The LDS Church prohibited black men and women from receiving priesthood rites in the temple until 1978. Should the Church apologize for past racism? Emmy award winning director Loki Mulholland will weigh in on that issue.
Loki: The Church already is doing, believe it or not, work and reparations, in the respect of the work that they’re putting forth and the resources for the Freedmen’s Bureau and so forth, and the economic help that they’re providing in cooperation with NAACP, and doing these things. It might not be the reparations people want to see. But, I think there is something there, by the way. But what’s the harm in apologizing? This is a political issue at that point and regard. So, the reason the U.S. doesn’t apologize for slavery is because then that makes them accountable. Congress doesn’t apologize, because once you do, then you recognize that you’re actually accountable. Well, don’t we actually believe in fixing mistakes? Don’t we actually believe in that sort of stuff? Isn’t that the whole principle of the Gospel?
GT: Elder Oaks doesn’t, apparently.
Loki: First, you have to recognize it as a sin. So, a wrong was done. President Oaks is a lawyer, so let’s just be fair, and we all know that. I don’t mean to say anything bad about lawyers. At the end of the day, if a wrong was done, then yes, we need to apologize for that wrong. Then, okay, well, how do we fix that? What does that look like? Sometimes it’s just an apology. There’s nothing wrong with apologizing, even if you don’t think you’re wrong. If someone else was injured, you might not have meant it. That’s not what your intent was, but you apologize for some of the simplest things. In this regard, why not apologize. I just don’t understand why that wouldn’t be the case. We’ve pretty much come out and said this wasn’t a Church policy, but we allowed it to continue. My understanding is there’s no written document anywhere saying that blacks shouldn’t have the priesthood. There was nothing at the pulpit, the proverbial pulpit, if you will, in General Conference.
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Don’t miss our previous conversations with Emmy award winning director Loki Mulholland!
