Objection · Case 11 · Mormonism
The 2013 essay disavows the theories used to justify the restriction but doesn’t say the restriction itself was a mistake. It leaves open that it was God’s will for reasons unknown.
One objection from the free evidence repository at apologetics.pro.
Response
That is the most important feature of the essay. The church has disavowed the racist explanations but has not said the restriction was an error, which leaves the question of prophetic fallibility open in exactly the way this claim is interested in. Critics inside and outside the church have pressed on that. The accurate statement, from the essay’s own text, is neither the church admits it was wrong nor the church still defends it, but that the church has repudiated the reasons and left the policy’s status unaddressed.
About this exhibit
This objection is to “Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays.
The church’s 2013 essay traces the restriction, notes it took clear form under Brigham Young, and disavows the past theories used to explain it. This is why “more than a century” is the accurate…