BYU professor apologizes for comments on Black priests in the Mormon church
Attention was drawn to discrimination by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) after a professor at Brigham Young University apologized for comments about Black church members serving as priests.
"An international Young Men leader for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints apologized late Monday for statements about Black people he made Sunday night during a regional fireside in Alpine, Utah. Brother Brad Wilcox, second counselor in the Young Men general presidency and a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, posted the apology on his official church leadership Facebook page on Monday evening," the Deseret News reported Tuesday.
The newspaper is a subsidiary of a holding company owned by LDS.
"My dear friends, I made a serious mistake last night, and I am truly sorry," Wilcox said.
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"The illustration I attempted to use about the timing of the revelation on the priesthood for Black members was wrong. I've reviewed what I said and I recognize that what I hoped to express about trusting God's timing did NOT come through as I intended. To those I offended, especially my dear Black friends, I offer my sincere apologies, and ask for your forgiveness. I am committed to do better," he said.
The apology came after comments Wilcox made about the church's 1852 to 1978 ban on Black men holding the priesthood.
“Now sadly you live in a time where a lot of people get uptight about priesthood issues. One of the most glorious things we have in the church, and yet people want to sit and fight about it and get uptight about it,” Wilcox said. "Maybe we’re asking the wrong question. Maybe instead of saying why did the Blacks have to wait until 1978, maybe what we should be asking is, 'Why did the whites and other races have to wait until 1829? One thousand, eight hundred, twenty-nine years they waited. Why did the Gentiles have to wait until after the Jews?'"
While LDS allowed Black men the priesthood in 1978, Black women — like all women — are still denied ordination.
Read the full report.
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