Religion
Related: About this forumRacist Remarks by popular BYU Religion Professor Spark Controversy
http://www.religiondispatches.org/dispatches/joannabrooks/5748/racist_remarks_by_popular_byu_religion_professor_spark_controversy/
Post by Joanna Brooks
Racist apologetics by a popular Brigham Young University religion professor are sparking controversy, as election-year scrutiny sheds a revealing light on the persistence of racist belief among LDS Church members.
On Tuesday, Randy Bott, a BYU professor of religion, told the Washington Post that the LDS Churchs historic prohibition on priesthood ordination for men of African descent was a blessing to blacks because they were not ready for priesthood authority.
God has always been discriminatory when it comes to whom he grants the authority of the priesthood, says Bott... Bott compares blacks with a young child prematurely asking for the keys to her fathers car, and explains that similarly until 1978, the Lord determined that blacks were not yet ready for the priesthood.
What is discrimination? Bott asks. I think that is keeping something from somebody that would be a benefit for them, right? But what if it wouldnt have been a benefit to them? Bott says that the denial of the priesthood to blacks on Earthalthough not in the afterlifeprotected them from the lowest rungs of hell reserved for people who abuse their priesthood powers. You couldnt fall off the top of the ladder, because you werent on the top of the ladder. So, in reality the blacks not having the priesthood was the greatest blessing God could give them.
Bott was the highest-rated professor in America in 2008, according to RateMyProfessor.com.
More at link
Drale
(7,932 posts)dropped an F-Bomb in class today.
denverbill
(11,489 posts)Historic NY
(37,462 posts)African-American men enjoyed full status (including priesthood ordination) in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until the 1840s.
My guess is they needed all the Africans to bolster their ranks against forces that were against them at that time.
lsewpershad
(2,620 posts)but very very sick. Needs psychiatric, even electric shock therapy. A lobotomy might be best.
ZombieHorde
(29,047 posts)Not you, cbayer, the racist professor.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)progressoid
(50,020 posts)Jim__
(14,096 posts)2ndAmForComputers
(3,527 posts)Ask a Mormon why black people are black and get back to me.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)other than to smear religion and give it a black eye?
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)Religion smears itself enough that it needs no help
_ed_
(1,734 posts)contains systemic racism. Are you a Mormon? If so, please explain to me why you were a member of an officially racist organization until 1978. I'm still waiting for any major news org to ask Romney why he not only remained a member of this church in his adulthood, but became a Bishop. A Bishop in a racist church.
Religion is a set of ideas. It can only be "smeared" the way Keynesian economics or the theory of gravity can be "smeared:" through rational inquiry. You don't get to claim that your religion is special and should not be criticized, just because it's a religion.
And, frankly, Mormons are the ones giving Mormonism a "black eye." Prop 8 is only the most recent issue.
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)the irony.