This is an archived copy of a post written by Conflict Of Justice (conflictofjustice.com). Used with permission: Conflict Of Justice may not agree with any alterations made.
“If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection. He will get a place in the celestial glory.” (Race Problems As They Affect The Church, dated 1954)
- Antimormon Source – Where did this quote come from? Wikipedia refers to a photocopied pamphlet on archive.org as the source of this quote. I don’t find any mention of who created this pamphlet, why they created it, where it came from, how they acquired it, or anything else. There is a listing in the University of Utah special collections of a photocopy (perhaps what was scanned to archive.org), but there is no information on when the library acquired it, whom they acquired it from, why they don’t have an original source, etc. We are just supposed to believe a photocopy of something? The earliest record I found of this pamphlet’s existence is a 1963 Library of Congress listing by Modern Microfilm Co. which was the name of Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s Antimormon organization. How ‘bout that! So was the original source for this quote an Antimormon? Published years after the address allegedly occurred? The WorldCat inventory of library listings around the world attributes the University of Utah copy, and a bunch of other copies at other universities, to Jerald and Sandra Tanner’s 1963 publication, so it appears so.
- Huge Font Size – The pamphlet appears to be typewritten on 28cm sheets of paper (standard 8.5×11”). The first line all the way across the top of the first page is: “The discussion on civil rights, especially over”. This text fits on a standard-size page at 22 point font size with standard margins, which is almost double the standard 12 font size for typewriters. Or maybe they just had enormous margins? The problem with that is on page 2 we see the staple binding almost at the edge of the text, indicating the margins are very narrow, which actually means the font size is even larger than 22. Either the listed page size is incorrect (in which case, why use half-size paper?) or it was typed using typewriter with enormous letters.
- Typewritten – Why was this book typewritten at all? Aren’t books typically printed? Well, maybe somebody was transcribing as Mark E. Peterson was speaking this address. Okay, but this can’t be, because paragraphs are all neatly indented and page numbers evenly spaced in the same top corner location. That takes too much time to format on a typewriter. Also, while there are lots of spelling mistakes, there aren’t as many mistakes as we would expect from somebody trying to transcribe someone speaking. Conversely, if this were typed out based on some handwritten notes, we would expect few or zero spelling mistakes, while this pamphlet has many spelling mistakes–and we would expect a professional printing, especially from a university organization. Just a year prior to this alleged pamphlet, Mark Peterson published a pamphlet with professional printing and an illustrated cover. He published lots of pamphlets professionally. Why did all of his other works get professionally printed but this one was messily typed? Not only is it full of spelling mistakes, it used double-spacing after periods, which would have been unusual for a mass produced work: “Around the 1950s, single sentence spacing became the standard commercial practice in mass-print-runs in the United States.” So if this wasn’t a work for publication, why was it type-written at all and why was it published by Antimormons rather than a church source?
Unidentifiable Text Bleeds Onto Cover Page – We can see text bleed through the paper, which we would expect with semi-transparent pages. Page 1 and page 2 bleed through to each other, indicating they are the same paper. The problem is the cover page also shows text bleeding through the page. If page 1 starts on the next piece of paper, what text is on the other side of the title page paper that we see bleeding through? Why wasn’t that included in the scan?- Did The Convention Even Exist? – This pamphlet claims to be an “address” given at “the convention of teachers of religion on the college level” at “Provo, Utah” on “August 27, 1954. I can find zero references anywhere, other than this alleged address by Mark E. Peterson, that mention a “convention of teachers of religion on the college level” ever existing. Neither Mark Peterson’s address nor anything having to do with a “convention of teachers of religion on the college level” is found in the BYU archives. A skeptic could argue that maybe BYU purged the pamphlet from their records, but wouldn’t there be at least some other address given at the convention or a passing reference to this convention somewhere in BYU’s archives–or somewhere on the internet at all?
- Joseph Fielding Smith Allegedly Attended This Nonexistent Event – In the address, Mark Petersen addresses President Joseph Fielding Smith as if he was present at the conference: “We do have a few suggestions from the early brethren as to their own views, but I assume that these are their own private ideas–I don’t know whether I am wrong in that, President Smith, but that has always been my assumption…” Joseph Fielding Smith would have been the president of the quorum of the twelve apostles at this time, so it makes sense why apostle Mark E. Petersen would ask him for clarification on matters of doctrine. But if Joseph Fielding Smith, who later became president of the church, attended and spoke at this convention along with other apostles, don’t you think there would be some mention of it somewhere? The church and members of the church have always been careful to document and quickly publish everything top church leadership does.
- Lengthy Quotes From Unverified News Articles – Near the beginning of the pamphlet, we see five pages of content “from an interview conducted by the United States News with Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.” It’s weird to me that someone speaking an address verbally would read verbatim from a lengthy question and answer session that goes on for five pages. This content is easier to read on paper but sounds weird when spoken out-loud. For example: “Q: ‘How far away would you say that is?’ A: ‘Well, that is hard to say. I never thought India would be free in my lifetime, but today India is free. I didn’t think that Africa would have a black Prime Minister, but they do today in the Gold Coast.”…. Can you imagine someone verbally reading something like this for 10-20 minutes? Sorry, nobody was this boring, even in 1954.
- Contradicts Contemporary Teachings On Race – It has never been a teaching of the church that Blacks would enter heaven as a servant. What Mark Petersen allegedly said contradicts everything that had ever been taught (including by Joseph Fielding Smith who was supposedly present): “Every soul coming into this world came here with the promise that through obedience he would receive the blessings of salvation. No person was foreordained or appointed to sin or to perform a mission of evil. No person is ever predestined to salvation or damnation. Every person has free agency.” – Joseph Fielding Smithv “when all the rest of the children have received their blessings in the Holy Priesthood, then that curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will then come up and possess the Priesthood, and receive all the blessings which we are now entitled to.” -Brigham Young “The day will come when all that race will be redeemed and possess all the blessings which we now have” -Wilford Woodruff “Sometime in God’s eternal plan, the Negro will be given the right to hold the Priesthood. In the meantime, those of that race who receive the testimony of the Restored Gospel may have their family ties protected and other blessings made secure, for in the justice of the Lord they will possess all the blessings to which they are entitled in the eternal plan of Salvation and Exaltation.” -David McKay “It’s only a matter of time before the black achieves full status in the Church. We must believe in the justice of God. The black will achieve full status, we’re just waiting for that time.” -Harold B. Lee (Via FairMormon)
- Most Of The Pamphlet Is Correct – The pamphlet is written in a way that would easily trick an apologist into defending it, because most of what it says is correct. It points out: “We shall be punished for our sins and not for Adam’s transgression, nor for anybody else’s transgression.” That’s true. It says: “we reap what we sow” regardless of the circumstances in which we are born. Yes. But then it cites “large number of illegitimate children have been born to Chinese girls, fathered by men of other races” after World War Two–which is actually an anachronism which anyone who lived during World War 2 wouldn’t have made. But there is so much positive rhetoric here that begs to be defended. An apologist could easily make the case that the incorrect bit about going to the Celestial kingdom as a servant was taken out of context or that he meant something else, considering much of the pamphlet is pro-equality and pro-civil rights. It’s like Mark E. Petersen was promoting civil rights and suddenly switched gears and became racist, it’s weird. It reads like the forger of this pamphlet didn’t want to go overboard with the racism and wanted to make sure that apologists could feel like it was defendable. What it ends up being is totally contradictory.
But there are also small details in the pamphlet that definitely are over the top racism. As one of the “great evidences of the mercy of God” toward Blacks, it cites a meeting he supposedly had with a Black family in Cincinnati, Ohio that was banned from attending church because they were Black. That’s supposed to be evidence of mercy? It goes on to say they “picked berries and sold them on the streets of Cincinnati to get enough money to pay” their tithing, even though he was also working a full time job. Again, how is being forced to pick berries along with a full-time job evidence of mercy? That sounds suspiciously similar to the phony popular Antimormon narrative that poor people go starving in order to pay tithing. It is a phony narrative that I have never ever heard of happening. It doesn’t happen. Firstly, church welfare services were established in 1936 and the church provided resources for people who couldn’t afford food. It would have been silly for a church leader to talk about someone being unable to pay for food because of their tithing. That person could have simply used the church welfare services. Secondly, it doesn’t make mathematical sense. If someone’s 10% tithing is large enough to pay for groceries, how is the 90% that is left over too tight to leave them starving? I have never, besides this phony pamphlet, heard of such a thing happening. There are several other parts that sound weird and I find it hard to imagine an apostle saying. For example, it says “we should not speculate too much” about “what the ultimate end of the Negro is going to be.” Not only is this contradictory because it just said they could go to the Celestial kingdom as servants, but it also contradicts the very sermon by Brigham Young that it had just quoted, in which Brigham Young declares that the time would soon come when the curse would be lifted and they would enjoy equal rights. The pamphlet contradicts normal, accepted church teachings of the time, and it is very strange that two top apostles would be standing there teaching these contradictions–in a convention that nobody has ever heard of. I can’t go back in time and know for sure if this address is a forgery or not, but evidence suggests it is yet another fake quote in a long list of Antimormon fake quotes.