I was thinking about BYU...
 

and the thought occurred to me, wouldn't it be great to have a cougarguard version of BYU?

That is something I could support.

I was sad to hear that BYU axed one of my old instructors, Darron Smith, from the sociology dept. He was the person who first introduced me to the idea that "blacks and the priesthood" was not gospel doctrine, but rather a church practice with likely racist roots from Brigham Young. Little did Darron know that this would lead to multiple suspensions for me on cougarboard....

Here is Darron's website. We exchanged emails only about a year ago.

http://www.darronsmith.com/index.html

He also co-edited a book "Black and Mormon" that was published by the Univ. of Illinois. Perhaps we may consider it for book of the month/quarter.

i think any other university in america could fit the bill.
independant thought, novel concept.

Regards,
Brian

Just out of curiousity, has anyone read his book Black and Mormon. Sounds like it could be an interesting read. I remember reading an article a few months ago that had some quotes from Smith about the honor code that were very interesting.

I own the book and have read it
 

Some of the articles are stronger than others (its a compilation), but I like it alot. Smith's "Unpacking Whiteness in Zion" and Armand Maus' "Casting off the Curse of Cain" are both very strong (Mauss is a very old war horse, but his stuff is still good).

Co-editor Binghurst's article on "The Missouri Thesis" is also strong.

Re: I was thinking about BYU...
 

Black and Mormon is a pretty good compilation. Do you know why Smith was axed? Was it a tenure track thing? Did some administrator object to his publishing?

Re: I was thinking about BYU...
 

Looks like he doesn't even have his Ph.D. yet. Was he ever in a tenure track position? Or was he simply an instructor for a while? Big difference.

I have Signature's Neither White nor Black edited by Lester Bush and Armand Mauss. It's a compilation of essays by Mauss, Bush, and Bringhurst. It’s kind of dated (copywrite 1984). I read it four to five years ago. Can't recall specifics, but came away convinced that it was practice, not doctrine, and that sadly, early Church leaders were not much more enlightened on racial issues than most other white people of the times.

To me this was quite faith affirming. While a very dark period in Church history that went on much too long, I came away feeling much better that it was the bigoted beliefs of Church leaders that lead to this practice, rather than the convoluted theories put forward positing that somehow blacks are the “seed of Cain” and/or were fence-sitters in the pre-existence.

I can deal with racist Church leaders. That can be fixed. But doctrinally consigning a whole group of people to a lesser status based solely on skin color raises too many questions and inconsistencies.

I’d like to read Black and Mormon. As a warm up, I’m going to reread Neither White nor Black.

The McKay book by Price and Wright make that point as well.

Regards,
Brian

Yes, you are correct, Brian, as you so often are.

I liked that book. Some of the GAs sounded a little cranky. Makes me feel better when I'm cranky.

The whole episode about receiving the letters from believers in Africa during the 60s was interestingly humorous, forcing the leadership to address an issue it was able to sweep under the rug for years during the Church's western isolation. The absurd lengths to which the Church went and considered in order to maintain the practice boggles the mind. 1978 was long overdue.