What proof does anyone have who insists that the LDS church caved into pressure?

Question

to change the policy of blacks of African descent holding the priesthood in 1978? 

I hear people insisting that the church caved in to political and economic pressure. The most compelling argument is when Bob Jones Univ. was told to start admitting blacks. But, that would not have worked at BYU because they were admitting blacks, as far as I know. 

I know that some other schools' sports teams were boycotting BYU because of the church policy, but that would not have worked, at least not with state sponsored schools. For example, one school that was going to boycott was Arizona State. But, with lots of help from others, one LDS man convinced them that this was unconstitutional, since it was a government run school and the first amendment prohibits the establishment of a religion, or restricting the free practice of a religion. Since it was not a matter of civil rights being violated, and since there were black members of the church, who were not asking anyone's help to get what only God could give them, as they, and we, believe, then the boycott would be pretty much illegal. 
And most privately run schools are run by churches, so it would not be in their best interests either, to boycott. They would set a precident for all schools to boycott church-run schools when ever there was some disagreement on church policy. And if the government told one church how to believe, then they could be able to tell ALL churches, and again  we are getting into unconstitutionality. 

So, anyone have anything else?

Fact check · Accepted Answer

They were admitting Blacks, but only a few. They were forced to live in substandard housing and were forbidden from dating white girls. BYU would have been just as easy to prosecute as  Bob Jones.

The many brave boycotts by other schools aren't related to government intervention. I don't see your point. It was individual ball players who refused to play BYU on moral grounds. It wasn't an institutional policy.

You've been given an answer and you don't agree with it. As usual, all Mormons believe one version of events, everyone else in the world believes another. That doesn't cause you to look any closer at the real documented history of those times. You just all vote the other side down and hope it goes away. The truth doesn't go away. Your church was in the wrong, and was threatened. They would never have changed their racist doctrines without pressure. They hadn't for the first 150 years of their existence, and they were wrong all that time.

Anonymous · Answer

There is no proof, it never happened.  The US government cannot go to a religion and tell them what to do with the priesthood, that's unconstitutional.

The church had been looking into it for years and asking God for years about it - when the revelation was made it was a joyous one, not a sad one - the leadership was thrilled, not disgruntle about it.  Joseph Smith didn't have a ban on blacks and the Priesthood, I'm not sure why it was put in place with Brigham Young, but on the topic of racism if you look at all of the races helped by the LDS church it's clear that the motivation was not racism.

logjam600 · Answer

Pressure?  Pressure from the Holy Ghost, perhaps, urging President Kimball and the other General Authorities that it was time to expand the gospel in its fulness to all races.  (Compare this with the original Christian church; it began with Jesus Christ and a gospel only for "the lost sheep of the House of Israel", then Peter had his vision, Paul commenced his ministry and the church expanded to include the non-israelites, especially Greeks and N. Africans.  I find this to be remarkably similar to our church in these circumstances.)  But, you speak of pressure; the government pressured the church to abandon polygamy in the late 1890's; there was no pressure like that to give blacks the priesthood in 1978, so I don't think the case can be made that we gave in to pressure.

Gomakawitnessofjesus · Answer

OH man ! i have even heard a whisper of what your are talking about. 

i could say half a dozen things on this matter whether it means anything to you are not, i dont know, email me. 
technically the LDS church did cave into government pressure, with anti bigamy laws. 
but when it comes to blacks obtaining the priesthood, its my  understanding that president kimbal often prayed to the Lord about this issue, so Even president kimball was seeking for better revelation to allow blacks the priesthood. 

are blacks inferior to whites because of skin color?  my research and study says no. if men are worthy, i conclud, then we are "equal"  regardless of skin color. 

as for sports, im not an avid sports fan, never have been. i tried every sport in school and was always a physical biological failure. so sports haven't been my first love.   
by comparison, sports and video games are both a waste of time. i loved video games more, and i come to a conclusion that entertainment is the free will choice of the population.

? · Answer

Maybe because the Prophet didn't say they were allowed into the church's priesthood until after all of the civil rights issues were taken care of and showed that blacks would be treated as truly equal.
The Lord must have told him to wait until after all of that happened, right?
Must have been that.

What proof does anyone have who insists that the LDS church caved into pressure?

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