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Originally Posted by All-American
How would the church go about doing that? Affirmative action for General Authority positions?
I believe diversity in any group is a good thing. It offers perspectives and viewpoints that serve to improve the actions and decisions of the whole. I don't think that race should be a qualification for a calling in the church. They should look for the best men for the job, not the best white, black, brown, or phosphorescent men. Reason dictates that the best men will usually have been members of the church for some time, which usually dictates that they will be white and have lived in Utah. It's a natural coincidence, not a deliberate byproduct of racist tendencies, and I don't think a lack of diversity at the top is such a huge problem as to require that the church fix a system that isn't broken.
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GAs tend to call other people to be GAs that they know and trust. GAs getting out on the world scene more will help, but we'll really turn the corner when you see faith promoting Mormon books (and talk tapes and videos and the like) being written and broadly distributed by members in Brazil, Phillipines, Nigeria, Korea, wherever. When these works are being translated into English, and are being read by the English speaking Church, we'll be cooking with gas. Multiple GAs speaking in conference with their comments being translated into English would be a healthy sign too.
In this vein, I'd push Deseret Book to ramp up international publishing on all fronts. Continue to translate English works into native languages, but push hard for indigenous authors and works.