We must not intermarry with the Negro, Why? If I were to marry a Negro woman and have children by her, my children would all be cursed as to the Priesthood. Do I want my children cursed as to the priesthood? If there is one drop of Negro blood in my children, as I have read to you, they receive the curse. There isn’t any argument, therefore, as to inter-marriage with the Negro, is there? There are 50 million Negroes in the United States. If they were to achieve complete absorption with the white race, think what that would do. With 50 million Negroes inter-married with us, where would the Priesthood be? Who could hold it, in all America? Think what that would do to the work of the Church!
Now we are generous with the Negro ... I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to change that segregation? ... What God hath separated, let not man bring together again. Mark E Petersen, address to Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Brigham Young University Provo Utah 27th August 1954, ‘Race Problems – As They Affect the Church’
You know, I’ve been married to my wife for forty-four years, and never once have seen her body uncovered. Mark E Peterson, Mormon apostle, Seattle East Stake Conference 25th May 1975
All of the doctrines and practices of the Church are taught publicly. There are no secret doctrines, no private practices, no course of conduct approved for a few only. The blessings of the gospel are for all men. Do not be deceived into believing that the General Authorities believe any secret doctrines or have any private ways of living. Everything that is taught and practised in the Church is open to public inspection, or at least, where temple ordinances are concerned, to the inspection and knowledge of everyone who qualifies himself by personal righteousness to enter the house of the Lord. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon apostle, open letter 1980, ‘Finding Answers to Gospel Questions’
As a mode of capital punishment, hanging or execution on a gallows does not comply with the law of blood atonement, for the blood is not shed. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p314, 1958 ed
As to official pronouncements on doctrinal points, they are almost nonexistent. The Brethren made one in 1926 entitled, The Father and the Son, A Doctrinal Exposition. The First Presidency made another in 1913 on the subject of evolution. There, of course, have been those who have questioned the expression in this statement on evolution by President Joseph F Smith, President John R Wind and President Anthon H Lund. As far as official doctrine pronouncements are concerned, about all the Brethren ever do is say here are the Standard Works, get the spirit of inspiration and figure out what the doctrines are. Those with extensive backgrounds of study in the Church are aware that differing opinions have been expressed by various of the Brethren on certain points over the years. This, of course, is of no great moment. All the opinions cannot be true, but the marvel is that there are so few difference in views and that there is so great harmony on the basics of the gospel.
As far as I know there is no official pronouncement on the subject at hand, but this applies also to a thousand other subjects, all of which are equally or more basic to an understanding of the plan of salvation.
In my judgment, spirit element exists and it was organized into spirit beings or in other words intelligence exists and it became the intelligences that were organized. In my judgment there was no agency prior to spirit birth and we did not exist as entities until that time. I do know that this matter has arisen perhaps six or eight times in the years that I have been here and have been involved in reading and approving priesthood or auxiliary lessons. In each of these instances, the matter was ordered deleted from the lesson. In each case it was expressly stated that we have no knowledge of any existence earlier than our existence as the spirit children of God. The views in this field were described as pure speculation. President Joseph Fielding Smith personally, on more than one occasion directed this material not be published and said that he did not believe it, and of course, as you have indicated I do not believe it either.
As far as I know the ideas in this field originated with B H Roberts who wrote the first series of lessons ever used on a church-wide basis for priesthood quorums. In these lessons he came up with the idea that there were intelligences, a word which he created for the purpose of describing the entities that supposedly existed as such before they were clothed with spirit bodies. This was pure fantasy and pure speculation. It caught on and has been bobbing to the top now and then ever since, except that the word that he created is no longer used. Bruce R McConkie, letter to Horne 2nd October 1974
Brigham Young erred in some of his statements on the nature and kind of being that God is and as to the position of Adam in the plan of salvation ... If we choose to believe and teach the false portions of his doctrines, we are making an election that will damn us. Bruce R McConkie
But with the Bible it was not and is not so ... it was once in the sole and exclusive care and custody of an abominable organization, founded by the devil himself, likened prophetically unto a great whore, whose great aim and purpose was to destroy the souls of men in the name of religion. In these hands it ceased to be the book it once was. Bruce R McConkie, The Joseph Smith Translation pp.12-13
Christ was Begotten by an immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p124
Forget everything I have said ... We spoke with a limited understanding and without the light and knowledge that now has come into the world. Bruce R McConkie, CES Religious Educators Symposium, ‘New Revelation on Priesthood’
I don’t attempt to harmonize the theory of organic evolution with revealed truth. I’m not going to talk about the truth or falsity of organic evolution. I’ll leave that up to biologists. I accept revealed religion. If science and religion don’t harmonize, then I reject and discard science. Bruce R McConkie
If death has always prevailed in the world, there was no fall of Adam which brought death to all forms of life. If Adam did not fall, there is no need for an atonement. If there was no atonement, there is no salvation, no resurrection, no eternal life, nothing in all of the glorious promises that the Lord has given us. If there is no salvation, there is no God. The fall affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself. The atonement affects man, all forms of life, and the earth itself. Bruce R McConkie
It is also to the Book of Mormon to which we turn for the plainest description of the Catholic Church as the great and abominable church. Nephi saw this ‘church which is the most abominable above all other churches’ in vision. He ‘saw the devil that he was the foundation of it’ and also the murders, wealth, harlotry, persecutions, and evil desires that historically have been a part of this satanic organization. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p130, 1958 ed
[I]t is my province to teach to the church what the doctrine is. It is your province to echo what I say or to remain silent ...
You do not have a divine commission to correct me or any of the Brethren. The Lord does not operate that way. If I lead the Church astray, that is my responsibility, but the fact still remains that I am the one appointed with all the rest involved to do so. Bruce R McConkie, letter to Eugene England
It’s a matter of temporizing, of not making a statement to prevent the driving out of the weak Saints. It’s a question of wisdom, not of truth. Bruce R McConkie, interview Steve Benson
Modern governments do not take the life of the adulterer, and some of them have done away with the supreme penalty where murder is involved – all of which is further evidence of the direful apostasy that prevails among the peoples who call themselves Christians. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p104, 1958 ed
Now I know that some may be offended at the counsel that they should not strive for a special and personal relationship with Christ. Bruce R McConkie, address BYU 2nd March 1982
Organic evolution does not and cannot account for a paradisical earth, the millennium, an exalted earth and man, the resurrection of man and animals and the pre-existence. Bruce R McConkie
The Negroes are not equal with other races where the receipt of certain spiritual blessings are concerned, particularly the priesthood and the temple blessings that flow therefrom. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p527, 1966 ed
They have plain and clear quotations saying all of the things about Adam which I say are false. The quotations are in our literature and form the basis of a worship system followed by many of the cultists who have been excommunicated from the Church. Bruce R McConkie
When Columbus discovered America, the native inhabitants, the American Indians as they were soon to be designated, were a people of mixed blood and origin. Chiefly, they were Lamanites, but such remnants of the Nephite nation as had not been destroyed had, of course, mingled with the Lamanites. Thus the Indians were Jews by nationality. Bruce R McConkie, Mormon Doctrine p32
Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This, however, is not true. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel. Bruce R McConkie
cf.