By Jason Horowitz, Published: February 28
He had one. A proud African American, Gray expressed wariness over a description in the Book of Mormon of a dark-skinned tribe being out of favor with God and asked, “How, in any way, does that relate to me?” The younger of the two missionaries stood off to the side as his senior companion explained, “Well, Brother Gray, the primary implication is that you won’t be able to hold the priesthood.”
After a tumultuous night of prayer, Gray still felt a call to join the faith and went on to help found the Genesis Group, an official church support group for African American Mormons, which he believes paved the way for the 1978 lifting of the ban on blacks in the priesthood. It was an anguishing period that coincided with Romney’s full embrace of his faith and his rise within it.
The mere mention of Romney and the church’s ban on blacks is fraught. If he gets the nomination,the nation’s first Mormon presidential nominee will challenge the first black president. Romney, the son of former Michigan governor George Romney, who had a strong record of civil rights activism, bears no responsibility for the doctrines of his church. But in the prolonged Mormon debate over whether the ban resulted from divine doctrine or inherited historical racism, Romney appears to have embraced the prevailing view: The ban was the word of God and thus unalterable without divine intervention.
Categories: Americas, CHRISTIANITY, History, Human Rights, Politics, Racism, United States
Romney is concerned about African-American votes as much as Paki Mullah are about Ahmadi votes.