The Priesthood Ban and the Book of Abraham

From BYU Studies Quarterly, volume 61, number 4.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ, including prominent members, have attempted to justify the former policy preventing Black Latter-day Saints from receiving the priesthood or temple ordinances by appealing to the scriptures, including the Book of Abraham. There is, however, no known evidence that suggests that Joseph Smith or Brigham Young used the Book of Abraham to justify their beliefs about race. Today’s podcast episode explores this topic further.

In 2013 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explicitly disavowed “the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse, or that it reflects unrighteous actions in a premortal life; that mixed-race marriages are a sin; or that blacks or people of any other race or ethnicity are inferior in any way to anyone else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form."