Boyd Packer — the Mormon Church leader who just got done saying nobody is born gay and laws giving queers rights must be fought — is the same Quorum of the Twelve president who, in 1977, gave a rousing speech at Bringham Young University advocating against interracial marriage.
Reader Scott points us to this lovely passage, part of a longer story Packer (the church’s second-in-command) delivered about serving in the military and traveling from California to Seattle to Honolulu to the Philippines during World War II, that so succinctly sums up this man’s core.
We’ve always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. The counsel has been wise. You may say again, “Well, I know of exceptions.” I do, too, and they’ve been very successful marriages. I know some of them. You might even say, “I can show you local Church leaders or perhaps even general leaders who have married out of their race.” I say, “Yes–exceptions.” Then I would remind you of that Relief Society woman’s near-scriptural statement, “We’d like to follow the rule first, and then we’ll take care of the exceptions.”
This is the same guy who, in front of Sunday’s audience of 20,000 at the 180th Semiannual General Conference in Salt Lake City (and many more watching via webcast), said that not only can gays change their sexuality, but “the designs of God’s laws and nature” cannot be legislated against. So let’s pay attention to what he has to say on marriage.
In other news, the LDS church just announced church members will, from here on out, be responsible for cleaning up their own shit. Which seems apropos.
How about we take this to the next level?
Our newsletter is like a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.
Cam
1. So the church that claims not to hate gays out of bigotry is now exposed to be bigoted. Not only do they hate gays, but this person, WHO IS STILL IN POWER, was fighting to keep the races separate. And again, he is still in charge.
2. So the church that claims that it doesn’t control it’s members and is not the type of church that would run it’s members lives is now telling it’s members that they are to be forced to clean all the church buildings. Even though Mormons aren’t supposed to even clean their OWN houses on the Sabbath or do work, I guess that doesn’t include forced labor.
Lastly, these “Workers” are people that give the church 10% of their income, and now not only is the church laying off working Mormon Janitors, they are claiming that this is to save money to help the “Less fortunate”. Perhaps the advertising agencies who got millions from them to run Prop 8 ads count as “Less fortunate”
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
We all know the usual ending of the tired old story of religious leaders who for some reason find the need to spew so very much hatered on the Gays……….
Most likely will discover his true self by simply looking at his full name and eliminating the “d” from the first name…..
(do the math :p)
whatever
Is he like the Moron pope or something? Needs moar fancy vestments and a point hat.
Charlie
Off with his head!
tjr101
It truly amazes me that a relic of the past which is this Packer guy can still command the attention of 20,000 people. Do all these people live under his house or something?
Michael C.
Boyd Packer?
May I assume the “d” is a typo?
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Michael C.: get your own damm material! :p
Michael C.
@PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS: Oh, shit. I’m sorry! I glanced through the comments to see if that one had been made and must have missed it.
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
@Michael C.: LOL, that one was jus crying out to be posted………..
NAP79
Not a shocker –
Religious = Homophobic = Bigot = Cheap = Idiot
Just as Jebus himself intended. Fuck this dipshit!
John (CA)
Until the 1960s, the official Mormon doctrine was that non-whites could only get into Heaven in the service of God’s chosen people (Caucasians). If you are a person of color, they have to vouch for you.
That’s right, you heard it here first folks.
If you don’t already have a white boyfriend, you might want to start thinking about the afterlife.
Even by the standards of religion, Mormonism is absurd.
Diz
I hope I can live to see the day where people are free to be what they want. Love should be universal, you can’t help who you love.
peteNsfo
It just amazes me that we continue to take this segment of society seriously… I understand that religion & faith serve a purpose, but they also create great ill-will.
People distance themselves daily by saying things like, “overall the church does more bad than good/ I was raised that way/ I don’t really believe the stuff the hierarchy preaches/ etc…”
You can’t have it both ways- you can’t be a member of a group that SO clearly discriminates (no particular church in mind here- just all of ’em) and then claim that it doesn’t have to do with you.
If the membership walked out, stopped filling their coffers, or raised their voices on any level, these churches would take notice. Instead they rely on lazy people that are all too willing to pardon their own qualified versions of integrity.
God is a fable- get over it, it’s 2010 already. Until you’re ready to follow the rules of other religions, please leave me to live my life without the rules of your own.
Steve
“And in whatsoever place ye shall enter, and they receive you not, in my name ye shall leave a cursing instead of a blessing, by casting off the dust of your feet against them as a testimony, and cleansing your feet by the wayside.” (Phelps 1833, p. 57)
If you are not made welcome in the Mormon church, you probably should not remain there.
The MCC church in Fort Lauderdale welcomes people who have recently resigned from the Mormon church. We have a number of “recovering Mormons” among our members.
I am sure that other MCC churches, as well as many UCC, Unitarian, Episcopal, and other churches, also welcome former Mormons.
Mark
Another dangerous and deadly bully.
obiwan
I hope that after Packer and his generation have passed to the Celestial Kingdom that the LDS church will become more open minded towards its closeted and open gay members. Homosexuals are more common — in the LDS fold– than LDS church officials would like to admit. Packer is a relict of the the past, but unfortunately if you look at the Mormon leadership, most of the senior leaders are quite elderly with very socially conservative views. And these views are unlikely to change in this lifetime.
David
The sooner this guy passes away, the better the planet will be.
anonymous
@whatever: Packer is president of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, which is below the First Presidency. The Brighamite Utahn LDS church is currently organized with the Prophet and two councilors forming a triune head office which mimics the male entities of the Mormon Godhead held to be most involved with our world. Packer is the head of the second organizational level–the 12 Apostles. Without getting into too much detail on how succession currently works, he is next in line to be Prophet once Monson dies. This is all just the modern method. Joseph Smith changed and developed the church organization during his life, and there were positions like Presiding Patriarch that have now been discontinued. If you want to understand the whole historical process, D. Michael Quinn has some excellent books on this subject–Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power and its companion volume :Extensions of Power.
Hilarious
Interesting, no mention of “white church” or “white homophobia” in this article.
Kieran
Mormonism. Isn’t that the same religion that taught that it was an abomination for a White to marry or date a Negro? Yep. But lo and behold, just recently they received a “new revelation from God” and now black people are acceptable to Mormons…..kind of.
reason
These are the kind of individuals that Mitt Romney is subservient to, imagine the dangers to this country if he every sat in the presidents chair. Glenn Beck is one of them to, some of that crazy talk you hear from him is actually proselytizing.
B
No. 20 · Kieran wrote, “Mormonism. Isn’t that the same religion that taught that it was an abomination for a White to marry or date a Negro? Yep. But lo and behold, just recently they received a “new revelation from God” and now black people are acceptable to Mormons…..kind of.”
Mormon revelations seem to come along when necessity rears its ugly head. The cynical interpretation: due to the stress of dealing with finances, the church leaders occasionally have nights with vivid dreams that reflect what they would have to do to keep the money coming in. Those dreams are the basis of revelations.
The revelation allowing Blacks to be priests came along in 1978. Look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_African_American_Civil_Rights_Movement#1970.E2.80.932000 , which has a time line of events for African American civil rights. The year before (1977) Jimmy Carter had appointed an African American to be the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. (the first one to hold this position), and 7 years earlier the TV character Archie Bunker appeared, making (racist) bigots an object of ridicule. The Mormon’s “revelation” in 1978 pretty well fits a “go with the flow” model where there is some static friction to overcome before they start moving – the flow has to exceed some threshold.
You can expect a similar “revelation” regarding gays. We just aren’t there yet. They’ll go along once we repeal DADT and DOMA, and appoint an openly gay U.N. ambassador (or something equivalent) – once homophobia looks so bad that it will start to impact the Mormon’s bottom line.
Dan
Racism is immoral. Most people on Earth are not white. Mormonism was founded on the notion that whites are the race of god and non-whites are the race of the devil. Mormonism is founded on racism. Mormonism is immoral. Non-whites and non-Mormon whites should not have to tolerate the existence of Mormons, because racism is immoral. And no matter how they try to portray it, it is nonetheless a racism-based practice. Hopefully, it will cease to exist because racism and Mormonism are immoral and evil.
Jeff K.
Mormon racism is certainly immoral, but even more immoral are that guy’s earlobes. Jesus Christ.
CONVERSATION CHAMBER
As a black man, oddly enough I couldn’t care less if this guy is against interracial marriage. Let him be. He (nor his opinion) has no power over my life, my decisions or actions. And if I ever marry interracially, his opinion will remain insignificant. So maybe that’s how “opposition” should be viewed. Instead of getting all up in arms because someone with a microphone, or who is camera, opposes our relationships — we simply allow them their opinion, and keep on moving ahead with our own lives and decisions.
Dan
@Conversation Chamber You are obviously naive. The Supreme Courts of several states are dominated by Mormons. As a black man, your rights in those states are determined by courts stocked with racist-idealogy-believing zealots who listen to the Mormon leadership like they are gods.
Cam
@CONVERSATION CHAMBER:
This is a phony post from CONVERSATION CHAMBER. Any time we got the fake Mormon trolls in here they always started with “As a gay man”. Looks like they are just trying a slightly different tactic.
Oh, and just in case anybody didn’t notice, up in his speech, he referenced Mexicans, Japanese, Polynesians….but no blacks. Yeah, because remember, they didn’t even allow blacks actual membership in the church. So it was separation of most races, except for the ones we don’t even allow in.
Preston
okay, Black people have always been welcome as members of the Church! Joesph Smith and the Church took a strong hand against slavery as Black people were among the pioneers that traveled far west.
It was in 1978 that revelation was givin to the profit (the presiding President of the Church at that time) that has come time for Black Men to begin recieving the Preisthood. With joyous news to the African people, there were many Black members in Africa without enough Preisthood holders.
When we do things that are pleasing to Heavenly Father, Such as sacrifice ourself for him. He does give us further knowlege and revelations through our Profit Thomas S. Monson
In my opinion, God saw The people in Africa listen and follow the comandments givin to us all to obey and follow. Our Blessing for doing so we recive many Blessings, such as revelation to allow worthy Black Male members the Preisthood and that from that day foward all Men that are worthy will be blessing with the Power of the Preisthood.
THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS
The Church is open for EVERYONE! Its simple when I say, All you have to do is strive to Obey each comandment God has givin. It takes a hardcore efforts to be a member of the Church that Jesus Christ himself started. Most members everyday think of our actions on how to serve God best. We do fall short, that is why I look up and am greatfull for the Atoning Scrifice of Jesus Christ where god gave us his son our saviour and Baptisam for the remission of our sin’s. Me, I sin a lot. Not on purpose…It happend. Talking with Super Hot Guy… My thoughts begin, and now I begin to lust…and well that is wrong for me beacuse this guy is interested and I did not intend to get him Intrested because I wait for any revelation about my homosexuality. I will obey and will not enter into any act of sex. It is that revelation I await. We have to do the first steps and have faith, believe, hope that revelation will come to me for my obedience to him.
God loveth his children and Hey, he has mercy for us all.
Cam
@Preston: said..
“okay, Black people have always been welcome as members of the Church! Joesph Smith and the Church took a strong hand against slavery as Black people were among the pioneers that traveled far west.”
_____________________________________________________
You are a LIAR, you claim that blacks could be “Members” of the church. A complete lie unless you give member a different meaning than every other group.
Your church would not let blacks hold the “Priesthood” which every adult Mormon Male is allowed, nor would it allow blacks to marry in a temple.
Holding the Priesthood and marrying in the temple are the keys to the afterlife according to the book of Mormon. If you don’t marry in a temple, you and your spouse will not be together afterdeath.
So what you told them is, “You can send us 10% of your money, but we will deny you any opportunity to be a part of our actual religeon.”
And what you have just shown everybody on this blog, is how the Mormons always lie to try to change history or facts about their church. This is called “Lying for the Lord” and Mormons are taught that if your lie is to defend your church then it is not a sin.
enrev
@Preston: “…our ‘Profit’ Thomas S. Monson'”? Your Freduian slip is showing! Or maybe it was meant to…
enrev
@enrev: Oops. Make that Freudian.
anonymous
@Cam: Peston is technically correct, despite the pre-1978 position of the Utah LDS Church being reprehensible. Utah LDS Mormon woman cannot hold the priesthood either, but are still Mormons. Some of the smaller denominations like the Bickertonites always allowed blacks to hold the priesthood, and it is well known that Joseph Smth ordained Elijah Abel to the priesthood. There is speculation that Brigham Young changed the situation upon arrival in Utah because of a power struggle with an African American member. Finally, the Book of Mormon says nothing about temples and the three degrees of glory. It actually has almost nothing to do with Mormon theology at all, and is rather blandly Protestant in tone, which makes sense since the Latter-day Saint movement was originally very similar to various Campellite groups. Joseph continuously developed his theology throughout his life, changing it up to his death. One of the key texts for Mormon theology, the King Follett Discourse, was delivered only about two months before the Prophet’s death. All the distinctive theology of the LDS church is in the Book of Abraham and the Doctrines and Covenants (post 1835 revision), the King Follett Discourse, and the Sermon in the Grove. The LDS had temples since the Kirtland period, but the Kirtland temple had a very different function than the Nauvoo temple, because Joseph had not begun to add the Freemasonry inspired endowment into the temple ritual until the Nauvoo period. The Kirtland temple ritual was only a simple foot washing ceremony
Jonathan
There is a video on Youtube.com. Banned Mormon Race Video – something like that. It has God?jesus on the star Kolab exlaining why the “sons of Ham” bear their mark – had to do with Lucifer having an insurrection and God marked him with dark skin.
No lie.
Dan
Joseph Smith, founder of Mormonism, was tried and found guilty of treason when he started killing his own followers. He was killed trying to escape punishment.