Well this is interesting. Deseret Book has stopped printing Bruce R. McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine, the controversial book that almost single-handedly destroyed my faith in the LDS Church with the following passage about “Negroes”:
Negroes in this life are denied the Priesthood; under no circumstances can they hold this delegation of authority from the Almighty (Book of Abraham 1:20-27). The gospel message of salvation is not carried affirmatively to them…Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow there from, but this inequality is not of man’s origin. It is the Lord’s doing, is based on his eternal laws of justice, and grows out of the lack of Spiritual valiance of those concerned in their first estate. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966, pages 527-528)
This and other unpalatable comments were later removed or softened, but the church continues to be embarrassed by the book’s earlier editions and the lasting impacts they’ve had on Mormon thought.
Deseret Book says that the decision has to do with Mormon Doctrine‘s poor sales, but local bookseller Tony Weller (of Sam Weller’s) maintains that there is a “solid and constant demand for it.”
Their dropping of Mormon Doctrine reflects less on the book’s sales and more on the LDS Church. It signals a positive change—an acknowledgment by the church of the need to outgrow the old Mormonism that McConkie embodied.
just to note: the passage you mention was taken out of all versions of McConkie’s Mormon Doctrine almost 40 years ago (as well as some other “doctrines” McConkie was wrong about).
Personally, as someone who considers himself a devout Mormon, I’ve always disliked “Mormon Doctrine” and am glad to see it go.
Note added.
I don’t know if I like this (lets edit ourselves and become more mainstream) approach of the church. It makes it more difficult for new members to find out just how jacked up their new faith really is. I guess I have the same opinion of the church as Brad Pitt does about Nazis taking off their uniforms in the movie inglorious bastards. I like Pitt don’t want the Nazis or the church to go home and take off their uniform pretending that nothing happened, I want all to be able have easy access to all of the churches past and present doctrine and beliefs. Maybe its just the historian in me , but the church has a huge history of editing it’s past and encouraging members to only read recent approved material from the church. Also as a correction the part about the negros being inferior has been edited from several of the recent . The one that you read was probably one of the earlier editions of the book. The first presidency make elder McConkie revise a large portion of his book when he became an apostle.
*made
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I don’t think that denying responsibility for sins you made in the past is moving in a positive direction. I remember reading that passage (or one like it) in Mormon Doctrine and being very WTF’ed.
This is just whitewashing like they’ve done with so much old doctrine. If you look at the new priesthood manuals about Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, you won’t find the word “polygamy” once in either. That’s kind of odd given how important polygamy was to the mormon church during those times.
Change if you want to, but don’t go erasing history.
Discontinuing a book isn’t “erasing history.” The Church isn’t burning old copies of Mormon Doctrine, guys. It merely isn’t publishing it anymore.
Maybe not, but the book appears to still be in demand.
They’re not erasing history (this time), but I do think this is just another step in the church’s attempt to whitewash Mormonism so it seems friendlier and more similar to mainstream Protestantism, at least superficially, so as to attract more converts.
As Kyle pointd out, the church has recently changed not only priesthood/RS manuals but the Gospel Principles book, removing references to polygamy, Heavenly Mother, as well as any talk about becoming gods. Some pretty core doctrines that are still believed by most members.
While they’re not burning books, I do think that probable reason behind this is that the church wants to distance itself from the teachings in the book without having to actually acknowledge them. Which is why I’d call this whitewashing. Certainly its indicative of their obsession with the “milk before meat” tactic which is increasingly becoming just milk and no meat, at least until you can’t think for yourself any more.
Mormon doctrine wasn’t authorized by church officials in the first place. It is church doctrine according to Bruce. They are just men and they’re prone to make mistakes too. Maybe that is why it is so important to study and pray before just taking someone’s word as gospel belief. It’s not like “Desert Book” (which is a private company) is discontinuing their sales of Books of Mormon. Maybe individual members have recommended the book but I have never seen the church officially recommend anyone’s book other than “Jesus the Christ” by Talmage.