Quote:
Originally Posted by ChinoCoug
I spent half my mission among African Americans, and this thing isn't the foremost thing on AA members' minds. Once in a while they'll ask missionaries about the ban, but our conversion rates among AAs and Africans continues to soar. Blacks are very spiritual and a vast majority of them would join the Church in spite of this concern.
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Define "soar".
Many AA's who actually are baptized (including Smith) don't find out about the ban until after being baptized. That's dishonest and wrong.
This isn't about conversion rates, or becoming "more attractive" to AA's, although perhaps the effect would be positive on both of these. What Smith points out is the awkward position we place our AA members in with regards to defending their membership in a historically racist church that refuses to acknowledge and repudiate this portion of its history. I'm not sure that we white folk can fully appreciate that. If AA members feel that way, and according to Smith, there are more than a few that do, they deserve better.
What's the downside?