Last week, leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had a meeting with leaders of the NAACP. Joyful word spread like wildfire on social media: The Church had apologized for its history of racism!
Alas, it wasn’t true. Someone had set up a fake web site that looked very much like the real Mormon Church’s PR web site. The real site is at www.mormonnewsroom.org; the fake site is at www.mormon-newsroom.org. So much hurt caused (inadvertently?) by that little hyphen. Let’s discuss.
As you probably know, the Mormon Church has a checkered history with people of color. To wit, for many years the Church did not let black people serve as priests, discouraged interracial marriage, taught that dark skin and slavery were the curse of Cain for killing Abel, supported religious segregation, and allowed Joseph Smith to keep a slave. The Church called itself to account in 1978, when it welcomed black people to Temple Blessings and the priesthood. But it did not fully embrace responsibility for its history of racism. (I am reminded of The Book of Mormon, in which lily-white Elder Price proudly sings to an African warlord: “I believe that Satan has a hold of you/I believe that the Lord God has sent me here/And I believe that in 1978 God changed his mind about black people!” Uh, thanks?)
Let’s discuss the fake apology, what REALLY happened, the fallout, and why my own initial response to the fake apology was wrongheaded and insensitive.
Angel Moroni statue atop Birmingham, Alabama temple, by Matthew B. Brown
The statement on mormon-newsroom (which is still up as I type this), purporting to be from LDS Church President Russell M. Nelson, read in part:
Today, as Prophet, Seer and Revelator, and President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I offer a full unqualified apology for the error of racism which was taught from this office and in the tabernacle and over the pulpits of our churches the world over. I am joined by my counselors in the First Presidency and the full Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in making this apology and we collectively bear witness and testimony of the devastating effects of racism which were perpetuated by leaders of the church in the past.
Institutionally in the past, we taught false and hurtful ideas about curses, skin color, and spiritual worthiness, and we were wrong. We taught false notions of white supremacy in civil and religious life, heinous ideas of pure white blood, and erroneously condemned interracial marriage, and we were wrong. We took it upon ourselves to interpret scripture to justify these false ideas and closed our hearts and minds to the truth of God’s love even when it could be found in God’s written word, ancient and revealed, and we were wrong. We hardened our hearts to the plain and simple truth of Universal Brotherhood and equality of all before God, and we were wrong.
We withheld from our brothers and sisters the joys of Temple service, the security of an eternal family, the peace of hope for full exaltation, complete fellowship among the saints and the duty and blessing of the Priesthood, and we were wrong. We operated in the political sphere and used our influence to fight against civil rights when we should have been on the front lines in defense of those rights, and we were wrong. We reproved good men and women whose hearts were enlightened and whose voices were raised to God for equality, and we were wrong.
We have previously acknowledged that the false and racist explanations for the Priesthood and Temple restriction were wrong and disavowed them. Today, I am declaring that the ban itself was wrong. It was not of God but of fallible men, born of ignorance, pride and sin.
We stand humbly before our God and the world this day to prostrate our souls and beg forgiveness. With the mantle of authority also comes accountability. Though we did not originate these teachings and policies, we cannot deny accountability for their harm. Many of us were living and secure in our places of Priesthood privilege during those days and did not speak out against their falsehood when it was our duty, and each of us now feels the weight of institutional responsibility for those affronts to God’s precious children.
Wow, right? As good an apology as one could wish. It goes on to say that the apology is not just for past interpretation of Mormon texts, but also for the texts themselves. “[T]here are false racist ideas which have been enshrined in our canonized scripture,” fake-Nelson continued. “This is not as surprising as you might imagine — in the very title page the Prophet Moroni himself states that the Book of Mormon may contain errors which are ‘the mistakes of men’ and this is true of any scripture.” Fake-Nelson says he’s forming a Scriptural Committee on Race, consisting of Mormon authorities and both Mormon and non-Mormon academics. It will discuss the faults in scripture; consult with sociologists, theologists, and experts in race relations; and make recommendations for addressing racism in Mormon texts, which could lead to “footnotes, updated headers, additional explanatory text or even full removal of offending passages.”
Angel Moroni statue atop Salt Lake City Temple, by Simon Phipps
The not-actually-the-LDS-Church concludes:
True repentance requires a deep introspection and thorough understanding of the degree of the offense. Though it may sometimes be painful, it carries a hope for a brighter future free from the mistakes of the past. Though we have been chastened of the Lord, we are hopeful for “whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.”
It is my prayer that we all examine our hearts and root out those aspects of ourselves which may have been shaped by the racism of our past. As leaders and as members we must constantly guard against these biases. The strongest ally we have in this endeavor is Christ. He set the example of unconditional love and charity. If we measure our hearts against that standard and always strive to meet it, changing where we must even though it may be difficult – then we can stay on the path of discipleship and grow in faith and love for all of God’s children.
On behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, its current and past leaders and members, I offer this humble apology and plead for forgiveness in the merciful name of Jesus Christ, Amen.”
It really is astounding. It’s everything SorryWatch asks for in an apology: It names the sin, takes ownership, explicitly uses the word “sorry” or “apologize” (rather than “regret”), acknowledges the effect, explains the steps being taken so that the offense won’t happen again, and tries to make amends. Many Mormons, of all backgrounds, rejoiced.
Angel Moroni statue atop Reno, NV temple
Unfortunately, it was a lie. In reality, the statement said only:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints continues to affirm its fundamental doctrine—and our heartfelt conviction—that all people are God’s precious children and therefore our brothers and sisters. Nearly a quarter century ago, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles proclaimed that “All human beings—male and female—are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny.”
Today, in unity with such capable and impressive leaders as the national officials of the NAACP, we are impressed to call on people of this nation and, indeed, the entire world to demonstrate greater civility, racial and ethnic harmony and mutual respect. In meetings this morning, we have begun to explore ways—such as education and humanitarian service—in which our respective members and others can serve and move forward together, lifting our brothers and sisters who need our help, just as the Savior, Jesus Christ, would do. These are His words: “I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (Doctrine and Covenants 38:27).
Together we invite all people, organizations and governmental units to work with greater civility, eliminating prejudice of all kinds and focusing more on the many areas and interests that we all have in common. As we lead our people to work cooperatively, we will all achieve the respect, regard and blessings that God seeks for all of His children. Thank you very much.
That is so not an apology. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson responded, “We admire and share your optimism that all peoples can work together in harmony and should collaborate more on areas of common interest. Thank you.” He also praised the Mormon Church’s “good faith efforts to bless not only its members, but people throughout the United States and, indeed, the world,” and added, “I am proud to stand here today to open up a dialog to seek ways of common interest to work towards a higher purpose.”
When the site was revealed to be fake, I immediately wanted to track down its creator and find out why they wrote it. The person clearly knew Mormonism well. Were they a lapsed Mormon? A Mormon who wanted honest self-analysis from Church leadership? An online friend, the Hugo-award-winning sci-fi author Naomi Kritzer, pointed me at the whois data for the fake site. It too was fake. (Naomi pointed out that if the creator was currently a Mormon, they could be excommunicated, which could account for seeking anonymity.) The phone number was for a lighting store in Toronto. The man who answered listened to my “I would love to talk to you about apology” pitch, coughed, and said, “This is a lighting store? In Toronto? But I hope you find what you’re looking for?” which proves that Canadians are the nicest.
Angel Moroni atop Preston England Temple, Chorley, UK
I then tried emailing the creator through their anonymizer email but got no response. The entire time I was thinking about my own relationship to my own religion, Judaism, and how complex that relationship is. The Torah and Talmud are steeped in patriarchy. Much of my life has been spent wrestling with aspects of Judaism that distress me, trying to separate tradition from text and dogma from ongoing revelation and dynamism. And of course, religion and politics are hard to extricate. Judaism has many flavors, without a central authority or (in my non-Orthodox world) the power to excommunicate me, and Jews can dismiss all kinds of Torah prohibitions and still be Jews, and much of our relationship to Jewishness is in food and music and literature, and, y’know, it’s DIFFERENT for Jews. I looked at the Mormon fake-apology through a Jewish lens. And I didn’t think about what that fake apology could mean to people who desperately wanted it to be real.
A Harvard PhD student studying religion, black/Haitian identity, anthropology, and contemporary Mormonism tweeted her anger, hurt and sorrow. “What this person didn’t take into account is that real people are invested in this,” Janina wrote. She continued, “There are black members who’ve been wanting them to say this for DECADES. So your brilliant plan was to throw black folks’ emotions under the bus to MAYBE get the Church to react? That is some white savior BS.”
“I knew it was fake because it seemed too good to be true.” Well, it must be nice to not be so emotionally involved.
I should’ve checked the link. But I got excited. Too excited. I study race and Mormonism because intellectually, socially, and spiritually, it means a lot to me.
— Janan (@jananamirah) May 17, 2018
So an announcement like that doesn’t just impact my methodology, it changes the way I think about this stuff on a spiritual level. I’ve spoken to black folks in tears because they thought it was real as well. Whoever made this site didn’t care about any of that. — Janan (@jananamirah) May 17, 2018
That really sucks, and I’m sorry, Janina. I’m sorry for the history, I’m sorry for the hurt, I’m sorry for the insensitivity of the fake site, and I’m sorry for my own response: My apology-analyst self grabbed the wheel from my human-with-empathy self and thought “YES, PERFECT!” rather than “what impact does this have on those who are actually affected?” Which was wrong. That was my privilege and thoughtlessness in action.
The fact that this is a perfect apology is precisely why it’s so hurtful to real people who are really waiting and praying for an apology just like it from an institution they love or once loved. It feels almost abusive to offer this kind of joy and release and then snatch it away — oh ho, PSYCH!
The Salt Lake Tribune, clearly staffed by better journalists than I, did unmask the prankster. He’s a former Mormon named Jonathan Streeter who lives in Texas (he is NOT the Jonathan Streeter who lives in Kilgore, not that you’d harass either Jonathan Streeter in Texas, but some people are jerkholes) and who has a blog devoted to the sins of the LDS Church. When asked about the devastation some people felt after the unmasking of his fake apology on his very-real-looking site, he told the Trib, “It’s very natural for them to lash out against me because it’s not in their nature to criticize their church.”
Yeah, not helping. He’s clearly uninterested in apologizing to those he hurt.
O, the irony.
This is SO bittersweet. Hundreds of thousands of people of color feel so alienated from their churches at this point in our gradually reawakening social history, and something like this has the potential to destroy. So many people are just barely holding on to their relationships with religious organizations.
If, when we are illuminating the casual cruelty of others, also stab those nearby and then shrug and basically say, “it’s very natural for them to be mad at being collateral damage,” um…
–
…I think the very worst thing is that he doesn’t actually care about black people either. It was just one more shiny, fancy piece of weaponry in his private war against them. “Hey, white folk are supposed to be woke now, but those LDS administrators sure aren’t! Let me hit them with this!”
It’s painful and galling that he won’t even offer a perfunctory apology.
Exactly this. It was selfish and performative and non-constructive except as an ego wank.
Exactly. Well-said.
Thank you for sharing this.
I read a piece with a similar sentiment in a book entitled “I Write What I Like” – by Steve Biko.
The domain is still active, but the original screed has been removed and replaced with what seems to me like a pretty good apology. Check it out.
…well, it’s got its problems, but it gets some things right…