Why This Old Racism? The Intersection of Race and Religion in Ancient and Modern Times

Last updated on: October 31, 2011 at 7:00 am by Andre E. Johnson

Why This Old Racism? The Intersection of Race and Religion in Ancient and Modern Times 2011-10-31T07:00:00-05:00 Andre E. Johnson

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Guy Lancaster

Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture

Review Essay

And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people, the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them (2 Nephi 5:1).

[1] So says the Book of Mormon, anyway, offering forth an explanation as to the skin color of the Native Americans, one that explicitly correlates religious practices and the one physical marker most often associated with race – they turned from the Lord, and the Lord thus made them dark so that they would not be enticing to those who remained faithful to God. But there is hope for these Lamanites, as they are called in this scripture:

And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them; wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had among their fathers. And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and delightsome people (2 Nephi 30:5-6).

Darkness, described here, is not simply linked to physical appearance but to the way in which one views the world, but of particular interest with regard to this book is that the majority of pre-1981 editions of the Book of Mormon read “a white and delightsome people,” a textual variant which suggests that, by reintegrating themselves with “true” religion of their people, the Lamanites might regain their white skin, the skin that marks one as a follower of God.

[2] Keep this in mind. We will return to it later.

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