From: morse@satie.cs.unc.edu (Bryan Morse)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.college
Subject: Re: BYU - America's Most Hated Team???
Date: 12 Sep 92 16:09:04 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

In article <1992Sep11.213758.24133@inel.gov> tqr@inel.gov (Tom Repetti) writes:
>In article <1992Sep11.174039.16004@ichips.intel.com>
>henstrom@pdx030.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Alex Henstrom) writes:
>> ....
>>In sumise the article stated that BYU was the most hated team because:
>> ...
>>        They are Mormons and there is a belief that all Mormons are racially
>>            intolerant. This due to the fact that afro-americans could not
>>            hold the priesthood in the Church until the late 70's.
>>
>> .... Most Mormons are not bigots despite belief otherwise. The Mormon church 
>> teaches against racial intolerance.
>
>I live in a Mormon-dominated area of Idaho and have read a lot about the LDS
>church. Just a quickie to set the record straight here.

  [deleted: incorrect speculation misquoted with authority]

Just another quickie to really set the record straight.  The theory that was 
posted here is far from doctrinal.  What was claimed as coming from the Book
of Mormon just isn't there -- it is a mix of what is there and what is a 
widespread speculation.  

Like most religions, when there are certain policies or practices that are
not explained, people speculate and come up with all sorts of theories to
justify them.  Sometimes this forms a widespread set of myths that some
people take as doctrine.  Especially within the relatively close-knit Mormon
culture, these false speculations can spread like wildfire.

Fact:  The Mormon church did indeed have a policy of not ordaining blacks
       to the priesthood.
Fact:  There was never a specific doctrinal reason given for this and
       there is *nothing* in Mormon doctrine to justify any racist position.
Fact:  Several players (ObFootballContent) during the 70s did sit out games
       against BYU out of protest for this policy.
Fact:  The Mormon church has changed this policy and there are now blacks
       among the highest levels of Mormon leadership.
Fact:  The Mormon church does teach against racial intolerance.  
Fact:  There is nothing in Mormanism regarding "your chances of getting 
       into Heaven just from your skin color."

You have to careful (with *any* religion) to separate the official Church
position from the common folklore or cultural peculiarities.  Every religion
carries with it the cultural background of the people amoung which it is
most (or first) prevalent.  Mormonism is deeply rooted in small-town rural 
Utah and Idaho--don't mistake the opinions of your neighbors as being
indicative of official Mormon doctrine or of Mormons in general.

Sadly, there are Mormons who are racist.  There are also Mormons who are
elitist (even among other Mormons) and do indeed have a "holier than thou"
attitude.  Yes, there are even those who think that a win by the BYU 
football team is a sign from God.  But this shouldn't be misconstrued as
the beliefs of the school, the church, or of other individuals.  The
same thing can be said of Catholics, Aggies, Boilerweenies, and Goobers.

(This isn't a flame, so I didn't take it to e-mail.  It is, however, a 
public correction of a publically stated honest mistake.  Anyone who
does want to start flaming can take it to e-mail.  Further discussion
beyond football should probably go to alt.religion.)

-- 
Bryan Morse                University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
morse@cs.unc.edu           Department of Computer Science