5:21-22, Jacob 3:8, 3 Nephi 2:15-16, Mormon 5:15; references to the "Lamanites" are taken to be referring to Native American "Indians".)" [1]

Although the curse of the Lamanites is often associated directly with their skin color, it may be that this was intended in a far more symbolic sense than modern American members traditionally assumed

The curse itself came upon them as a result of their rejection of the Gospel. It was possible to be subject to the curse, and to be given a mark, without it being associated with a change in skin color, as demonstrated in the case of the Amlicites. The curse is apparently a separation from the Lord. A close reading of the Book of Mormon text makes it untenable to consider that literal skin color was ever the "curse." At most, the skin color was seen as a mark, and it may well have been that these labels were far more symbolic and cultural than they were literal.



