Mormon Heretic

US President Eisenhower with Ezra Taft Benson, Secretary of Agriculture

I’m not sure why President Benson is so popular lately.  Will at Wheat and Tares asked, Were President Benson’s Words Prophetic? In Sunday’s Salt Lake Tribune, FBI files shed light on Ezra Taft Benson, Ike and the Birch Society.  In July, I promised to talk about President Benson’s politics, and I guess the timing is right; I’m finally getting back to that post.

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I just finished reading a book by Marcus Martins called Setting the Record Straight: Blacks and the Priesthood.  It was an interesting perspective.  Marcus is the son of Helvicio Martins, the first black general authority that I blogged about previously.  ”Setting the record straight” is a bit of an exaggeration.  Marcus does a good job of showing forgiveness, and he tries to address some of the common folklore.  He approaches the subject from a spiritual perspective more than a historical one.  So, if you’re looking for history, you’re going to be a bit disappointed.  But there were a few things I found interesting.

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Mark L Grover gave a fascinating biography on Helvecio Martins, the first black general authority in the LDS church in the latest issue of the Journal of Mormon History (Summer 2010.) Elder Martins was ordained to the Second Quorum of Seventy in 1990 under President Ezra Taft Benson. In 1995 he was released, and he passed away in 2005

Martins joined the LDS church in 1972 with his wife Ruda and son Marcus. Grover describes in detail race relations in Brazil. From page 36, Read more…

I really miss my book club, but I am participating in the Stay LDS Book Club.  The first book that we have decided to read is Left to Tell by Immaculee Ilibagiza.  It is her story of the Rwandan Genocide.  I previously discussed the movie Hotel Rwanda, describing the events from Paul Russebagina’s point of view.  Immaculee has an incredibly inspiring story as well.  The book is intensely moving.

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I have some good news, and some bad news.  First the good news–I got a new job!  Now the bad news–my new job will interfere with my frequent blogging, so there will definitely be a decrease in activity.

My book club has been reading a book called Establishing Zion by Eugene Campbell.  I couldn’t find it in the library, but Signature Books has posted the entire book online and you can read it right here!   Briefly, Campbell is a former history professor from BYU.  I learned tons from it, though I did find the first 5 chapters a little slow.  However, chapters 6-7 were very interesting, and I want to talk about them.

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Ok, I have a tendency to get into some pretty deep stuff here, and so every once in a while, I need to take a break.  Over the weekend, our local PBS affiliate broadcast Hotel Rwanda, with Don Cheadle.  It is the true story of the Rwandan Civil War of around 1994, with Don portraying Paul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager who housed over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda.  It was so good, yet horrifying, that I had trouble sleeping that night.

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So, I came across an interview of Richard Bushman at the Pew Research Forum, about both early and modern Mormon politics.  I’ve also been reading a book called The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power by D Michael Quinn on the early leadership of the church.  I want to combine the 2 sources, and talk about Joseph Smith’s presidential plans of 1844.  First, let me quote Bushman.
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In the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Nazi’s are looking for the Lost Ark of the Covenant.  They have an image of a map burned into the hand of a Nazi scientist, so they think they know where the Ark is.  However, there is a critical piece of information missing which is found on the other side of the medallion, which only Indiana Jones has.  Indiana exclaims, “They’re digging in the wrong place!”

Book of Mormon geography is one of my favorite topics, and it’s been a while since I talked about it.  Wouldn’t it be cool to find some archaeological evidence?  There are over 100 theories concerning Book of Mormon geography.  Since they can’t all be correct, obviously, some scientists are digging in the wrong place.  Let’s review some of the theories again.

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With little fanfare over the weekend, President Uchdorf announced the call of only the second black general authority, Joseph Sitate of Nairobi, Kenya.  He was called to the First Quorum of 70, as well as Yoon Hwan Choi of Seoul, Korea.

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I recently purchased Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons. It is an outstanding documentary produced by Margaret Young, BYU faculty member, and Darius Gray, one of the original members of The Genesis Group. Under President Joseph Fielding Smith, this group was supervised in 1971 by junior apostles Gordon B Hinckley, Thomas S Monson, and Boyd K Packer to try to fellowship black LDS church members.

Since I had already seen the movie at the LDS Film Festival, I was really looking forward to the special features on the DVD, and I was not disappointed. Connell O’Donovan, an independent genealogist and Mormon Historian outlines 7 early black church members who held the priesthood prior to 1847–one of them was even a Branch President! I’d like to give a brief outline of some of these early black Mormon pioneers.

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On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King game his famous “I have a dream speech.”  He said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

There has been much ado with Barack Obama’s skin color and his upcoming inauguration.  While this is certainly a historic event, I do not believe Mr. King’s dream has been fully realized yet.  Certainly President Obama’s election is a noteworthy event, and he will be the answer to trivia questions for the next several hundred years.  Obama’s election is a wonderful step, but I don’t believe King’s dream has been fully realized yet.  Comments?

Ok, I am interested in politics, but don’t feel I’m an expert.  I love to look at history, and this past weekend found out some interesting things about the father of our country.  I was reading in the Wall Street Journal.  There was an article about possible election fraud, and it talked about some election fraud history in America.  I learned that George Washington actually offered alcohol for votes.  The article also states that James Madison lost for not offering alcohol.  Votes have been for sale in America since 1757, when George Washington bought alcohol for every voter in his district, Baumgartner says.

Now it was so interesting to me that I mentioned it to my brother in law.  He immediately called the Wall Street Journal biased, and said it was just tearing down Washington’s legacy, and he did not believe it was credible.  He even compared it to anti-mormon attacks, and called it revisionist history.  I found this stance interesting, because I have been accused of thinking poorly of Brigham Young.

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Ok, I will confess that I love learning about the Middle East.  I love learning more about Jews, Muslims, Arabs, etc.  I have so much to learn.

I’m a grad student working on some genetic studies (one of my many jobs).  As part of the genetic study we are doing, we have our study participants tell us their race.  In medical studies, different treatments can affect different races quite dramatically.

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