Is the Book of Mormon a racist text?

Anonymous from , 3/13/2008

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AllAboutMormons.com Webmaster from La Jolla, California:

Some anti-Mormons claim that the Book of Mormon is a racist text. To support this argument, they selectively quote from the Book of Mormon, ignoring context and the overall message of the Book.

If one quotes selectively, one can make any religious text look racist. For example, in Matthew 15, Jesus refers to those who are ethnically Canaanite as “dogs.” If one ignores the context (Jesus later heals a Canaanite woman's daughter and praises her great faith) and if one overlooks the overall impetus of Christ's message (all human beings are children of God), Christ Himself can be falsely portrayed as a bigoted racist.

So what is the overall message of the Book of Mormon? Is it racist? The Book of Mormon describes the interactions of two ethnic groups, one light-skinned (the Nephites), and another somewhat darker-skinned (the Lamanites). The story is told from the perspective of the Nephites, so one might expect the narrative to be slanted in their favor. Even so, there are many Book of Mormon examples of Lamanites—the darker-skinned ethnicity—who were noble and righteous, often more so than the Nephites.

Example 1: King Lamoni. The Book of Mormon describes a Lamanite king named Lamoni who underwent a miraculous religious conversion. Because of the righteousness of Lamoni, of his wife (whose faith could not be found “among all the people of the Nephites”), and of his people, they were blessed. Lamoni's life was later threatened because of his beliefs; in solidarity, his Nephite friend Ammon came to his defense. The moral of the story is summarized in Alma 19:36: “And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his Spirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name.”

Example 2: The 2000 Stripling Warriors. After their conversion, the Lamanite people of king Lamoni (“the people of Ammon”) made a promise to God that they would be pacifists, that they would never again participate in any war. Because of their new beliefs, other Lamanite groups wanted to destroy the people of Ammon. The Nephites came to their defense, defending the pacifists with the Nephite army. This military effort was a great burden on the Nephites. The younger generation of the people of Ammon had never made a pacifist promise to God, so they formed an army to aid the Nephite effort. This army, comprised of “2000 stripling warriors,” was praised for its righteousness and is revered in modern Mormonism. Despite many deaths among the Nephite armies, God protected the stripling warriors, and none was killed. According to the Book of Mormon, their captain described the nobility of this Lamanite army in these words: “…I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain. But behold, to my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength…”

Example 3: Samuel the Lamanite. The Book of Mormon explains that just preceding Christ's birth in Jerusalem, the Nephite (light-skinned) people “did still remain in wickedness, yea, in great wickedness.” The Lamanites, on the other hand, “did observe strictly to keep the commandments of God, according to the law of Moses.” Consequently, God called a Lamanite named Samuel to be a prophet to the wicked Nephites. Samuel boldly stool on the wall of a Nephite city and called the Nephites to repentance. Many of the wicked Nephites listed to this Lamanite prophet's words and began once again to follow God.

The Book of Mormon is not a racist text. The overall message of the Book is best represented by this Book of Mormon verse: “…for [the Lord] doeth that which is good among the children of men; and he doeth nothing save it be plain unto the children of men; and he inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile.”

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John from Charlottesville:

No. What people often construe as racist is misread. The Book of Mormon tells the story of a prophet Lehi who fled Jerusalem before the Babylonian sacking of Jerusalem (about the same time as Jeremiah). He had many sons, among whom were the obedient and righteous Nephi and his oldest brother, the rebellious and sinful Laman. After fleeing Jerusalem, Lehi's family, including his sons and their children, built ships and sailed to Jerusalem. After Lehi's death, Laman's family and other brothers' families rejected Nephi's right to be king and became wicked.

The Nephites (Nephi's family and followers) took off secretly into the wilderness and started their own faithful civilization. Meanwhile, however, the Lamanites became more and more wicked. Because of their open rebellion against God, they were cursed by being cut off from the Lord (i.e. the Spirit of the Lord would not dwell among their people unless they repented).

This story is told in the Book of Mormon, in 2 Nephi 4:20-1 & 23-4, we read (Nephi is writing) "(20) Wherefore, the word of the Lord was fulfilled which he spake unto me, saying that: inasmuch as they will not hearken unto thy words they shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord. And behold, they were cut off from his presence. (21) And he caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their inquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white,... The Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them. (23) And cursed shall be the seed of him that mixeth with their seed; for they shall be cursed even with the same cursing. And the Lord spake it, and it was done. (24) And because of their cursing which was upon them, they did become an idle people, full of mischief and subtlety, and did seek in the wilderness for beasts of prey. "

Anyone who reads verse 21 by itself would think the Book of Mormon is racist. So could anything else in the world, when taken out of context. But look at the other verses. Nephi clearly explains that the cursing is being cut off from the Lord (losing the spirit, losing the priesthood, not having the scriptures) and that the dark skin that the Lamanites were given was only a mark meant to distinguish them from the Nephites so that the Nephites would not intermarry and be turned away from the gospel. Verse 24 says that they became an idle and mischievous people because of the curse. This kind of condition could only result from being cut off from the Lord--not from a different skin color! "The Lord is no respector of persons." (Romans 2: 11) If the Laman's people had happened to be dark-skinned rather than light-skinned before their cursing, then the mark of their cursing would probably have been a light skin! Again, the Book of Mormon is very clear that the skin color was not the curse, it was just a mark to distinguish a much more spiritual cursing.

As a matter of fact, the Book of Mormon specifically speaks against racism and racial prejudice. The prophet Jacob (Nephi's brother and successor as Nephite religious leader) addressed the Nephite people after Nephi's death, specifically denouncing sins that had appeared among the people. He says to the Nephites, in Jacob 3: 8-9 "(8) O my brethren, I fear that unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins shall be whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God. (9) Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, which is the word of God, that ye revile no more against them because of their skins... But ye shall remember your own filthiness." Jacob is clearly denouncing racism among the Nephites, and tells them that skin color will make no difference to Jesus at the judgment day, when the Lamanites (who, at this point, are trying to do the best they can) will be cleaner (in terms of sin) than the Nephites, whose sins have made them "filthy. "

The Book of Mormon is not racist.

Webmaster: Extremely well said, friend! I agree 100%. The dark skin was not the curse; it was meant only to set the Lamanites apart from the Nephites. The curse was the (temporary) loss of God's Spirit. Just for the record, Mormons do not believe that racial differences today are meant to keep peoples from intermingling. The modern Mormon Church is neither in favor of or against interracial marriage, for example.
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