I remember that talk. Very good talk. It is also the one where he said:

This kind of miracle can happen and will happen when there is kindness, respect, and love. Why do any of us have to be so mean and unkind to others? Why can’t all of us reach out in friendship to everyone about us? Why is there so much bitterness and animosity? It is not a part of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have good portions of this talk memorized. The talk President Hinckley gave on forgiveness in an earlier conference was a life-changer for me. I read it at LDS.org as I was preparing to teach SS. I followed the links to President Hinckley’s sources and found the newspaper article about the incident where a kid threw a frozen turkey from an overpass, injuring a woman terribly. The woman refused to take revenge–though the courts would have allowed her to really get that boy. I continued following links and encountered a discussion of South Africa’s “Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” Then I began reading incessantly. I was astounded at the wisdom of Mandela and Tutu–and of how RARE such wisdom is in a world which swears to avenge its wrongs rather than forgive them.

Honestly, I wish we on the bloggernacle would be kinder. I can be pretty curt myself, but it’s not a good thing.

Armand Mauss called me the night President Hinckley gave the sermon I quoted from above. For the first time in years, he had missed a priesthood session, and something really important had happened. Fortunately, my husband takes copious notes, so I read Bruce’s notes to Armand. The line which most intrigued him was this one:
“How can any man holding the Melchizedek Priesthood arrogantly assume that he is eligible for the priesthood whereas another who lives a righteous life but whose skin is of a different color is ineligible?”

As Armand noted, there was no mention of a time line in this statement, no “after 1978.” Interesting.

That was my reaction to reading the statement, Margaret. It seemed almost shocking to read that last sentence, in light of Mormon history, without some sort of “after the 1978 revelation” qualifier.

Call me suspicious, but I can’t help but wonder if the precise wording of this statement, and it’s immediate implications, are the reason you were denied permission to use the footage.

I remember it well, but I haven’t heard anybody but myself quote it in a lesson. Our stake presidency did not include it in the list of “Teachings for Our Times” talks to be discussed in Priesthood and R.S., but I threw it in during a slow month anyway.

ARJ–I haven’t hit FMH yet, but I’m working on it. But very cool to realize that MM is a MAJOR blog now!

I interpret that last sentence as the apology for and disavowal of pre-1978 practice that so many have wished for. He probably feels he can’t come out and say plainly that so many leaders of the Church were just plain wrong about this, but that last sentence in essence says exactly that, at least for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.

I remember the talk, Margaret. It left me with a question: “Is that condemnation retroactive?”

I remember the talk…at the time I was shock and very pleased. I have heard nothing about it sense the talk was first given, I not sure if the average member understands the significance of the statement.

Also, I can’t seem to get the link to work. It sends me to your website, however the video never launches.

Keep up the good work.

Best,

Johnny

I remember the talk and the statement. It was a very spiritual moment and I too immediately noticed that there was no time restriction in the last sentence and took it as a strong statement against the pre-1978 ban.

re# 10. Good point. FMH is the BIG blog. I seem to remember that from somewhere.

Kaimi, you are so cool.

oh dang, the written version of that Conference does not have President Monson’s comments after his own talk. I distinctly remember he said that the prophet was going to speak next and that we really ought to pay attention to what he has to say. Any other brethren remember that?

Margaret, I just watched the trailer. What a great and well needed project. I can’t wait to see the whole thing.

Love the music. Although isn’t it sad/ironic that none of it could actually be sung in church…..

I hope you are right Margaret, I long for the day when our singing can take on some more flavor and joy.

I really don’t remember it. But I have read it many times. This was a couple of months before I was a member. The fact that he talked about things that were acceptable in years past tells me one unique aspect of reality. What are we saying today that will be unacceptable in 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, 40 years, 80 years, 160 years, . . . .etc. Maybe we will stop calling our Church the one True Church. Or we will never again say “All other Denominations are an Abomination”.

What do you think about that? Well, past Church Leaders stated that Blacks would not have the Priesthood until all other Children of Adam had heard the Gospel. And we were far from that in 1978 and we are still far from that now.

Margaret,

You should check out the link that Jamie provided. According to his blog he is a recent convert and black (from Ethiopia, right?) While his web comic shows an amazing familiarity with some of the odder aspects of our religion I think it is clear from his blog that he is still becoming familiar with aspects of Church history and what not that some in the bloggernacle take for granted. I propose that we welcome him with open arms, thank him for his wonderful comics, which I think are a hoot, remember that English is probably not his native language, and kindly ask him to perhaps moderate his tone a little.

Margaret,

The video was beautiful, I can’t wait to get a copy and show it in my ward.

Please thank all those involved in the DVD project and I sincerely hope the Church allows you to use the Prophets statement.

Best,

Johnny Rotten

Paula–thank you! Sometimes I feel so old.

Johnny R: I doubt you’ll be showing it in your ward. I’ll quote from a note I just sent to a friend: “I was concerned that most of our interviews with white folks focused on male academics (most of whom frequent Sunstone and MHA and often FAIR). Among our black interview subjects, we have a former bishop, a former BP, lots of RMs, and a former anti-Mormon. We do not have any GAs. And we don’t have any more money to film. But the audience isn’t just LDS. We’ll be approaching PBS and the history channel (after a big theatrical premiere). I was concerned before we watched it all sewn together that we would come off as a “Let the Mormons explain away this difficult issue.” And the last segment—about seven minutes—is very Mormon, with black Latter-day Saints telling how they came to join the Church. But as we watched, I felt the balance was there. We make no excuses (though we do talk about how pervasive racialist policies were in all religions and how common the “cursed lineage” idea was in the 19th Century). I hope we come across as facilitators of people simply telling their stories, not as either bashers or apologists. We have both LDS and non-LDS scholars, and two non-LDS blacks (one a pastor and the other Martin Luther King III).”

Congratulations, Jamie! May you have an eternity of joy! Which temple will you marry her in?

The Anchorage Temple. (:

Thank You Margaret!

Brother Gill is in the other ward that shares the meeting-house that I go to. He has one cool family.

While Elder McConkie’s public statements about the ban may have been wrong, there is some evidence that in private he was an advocate, based on his reading of the scriptures, of extending the priesthood without regard to race or lineage. http://www.meridianmagazine.com/articles/030606hallelujah.html (in the middle of the article his son quotes from the memo Elder McConkie had sent President Kimball before the revelation).

DavidH–I’ve got to get to bed, so I won’t look at the link right now, but it is my understanding that Elder McConkie was one of the most enthusiastic about removing the priesthood restriction.

Annegb–thank you for this question, which so graciously ignores my blatant plugging of the project. I wish I could give you the whole distribution plan, but we’ve been working so hard on finishing it that we have not yet addressed distribution except abstractly. (We did attend an African American film festival and made some important connections there.) There are deadlines coming up shortly for submission to cable channels like the History Channel and PBS. I don’t feel a big rush to get it out there, just big pressure to do it right. I would like to do something–whether it’s a theatrical premiere or a cable premiere–on June 8, 2008, the 30th anniversary of the priesthood revelation. We will be entering some festivals soon. And we want the DVD to be chock full of special features which we weren’t able to include in the doc itself, so it’ll take some time to prepare those.

I’ll be talking to people who know this business much better than I do. We have a fine editor who has loads of experience in film. He thinks we’ll have no problem marketing it.