Can someone please tell me what political and economic pressure was put on the LDS church?

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,496

The third response in that thread by Huston lays it out. It's complicated.

The Feds can apply pressure to schools in different ways than they could pressure a religion. They had started applying pressure to Bob Jones University. They would have come after BYU next, denying student loans, and grants to students and faculty.

None.

No newspaper from the time reports on it, no word from people about it, not to mention that it would be highly illegal to order a religion to do something.

That's a rumor that evolved rather recently - a college was pushed that way (it was about admissions, and the LDS church always admitted any race) and the news stories were huge - for the Carter administration to push the LDS church and it not be reported by anybody just wouldn't happen - keep in mind that although Carter was a liberal (and not a very good one either) he always had and has a soft spot for Mormons and was a friend to the church.

Those who believe this don't understand the constitution of the US.

EDIT @ web head - the rosetta stone was discovered in 1799, 31 years before the Book of Mormon was published, and while it lead to a lot of discovery about languages, it has nothing to do with the Book of Mormon. Demotic was one of the three languages, and it's probably the closest alphabet for the Book of Mormon, but their language and writing was modified so nobody knows what it was.

Unless of course the rosetta stone company is selling a "book of Mormon reformed egyptian" series in which case I can order the CDs and learn it - but outside from that you've got your facts mixed up.

Whether there was political, economic, social or any other sort of pressure is irrelevant. The real questions are:

Why was the LDS church a decade behind the civil rights movement in terms of granting rights to African-Americans in the first place?

Why are Brigham Young, Bruce McConkie, Joseph Fielding Smith and others still considered prophets in your religion when they said and taught things like this?

- "Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so." (Young, Journal of Discourses, 10:110).

- "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." (McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, p.527, 1966 ed.)

- "Not only was Cain called upon to suffer, but because of his wickedness he became the father of an inferior race." (Smith, The Way to Perfection, p.101)

And how can the LDS church claim to not be racist when the holy book that your founding prophet called "the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion" states that God cursed the Lamanites for their wickedness with dark skin?

-"And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them." (Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 5:21)

I wish Mormons would give truthful answers to these questions instead of trying to distract people from their religion's racist past (and present) by turning the argument on its head and demanding that their critics show proof of something that isn't even needed to demonstrate the LDS church's obvious racism.

mormon_4_jesus, are you actually defending the priesthood ban? Further, are you claiming that blacks are actually cursed? I hate to say it, but you're more effective than 1,000 exmormons in convincing nevermos not to investigate the church's claims.

None at all, as far as I know. People prefer a good story to the truth. Musn't let the LDS church appear like the good guys, no matter what good thing they might do. Instead of celebrating, the demons accuse.

LDS is a blatant cult started by a con-artist who was wanted for fraud.

Seriously golden tablet? Then the angel Moroni took the evidence back?

What about the fact that the Rosetta Stone was discovered PROVING his translations were a fraud. Yet no one cares. Why? Because anyone with a brain doesn't take it seriously anyway.

How about just racism?