Abstract: Attitudes of superiority lead to societal conflict. The racial interpretation of a few Book of Mormon verses has contributed to these attitudes and conflicts, yet hundreds of inclusive messages are found in more than half of the book’s verses. God’s message, love, mercy, and justice are for all people. Righteous people did not think themselves above others, nor did they persecute others or start wars. War is tragic and is caused by wickedness. Conspiracies are a great evil. Righteous people were kind in their attitudes and actions, regardless of others’ social status or ethnicity. Some Book of Mormon people even gave their lives or put their lives at risk to act kindly, and some of these went from hating others to giving up their lives on behalf of others. The inclusive messages in the Book of Mormon are consistent with the position advocated by current Latter-day Saint leaders condemning all racism and disavowing racist hypotheses such as those derived from a few Book of Mormon verses (i.e., that skin color is related to righteousness). The inclusive messages also are consistent with the view that skin color in the Book of Mormon is not literal but is metaphorical. The Book of Mormon instructs us that the right way to interact is with love and respect, through examples of people respecting and reaching out to others, promises to all people, condemnation of unkindness and anti-Semitism, calls to all people to repent, and emphasizing the flaws of one’s own group and not those of others.

Conflict between nations, tribes, ethnicities, economic classes, and other social divisions has led to tremendous human suffering. Confrontations range from all-out war to subtle oppression and persecution. A primary cause is the view that another person’s ethnicity, economic status, educational level, gender, or other social, physical, spiritual, or mental distinction is inferior to one’s own. These views [Page 196]usually lead to overt or subtle discrimination (i.e., prejudicial conduct towards others based on attitudes of superiority). Racism, xenophobia, casteism, nationalism, chauvinism, and anti-Semitism are common forms of discrimination. Among the plethora of social problems currently in the world, discrimination abounds, and its reduction or elimination would improve the lives of everyone on earth.

The Book of Mormon claims to be an ancient book written for our day, and some of its ancient authors claimed to have seen our day.¹ As stated on its title page, the book professes to be for all people to convince each one of us “that Jesus is the Christ” and that we should accept his gospel. If we do, we are promised personal happiness and peace with others.² If the Book of Mormon claims to be for our day, then the book’s teachings should help us overcome discrimination — this unrelenting issue of our time.

Yet, many perceive the book to be racist.³ A separation of people into two nations included a statement that God put “a skin of blackness” upon the people of one nation as part of a curse for their disobedience, according to the non-cursed recordkeeper (2 Nephi 5:21). This statement along with words in seven other verses⁴ have been perceived to indicate that dark skin pigmentation is a sign of unrighteousness or divine disfavor and light skin the opposite. Some have used these words to justify racist attitudes.⁵ [Page 197]Many people struggle with these words⁶ or refuse to consider the book’s other messages. Some believe the book is a product of racist attitudes common in the United States in the 1800s, when the book was first published. The racial interpretation of the Book of Mormon has increased, not diminished, conflict.

Counter to the racist impression, more than three thousand Book of Mormon verses directly or indirectly impart an inclusive, anti-discriminatory message (Table 1).⁷ People today may perceive the cursing as a racist declaration or a license to discriminate, but righteous Book of Mormon people did not. Wicked behavior of the cursed group was excused, but that of the non-cursed, recordkeeping group was severely criticized. Several times the cursed people were righteous examples or were more righteous than the non-cursed people. People of the two nations were considered brethren. Love of all was preached and practiced. Kind acts occurred between nations and within each nation, including outreach to the other nation and help to the poor within a nation, and some selfless people lost their lives or put their lives at risk. Although often at war, the two nations had significant peaceful interactions. Unkind actions and attitudes toward other groups were identified as evil, including [Page 198]exploitations, class distinctions, persecutions, and attitudes of superiority. War was tragic and caused by wickedness. Intermingled in these messages are messages especially relevant for today. God loves and invites all people. God is fair to all. Prophecies extend his blessings worldwide to modern Jews, other Israelites, descendants of Book of Mormon people, and all other people (Gentiles). The promised blessings will be fulfilled if people choose to follow the Lord. Those who fight against the Lord will incur his wrath, regardless of ethnicity or heritage. Anti-Semitism is condemned. Conspiracies are extremely wicked. The book contains a powerful example of redemption from discriminatory attitudes.

In addition to helping us overcome discrimination in our day, these examples and lessons are consistent with the idea that light and dark skin in the Book of Mormon are metaphorical and are inconsistent with a book that is merely a product of 1800s attitudes. Because the racially interpreted language has been an obstacle to clearly seeing the inclusive messages, the difficult words will be addressed first.

Cursing, Skin, Disavowal, and Metaphors

Today, the Church disavows the theories advanced in the past that black skin is a sign of divine disfavor or curse. … Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.⁸

The Book of Mormon opens with a journey to a promised land and a family fight. Serious discord, including violence and death threats,⁹ continued until the natural death of Lehi, the family patriarch, sometime after their arrival in the new land. At that time, the death threats became more ominous, and one brother, Nephi, was directed by God to move away from his conspiring brothers and take people who were loyal to him (2 Nephi 5:1–9). The division led to two “Lehite” nations, Nephites and Lamanites, named respectively after brothers Nephi and Laman, the [Page 199]first principal leaders of the two groups. Not only did these two nations become enemies and have wars, but according to the Nephite record (the Book of Mormon), the Lamanites were cursed by God (2 Nephi 5:20–25). This was more than simply the breakup of an extended family.

Because some passages on cursing have been interpreted in modern racial terms, these and other verses on appearance and cursing are pertinent to discussions of what the book says about interethnic relations. In the Book of Mormon, Lamanite cursing is mentioned twelve times (Table 2), other relevant references to cursing are mentioned seventeen times (Table 2), and appearance or skin is mentioned forty- six times (Table 3).

Lamanite Cursing and Racial Interpretations

In the Book of Mormon, cursing came when people chose not to follow the Lord and usually entailed being cut off from God. Curses could be removed by coming back to the Lord. These principles were taught numerous times (e.g., Table 2).

The Lamanites were “cut off from the presence of the Lord” (2 Nephi 5:20), but another aspect of their cursing has been commonly interpreted to be racial (2 Nephi 5:21–25).¹⁰ Nephi records that the [Page 200]Lamanites, who “were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome,” now had “a skin of blackness” put upon them by God to keep them from mixing with the Nephites. The Lamanites would be “loathsome” to Nephites, “save they shall repent of their iniquities.” Lamanites became “idle” and “full of mischief and subtlety.” In today’s vernacular, these statements seem cruelly insensitive and blatantly racist. They also suggest dark skin pigmentation is a sign of unrighteousness or divine disfavor. As historians have noted, these verses “sound like the Jacksonian view of Indians common to most Americans in 1830” or “[seem] to be a straightforward articulation of nineteenth-century racial ideology.”¹¹ Hence, many view the Book of Mormon as a product of 1800s attitudes.¹²

The apparent racial component of the cursing is enhanced by racial interpretations of seven other Book of Mormon verses. There, skin color also is mentioned or assumed. The mother-to-be of Jesus was prophesied as “exceedingly fair and white” (1 Nephi 11:13). Another prophecy described latter-day Gentiles coming to America as “white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful,” like the Nephites (1 Nephi 13:15). Nephi’s brother Jacob mentioned “the cursing which hath come upon [the Lamanite’s] skins” and urged the Nephites to “revile no more against [the Lamanites] because of the darkness of their skins” (Jacob 3:5, 9). He mentioned that Nephites’ sins were worse than those of the Lamanites, and he feared “unless ye shall repent of your sins that their skins will be [Page 201]whiter than yours, when ye shall be brought with them before the throne of God” (Jacob 3:8). In the record of a Nephite-Lamanite battle, the book stated that “the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression” (Alma 3:6). After some Lamanites were converted to the Lord and lived righteously, the curse was removed, “and their skin became white like unto the Nephites” (3 Nephi 2:15).¹³

Keeping the racial interpretation, Book of Mormon readers have interpreted these passages in at least nine ways that might be less offensive to modern racial sensibilities.

1. The “curse” differed from the “mark,” i.e., the punishment or curse was separation from God, and the mark was a skin color change and was separate from the curse.¹⁴
2. “Correct traditions, not skins, were the issue” (inferred from the statement that the mark was given to prevent the Nephites from believing “incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction” [Alma 3:8]).¹⁵
3. [Page 202]God made a racial divide anciently to separate people, but today no such distinction exists.¹⁶
4. Skin color change could have been something that simply occurred naturally, for example by intermarriage with non- Lehites who lived with or around the Lamanites and had a darker complexion.¹⁷
5. Nephi and other writers were angry, distressed, or mistaken when they wrote racist passages.¹⁸
6. Those passages “collide with current sensibilities and speech,” but “reflect the cultural perceptions and customs of ancient people in response to an unusual color change in their family”; the “significance … is merely historical, not doctrinal.”¹⁹
7. The Book of Mormon overturns traditional racism by making the dark-skinned group conquerors over the light- skinned group and by promising the dark-skinned group blessings and victory over others in the latter days.²⁰
8. [Page 203]In the Book of Mormon, race is “a mutable commodity … the ‘skin of blackness’ that covers them may be removed or transferred elsewhere.”²¹
9. Although some words are or appear racist, the Book of Mormon’s message is anti-racist.²²

All these interpretations raise the troubling idea, stated by Jared Hickman, of “God’s willingness to work with anti-black racism in order to maintain the purity of tradition.”²³ Put another way, why is racism in a holy book written for our time, when racism would be such a divisive issue?

On the other hand, these nine ideas suggest that a racist interpretation of those eight verses is inconsistent with the message in the rest of the book. Labeling racially interpreted passages as “ugly,” Peter Coviello nevertheless suggests “the reading of The Book of Mormon as plainly and conventionally racist is, while not exactly untenable, nevertheless a serious misapprehension of the text.”²⁴ He added,

[Page 204]The Book of Mormon may be less an exemplification of colonizing racism (and racist historiography) than a sustained performed critique of it, in which it is exactly the Nephites’ imperiousness, their incapacity to recognize themselves as anything other than chosen and holy and their foes as anything other than benighted, that dooms them. It is, we could say, a vast chastisement of the self-blindedness of imperial arrogance.

Coviello is not alone in his assessment. Acknowledging the difficult passages, Ahmad Corbitt asserts “that the Book of Mormon is … the most racially and ethnically unifying book on the earth.”²⁵ The book “declares that God, our Eternal Father, seeks to save all of His children, without regard to color or race,” he states, and “makes this point more explicitly, repeatedly, and forcefully than any other volume of scripture.” The book “provides examples of righteous people from contrasting cultures reaching across differences of color and tradition to rescue their brothers and sisters with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” “In spite of its frank documentation of racist feeling,” John Tvedtnes states, “the Book of Mormon is not in itself a racist document. In fact, it advocates and even idealizes the exact opposite: rather than promoting concepts of racial inferiority, the events and teaching within it clearly suggest that people of different ethnic backgrounds and traditions can truly overcome old hatreds and misconceptions and attain peace, happiness, and unity through the gospel of Jesus Christ.”²⁶

Disavowing Racism and Interpreting Metaphorically

In December 2013, senior leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) stated emphatically that any connection between a person’s literal skin pigmentation and his or her spiritual state was an incorrect idea:

Today, the Church disavows 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 [Page 205]else. Church leaders today unequivocally condemn all racism, past and present, in any form.²⁷

Although refuting the connection of literal skin color to righteousness level, the church leaders did not give an interpretation of the skin color statements in the Book of Mormon.

Consistent with the church leaders’ disavowal of previous racial interpretations, several researchers have proposed that those Book of Mormon passages can, or should, be interpreted metaphorically. Their conclusions are based on reasonings from the scriptures, from ancient Middle Eastern cultural traditions, and from English usage. The disavowal and metaphorical reasonings suggest our modern society has interpreted these passages with our own racial biases and not how the Book of Mormon authors intended.

Marvin Perkins asserts that Book of Mormon references to light or dark skin are idioms referring to one’s emotional or spiritual state.²⁸ He noted that very similar words are used in nine Old Testament verses (King James Version). Job lamented, “My skin is black upon me” (Job 30:30). Jeremiah noted, “Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine” (Lamentations 5:10). In the 1979 and 2013 Latter-day Saint editions of the Bible, the following three verses are accompanied by footnotes stating that black or blackness is a “Hebrew idiom meaning ‘gloom’”: (1) Prophesying about the “day of darkness and of gloominess” that will accompany the coming of the Lord, the prophet Joel said, “The people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness” (Joel 2:1–6). (2) In another prophecy of destruction, Nahum said, “The faces of them all gather blackness” (Nahum 2:10). (3) Jeremiah stated, “I am black” (Jeremiah 8:21). Two verses in the Song of Solomon ask for consideration despite a person’s “blackness”: “I am black, but comely” (Song of Solomon 1:5). “Look not upon me, because I am black” (Song of Solomon 1:6). Two other verses suggest that “black” refers to being dejected or to spiritual deficiency (Jeremiah 14:2; Lamentations 4:8). Perkins extends the Hebrew idiom to the Book of Mormon and argues [Page 206]that this is evidence that the Book of Mormon is an ancient book. Therefore, he says, black people or black skin metaphorically refers to a poor spiritual or emotional state. References to white people or white skin, he reasons, are metaphors for righteousness.²⁹ He states, “The words ‘black’ and ‘white’ do not refer to race in the scriptures.”³⁰ He adds that the division of people into races is a modern invention.³¹

Beginning in a May 1950 church magazine, Hugh Nibley reasoned the Lamanite mark was artificial and related black and white to Arabic culture.³² Reasoning from Alma 3, Nibley said, “Here God places his mark on people as a curse, yet it is an artificial mark which they actually place upon themselves.” He then said, “The mark was not a racial thing. … Thus t he difference between Nephite and Lamanite is a cultural, not a racial, one.”

The cultural picture may not be the whole story of the dark skin of the Lamanites, but it is an important part of that story and is given great emphasis by the Book of Mormon itself. There is no mention of red skin, but only black and white. With the Arabs, to be white of countenance is to be blessed [Page 207]and to be black of countenance is to be cursed; there are parallel expressions in Egyptian and Hebrew.

In a reformatted publication of his article in 1952, Nibley noted that the black, dark, and white skin colors mentioned in the Book of Mormon were “being used as the Arabs use them.”³³ In 1967, Nibley further pressed the connection to Middle Eastern culture.

The Lamanite and Nephite division was tribal rather than racial. … The dark skin is mentioned as the mark of a general way of life, it is a Gypsy or Bedouin type of darkness, “black” and “white” being used in their Oriental sense (as in Egyptian), black and loathsome being contrasted to white and delightsome.³⁴

Given that the Book of Mormon claims to be from Israelite and Semitic people who emigrated from the Middle East, reasonings from the Bible and Middle Eastern traditions are valid. Therefore, the metaphorical interpretation of skin color by Perkins and Nibley is reasonable.

John Tvedtnes also mentioned metaphorical reasonings based on a comparison to Arabic culture and that the word white was often used symbolically when the Book of Mormon was first published in 1830.³⁵ He stated,

The Qur’an, a seventh-century Semitic text, also speaks of the day of judgment as “the day when some faces will be white and some faces will be black” (3:106). This could be taken as a reference to purity and righteousness on the one hand and impurity and wickedness on the other, or to salvation and damnation, but certainly not to race, since Islam has always been reasonably color-blind. Modern Arabic still uses the idiom sawwada wajhuhu to describe the act of discrediting, [Page 208]dishonoring, or disgracing a person, but its literal meaning is “to blacken the face” of someone.³⁶

In Joseph Smith’s day, use of the word white to designate purity was well attested, Tvedtnes noted. Half of the six definitions of “white” in Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language concern purity.³⁷ “Only two concern color.”

In 1830, metaphorical usage of the adjective black also was well established. Webster’s 1828 dictionary gives five definitions for the adjective black.³⁸ Three of these definitions are figurative.

Our own culture uses analogies to color or skin type that are metaphorical and non-racial that are relatable to skin color in the Book of Mormon. Armand Mauss stated, “Differences between Lamanites and Nephites can be understood in terms primarily cultural and religious, rather than racial.”³⁹ People, he said, could read white and black or dark skins in a figurative manner, much like people speak of thick or thin skins. Ethan Sproat suggested uses of white and black people in the Book of Mormon could be interpreted “in the same symbolic sense [Page 209]that we might describe an envious person as green, a sad person as blue, or an embarrassed person as red.”⁴⁰

Nancy Bentley suggested a religio-cultural difference.⁴¹

The two populations also follow an ethnological schema structured not by race but by religio-cultural institutions. The difference in skin color between the Nephites and Lamanites does not mark a difference between separate biological races; all are equally the ‘seed’ of Lehi. Rather, the Lamanites, in failing to elect the path of Christian worship … also fail to practice the arts of a supposedly higher civilization. … When the Lamanites refuse the enlightened, family-based spirituality introduced by Lehi and Nephi, they make themselves tribal.

She adds, “Even race is a matter of choice.” “Free agency not only inaugurates the original population difference of the Lamanites; that power of agency remains a live factor in Lamanite identity, as when the voluntary conversion of a group of Lamanites to Nephite teachings makes their skin become ‘white.’”

Brant Gardner proposed a symbolic interpretation based on whether someone was in or out of the group.⁴² The assumption of literal skin color differences, he states, is “based on an understandable but unfortunate reading of 2 Nephi 5:21. … The condition of darkness comes with dwindling in unbelief. When that occurs, darkness falls — on their hearts and metaphorically on their skins.” People inside one’s group (insiders) are viewed favorably and outsiders unfavorably. “[A]ncient society saw reality as communally related. The group was the meaning, and individuals who did not conform were considered deviant.”⁴³ Because in the Book of Mormon “the mark/curse can be removed by simply traversing [the insider/outsider] boundary” (i.e., simply by repenting), Gardner says, “I conclude that it is unlikely that the mark or curse had anything to do with pigmentation.”⁴⁴

[Page 210]Douglas Campbell noted that the Book of Mormon prophesied that Gentiles (anyone not a Jew or Israelite) would be brought to America by the Lord (1 Nephi 13:12–15; 2 Nephi 1:6); these people were of all “colors” ranging from fair-skinned Scandinavians to dark-hued Africans.⁴⁵ Therefore, he reasoned, if all these people were “white” like the Nephites (1 Nephi 13:15), then “whiteness” must be metaphorical.

Ethan Sproat proposed a metaphorical interpretation involving clothing instead of human skin pigmentation.⁴⁶ Noting that “nothing in the text of the Book of Mormon itself positively or unambiguously indicates that the various-colored or cursed skins are definitely human flesh” and that all other uses of the indefinite article a with skin in the Book of Mormon and King James Bible refer to a form of clothing, he suggests that “a skin of blackness” (2 Nephi 5:21) refers to animal skins and not human epidermis. As further evidence, he notes that one sentence before stating “the skins of the Lamanites were dark” (Alma 3:6), the book states the Lamanites “were naked, save it were skin which was girded about their loins” (Alma 3:5). Therefore, one can reasonably deduce that “skins” in the second sentence refers to the skin covering mentioned in the previous sentence. Sproat postulated that skins represent ritual clothing, and after being cursed, the Lamanites wore “a sort of garment with powerful rhetorical signals for the Nephites.”⁴⁷

Adam Oliver Stokes proposed that “skin of blackness” denotes spiritual darkness, not physical pigmentation.⁴⁸ He relates that phrase (from 2 Nephi 5:21) to “scales of darkness,” which “Nephi later predicts will fall away as the Lamanites come to see Jesus as the Christ” (2 Nephi 30:5–[Page 211]6). He notes the Book of Mormon claims to be a Semitic text, and “using Semitic languages as an interpretive guide,” he finds “scales” and “chaff” as words that can be translated into the English word “skin.” Therefore, he reasons “skin of blackness” is an impermanent covering like “‘chaff’ or ‘scales’ that fall off wheat when it is ripe for harvest.”

Descriptors such as white, fair, delightsome, black, dark, and loathsome “may be understood in an empirical sense (i.e., describing the physical appearance of [Nephite and Lamanite] bodies),” Steven Olsen notes; but, he adds, “the Book of Mormon also allows for a metaphorical interpretation (i.e., symbolizing the spiritual condition of their souls).”⁴⁹ He notes Jacob clearly used the term filthiness metaphorically in describing both the Nephites and Lamanites (Jacob 3:9). They are morally impure, not unwashed. This could also mean “that Nephi and Jacob use allusions to skin color also in a metaphorical sense.” Mormon did the same. Olsen gives other reasons for a metaphorical understanding. “Other anatomical metaphors [were] used to make spiritual points … [including] ‘stiff’ necks, ‘blind’ eyes, ‘deaf’ ears, ‘high’ heads, and ‘past feeling.’“⁵⁰ In the same verse where “skin of blackness” is given, “Nephi uses human anatomy in a metaphorical sense” by saying the Lamanites had “hardened their hearts.” “A figural reading of such phrases is consistent with literary conventions of biblical writers.” Often Nephites become Lamanites and Lamanites become Nephites, but “Mormon’s narrative … hardly ever mentions a corresponding change in physical appearance.” A symbolic marking, a red mark put by Nephite defectors on their foreheads (Alma 3:4), “would not be necessary if ethnic identity were determined by racial (genetic) more than cultural (behavioral and value-based) criteria.” When Mosiah’s sons and others go to preach to the Lamanites, “the main differences that the missionaries find during their fourteen-year mission are cultural, not racial.” Olsen concludes, “[T]hese distinctions between the Nephites and Lamanites suggest that the boundary between the two groups is defined by moral values, not genetics, and that the curse of the covenant is manifest primarily in spiritual and behavioral, not physical, terms.”

[Page 212]As noted by several authors, a Book of Mormon statement once thought to indicate white epidermis was changed by Joseph Smith and clearly is metaphorical.⁵¹ After Lehite descendants are converted in a future day, the record prophesies, “their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a pure and a delightsome people” (2 Nephi 30:5–6). Joseph Smith substituted the word “pure” for “white” in the 1840 edition of the Book of Mormon. This change emphasizes the metaphorical meaning of “white” to mean spiritually “pure.”⁵²

Metaphorical readings bring consistency to other Book of Mormon verses connecting lightness, delightsomeness, darkness, filthiness, and similar words to a person’s or a people’s spiritual state. In a vision, Nephi saw righteousness associated with white garments and “dwindling in unbelief” and “all manner of abominations” connected to darkness, filthiness, and idleness (1 Nephi 12:10–11, 15–16, 20–23). During a magnificent spiritual experience, Jesus’ Lehite disciples prayed, and “they were white, even as Jesus” (3 Nephi 19:25, 28–30). After Christ’s visit and all the people had been converted to the Lord, they “became an exceedingly fair and delightsome people” (4 Nephi 1:10). Mormon prophesied that the Lehite descendants, “once a delightsome people,” would become darker and filthier than was known throughout the Book of Mormon, “because of their unbelief and idolatry” (Mormon 5:15, 17). Moroni pleads with unbelievers to turn to the Lord, “that perhaps [they] may be found spotless, pure, fair, and white” (Mormon 9:6). The prophecy that the Gentiles would be “white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful” is connected to a time when they “did humble themselves before the Lord” and “the Spirit of the Lord … was upon [them]” (1 Nephi 13:15–16).⁵³ Brant Gardner notes, Jacob’s point about Lamanite skins being whiter than Nephite skins at the day of judgment (Jacob 3:8) only makes sense if black and white skin metaphorically refers to spiritual state.⁵⁴ Ethan Sproat noted that interpreting the pre- cursed “white” and “fair” Lamanites (2 Nephi 5:21) as racial does not match with [Page 213]the only other usages describing “people as white and fair” (1 Nephi 11:13; 1 Nephi 13:15; Mormon 9:6), which are metaphorical.⁵⁵ Douglas Campbell noted that nearly all uses of white in the book are figurative.⁵⁶

Figurative meanings of white, black, filthy, delightsome, darkness, and other “appearance” words are consistent with the Lord’s direct teaching that he cares about our inner or spiritual beauty, not our outward or physical beauty. Isaiah said the Lord will judge righteously; he will “not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears” (2 Nephi 21:3–4; Isaiah 11:3–4). God told the Old Testament prophet Samuel, “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). As the Book of Mormon teaches, God invites all people and is fair to all (Table 4). Physical ability or appearance is never a requirement for salvation. From their context, some Book of Mormon verses clearly refer to physical appearance (e.g., Mosiah 19:13–14; Alma 32:2–3; Ether 8:8–10). However, the meanings of most “appearance” words are consistent with spiritual or inner beauty (Table 3), for example:

• Isaiah’s statement “the show of their countenance doth witness against them, and doth declare their sin to be even as Sodom” (2 Nephi 13:9; Isaiah 3:9).
• Alma’s question “have ye received [God’s] image in your countenances?” (Alma 5:14, 19).
• The comment that righteous Nephites were “exceedingly fair and delightsome” (4 Nephi 1:10).
• Mormon’s prayer that his brethren “may once again be a delightsome people” (Words of Mormon 1:8), and his lament “O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord!” (Mormon 6:17, 19).
• Nephi’s vision of Mary being “exceedingly fair and white” and “most beautiful and fair” (1 Nephi 11:13–15, 18).
• The Lord’s statement that he would not suffer “cries of the fair [Nephite] daughters … against the [Nephite] men” (Jacob 2:32).

Put another way, certainly God cared about all Nephite women, not just those deemed physically attractive. Certainly God cared about the spiritual beauty of his son’s mother-to-be, not her physical appearance. [Page 214]Isaiah emphasized spiritual ugliness, the people’s terrible sins.⁵⁷ The comment in 4 Nephi and statements by Mormon and Alma are linked to redemption from sin through Jesus Christ (Words of Mormon 1:8; Alma 5:14–27; 4 Nephi 1:2–18; Mormon 6:17–22). The scriptures do not tell us to become physically beautiful. Indeed, the Book of Mormon shows that physical attractiveness is not necessarily connected to spiritual beauty. A Jaredite woman used her physical attractiveness as part of a conspiracy (Ether 8:8–10) and other apparently physically beautiful Jaredites were living in sin (Ether 7:4; Ether 13:17). The Messiah himself was prophesied to have “no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him” (Mosiah 14:2; Isaiah 53:2). This prophesy must refer to physical appearance because Christ’s inner beauty is, of course, most beautiful and desirable of all. Finally, the Book of Mormon condemns a group of Nephites who regarded some of their poor peers as filthy (because of their outward appearance) and forbids them entry into a house of worship (Alma 32:2–3).

Amy Easton-Flake linked white and dark to symbolism in Lehi’s dream and Nephi’s vision (1 Nephi 8, 11–14).⁵⁸ There, a beautiful fruit tree symbolizes the love of God, and people are invited to come to the tree and partake of the fruit. This symbolizes accepting the gospel. Mists of darkness appear that distract people from the tree and symbolizes earthly temptations and cares that seduce people from living the gospel. Also, filthy water is seen, which symbolizes hell. She states, “The color white is synonymous with partaking of the fruit: the fruit is white, the tree is white, and individuals who partake of the fruit are made white through the blood of the Lamb.” On the other side, “By calling the people a ‘dark, and loathsome, and a filthy people’ [1 Nephi 12:23], Nephi connects them to symbols of hell — the filthy water and the dark mist.” Refuting a racial connection, Matthew Bowen adds, “‘A dark and loathsome and a filthy people’ are to be connected — rather than to race, genetics, or ethnicity — to the filthy water and the ‘mist[s] of darkness’ [Page 215]of Nephi’s vision or ‘the symbols or hell’ symptomatic of ‘unbelief.’“⁵⁹ He argues that “Jacob’s allusion to ‘white’ skin color” (Jacob 3:8) and Mormon’s description of converted Lamanites becoming white-skinned and exceedingly fair (3 Nephi 2:15–16) are additional allusions to Nephi’s vision.

Three incidents where one might surmise that skin color was different between Nephites and Lamanites do not clearly say or imply a physical difference. Two incidents occur when Ammon, a Nephite, lived among the Lamanites and served King Lamoni; Ammon was easily distinguished as a Nephite (Alma 19:18, 20:10). The record is unclear how the distinction was made. A difference in skin color should not be assumed. Lamanites and Nephites could have had unique modes of dress or other outward characteristics. The people recognizing Ammon’s nationality may have simply known a Nephite was living with the king or may have heard a rumor of such. On a third occasion, as noted by Brant Gardner,⁶⁰ the Nephite captain Moroni searched for “a man who was a descendant of Laman” among his army in a plot to retrieve Nephite prisoners of war (Alma 55:4–15). He found one person, also named Laman, who had escaped to live with the Nephites. Moroni had Laman and others deliver wine to the Lamanite army guarding the Nephite prisoners. They presented themselves falsely as Lamanite soldiers who had escaped from the Nephite army. The ethnicity of Laman’s companions (all were part of the Nephite army) is not specified, but if they were lighter skinned, they would have been easily recognized as Nephites. As Gardner noted, this ruse suggests the Lamanites and Nephites had the same skin color. [Page 216]“The reason for having a Lamanite [to lead the scheme] could plausibly be language or accent, but not skin color.”

The Book of Mormon mentions changes in spiritual state without any mention of skin color. When thousands of Lamanites were converted, “the curse of God did no more follow them” (Alma 23:18). No changes in skin are mentioned. After Christ appeared to the Lehite people, they were all converted to the Lord and lived in great happiness (3 Nephi 26:17–21; 4 Nephi 1:1–18). The record notes that no “-ites” were present. As the conversion occurs, no skin change is recorded. When wickedness again appears after a long period of righteousness, the people split again into Lamanites and Nephites. But this time, no mention is made of changes in skin color, even though the division again is because of wickedness, “even as it was in the beginning” (4 Nephi 1:20, 35–39). Indeed, no mention is made of skin color throughout the rest of the book.

The racialized interpretation of white and black skin in the Book of Mormon has been pervasive and long lasting. In today’s racially sensitive society, one can easily assume the metaphorical interpretations are attempts to make the book more palatable to current sensibilities.

The church’s disavowal and evidences for a metaphorical understanding suggest earlier popular sensibilities were the problem, not today’s. “Interpretations that have appealed to prevailing sensibilities were precisely what led nineteenth-century Euro-American readers to assume that the text of the Book of Mormon was somehow referring to flesh pigmentation,” Ethan Sproat wrote.⁶¹ “The nineteenth-century view seriously handicaps our perception,” Kevin Christensen noted.⁶² The problem is not that white was used as a metaphor for righteousness and black for wickedness, but that, somewhere in the racialization of our modern society, light and dark epidermis was tied to goodness and evil, respectively. The tragedy is that literal interpretation has contributed to attitudes of superiority.⁶³ As is clear from church leaders and more than three thousand verses in the Book of Mormon, attitudes of superiority and unkindness toward others are inconsistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

[Page 217]Lamanites Excused and Exemplary, Nephites Condemned

Neither shall ye revile against them because of their filthiness; but ye shall remember your own filthiness, and remember that their filthiness came because of their fathers. (Jacob 3:9)

And Ammon said unto [the Lamanite queen]: Blessed art thou because of thy exceeding faith; I say unto thee, woman, there has not been such great faith among all the people of the Nephites. (Alma 19:10)

In our day, scornful or pejorative words are a common way attitudes of superiority are manifest. The Nephite recordkeepers included descriptions of the Lamanites that have been taken in this way. But, as Peter Coviello notes, “The Book of Mormon is something other, and something stranger, than the reflexive reproduction of nineteenth-century racism for which it is very, very easy to take it.”⁶⁴ This includes not only skin color, but also disparaging remarks.

Nephite Negative Views of the Lamanites

After the Lamanite-Nephite separation, the Lamanites were described with uncomplimentary terms. They were “loathsome,” “idle,” “full of mischief and subtlety,” “wild,” “ferocious,” “blood-thirsty,” nearly naked, and “full of idolatry and filthiness”; they ate “beasts of prey” and “raw meat” (2 Nephi 5:22, 24; Enos 1:20; Mosiah 10:12; Alma 17:14–15). “They loved murder and would drink the blood of beasts” (Jarom 1:6).⁶⁵ “They were a lazy and an idolatrous people” (Mosiah 9:12). They were “hardened,” indolent,” and “delighted in murdering the Nephites, and robbing and plundering them” (Alma 17:14–15; Mosiah 10:17). They “sought to obtain [riches] by murdering and plundering” (Alma 17:14). They delighted “in all manner of wickedness and plunder, except it were among their own brethren” (Mosiah 24:7).⁶⁶

Several Latter-day Saint scholars and at least one leader have professed that these labels are prejudicial. Brant Gardner states that negative Nephite descriptions of the Lamanites were likely a result of the way people typically [Page 218]view outsiders.⁶⁷ People outside one’s own group are often given labels that are unflattering or even pejorative. Gardner adds, “Such prejudice is not surprising.” Armand Mauss said, “Demonizing of the ‘other’ has been a recurrent process in all of human history.”⁶⁸ Christopher Conkling wrote, “[A]ny ancient record not reflecting some of that racial or tribal bias would probably not qualify as an authentic ancient record.”⁶⁹ John Tvedtnes⁷⁰ and John Sorenson⁷¹ made similar points. Tvedtnes added, “The Lord himself does not use such language to describe the Lamanites.”⁷² Dan Belnap noted, “The Nephites held disdain for the Lamanite people and culture in general.”⁷³ Lamanites also viewed the Nephites with disdain.⁷⁴ Matthew Bowen added, “Nephite pejoration of the name Laman and Lamanites reinforced negative Nephite attitudes toward and traditions regarding the Lamanites.”⁷⁵ After many Lamanites were converted, they changed their name to “Anti-Nephi-Lehies … and were no more called Lamanites” (Alma 23:16–17). Bowen noted the Nephites also gave them a new name, “people of Ammon.”⁷⁶ President  Dieter F. Uchtdorf noted [Page 219]that both Nephites and Lamanites had views of each other that “fed their hatred for one another.”⁷⁷ Certainly, like all people, both Nephites and Lamanites were susceptible to prejudice.

As internal evidence that negative statements about Lamanites are inaccurate or at least do not describe all Lamanites, some scholars noted a discrepancy between those statements and what is stated elsewhere about the Lamanites. For example, about the mission of Mosiah’s sons and others to the Lamanites, Christopher Conkling wrote the following.

[I]f we read the account of Ammon and Aaron’s 14-year mission among the Lamanites [Alma 17–29] side by side with Alma’s mission among the Nephites [Alma 4–16], what the records show is that the Lamanites were almost as civilized, decent, receptive, and, yes, hostile, dishonest, murdering, and persecuting as Alma’s Nephites. They had highways, transportation, government, religious buildings, planned cities, various religious customs, government officials, soldiers, outlaws and renegades, and kings and subkings (or “chiefs”), just as the Nephites had, and were not quite as uncivilized as the Nephites originally feared.⁷⁸

Steven Olsen and Brant Gardner made similar observations.⁷⁹ In addition, John Sorenson noted that the apparent superior population [Page 220]growth of the Lamanites would be unlikely in a society made up of only hunter- gatherers.⁸⁰ “They must have had a productive agricultural base to gain and maintain such numbers as they displayed.”

Unless we do not understand some aspect of Nephite culture that is different from our own, the assertion appears true that Nephite prejudice is manifest in the uncomplimentary descriptions of Lamanites. Our own tendencies to denigrate enemies or people different from us — with similar terms — suggests that Book of Mormon people likely did the same.

The seemingly constant wars between Lamanites and Nephites likely made scornful views difficult to resist. After stating the Lamanites “loved murder” and drank animal blood, Jarom said that “they came many times against us, the Nephites, to battle” (Jarom 1:6–7). Zeniff, a Nephite who courageously fought to protect Lamanites from Nephite aggression (Mosiah 9:1–2), described Lamanites negatively only when they attacked his Nephite settlement (Mosiah 9:10–19; 10:6–20).⁸¹ The Nephites considered the Lamanites enemies (Omni 1:2; Alma 22:34). In our day, World War II, the Cold War, the Global War on Terrorism, and other wars have stimulated scorn. Of course, speaking well, or at least not speaking pejoratively, of someone who has been trying “many times” to harm us or our fellow citizens is difficult. Loving one’s enemy has always been a hard commandment to live. Our language is evidence of that fact.

Nephite prejudice against the Lamanites was undoubtedly present. On at least two occasions, Nephites wanted to destroy Lamanites (Mosiah 9:1; Alma 26:23–25). The Nephites’ negative views of the Lamanites clearly was a reason for one proposed action (Alma 26:24– 25). Jacob also pointed out that the Nephites hated the Lamanites (Jacob 3:5). The Lamanite prophet Samuel noted animosity towards him, in part because of his ethnicity (Helaman 14:10).

On the other hand, Book of Mormon authors present the proposition of destroying the Lamanites and the hateful attitudes toward the Lamanites as wrong. Were those authors and righteous Book of Mormon people also scornful and prejudicial? Were they like people today who [Page 221]do good in some aspects of their lives but are cankered by attitudes of superiority?

Because the negative statements are brief and lack context, perhaps we have misread the negative words and the authors’ intent.⁸² What a writer writes and a reader reads are often not the same, even if the two belong to the same culture and use the same language. Given our vastly different culture and language as compared to the ancient Book of Mormon society, the writer-reader gap is undoubtedly very large.⁸³ The Book of Mormon writers often remind us that they wrote only a few things, that words were inadequate, or that the full history was written elsewhere.⁸⁴ Perhaps the Book of Mormon authors were describing that some Lamanites had a particular characteristic and intended it as respectful people today, for example, might describe people who live primitively or people who participate in groups that use violence. The descriptions are not meant to put people down but are meant to, respectively, tell how people live and show what the obstacles to peace really are. Enos, who wrote a long list of uncomplimentary Lamanite characteristics in his brief book (Enos 1:14, 20), prayed “with many long strugglings” for them (“my brethren”) and mentioned Nephite efforts to reach out to the Lamanites and presumably have good relations with them (Enos 1:11–20).

Given that the Nephite attitude of loathsomeness would or should disappear when Lamanites “shall repent of their iniquities” (2 Nephi 5:22), perhaps disgust was based on evil Lamanite behavior that was repulsive, not nationality, physical appearance, or primitive lifestyles. This appears to be true at least for righteous Nephites. They embraced [Page 222]converted Lamanites (Alma 27:20–27; Helaman 6:3). The sons of Mosiah and colleagues embraced Lamanites before their conversion (Mosiah 28:1–9; Alma 17–23). Today, similar attitudes often are seen towards repulsive, unethical behavior found in those who engage in illegal, destructive, or costly behaviors. Though people are tempted otherwise, the disgust is against the people’s acts, not the people or their ethnicity. People who change from repulsive lifestyles are celebrated.

Nevertheless, Book of Mormon writers warned us not to think they and the book are perfect. “If there are faults they are the mistakes of men,” we are told on the title page and in the text (Mormon 8:17). In addition to admitting imperfections (Mormon 8:12) or possible errors (1 Nephi 19:6) in the record, Nephi and Moroni acknowledged “weakness in writing” and Moroni said the Gentiles would mock it (2 Nephi 33:1, 11; Ether 12:23, 25, 40). “Condemn me not because of mine imperfection,” Moroni writes, “neither my father, because of his imperfection, neither them who have written before him; but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more wise than we have been” (Mormon 9:31; Mormon 8:12). If the Nephite writers used prejudicial statements, then this is one such imperfection from which we should learn to do better, as Moroni counseled.

On the other hand, judging the Nephite’s negative descriptions of the Lamanites as prejudicial needs to be tempered by other parts of the record. Some statements are self-labelling. After being converted to the Lord, a large group of Lamanites said they no longer killed others, stole things, or were “idle.” They covenanted “that rather than shed the blood of their brethren they would give up their own lives; and rather than take away from a brother they would give unto him; and rather than spend their days in idleness they would labor abundantly with their hands” (Alma 24:18). The Lamanite king Anti-Nephi-Lehi labeled their previous traditions and actions wicked (Alma 24:7–15; 27:6, 8). Anti-Nephi- Lehi’s father, who was the previous Lamanite king, sent a proclamation to his people. In the proclamation, he mentioned “the wicked traditions of their fathers” and wanted his people to know they should not murder, plunder, steal, commit adultery, or commit “any manner of wickedness” (Alma 23:3).⁸⁵ More significantly, elsewhere (1) Nephites are condemned more often and more severely for their wickedness than the Lamanites, are described with nearly all of the same negative terms, and are condemned with dozens of terms not used for the Lamanites; (2) many Lamanites are [Page 223]given as examples of righteousness; (3) positive assessments of Lamanites over Nephites are given (even when Lamanites were unrighteous); and (4) Lamanite attitudes and actions are excused or partially excused. These features are inconsistent with a prejudicial record.

Nephites Condemned More Than Lamanites with Similar and Additional Terms

In the Book of Mormon, Nephites are more often and more severely condemned than are Lamanites. The Lamanites are described as wicked or negative characteristics are given 54 instances in 193 verses (Table 5). Nephites are labeled as wicked or are labeled negatively 146 instances in 715 verses (Table 6), almost three times more instances and almost four times the number of verses. More impressively, if the actual number of characteristic words or phrases used are tallied (tables 5–7), condemnation of the Lamanites pales in comparison. Negative characteristics of Nephites (1160) are stated six times more often than those of the Lamanites (192).⁸⁶ Nephites are labeled as wicked 293 times compared to only 41 times for Lamanites, more than seven times more often.

Nephites were also given 33 of the 36 negative labels used for the Lamanites (Table 7). For 26 of these, the Nephites are labeled more than or equal to the number of times the Lamanites are labeled, 21 are double or higher. Nephites also were angry (Nephites 45 : Lamanites 3);⁸⁷ blood-thirsty (6:7); cannibalistic (3:1); contentious (57:1); cunning (13:10); choosing darkness (6:2); seeking to destroy the church, prophets, or Nephite government (24:8); ferocious (2:4); filthy (6:4); hardhearted or hardened (43:9); hateful (1:12); idle (1:3); idolatrous (8:3); impenitent (2:1); lazy or indolent (2:3); lying and deceptive (17:2); guilty of malice (4:1); materialistic (23:3); murderers (33:13); plundering and robbing (12:11); rebellious against God (8:3); rejected the gospel or prophets (57:8); stealing and thieving (7:2); stiffnecked (12:2); subjugators (10:10); unbelievers (14:3); uncivilized (1:8); vain (11:1); vengeful (4:1); weak (3:3); committing whoredoms (22:1); wicked (293:41); and wild (2:4). Nephites receive these descriptions a total of 752 times compared to 188 times for Lamanites, four times more often overall.

[Page 224]Three Lamanite characteristics not used for Nephites are loathsome, mischief, and human sacrifice (Table 7). These three unique labels are used a total of four times (once, once, and twice, respectively). “Loathsome” also was used to describe what the surviving Lamanites and Nephites would become after the book ends (Table 7).⁸⁸

Nephites are severely condemned in ways not used for Lamanites. Jacob addressed his fellow Nephites and told them they were “filthy” (Jacob 3:3). The first Nephi told his people they were stiffnecked (2 Nephi 25:28). Alma told another group of Nephites they were hard-hearted, stiffnecked, wicked, and perverse, and he said they were “a lost and a fallen people” (Alma 9:8, 30–32). Abinadi told king Noah and his priests, “I perceive that ye have studied and taught iniquity the most part of your lives” (Mosiah 13:11). Mormon inserted two comments into the narrative that, in addition to the wickedness of the Nephites he is describing, may have reflected his frustration and sorrow with his own generation’s descent into extreme wickedness. When Nephites were in “great wickedness” and “ripening for destruction” (Helaman 11:36–37; Helaman 13:1), he inserted a blistering attack on the “unsteadiness of the hearts of the children of men” (Helaman 12:1–8). He said people are foolish, vain, evil, quick to do iniquity, slow to do good, and “less than the dust of the earth,” which obeys God. Later, he compared the conduct of one Nephite group to repulsive animal behavior: “The more part of the people had turned from their righteousness, like the dog to his vomit, or like the sow to her wallowing in the mire” (3 Nephi 7:8). Another prophet Nephi called wicked people of his day “fools” and told them they should “howl and mourn, because of the great destruction which at this time doth await you, except ye shall repent” (Helaman 9:21–22). Conspicuously, unlike most preaching to wicked Nephites (e.g., Mosiah 12–13; Alma 9:8–33; Helaman 7–8; Helaman 13–15, see also Table 6), Nephite sermons to wicked (unconverted) Lamanites were not harsh. Ammon and Aaron had respectful conversations with Lamanite kings and did not criticize them (Alma 18:14–42; 22:1–18; see also Helaman 5:20–26).

Nephites are severely condemned with words not used for Lamanites. Nephites were labeled with an additional 66 terms not used for Lamanites [Page 225](Table 7). Nephites had blind eyes, deaf ears, false hearts, and impure minds. Harshness was needed to keep them in the right way. They were quick to forget God, slow to do good, led by Satan, setting at naught God’s commandments, trampling God underfoot, in an awful state, ripening for destruction, led astray or leading others astray, in a polluted state, and worse than prophet-killers of old. They had perverted the ways of the Lord, aligned themselves with a wicked order (Nehor), forgotten God, and destroyed their government. They had false Christs, prophets, and preachers. Nephites were carnal, depraved, fallen, lost, loveless, merciless, without order, past feeling, without principle, and unsteady. They were guilty of babblings, bloodshed, boasting, brutality, corruption, wearing costly apparel, cursing God, denying, dissension, envying, being poor examples, flattery, foolishness, seeking gain, hypocrisy, inequality and attitudes of superiority, intrigue, being “lawyers,” mocking sacred things, neglecting the needy, taking offense, persecuting others, seeking power, desiring praise of men, being prideful, priestcraft, rape, rioting, living riotously, being scornful, selling themselves for naught, sorceries, stubbornness, torture, breaking trust, and being wine-bibbers.⁸⁹ Nephites received these descriptions 408 times.

The book’s focus is on Nephite sins, not Lamanite ones. Nephite prophets continually urged the Nephites to repent of their wickedness. The prophet Jarom noted that much needed to be done among the Nephites “because of the hardness of their hearts, and the deafness of their ears, and the blindness of their minds, and the stiffness of their necks” (Jarom 1:3). Alma taught a wicked group of Nephites that the day of judgment would be more tolerable for the Lamanites than for that group unless they repented (Alma 9:14–25). Nephi, the son of the second Helaman, lived in a time of wickedness among the Nephites (Helaman 4:21–26, 5:2–4, 11:1–2). He repeatedly warned the Nephites to repent to avoid destruction (Helaman 7, 8:25–26, 9:21–22, 10:11–18). Samuel, a Lamanite prophet, also warned the wicked Nephites that they faced destruction if they did not repent (Helaman 13–15). He was driven out twice (Helaman 13:1–2; 16:6–8, 10–12). Christopher Conkling noted, “Book of Mormon prophets rarely blamed their people’s problems [Page 226]on outside aggressors, but rather on internal [Nephite] dissent and sinfulness.”⁹⁰

The book ends with Nephite annihilation, not Lamanite destruction, and partial annihilation of Nephites occurred at other times throughout the book. Wickedness caused their destruction. Amaron noted, “The more wicked part of the Nephites were destroyed” (Omni 1:5). Wicked people in the land of Ammonihah were destroyed (Alma 16), and many wicked people died before Christ visited the Lehite people (3 Nephi 8–9). Prophecies predicted the final destruction of the Nephites because of their wickedness (1 Nephi 12:19; Alma 45:9–14; Helaman 15). Prior to their final destruction, the Nephites “persisted in their wickedness continually,” and the wickedness among all the people was extreme (Helaman 3:16; 4 Nephi 1; Mormon 1–6, 8). As Peter Coviello wrote, the Book of Mormon tells “about imperial hubris and the steep decline of a once-righteous people overthrown by their own pride.”⁹¹

Lamanites as Examples of Righteousness

The Lamanites are examples of righteousness 19 times (Table 8). Christ mentioned the Lamanites had great faith “at the time of their conversion” (3 Nephi 9:20). Presumably the Lord could have mentioned many Nephite examples, but he chose a Lamanite one instead. That is an important endorsement, as Matthew Bowen noted.⁹² During a time of “great inequality in all the land,” a few Lamanites were steadfast in the faith and “would not depart from it” (3 Nephi 6:14). To the Nephites, Jacob pointed out that the Lamanites were monogamous and chaste and that fathers, mothers, and children loved each other (Jacob 3:5–7). When the Nephites cast out the prophet Samuel and were “in great wickedness,” “the Lamanites did observe strictly to keep the commandments of God” (Helaman 13:1). On another occasion, most Nephites were “exceedingly wicked” and were ripening for destruction, but most Lamanites were righteous, “insomuch that their [Page 227]righteousness did exceed that of the Nephites, because of their firmness and their steadiness in the faith” (Helaman 6:1–2, 15–40). When Ammon and colleagues reached out to the Lamanites, several spectacular examples of righteousness among the Lamanites followed (Alma 18–19, 21–27). For example, King Lamoni had a vision and saw the Lord. His wife, the queen, showed great faith. Their servant Abish had “been converted unto the Lord for many years” through “a remarkable vision of her father.” Lamoni, the queen, and Abish helped convert their fellow Lamanites. Many saw and conversed with angels. Thousands were converted to the Lord, including the head king of the Lamanites, Lamoni’s father, and his whole household. Righteousness abounded among the Lamanites. The converted Lamanites buried their weapons of war and many suffered death rather than use those weapons again, as the converts would rather die than “take the life of their enemy.” They were called “a highly favored people of the Lord.”

Lamanites and Nephites Compared — Lamanites Equal or Better

The spiritual state of the Nephites and Lamanites is compared 16 times (Table 9); mostly, the Lamanites were more righteous. The queen of the land of Ishmael and wife of King Lamoni exercised more faith than had been seen “among all the people of the Nephites” (Alma 19:10). Lamanites showed greater love (Alma 26:32–33) and more courage (Alma 56:45) than the Nephites. Twice, most Lamanites were righteous, while Nephites were mostly wicked (Helaman 6–7, 13). Another time, a few Lamanites were steadfast in the faith and would not depart from it, whereas most others were wicked (3 Nephi 6:14–18). At a time of great wickedness among the Nephites, the Nephites were told that the Lamanites were blessed because they so diligently followed the Lord when converted, but that the Nephites would be cursed and destroyed if they did not repent (Helaman 15). Alma told a group of wicked Nephites this life and the final judgement would be better for the Lamanites unless the Nephites repented (Alma 9:15, 23). For seven of the 16 comparisons, Nephites were deemed more wicked than the Lamanites, even though the Lamanites were not converted to the Lord. The Nephite prophet Jacob recorded that the Nephites began to be somewhat wicked and prideful during the reign of the second Nephite king (Jacob 1:15–16). Jacob told the Nephites their sins were worse than the sins of the Lamanites: “Ye have done greater iniquities than the Lamanites, our brethren” (Jacob 2:22–35). He pointed out that the Lamanites were sexually chaste, unlike the Nephites: “The Lamanites your brethren, whom ye hate … , are more righteous than you; [Page 228]for they have not forgotten the commandment of the Lord, which was given unto our father — that they should have save it were one wife, and concubines they should have none, and there should not be whoredoms committed among them … their husbands love their wives, and their wives love their husbands; and their husbands and their wives love their children” (Jacob 3:3–10). Nephite dissenters were “more hardened and impenitent, and more wild, wicked and ferocious than the Lamanites” (Alma 47:36; 24:28–30; 21:3). Mormon noted a similar pattern at the end of the Book of Mormon, that “[Nephite] wickedness doth exceed that of the Lamanites” (Moroni 9:20). Only twice out of the 16 comparisons were the Lamanites not in a better state than the Nephites; at these times, the two nations were both wicked (Helaman 4:21–26; 4 Nephi 1:43, 45).⁹³

Interestingly, the Nephites were accused of committing sexual sins (whoredoms and similar words) 22 times but the Lamanites only once (Table 7). The one Lamanite accusation is implied, unlike the Nephite accusations.

Saying cursed, uncultured people are living better than one’s own uncursed, cultured group is especially inconsistent with a discriminatory message and with the book being a product of 1800s attitudes or Nephite bigotry. Put another way by John Tvedtnes, “If Joseph Smith’s racism is reflected in the Book of Mormon, why does that volume have large numbers of Lamanites becoming righteous — indeed, more righteous than the Nephites?”⁹⁴

Another sign of inclusiveness is in a prominent war story. Sons of converted Lamanites joined the Nephite army and helped protect the Nephite nation against attacking unconverted Lamanites (Alma 53, 56–58). In all of their intense battles, none of these sons lost their lives, yet many valiant Nephites who fight alongside them were killed (Alma 57:25– 26). A bigoted author would suppress, not highlight that fact.

Lamanite Attitudes and Actions Excused

Many people who are caught up in wicked lifestyles know of no other way. This is the attitude of righteous Nephites toward the Lamanites. Seven times, the Nephite record points out that Lamanite unbelief, cursing, evil deeds, hatred toward Nephites, or ignorance was because of the traditions and iniquity of the Lamanites’ fathers (Table 10). Although not completely [Page 229]excusing Lamanite beliefs and behavior, the verses suggest understandable reasons for Lamanite attitudes and actions. Four of these statements (Jacob 3:7; Alma 9:16; Alma 60:32; Helaman 15:4, 15) are in the context of reprimands to the Nephites that told them the Lamanites have a long tradition that accounted for their attitudes and behavior, but the Nephites had no excuse for their sinful views and conduct. Another statement came from Nephites questioning whether Lamanites could be turned from the long-held “traditions of their fathers” (Alma 26:24). Two other statements were comments about the Lamanites being cursed or not believing “because of the traditions of their fathers” (Mosiah 1:5; Alma 17:15).

Denigrating Words Inconsistent with Book’s Message

For those of us who profess the Book of Mormon to be the word of God, we certainly have no justification to use pejorative or denigrating words. Other parts of the book make clear that we are to love all people. Our modern culture, thankfully, generally disapproves of denigrating descriptions. Latter-day Saint leaders encourage us to speak with kindness and avoid disparaging remarks.⁹⁵

The overall Book of Mormon emphasis on Nephite wickedness and de-emphasis of Lamanite wickedness is inconsistent with a discriminatory message and consistent with an inclusive message. If the authors of the book were discriminatory, one would expect Lamanite wickedness to be highlighted, not Nephite wickedness. Lamanites would be the ones to become dangerously wicked and be destroyed, not the Nephites. The Nephites were the group who warranted the severest condemnation, and they were the ones who were, and were prophesied to be, destroyed. The Lamanites were promised to continue, even if they were wicked. “Because [Page 230]of their firmness when they are once enlightened,” the Lord would bless the Lamanites and “prolong their days, notwithstanding their iniquity … even if they should dwindle in unbelief” (Helaman 15:10–16).

Whatever the meaning of the unflattering descriptions of the Lamanites, righteous Nephites did not behave in prejudicial ways toward the Lamanites. In other words, if the Nephite words were as discriminatory as they appear, righteous Nephites acted differently from these words. The acts of both righteous Nephites and Lamanites show that they rose above ethnic strife. They were kind, however loathsome the other people may have appeared. Discriminatory people or authors do not (1) sincerely refer to despised people as “brethren,” preach kindness and equality for all, and sacrifice for the good of a scorned group; (2) condemn harmful acts and attitudes against detested people; or (3) prophesy bounteous future blessings upon despised people. Acts of kindness were not just international; intranational acts, such as help to people in need, occurred, too. The Book of Mormon also condemns extreme wickedness (war and conspiracies) that are tools of oppression, and the book contains a powerful story of redemption from prejudicial attitudes. These messages are given, in total, hundreds of times. Hence, given this overwhelming message of inclusiveness, perhaps we should reserve judgment on the motives or prejudice of the Nephite authors when they wrote negative statements about the Lamanites.

Love and Respect for Others

We see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. (Alma 26:37)

Doth he cry unto any, saying: Depart from me? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; but he saith: Come unto me all ye ends of the earth, buy milk and honey, without money and without price. (2 Nephi 26:25)

Through precept and example, the Book of Mormon teaches that people should love and respect others. This point is made 248 times by the Nephites respectfully referring to Lamanites as “brethren,” the repeated teaching that “all are alike unto God” or God is fair, several attempts of Nephites and Lamanites to reach out to the other nation, and many acts of inter-group kindness.

[Page 231]“Lamanites, Our Brethren”

Despite many Nephite-Lamanite conflicts and their view of the Lamanites as loathsome, the Nephites respectfully referred to the Lamanites as brothers. Fifty-nine times, Lamanites are labeled “brethren” and sometimes “beloved brethren” (Table 11). As noted by John Tvedtnes, this is not “a term that one would expect to find in a society that holds racist views toward a neighboring people.”⁹⁶ If the record were a racist creed, if the Nephites were racist, or if Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon based on his own or his society’s racist ideology, one would not expect a despised person to be labeled a brother. One would expect disparaging terms or silence, not a term of endearment.

Although one might expect endearing terms in times of joy, peace, or prayer (Enos 1:11; Mosiah 28:1; Alma 17, 19, 26, 27; 3 Nephi 2:12), that term of endearment was used even when Nephites were threatened by the Lamanites. The first Nephi notes, “[We] had wars and contentions with our brethren” (2 Nephi 5:34). Jacob laments that the Lamanites “our brethren” hated him and his people (Jacob 7:24, 26). Gideon, a Nephite warrior, called Lamanites “our brethren” while they were holding him and other Nephites in bondage (Mosiah 22:3). Some battles are described as a fight between “brethren,” and the Nephites lament having to again fight their brothers (Alma 43:29; Alma 48:21, 23; Alma 49:7; Helaman 11:24). Even when defeated in a battle by the Lamanite army, the chief leader of the Nephite army wondered if his nation would succumb into “the hands of their brethren” (Alma 59:11). At the close of the record, Moroni was in hiding from the Lamanites because they would kill him if they find him. Yet, five times he referred to them as “my brethren”; two of those times he called them “beloved brethren” (Moroni 1:4; 10:1, 8, 18–19). Another time, when he thought he had finished writing, he bade farewell “unto my brethren whom I love” (Ether 12:38). Labeling the Lamanites as “brethren” denotes that righteous Nephites cared about the Lamanites. The righteous people seemed to remember that whatever differences existed between the two nations, they were part of one family. This is a powerful lesson for us today.

Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris were intimately acquainted with Joseph Smith and were vital to the preparation of the Book of Mormon for publication. They were selected as special witnesses, were shown a heavenly vision, and provided a signed statement that is included in every published copy of the Book of Mormon (Testimony of [Page 232]Three Witnesses). Included in their short testimony is a brief phrase that the Nephites and Lamanites were “brethren.” This was a key message they took from the manuscript. Including this phrase would be inconsistent if they or Joseph Smith were including racist ideology in the book.

“All Are Alike unto God”

One hundred and sixteen times a reader of the Book of Mormon encounters the teaching that the gospel message is for all, God loves all, or God is fair to all (Table 4). This message is found throughout the book.

“All nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” are included in God’s call to repent and follow Christ. In other words, all homelands, lineages, languages, and faiths⁹⁷ are included. The phrase “all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people” suggests all are included regardless of how people may be characterized.

Never was the gospel intended just for Jews, Nephites, Lamanites, or other Israelites. For example, the Lord will manifest himself to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles (1 Nephi 13:42). The “salvation of the Lord” will come to “all the earth,” and “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people shall be blessed” (1 Nephi 19:17). “The knowledge of a Savior shall spread throughout every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (Mosiah 3:20). Over and over again, the reader is told that the “gate of heaven is open unto all” who will believe in Christ (Helaman 3:27–30) or something similar. No one is turned away. “All men are privileged the one like the other, and none are forbidden” (2 Nephi 26:24–28). “[God] inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile” (2 Nephi 26:33). He asks his servants to take the gospel “unto the ends of the earth” (3 Nephi 11:41). He will gather his people from “all nations” (3 Nephi 21:28–29).

The Book of Mormon clearly states that God loves every member of the human race. For example, “[O]ne being is as precious in [God’s] sight as the other” (Jacob 2:21). After many Lamanites were converted to the gospel, a leader of that effort noted, “[W]e see that God is mindful of every people” (Alma 26:37). We learn God imparts his word not only [Page 233]to men but also to women and children (Alma 32:23). The Holy Ghost is available to all who diligently seek the Lord (1 Nephi 10:17–19).

The Book of Mormon teaches that God treats all people fairly. For example, we learn that lineage is not the test God uses: “As many of the Gentiles as will repent are the covenant people of the Lord; and as many of the Jews as will not repent shall be cast off” (2 Nephi 30:1–2). “If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind; and the effect thereof is poison” (Mosiah 7:29–32). God’s test is righteousness, not lineage. “The Lord esteemeth all flesh in one”; the righteous are favored, and the wicked are not (1 Nephi 17:30–43). This is shown throughout the book as the Nephites choose wickedness or righteousness. This applies also in our day, as we are told that anyone who fights against Zion, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, “shall perish” (2 Nephi 10:13–17). God commands “all men, everywhere, to repent and believe in [Christ]” (3 Nephi 11:32–34). The Gospel is available freely to “whosoever will come” and partake (Alma 42:27). “We see that [the Lord’s] arm is extended to all people who will repent and believe on his name” (Alma 19:36). The Lord “remember[s] one nation like unto another” and “speak[s] unto all nations of the earth” (2 Nephi 29:7–8, 11–12). All will be resurrected and stand before God to be judged (Alma 12:8). This latter point provides various messages, but here the important messages are that God will raise everyone from the dead and will judge everyone fairly. We will not be judged by someone with human biases.

Therefore, God treats all his children fairly and loves them equally, and we are asked to also love everyone (2 Nephi 31:20). In the Book of Mormon, righteous Nephites and Lamanites did that by reaching out to others outside and inside their own nations.

Outreach

The Book of Mormon mentions Nephite efforts to reach out to the Lamanites and vice versa (Table 12). Six efforts are described.

Outreach efforts began shortly after the Nephite-Lamanite split. Jacob, Nephi’s brother, reported “many means were devised to reclaim and restore the Lamanites to the knowledge of the truth; but it all was vain” (Jacob 7:24). Jacob’s son Enos reported the Nephites “did seek diligently to restore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God,” but their efforts were not successful either (Enos 1:14, 20).

The first successful effort involved a small band of Nephites who went to preach to the Lamanites (Mosiah 28:1–9; Alma 17–29). Near the end of Mosiah’s reign as king of the Nephites, his sons refused the kingdom [Page 234]and asked Mosiah’s permission to go with others to the Lamanites on a mission to bring peace to the land and to let the Lamanites also “rejoice in the Lord their God” (Mosiah 28:2). Mosiah consented and the small group traveled to Lamanite territory. The group suffered much, but they also met with phenomenal success. Thousands of Lamanites were converted. They “never did fall away” (Alma 23:6). Moroni called the mission a great miracle (Ether 12:15).

A second mission to the Lamanites was also successful (Helaman 5–6). Brothers Lehi and Nephi preached to the Lamanites, and most Lamanites became “a righteous people” (Helaman 6:1). They were even more righteous than the Nephites.

Lamanites then returned the favor by preaching to the Nephites “with exceedingly great power and authority” (Helaman 6:4–9). Many Lamanites participated in this effort. Their efforts resulted in “bringing down many … into the depths of humility, to be the humble followers of God.”

Later, Samuel, a Lamanite prophet, attempted to preach to the Nephites (Helaman 13–16). He was at first rejected by the Nephites, but the Lord asked him to try again. Barred from entering the city, Samuel preached from the city wall. He prophesied of Christ and warned the Nephites of destruction if they did not repent. Some Nephites believed his words and were baptized, though most still rejected him. Some Nephites tried to kill him, and he fled to “his own country” (Helaman 16:7).

Kindness from One Group to Another

Despite frequent armed battles, Nephites and Lamanites also exhibited kindness toward each other. Kind actions toward an enemy are especially difficult but are an important way Christ taught us to act (Matthew 5:44– 47, 3 Nephi 12:44–45). The Book of Mormon gives 67 examples where Nephites helped Lamanites or vice versa, where people were kind to others in different or unfortunate circumstances within their own nation, or where the society was fair and just (Table 13). Twenty of these instances involved risk of death or actual death to those who were kind.

Zeniff and other Nephites fought to protect Lamanites. Apparently as part of a Nephite attempt to attack Lamanites (“that our army might come upon them and destroy them”), Zeniff spied on the Lamanites (Mosiah 9:1–2). “But when [he] saw that which was good among them [he] was desirous that they should not be destroyed.” He proposed that the Nephite group make a treaty with the Lamanites instead of attacking [Page 235]them. His leader would not agree, and bloodshed among the Nephite army ensued. Zeniff survived, but “the greater number of [the Nephite] army was destroyed.”

Kind deeds are mentioned during the first successful mission of Nephites to the Lamanites (Mosiah 28; Alma 17–28). Sons of Mosiah “did plead with their father many days” for permission to serve the Lamanites (Mosiah 28:5). They would suffer much. To the Lamanite king Lamoni, the Nephite Ammon said he wanted to live among the Lamanite people, “perhaps until the day I die,” and be a servant to the king (Alma 17:23). Assigned to watch over the king’s flocks, Ammon protected them from plunderers. He also impressed the king by remembering to do other assigned duties after returning from watching the flocks. Ammon and King Lamoni become close friends through Lamoni’s conversion. Later, they journeyed together and confronted Lamoni’s father, who was king over the entire Lamanite nation. Lamoni’s father ordered Lamoni to kill Ammon. Lamoni refused. When Lamoni’s father tried to kill Lamoni, Ammon protected Lamoni and gained advantage over Lamoni’s father. Ammon had no desire to kill Lamoni’s father and used his advantage only to gain freedom for Lamoni and Ammon’s fellow missionaries who were imprisoned. Lamoni’s father was impressed with Ammon’s actions and desired to learn what Ammon and his missionary partners were preaching. Those partners met with Lamoni’s father and offered to become his servants. He refused their offer but asked instead that they “administer unto [him]” (Alma 22:3). Eventually thousands of Lamanites were converted; these Lamanites became friendly with the Nephites, opened correspondence with them, and viewed them as brethren. The converted Lamanites took an oath to never use weapons of war again.

After moving to Nephite territory, the converted Lamanites helped Nephites. When poor Zoramites (a subgroup of Nephites) were rejected by other Zoramites, the converted Lamanites nourished them, gave them land, and ignored threats from the Zoramite leader (Alma 35:6–9). The converted Lamanites, by then known as the people of Ammon, provided support to the Nephite army in place of serving in the army. Several years later, however, the Nephite army was in desperate need, and the people of Ammon were “moved with compassion” and offered to break their oath to never use weapons; instead, their sons, who never made the same promise, served in the army and fought valiantly (Alma 53, 56–58). During the long war, the people of Ammon received other Lamanites captured during the war (Alma 62:16–17, 27–29).

[Page 236]Nephite attitudes and actions toward the Lamanites during wars showed respect for Lamanite lives. When faced with an invading Lamanite army, the Nephites were reluctant to go to war; “they were sorry” (Alma 48:21–23). Captain Moroni, leader of the Nephite army, “did not delight in bloodshed” (Alma 48:11). During a war, the Nephite leader Pahoran said, “We would not shed the blood of the Lamanites if they would stay in their own land” (Alma 61:10). In addition, Captain Moroni would not kill intoxicated Lamanites (Alma 55:19).

Notable deeds occurred during the second successful mission of Nephites to the Lamanites and the Lamanite mission to the Nephites (Helaman 5–6). Converted Lamanites laid down their weapons and their hatred. They returned captured land to the Nephites. Nephite people who belonged to the church were very happy the Lamanites had converted, and the two groups of believers fellowshipped and rejoiced together. Fellowshipping and rejoicing together suggests a partnership of the two groups. Peace and prosperity blessed both the Nephites and Lamanites; Nephites could travel in Lamanite lands, and Lamanites could travel among the Nephites.

Peace was achieved at other times, too. After another great conversion, most Lamanites and Nephites “did belong to the church,” “and they did have exceedingly great peace in the land” (Helaman 11:21– 22). On another occasion, to protect themselves, righteous Lamanites and Nephites united into one nation (3 Nephi 2:11–16, 3:14). After the war, the victorious Nephite-Lamanite nation gave land to their former enemies, who promised to “keep the peace” (3 Nephi 6:3). The most significant peace came after Christ’s visit and the gospel was preached successfully to everyone (3 Nephi 26:19; 4 Nephi 1:2–18): No “-ites” existed. “No contentions and disputations” occurred. “They had all things common among them.” The people were righteous and happy. In other words, the differences that existed (international, ethnic, economic, and so forth) were not important. The people were united, and all had their needs met. The people viewed each other as God wants us to do.

One account mentions that a group of wicked Nephites, who were living in Lamanite lands, developed good relations with the Lamanites (Mosiah 24:1–7). These Nephites taught the Lamanites the Nephite language and to keep records. The Lamanites prospered and developed good relations with that Nephite group.

On other occasions, Nephite leaders prayed and wrote for the benefit of the Lamanites or the Gentiles. The prophet Enos prayed for Lamanites (Enos 1:11–17). He prayed “with many long strugglings.” He asked the [Page 237]Lord to preserve the Nephite records for the benefit of the Lamanites in a future day. But Enos was not alone in wanting this. The Lord told him that his fathers also asked for the same thing (Enos 1:18). Jarom wrote that he and others wrote “for the intent of the benefit of our brethren, the Lamanites” (Jarom 1:2). Moroni, the last writer of the Book of Mormon, prayed for the Gentiles (Ether 12:36).

Righteous Nephites showed concern for Lamanites on other occasions. A group of Nephites separated from the main Nephite nation and lived among the Lamanites for many years. This separatist group suffered hardships at the hands of the Lamanites. During one such occasion, Gideon called Lamanites “our brethren” (Mosiah 22:3). The separatist group later returned to the Nephite nation. After the written account of the separatists was read to the Nephite nation (Mosiah 25:4–7), the Nephites were concerned for the spiritual welfare of their brethren, the Lamanites (Mosiah 25:11). No mention was made of anger over injustices committed by the Lamanites. All that is written is sorrow for loss of life and happiness for deliverance (Mosiah 25:8–10).

When Jacob chastised his fellow Nephites for sexual sins, he used righteous behavior of the Lamanites as an example of how the Nephites should act (Jacob 3:3–9). He did not disparage the Lamanites, but he emphasized their righteous, chaste behavior.

Righteous Nephites were kind to others within their own nation. Nephites were concerned for all the people among them who were in need (Alma 1:27, 30). If a person needed help, he or she received it: “They were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need.” After a time of war and loss of fathers and husbands, surviving widows and children were supported (Mosiah 21:17). By example, King Benjamin and King Mosiah showed that a righteous ruler is not above the people he or she serves (Mosiah 2:12–14, 6:7). Despite evil actions of others, righteous Nephites helped “the poor and the needy” (Alma 4:13). The record reports a time of “no inequality among [the Nephites]” (Alma 16:16). When the son of a former chief judge starts a rebellion, he is indicted and sentenced to death as others not of his heritage or status would be (Helaman 1:7–8).

Righteous Nephites were kind to those who did not share their faith. The Nephites nourished Sherem, who collapsed after preaching against Christ, for many days (Jacob 7:15). When Alma and others were about to preach to a group of wicked Nephites, he prayed for success and God’s help and noted “their souls are precious” (Alma 31:34–35).

[Page 238]When facing wicked Nephites, the Lamanite prophet Samuel also gave an example of showing kindness to one’s enemy. He calls the Nephites “beloved brethren” and “brethren” (Helaman 15:1, 4), even though some of the Nephites were trying to kill him (Helaman 16:2).

The Nephite record ends with examples of kindness from Nephites to the Lamanites. Mormon’s last words were encouragement to the Lehite descendants to believe in Christ (Mormon 7). Lamanites would soon kill him as a result of the war. Later, his son Moroni wrote respectfully to the Lamanites, even though he was hiding from them (Moroni 1; 10:1– 23). One would expect people who are under threat of death from a group to write spitefully about that group or to at least say something in anger about them, but not Mormon and Moroni. After all they had seen and done in fighting Lamanites and being hunted by them, Mormon’s (Mormon 7) and Moroni’s (Moroni 1–10) counsel to follow Christ was accompanied by examples of doing just that by following Christ’s counsel to “love your enemies” (Matthew 5:44–47, 3 Nephi 12:44–45).

The accounts between the books of Mosiah and Moroni show that war was a continual presence in the lives of many, if not most, Nephites and Lamanites. Remarkable, then, are the times when righteous Nephites and Lamanites were able to put aside the hard feelings that war naturally brings.

Unkindness, Persecution, and Oppression Condemned

Because some of you have obtained more abundantly than that of your brethren ye are lifted up in the pride of your hearts, and wear stiff necks and high heads because of the costliness of your apparel, and persecute your brethren because ye suppose that ye are better than they. And now, my brethren, do ye suppose that God justifieth you in this thing? Behold, I say unto you, Nay. But he condemneth you, and if ye persist in these things his judgments must speedily come unto you. (Jacob 2:13–14)

In addition to promoting international and intranational kindness, the Book of Mormon condemns unkindness and persecution against other groups. Persecution or unkind acts are censured 106 times.⁹⁸

[Page 239]Unkind Acts and Attitudes of Nephites

Whenever Nephites or former Nephites act in unkind ways toward the Lamanites or others, these acts are labeled or presented as evil. Forty- three instances are found in the Book of Mormon record (Table 14).

Unkindness toward Lamanites occurred when Nephites went to Lamanite territory. After protecting Lamanites from Nephite aggression and his “austere” and “blood-thirsty” Nephite leader (Mosiah 9:1–2), Zeniff led a group of Nephites to live in Lamanite lands. Under Zeniff’s son Noah, this group became wicked. Among their wicked deeds were (1) boasting of their prowess over the Lamanites and delighting in shedding blood (Mosiah 11:18–19), (2) kidnapping Lamanite women (Mosiah 20:1– 5), and (3) attacking Lamanites three times (Mosiah 21:2–13).

Unkind actions by Nephites against Lamanites also occurred during the mission of Ammon and colleagues to the Lamanites. Before Ammon and colleagues left for Lamanite territory, some Nephites mocked the mission and instead proposed exterminating the Lamanites (Alma 26:23–25). After many Lamanites accepted the gospel, converted Lamanites were assaulted by their unconverted countrymen (Alma 24). Over one thousand converts were killed. Most of those doing the killing were former Nephites (Alma 24:28),⁹⁹ and those ex-Nephites instigated the killing spree (Alma 24:1). The Lamanite army then attacked the Nephites and were defeated, and this influenced many Lamanites in the army to also become converted to the Lord (Alma 25:1–6). Former Nephites, who were also in the Lamanite army, killed converted Lamanite soldiers (Alma 25:7–8). After returning home, ex-Nephites stimulated another round of killing converted Lamanites (Alma 27:1–4).

Five years before the sign of Christ’s birth appeared in the Americas, the prophet Samuel preached to the Nephites (Helaman 13–16). At this time, the Nephites were mostly wicked. Samuel was a Lamanite. As he preached to them, he noted that part of the reason the Nephites were angry with him was “because I am a Lamanite” (Helaman 14:10). The Nephites also tried to kill him (Helaman 14:10; 16:2, 6–8).¹⁰⁰

[Page 240]Unkind, intranational actions were also deemed evil. The Zoramites were part of the Nephite nation. Wicked Zoramites would not allow poor people among them to enter synagogues, even though the poor had help build the structures; the people were “esteemed as filthiness” (Alma 32:2–5). After many Zoramites were converted by the ministry of Alma and colleagues, wicked Zoramites cast the converted Zoramites out of the land (Alma 35:3–6, 8). Multiple times “unbelievers” persecuted “believers” (Mosiah 24:8–11; Mosiah 26:38; Mosiah 27:1–2, 32; Alma 1:19–20; 4 Nephi 1:29). Some persecutions included death threats (3 Nephi 1:9) and actual killings (Alma 14:7–10). The opposite oppression was also condemned when people in the church “persecute[d] those that did not believe” (Alma 1:22; 4:6–15). Persecution of prophets and gospel preachers was condemned (Mosiah 11, 12, 17; Alma 8:13; Alma 14; Alma 38:3–4; 3 Nephi 6:20–30; 3 Nephi 7:14, 19). Although preaching any belief was legal among the Nephites (Alma 1:17, 30:12), Nehor killed someone who opposed his ideas (Alma 1:2–15). In contrast to the dissenter Sherem, who “was nourished for … many days” by Nephites (Jacob 7:15), the dissenter Korihor was trampled to death by a group of Nephites (Zoramites) who had separated from the main group of Nephites (Alma 30:59) and were perverting the ways of the Lord (Alma 31:1).

Do Not Persecute or Oppress Others, Love and Help Them

Persecuting another person because of his or her beliefs, economic condition, education level, clothing, or any other characteristic is explicitly condemned by the Book of Mormon, and so is oppression of others who are different. Instead, people should love and help others. Fifty-two entries make these points (Table 15).

Persecution typically results when one person or group has an attitude of superiority. These attitudes are evil, according to the Book of Mormon. The prophet Jacob taught that class distinctions and attitudes of superiority are wrong, that “one being is as precious in [God’s] sight as the other”; Jacob reprimanded those who persecute others because “ye were proud in your hearts, of the things which God hath given you” (Jacob 2:13–14, 20–21). When his people pressed him to become their king, the prophet Alma quoted the Lord, “Ye shall not esteem one flesh above another, or one man shall not think himself above another” (Mosiah 23:7). The Nephite church directed its people to avoid “pride” and “haughtiness” and “that every man should esteem his [Page 241]neighbor as himself” (Mosiah 27:4). Alma’s son, Alma, became a leader of the Nephites. The attitudes of superiority he saw among his people were labeled evil (Alma 4:6–9, 12–13, 15). In his sermon to the Nephites, he denounced the attitude of “supposing that ye are better one than another” (Alma 5:54). Later, he encountered a group of Nephites who worshipped in a manner that expressed their belief that they were better than others; this attitude and practice was condemned (Alma 31:12–30). He counseled his son Shiblon not to say he was better than others but rather to pray for forgiveness and to bless others (Alma 38:14). Other accounts again condemn the attitude of lifting oneself above another, which so often occurred because people became wealthy.¹⁰¹ Class distinctions are evil (3 Nephi 6:10–15; Alma 1:26). An example of the right attitude is described as priests “not esteeming [themselves] above [their] hearers … neither was the teacher any better than the learner” (Alma 1:26). Another good example is King Benjamin. He said, “I  … am no better than ye yourselves are” (Mosiah 2:26).

Persecution of others is expressly condemned. In the days of king Mosiah, the church strictly commanded that no persecutions of others occur among them, so all people would be equal. (Mosiah 27:3).¹⁰² Freedom of conscience was decreed, as Nephite “law could have no power on any man for his belief” (Alma 1:17; 30:7–12). Even Anti-Christ doctrine could be legally preached (Alma 30:12). This freedom was based on the idea that God’s commandments prohibited laws “which should bring men on to unequal grounds” (Alma 30:7). A strict church law was given that people of the church should not persecute others outside or inside the faith (Alma 1:21). Despising people who are poor or dress coarsely is wrong (Alma 32:2–5). Persecution of others was labeled “a great evil” (Helaman 3:34; 3 Nephi 6:10–15; Alma 5:54). “Smiting … brethren upon the cheek” (persecuting others), oppressing the poor, and withholding substance from people in need are evil acts (Helaman 4:12; Alma 4:6–9, 12–13, 15).

Persecution of others, attitudes of superiority, and class distinctions were signs a Book of Mormon society was turning away from righteousness. This was stated multiple times (Jacob 1:15–16, 2:13– 14; Alma 4:6–9, 12–13, 15, 5:53– 54; Helaman 6:16–17; 3 Nephi 6:10–15). For example, as the Book of Mormon people began to descend into their final period of wickedness, the record notes that class distinctions formed again (4 Nephi 1:26).

[Page 242]When Jesus Christ visited the Book of Mormon people, he said that people in the church were not to forbid any person from worshipping nor were they to cast any person out (3 Nephi 18:22–25, 28–33). “Whosoever breaketh this commandment suffereth himself to be led into temptation,” Christ said. He had prayed and invited all to come to him, and people should do the same for others. He told them not to cast someone out even if he or she was unworthy to partake of the emblems of the Lord’s sacrifice (sacramental bread and wine). Christ encouraged people to continue to minister to that person and pray for them, “for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them.”

The Book of Mormon denounces slavery. Benjamin, a righteous Nephite king, forbade slavery among his people (Mosiah 2:13). After the Nephites abolished monarchical government, slavery was forbidden by law (Alma 27:9).

Riches should be used to bless others and help the less fortunate (Jacob 2:13–14, 16–21). People who have means should freely help those who are in need (Mosiah 18:27–29) and those who are poor (Mosiah 4:16– 26). Withholding substance from the poor is denounced (Alma 5:55). Amulek noted that if a person did not help the needy, then his or her prayers to God were in vain (Alma 34:28–29).

Persecuting others will bring the Lord’s condemnation upon a person. The prophet Alma taught the Nephites that mocking or persecuting another person disqualified one from being saved (Alma 5:30–31). Warnings are given to those who are “puffed up” because of riches or learning (2 Nephi 9:30, 42; 28:9–15). Pride and haughtiness will be put down (2 Nephi 12:11–17; 20:33). Judgment will come against those who “turn aside the stranger” (3 Nephi 24:5). Mormon also noted that sin and transgression cause great inequality (Alma 28:13). Inequality is labeled evil or a sign of evil (3 Nephi 6:10–15; Alma 4:6–9, 12–13, 15). Moroni condemned modern day persecutions and oppressions (Mormon 8:36– 37, 39–40). Two forms of oppression get additional emphasis, exploitation of others and smiting evil people.

Exploitation of Vulnerable People: Women, Lamanites, and the Well-To-Do

Some people use vulnerable people to achieve their own wicked aims. For example, vulnerable people are often used to do the “dirty work” involved in some crime. Other people are easy prey for fraudulent schemes. These exploitive acts are especially appalling. Often, the vulnerable person is of a different ethnic group, gender, age, or economic [Page 243]class than that of the exploiter. Exploitation occurs in our day¹⁰³ and at least eleven times in the Book of Mormon (Table 16). Through examples of exploitation of Lamanites and women by Nephites and one example [Page 244]from Jaredite history, the Book of Mormon condemns exploitation of vulnerable people.

When the Nephite prophet Jacob chastised Nephite men for sexual sins, he included a statement from the Lord condemning the exploitation of women for sexual purposes (Jacob 2:31–35). The Lord said, “I will not suffer … that the cries of the fair daughters of this people … shall come up unto me against the men of my people. … For they shall not lead away captive the daughters of my people because of their tenderness.” Exploiting the tender feelings of these women for “whoredoms” would bring great condemnation on the perpetrators. Interestingly, Jacob and the Lord condemned the men, not the exploited women. Presumably then, the sexual liaisons were not consensual, at least as we understand that today. Jacob also mentioned that the men had deeply hurt their families. “Ye have broken the hearts of your tender wives, and lost the confidence of your children” (Jacob 2:35). Exploitation affects more than just the perpetrator and person being exploited.

Most of the exploitation in the Book of Mormon occurred when former Nephites used Lamanites to kill or attack Nephites or other Lamanites. The Lamanites’ hatred of the Nephites, based on the Lamanites’ belief that they had been wronged by the Nephites, was “a great national resource, a source of energy and resolve that malicious rulers could call upon to serve their selfish interests,” as Richard Bushman wrote.¹⁰⁴ Hatred “was ingrained in their national identity” and was easily exploitable. Lamanite hatred was exploited for the gain of wicked Nephites nine times (Table 16).

Three incidents occurred after successful missionary efforts. Twice, former Nephites (Amalekites and Amulonites) induced unconverted people to kill converted Lamanites (Alma 24:1–2; 27:2, 12). A third incident occurred after some Zoramites became upset that other Zoramites had been converted to the Lord. The angry Zoramites “began to mix with the Lamanites and to stir them up also to anger” (Alma 35:8–13). The result was another war between the Nephites and Lamanites in which Zerahemnah, the leader of the Lamanite army, also appointed ex-Nephites as chief captains over the Lamanites to “preserve their hatred toward the Nephites” (Alma 43:4–8, 44). The ex-Nephites induced the Lamanites to fight fiercely (Alma 43:43–44). The expendable Lamanites did not have any armor for protection, but their ex-Nephite leaders did have some form of armor or at least something more [Page 245]than a loincloth, which was all the Lamanites wore against the heavily armored Nephites (Alma 43:19–21).

Despite an attempt to keep him from reaching the Lamanites, Amalickiah, a Nephite dissenter, stirred Lamanites to anger and started another war with the Nephites (Alma 46:30–33; 47:1–35; 48:1–6; 49). Before starting the war, Amalickiah conspired to become king of the Lamanites. Then, “he did inspire their hearts against the Nephites” (Alma 48:2) and a war began. Amalickiah did not come with the Lamanite army, however, and the army was repelled by fortifications the Nephites had built. The record notes that if he had come, he perhaps would have ordered an attack on the heavily fortified city of Ammonihah, “for … he did care not for the blood of his people” (Alma 49:10). Instead, the Lamanites attacked another fortified city and suffered heavy losses. After the Lamanite army was defeated, Amalickiah was “exceedingly angry with his people” and swore to drink the blood of the leader of the Nephite army (Alma 49:25–27). Six years later, Amalickiah incited the Lamanites again to come to war, and a six-year war began (Alma 51:9– 12). Amalickiah was killed at the beginning of the war, and his brother Ammoron became king of the Lamanites (Alma 52:3).

Ammoron used the “tradition of their fathers” to justify the war, but he revealed how he exploited the Lamanites for his own gain (Alma 54:16–24; Alma 55:1; Alma 60:32). In a letter to Moroni, the Nephite military leader, Ammoron wrote, “Your fathers did wrong their brethren, insomuch that they did rob them of their right to the government when it rightly belonged to them,” and he justified the war “to obtain their rights to the government.” In other words, the first Laman was older than the first Nephi and should have been the leader of the Lehites, but Nephi became the leader. Hence, Ammoron argued, the Lamanites were justified in coming to war. Despite this reasoning, Ammoron and his brother were happy to have control of the government for themselves. They were ex-Nephites, presumably not descendants of Laman, the supposed true heirs of government leadership. Given this and their earlier attempt to gain control of the Nephite government (Alma 46), Ammoron’s attempt to help the Lamanites gain their rights to government was really to help him have rights to the government. Moroni recognized that Ammoron “had a perfect knowledge of his fraud.”

Nephite dissenters incited the Lamanites to attack the Nephites four additional recorded times. Eight years after the end of the six-year war started by Amalickiah, other Nephite dissenters exploited Lamanites again, and the Lamanites suffered heavy losses (Alma 63:14–15). In [Page 246]the Book of Helaman, three wars were started by ex-Nephites inciting Lamanites (Helaman 1:14–17; 4:1–5; 11:24).

The nearly constant mention of wickedness among the Nephites might lead one to think the Nephite prophets did not tolerate points of view different from their own, as the dissenters were identified as troublemakers. But, as mentioned, righteous Nephites condemned persecution of those who did not believe as they did, and the Nephites had freedom of conscience. The goal of the prophets was to use the Lord’s words to convince people to be part of the church. Unlike most “dissenters” today, Nephite dissenters did not simply want their own beliefs. They sought control of the government and exploited others to start wars in the process (Alma 60:15–17, 32). They were not merely nice people who did not believe any more.

Not all exploitation is of people who have less wealth, power, or opportunity or who are of a different ethnicity. A sexual and power-hungry exploitation occurred among apparently well-to-do Jaredites (Ether 8:7–12). A physically fair woman used her attractiveness to induce Akish, a friend of her grandfather, the king, to kill her grandfather so her father could become king. She also exploited her power-hungry father, Jared, who agreed to her plan. The record is unclear what personal benefit Jared’s unnamed daughter received from this, but these acts had disastrous consequences for the Jaredite nation. This is also a lesson that all people may be vulnerable in some way.

“By the Wicked That the Wicked Are Punished”

Followers of Christ are expected to live a high standard in their conduct with others, even with their enemies. “Love your enemies … do good to them that hate you,” Jesus personally taught the Book of Mormon people (3 Nephi 12:43–45), as he had previously taught the Jews (Matthew 5:43– 45). Although taught to defend themselves, Nephites were “taught never to give an offense” and only to “raise the sword” in self-defense to “preserve their lives” (Alma 48:14). One reason to avoid giving offensive or using force is that preaching is more effective than force (Alma 31:5).

The Book of Mormon warns against retaliation and particularly against the idea that one can become God’s punisher. The prophet Moroni taught, “He that smiteth shall be smitten again” (Mormon 8:19– 20; 3:15). Do not revile against others who do evil things to you, “lest ye become sinners like unto them,” said Amulek (Alma 34:40). And, lest any person think that he or she can be the instigator of punishing the wicked and [Page 247]still be righteous, the prophet Mormon wrote that wicked people are punished by other wicked people. His statement should give anyone pause who thinks he or she is justified in harming a person or group he or she thinks, or even knows, is wicked. Mormon wrote, “But, behold, the judgments of God will overtake the wicked; and it is by the wicked that the wicked are punished; for it is the wicked that stir up the hearts of the children of men unto bloodshed” (Mormon 4:5).¹⁰⁵ A prophecy of calamity coming as a result of wickedness does not mean the perpetrator of that calamity is justified. For example, Isaiah noted that the Assyrians, whom the Lord would use to punish wicked Israel, would be punished afterwards (2 Nephi 20:5–19).

How we treat other people is important. The Book of Mormon makes clear that we cannot hurt, persecute, exploit, or smite others if we want peace and the Lord’s blessings. This lesson is especially appropriate for our day, for the Lehite descendants, Jews, and Gentiles, who all have need to follow the Lord.

All are Promised Blessings, But All Must Repent

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. … For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. (3 Nephi 22:2–3, 7)

I would speak somewhat unto the remnant of this people who are spared … Know ye that ye are of the house of Israel. (Mormon 7:1–2)

Like a parent who favors one child above another, one would expect a discriminatory text to favor or promise more or better things to one group than another. The mistakes of the favored child are overlooked and those of the despised child are emphasized. That is not the case in the Book of Mormon. The number of times promises are given to each group is not equal but the substance of those promises is. All people are truly “alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). All are loved, and all are wanted in the Lord’s kingdom. All are worth saving, despite the wickedness and abominations that all have committed.

[Page 248]The Book of Mormon categorizes the human family into four groups: Lamanites, Nephites, Israelites (or Jews), and Gentiles.¹⁰⁶ The Lamanites and Nephites are a subset of the Israelites or Jews. The rest of the human family is labeled “Gentiles.” The Nephite nation was destroyed at the end of the Book of Mormon, and surviving Nephites became Lamanites (Mormon 6:15; Moroni 1:1–2, 9:24).

Each of these three surviving groups received significant promises throughout the Book of Mormon (tables 17–19). These promises include special assignments from the Lord to build his kingdom in the day the Book of Mormon would come forth. The promises further the theme that God loves all (Table 4).

Many promises come from Isaiah’s prophecies. Joseph Spencer noted that the Isaiah record in First and Second Nephi points to the gospel going forth to all people: “Nephi sees … [a] sequence of Isaianic texts to be likenable to ‘all men’ and to give reasons to rejoice for ‘all men.’ … The eventual redemption of Israel is inseparable from the ultimate redemption of the whole world.”¹⁰⁷ Isaiah’s prophecies relate to each of the three groups, as the Book of Mormon explains.

Each group had times of righteousness. Nineteen examples of Lamanite righteousness are given in the Book of Mormon (Table 8). Examples of Nephite righteousness are found throughout the book, and examples of Jewish and Israelite righteousness are found throughout the Bible. In the Book of Mormon, Gentile righteousness is prophesied (Table 17). Among the good deeds foretold is that the Gentiles will help bring the gospel forth and will help the Jews and the Lehite descendants.

However, each group also had periods of wickedness, and each was invited to return to God. A lesson for all is that no group can expect the Lord’s blessings if they transgress his laws. The Lord has no favorites — God is fair. “If my people shall sow filthiness they shall reap the chaff thereof in the whirlwind” (Mosiah 7:29–32). A particular warning is to the Gentiles who, the Book of Mormon prophesies, would be dominant in the latter days. They are particularly warned to repent, and anti-Semitism, which the Gentiles have perpetrated, is especially condemned.

[Page 249]Promises to the Gentiles

Thirty-eight times in the Book of Mormon, the Gentiles receive promises from the Lord (Table 17). For example, they were prophesied to come to America, receive deliverance from all other nations, and have God’s power with them, but they would scatter the Lehite descendants and stumble; they would then receive the gospel, bring forth the Book of Mormon, and bring the gospel and “other books” to the Lehite descendants and the Jews (Title Page; 1 Nephi 10, 13, 15; 2 Nephi 10; 3 Nephi 21:5–6, 23:1–4, 26:8, 29:1; Ether 12:22, 13:11–12). The Messiah would be a light unto the Gentiles (1 Nephi 21:6; 2 Nephi 21:10). They would receive the Holy Ghost (3 Nephi 20:27). The Gentiles would be important helpers in building the Lord’s kingdom; they “shall be great in the eyes of [God]” in gathering the House of Israel (1 Nephi 21, 22; 2 Nephi 6, 10; Jacob 5, 6). The Gentiles would be blessed in the Americas, which would be a land of liberty to them and would be where “the Lord God will raise up a mighty nation among the Gentiles” (1 Nephi 22:7; 2 Nephi 10:10–11). If they accept the gospel, the Gentiles would be blessed and numbered with the Lehites and with Israel (1 Nephi 14:1–2, 5–6; 2 Nephi 6:12; 3 Nephi 16:4–15). The Lord’s people would inherit the Gentiles (3 Nephi 22:3). Mormon prophesied that the Gentiles would sorrow over the destruction of the Nephites and “for the calamity of the house of Israel” and that the Gentiles would receive the blessings the Nephites forfeited (Mormon 5:9–11, 19).

Promises to the Jews and House of Israel

Seventy-six times, the Book of Mormon lists promises made to the Jews or the House of Israel (Table 18). For example, multiple times throughout the first three books of the Book of Mormon (1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, and Jacob), the reader is told God would remember the Jews and Israel. The Jews would return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity (2 Nephi 6:8–9, 25:10–11), which would occur shortly after Lehi’s family left Jerusalem. Later, despite the scattering and scourging that would occur, “the Lord will set his hand again the second time to restore his people from their lost and fallen state” (2 Nephi 25:16–18). The House of Israel would be “scattered upon all the face of the earth,” and then “they should be gathered again” after the Gentiles receive the gospel (1 Nephi 10:12–14). The Lord would bless those who “still wait for the coming of the Messiah”; they “shall not be ashamed” (2 Nephi 6:7, 13). The Lord would destroy their enemies (2 Nephi 6:14–18). Abinadi (Mosiah 12, 15), Jesus (3 Nephi 15, 16, 20–24), Mormon (3 Nephi 5, 28, 29; 4 Nephi 1:49; Mormon 3, 5), Ether (Ether 13:3–12), and Moroni [Page 250](Mormon 8, 9; Ether 4; Moroni 10) also spoke of promises to the Jews and the house of Israel.

Promises Specific to Lehite Descendants or Lamanites

The Book of Mormon says the Nephites and Lamanites are also part of the house of Israel. Therefore, the Lehite descendants share in the promises made to the Israelites. In addition, promises were made specifically to the Lamanites and to the Lehite descendants. These descendants are believed to be native peoples of the American continent, and also Polynesia.¹⁰⁸ As noted by Elizabeth Fenton and Jared Hickman, “The Book of Mormon is undeniably and deeply concerned with the status of indigenous peoples on the American continent.”¹⁰⁹ The additional promises to the Lamanites and Lehite descendants are given in 50 passages (Table 19).

Several promises specifically about the Lamanites were given. The Nephite prophet Jacob taught that because the Lamanites were monogamous and chaste, the Lord would be merciful to them; “one day they shall become a blessed people” (Jacob 3:5–6). The Lord would be merciful to the Lamanites, “he will lengthen out their days and increase their seed” (Helaman 7:24). Despite “the curse of God … upon them,” “the promises of the Lord were extended unto them on conditions of repentance” (Alma 17:15). The Lord will bless the Lamanites “because of their firmness when they are once enlightened” (Helaman 15:10–16).

Other promises connect Lehite descendants and Gentiles. Although God was angry with the Lehites and they were smitten by the Gentiles, God will not let the Gentiles destroy the Lehites (1 Nephi 13:11–14, 30–31). God would soften the Gentiles, and they would help the Lehites; Gentiles “shall be like unto a father to [the Lehite descendants]” (2 Nephi 10:18–19). The Lehites would receive the gospel through the Gentiles (1 Nephi 13:38, 15:13–17, 22:7–8; 2 Nephi 26:14–16, 30:3–6; 3 Nephi 21:1–7, 26:8; Mormon 7:8–10; Ether 12:22). “They shall be a pure and a delightsome people” through the help of the Gentiles (2 Nephi 30:3– 6). The land of America was a land for the inheritance of the Lehites (e.g., 3 Nephi 16:16, 20:14). Lehites will build the New Jerusalem, and the Gentiles will assist the Lehites (3 Nephi 21:23–24). “If the Gentiles do not repent” after scattering the Lord’s people, then Lehites will overpower the Gentiles (3 Nephi 20:15–17). Interestingly, the Book of Mormon’s focus is on [Page 251]the Lehite descendants receiving the gospel from the Gentiles, not on Lehites adopting Gentile culture (a frequent criticism of modern efforts to help native people).

Wickedness of Lehites

Wickedness of the Lamanites and especially the Nephites is well documented in the Book of Mormon, as already mentioned (tables 5–7). The record also prophesied that, after the Nephite nation was destroyed, descendants of the survivors would “dwindle in unbelief” and would be smitten (1 Nephi 12:20–23; 1 Nephi 13:11–12, 14, 30–31, 35; Mormon 5:15–18).

Interestingly, the Lord said the greatest wickedness among Israel was that of the degenerate Nephites and Lamanites at the end of the record (Mormon 4:12). The Nephites had been blessed and protected by the Lord. The Lamanites had become righteous as well, at times more so than the Nephites. But what both groups became was more wicked than anytime before, even more wicked, the Lord’s statement suggests, than the Jews at Jerusalem of Lehi’s day or at the time of Christ — two instances of Jewish wickedness mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

Wickedness of Jews or Israel and Its Horrible Ramifications

Forty-three times, the Book of Mormon notes or prophesies wickedness among the Jews or Israel, and terrible consequences are foretold in most of those instances (Table 20). The Book of Mormon begins with Lehi warning his fellow Jews to repent, and they tried to kill him (1 Nephi 1). Some instances speak specifically of Jews but give the general gospel teaching that wickedness leads to negative consequences (e.g., 2 Nephi 13, 15:1–25; 16:5, 9–12; 18:6–8; 19; 20:1–6). Other verses simply point out wickedness among the Jews or house of Israel without specifying consequences (e.g., Jacob 4:14–15, 6:4; Mosiah 3:14–15). The record notes the Jews would reject or slay the Messiah, and this would result in terrible consequences; they would be “scourged by all people,” “hated among all nations,” “smitten and afflicted,” and “scattered among all nations” (e.g., 1 Nephi 10:11–13; 19:13–14; 22:5 and 2 Nephi 6:8–11; 10:3–6; 25:2, 6, 9–10, 12–15, 18).

Because of this wickedness, some have assumed that persecuting Jews is justified. People have interpreted New Testament verses in anti-Semitic ways, and some preached that the Jews forfeited their opportunity to be [Page 252]God’s covenant people — hence through supersessionism, the Gentiles are now God’s covenant people.¹¹⁰

The Book of Mormon clearly states otherwise. As mentioned, persecuting others is evil, and God’s punishments are done by wicked people. In addition, anti-Semitism is condemned, and the Gentiles (who are responsible for most if not all anti-Semitism) are warned specifically to repent, in part, because of their persecution of the house of Israel. The Lord has not given up on his chosen people. He will gather them (Table 18).

Anti-Semitism Condemned

Anti-Semitism has resulted in many terrible persecutions in our day. The Book of Mormon condemns anti-Semitism eleven times (Table 21).

Under no conditions is anti-Semitism justified. “Every nation which shall war against thee, O house of Israel, shall be turned one against another, and they shall fall into the pit which they digged to ensnare the people of the Lord. And all that fight against Zion shall be destroyed” (1 Nephi 22:13–14, 19). “The Mighty God shall deliver his covenant people”; their enemies will be destroyed (2 Nephi 6:7, 13–18). Anyone who fights against Zion, Jew or Gentile, bond or free, male or female, “shall perish” (2 Nephi 10:13–17). “He that shall breathe out wrath and strifes … against the covenant people of the Lord who are the house of Israel … the same is in danger to be hewn down and cast into the fire” (Mormon 8:21–22). Nephi urged his readers to “respect the words of the Jews” or those words and other scriptures will condemn those who do not (2 Nephi 33:14).

In case anyone might be unclear about “house of Israel” or “Zion,” the Book of Mormon clearly states that persecution of Jews is evil. “Ye need not any longer hiss, nor spurn, nor make game of the Jews, nor any of the remnant of the house of Israel; for behold, the Lord remembereth his covenant unto them” (3 Nephi 29:8–9). The Lord warns the Gentiles that his promises to Abraham and the house of Israel will be fulfilled. For example, “O ye Gentiles, have ye remembered the Jews, mine ancient covenant people? Nay; but ye have cursed them, and have hated them, and have not sought to recover them. But behold, I will return all these things upon your own heads; for I the Lord have not forgotten my people” (2 Nephi 29:5). Anti-Semitism is emphatically condemned. No justification exists for persecuting Jews — or anyone else.

[Page 253]As noted by Bradley Kramer and Matthew Bowen, the Book of Mormon clarifies any anti-Semitic interpretation of the Bible.¹¹¹ “The Book of Mormon joins with the New Testament in order to clarify its message with respect to Jews,” Kramer wrote. Verses condemning anti-Semitism “make it very difficult for Christians to interpret the New Testament anti-Semitically.” In addition, “The Book of Mormon effectively affirms the overall goodness of Jews, confirms their ongoing place in God’s covenant, and does so despite charges of Christ-killing and the addition of believing Gentiles into that covenant.” Bowen adds that the Book of Mormon states the Jews are to be thanked not persecuted. As their name suggests, “Jews are to be ‘praised out of a feeling of gratitude,’ i.e., ‘thanked’ for their painstaking efforts to preserve the scriptures.” The Book of Mormon “suggests that we are accountable for not only our actions but our attitudes towards the Jews and the scriptures that we have through their ‘travails,’ ‘labors,’ ‘pains,’ and ‘diligence unto [the Lord]’ (2 Nephi 29:4).”

Gentiles, Repent!

The Book of Mormon calls upon modern Gentiles to repent 17 times (Table 22). The admonitions include prophecies of Gentile wickedness.

Some of the 17 instances include general comments about the wicked state of the Gentiles. The Gentiles “do stumble exceedingly,” “Satan hath great power over them,” and they are in an “awful state of blindness” (1 Nephi 13:29–34). “Turn, all ye Gentiles, from your wicked ways” (3 Nephi 30). Moroni noted general wickedness in our day and included a condemnation that latter-day people do not care for others in need; he warned that “the sword of vengeance hangeth over you” (Mormon 8:27–41).

Other admonitions to repent are gentler invitations. The Gentiles will be blessed if they repent and “fight not against Zion” (2 Nephi 6:12, 28:32). Gospel knowledge should help the Gentiles repent “that [they] may not bring down … the wrath of God upon [them] as the inhabitants of the land have hitherto done” (Ether 2:11, 8:23–25). The Lord will show the Gentiles their weakness and will “prove them” (Ether 12:28, 35). Coming “clean before the Lord” will bring “greater things” (Ether 4:6, 13).

[Page 254]Stern warnings to repent are given because the Gentiles smote the house of Israel and are wicked. Gentiles smote “those who have dwindled in unbelief,” and the Gentiles are in a state of wickedness (2 Nephi 26:19–22). Gentiles have persecuted the Jews, and God “will return all these things upon [their] own heads” (2 Nephi 29). During his visit to the Lehites, Christ taught, “Wo … unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles,” for the Gentiles are prideful above all others, the Lord allowed Gentiles to smite Israelites, and if Gentiles do not repent, they will be smitten; if they repent, “they shall be numbered among my people” (3 Nephi 16:8–15). Twice more Christ reiterated the same message, “If the Gentiles do not repent after the blessing which they shall receive, after they have scattered my people,” “I will return their iniquities upon their own heads” (3 Nephi 20:15–28; 3 Nephi 21:12–25). Mormon wrote that the Lehite descendants “should be counted as naught” among the Gentiles and be driven and scattered, and therefore the Gentiles need to repent (Mormon 5:9, 20–24).

Nancy Bentley noted that the Book of Mormon “demonstrated that the ‘white’ civilization of the Nephites could fall into darkness and bring on genocidal disaster. And according to ancient prophecy, modern Americans risked the same course of population destruction.”¹¹²

Passages criticizing Gentiles and calling them to repentance are inconsistent with the idea that the Book of Mormon is a construct of racial ideas of 1800s America. If the book were a product of American racist views of Joseph Smith’s time, why would the book condemn the Gentiles, the group to which all Americans except Jews and Native Americans belonged? Why would the book promise God’s wrath upon unrepentant Gentiles for their persecution of Jews and natives? If he were racist, why would Joseph Smith condemn his own ethnic group? (Of course, people have interpreted the book in racial and racist terms, and this has created attitudes that have not only hurt people but also have marred the perception of the book.)

Extreme Wickedness

And it is impossible for the tongue to describe, or for man to write a perfect description of the horrible scene of the blood and carnage which was among the people, both of the Nephites and of the Lamanites; and every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually. And there never [Page 255]had been so great wickedness among all the children of Lehi, nor even among all the house of Israel, according to the words of the Lord. (Mormon 4:11–12)

In our day, war and conspiracies have resulted in terrible discrimination. War is the ultimate result of unchecked wickedness and the opposite of how God wants us to interact. The Book of Mormon also labels conspiracies or “secret combinations” as another form of extreme wickedness. Conspiracies are another tool of hate and intolerance. Conspiracies and war destroyed the Jaredite and Nephite civilizations.

Armed Conflict

Through the many Book of Mormon passages on armed conflict (Table 23), we learn that, although defensive war is often necessary to protect one’s life and liberty, war is tragic, occurs because of wickedness, and is a senseless waste of human lives and effort. Moroni, the last Nephite prophet, wrote the Jaredite account (Ether) after he witnessed the destruction of the Nephites. The tone of his words emphasizes the futility and tragedy of war, and he specifically noted the wickedness that often leads to war.

War makes living righteously more difficult and acting wickedly much easier. Survival becomes more important than loving one’s neighbor. For example, people usually start using denigrating words for their enemy instead of speaking respectfully, which usually lasts long after the conflict is over. Entrenched, negative views were behind the proposal to attack the Lamanites instead of sending missionaries (Alma 26:23– 25). People are hardened by war, as occurred after the six-year Nephite-Lamanite war (Alma 62: 41, 44–45). Killing others to survive lowers resistance for other evil acts, and people can become bloodthirsty. This occurred in the final wars of the Jaredites and Nephites. Mormon wrote, “Every heart was hardened, so that they delighted in the shedding of blood continually” (Mormon 4:11). In their final war, “the Spirit of the Lord had ceased striving with [the Jaredites], and Satan had full power over the hearts of the people” (Ether 15:19). The Jaredites “were drunken with anger, even as a man who is drunken with wine” (Ether 15:22). Rape, torture, and plundering often is rampant during war, as was seen in the final Nephite-Lamanite conflict (Moroni 9:9–10, 16).

War began shortly after Lehi died and the family divided and continued throughout the book (Table 23). Nephi reported preparations for war and “wars and contentions with our brethren” (2 Nephi 5:14, 34). Nephite-Lamanite wars were reported in the small, succeeding books of Jacob (7:24–26), Enos (1:14, 24), Jarom (1:7–9), Omni (1:2, 10, 24), and Words of Mormon [Page 256](1:13–14). There we read of “much war and contention,” “much bloodshed,” and the deaths of “many thousands of the Lamanites.” More detail is given about Lamanite- Nephite conflicts beginning with the Book of Mosiah. From this point to the end of the Book of Mormon, 23 armed confrontations occurred between the Nephites and Lamanites.

Twenty single battles or short conflicts are mentioned (Table 23). Twelve of these involved Lamanites attacking Nephites and the defeat of the Lamanite army (Mosiah 9, 10, 11; Alma 2, 3, 16, 25, 28, 35, 43, 44, 48, 49, 63; Helaman 1). One Lamanite attack evolved into a civil war (Helaman 11). One short conflict involved a successful attack by the Lamanites against a group of Nephites (Mosiah 19). In another conflict, Lamanites captured a different Nephite group without bloodshed (Mosiah 23). Four conflicts were caused by Nephite aggression. Three of these times, a group of Nephites, in bondage to Lamanites, tired of subjugation and tried unsuccessfully to repel their captors (Mosiah 21). The fourth incident was precipitated by a small group of Nephites kidnapping Lamanite women; Lamanites retaliated by attacking other Nephites (Mosiah 20). The twentieth short conflict was a preventative measure by the Nephites, who “drove all the Lamanites who were in the east wilderness into their own lands” (Alma 50:1–12). This latter conflict was the only one by righteous Nephites that could be considered an offensive action. But even then, its stated purpose was to remove Lamanite squatters, to prevent the land from being used for the next anticipated Lamanite attack, and no bloodshed is mentioned.¹¹³

Three great, extended wars between the Nephites and Lamanites are mentioned (Table 23). The first lasted six years and is documented in 12 chapters of the Book of Alma (Alma 51–62). Lamanites, led by Nephite dissenters, attacked the Nephites and captured many cities. Eventually the Nephites regained the captured territory. The second war was again stimulated by Nephite dissenters (Helaman 4). Lamanites attacked and captured the Nephite capital and “almost all their lands”; this war lasted five years, and the Nephites regained only half the land lost. The Book of Mormon tragically concludes with the third great war (Mormon 1–6, 8; Moroni 1, 9). Both nations were grossly wicked, and the Nephite nation was destroyed. This last war lasted decades, and years passed between some battles.

[Page 257]Many armed conflicts in the Book of Mormon were intranational (Table 23). More than 14 civil wars were fought among the Nephites.¹¹⁴ At least 20 civil wars occurred among the Jaredites.

Forty passages discuss motivations for war and attitudes about war (Table 23). For example, the devil encourages contention, but Christ’s doctrine does the opposite (3 Nephi 11:28–30). In vision, Nephi saw a connection of the final Lamanite-Nephite war to two symbols of evil from his father’s dream, the “fountain of filthy water” and a river that represented the depths of hell (1 Nephi 12:15–16). Unrighteous attitudes helped induce conflict. Many Lamanites hated the Nephites (e.g., Mosiah 1:14; Enos 1:14), and this hatred was based on the Lamanite belief that the first Nephi had wronged his brothers Laman and Lemuel and their descendants (e.g., Mosiah 10:11–17; Alma 20:10, 13). The desire for power motivated some to war (e.g., Alma 43:7–8, 29; 44:2). To reduce the likelihood of civil war, King Mosiah proposed that the Nephite government have judges instead of kings (Mosiah 29:1–11). Jaredites chose a king despite the warning that “surely this thing leadeth into captivity” (Ether 6:21–28). Wicked, frustrated, or angry Nephite settlers started conflicts with Lamanites (Mosiah 20, 21). Revengeful Nephites attacked Lamanites (Mormon 3, 4). Righteous Nephites and Lamanites successfully repelled attacks from others when they were motivated to protect themselves and their liberties and stayed close to God (e.g., Alma 43, 46, 48–49; 3 Nephi 2–4). The righteous leader Gidgiddoni would not start a war because then “the Lord would deliver us into their hands” (3 Nephi 3). Gidgiddoni said the opposite would occur if “we will wait till they shall come against us.”

The Book of Mormon teaches that living the gospel will bring the opposite of war — true peace.¹¹⁵ When the Lord’s kingdom is established worldwide, “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (2 Nephi 12:4), and “they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea” (2 Nephi 21:9). Jesus taught the Book of Mormon people, “Blessed are all the peacemakers, for they shall [Page 258]be called the children of God” (3 Nephi 12:9). Indeed, when all Lehites were converted to the Lord, no contention was found “because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people” (4 Nephi 1:2, 15).

Secret Combinations

Conspiracies have been a means of discrimination. These acts involve a group acting to commit a crime in secret. The criminal act may be carried out by one person, but he or she is supported by a group. Also, a secret, organized group may commit a crime as a group, or a disorganized group or mob forms and commits a crime, often in uncontrolled anger. Regardless, members of these groups protect each other from prosecution. In the United States, for example, Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered by a mob, and an attempt to prosecute the perpetrators failed.¹¹⁶ For decades, mobs lynched people of African descent without perpetrators being punished. Sometimes government agents, who should have been protecting people, have been part of the conspiracy. White supremacy groups have worked in secret to discriminate against others, often with violence or the threat of violence. But in our day, not all secret, discriminatory acts are violent. Housing segregation by ethnicity or limiting people’s opportunities because of ethnicity (e.g., “redlining”) are examples of non-violent discriminatory conspiracies.

The Book of Mormon mentions conspiracies 37 times (Table 24) and labels them “secret combinations.” It includes examples of single perpetrators acting with the support of a group and examples of large groups of people causing havoc. The secret combinations in the Book of Mormon seemed primarily concerned with gaining wealth or power and not necessarily discrimination of others. Nevertheless, because conspiratorial groups have been important agents of discrimination in our day, the Book of Mormon’s warnings against these groups are relevant to any discussion of inter-group relations.

The book condemns secret combinations in the strongest possible terms. Moroni wrote, “They formed a secret combination, even as they of old; which combination is most abominable and wicked above all, in the sight of God; for the Lord worketh not in secret combinations” (Ether 8:18–19; see 2 Nephi 26:23). Moroni added, “They have caused the destruction of [the Jaredites] and also the destruction of the people of Nephi” (Ether 8:21; see Helaman 2:13–14). Jesus said the wickedness of King Jacob’s people “was above all the wickedness of the whole earth, [Page 259]because of their secret murders and combinations; for it was they that did destroy the peace of my people and the government of the land” (3 Nephi 9:9). During a time of righteousness, the people “did put an end to all those wicked, and secret, and abominable combinations, in the which there was so much wickedness, and so many murders committed” (3 Nephi 5:6). The devil “stirreth up the children of men unto secret combinations of murder and all manner of secret works of darkness” (2 Nephi 9:9). The Lord will destroy these works (2 Nephi 10:15).

The Book of Mormon says secret combinations will destroy a nation and prophesied that they would exist among us today (2 Nephi 26:22; Alma 37:22, 25–26, 31; 3 Nephi 30:2; Mormon 8:27, 40). Moroni says to us,

And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations, to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation, behold, they shall be destroyed; for the Lord will not suffer that the blood of his saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always cry unto him from the ground for vengeance upon them and yet he avenge them not. Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins, and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above you, which are built up to get power and gain — and the work, yea, even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword of the justice of the Eternal God shall fall upon you, to your overthrow and destruction if ye shall suffer these things to be. (Ether 8:22–23¹¹⁷)

Could these warnings be not only a reference to gangs peddling drugs, stealing, and murdering but also to lynchings and other discriminatory acts which have been done and are done “in secret,” and where people make pacts to protect perpetrators of bad deeds, including with false testimony?

Redemption from Discriminatory Attitudes — Three Miraculous Conversions

They have an eternal hatred towards the children of Nephi. (Mosiah 10:17)

Let us take up arms against them, that we destroy them and their iniquity. (Alma 26:25)

[Page 260]They took their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, and they did bury them up deep in the earth. (Alma 24:17)

We will set our armies … that we may protect our brethren. … There was a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi. (Alma 27:23, 28:3)

Another key message of the Book of Mormon is redemption. Throughout the book, Nephites, Lamanites, and Jaredites were invited to repent and come to the Lord. Often, they did. To our modern world, the ancient authors also invite Israelites, Lehites, and Gentiles to repent and accept the gospel of Christ. The authors included powerful examples of repentance from their days. One of the most powerful examples of redemption begins with five rebellious sons of two Nephite leaders and discriminatory attitudes among both Nephites and Lamanites. The example ends with thousands of Lamanites and Nephites giving up their lives, at least in part, for others. This story is full of inter-group kindnesses (Table 13), but it is also a story of three miraculous redemptions from sin, including the sin of discriminatory attitudes.¹¹⁸

Ammon, Aaron, Omner, Himhi, and Alma lived sinful lives and went about seeking to destroy the church and disrupting the good their fathers were doing. After a miraculous experience, these five had a complete change of heart and went about doing good and tried to repair the damage of their previous actions. The four sons of Mosiah (Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni) and some colleagues decided to go to the Lamanites to try to help them feel the joy of redemption that the four sons and colleagues had received. They also hoped to bring peace to the land. They plead “many days” for permission, which Mosiah eventually granted after he asked the Lord. Although Mosiah agreed, other Nephites let them know their idea was silly.¹¹⁹ They “laughed [the missionary group] to scorn.” The other Nephites expressed their prejudice by saying the Lamanites were not worth the effort because they were “stiffnecked,” delighted “in the shedding of blood,” and lived lives of “the grossest iniquity.” Their ways were “the ways of a transgressor from the beginning.” The other Nephites proposed exterminating the Lamanites and their iniquity. This proposition manifests the attitude of superiority of these Nephites. But it [Page 261]also suggests the Nephites were afraid of the Lamanites. This mission was not a vacation. The lives of the missionaries were in jeopardy.

The four sons and colleagues went anyway, and they had phenomenal success despite significant hardships. Thousands of Lamanites accepted the gospel the Nephite missionaries taught. These Lamanites, who formerly had their own prejudices and hatred toward the Nephites,¹²⁰ were now “friendly with the Nephites.” The miraculous mass conversion was impressive, but next came mass-casualty sacrifices in which both Nephites and converted Lamanites gave their lives. Among all the examples of inter-group kindness in the Book of Mormon (Table 13), these are perhaps the most inspiring.

Converted Lamanites made the first sacrifice.¹²¹ They refused to take up arms against fellow citizens (unconverted Lamanites and former Nephites) when that group came against the converted people and sought to destroy them and overthrow the converted king. Instead of preparing to defend themselves, they buried “their swords, and all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man’s blood, … deep in the earth.” “They went out to meet” and “prostrated themselves” in front of the advancing force. One thousand and five converted Lamanites were killed, but, moved by the sacrifice, more than that number from the attacking force were converted. A second time, converted Lamanites again give up their lives rather than defend themselves and kill others. Yes, their sacrifice was motivated by their fear of returning to old hatreds and sins, but it was also a great act of kindness. As their king, Anti-Nephi-Lehi, explained, they did not want their swords “stained with the blood of our brethren.” They did not want to harm anyone. Through their example, many unconverted Lamanites became converted. Redemption did not end there.

Next, the Nephites sacrificed.¹²² After the second massacre, the converted Lamanites faced total annihilation because they refused to defend themselves. Without first asking the Nephite nation, the Nephite missionaries proposed immigration to Nephite territory, and they returned home with thousands of refugees. When the idea of immigration was proposed, the converted Lamanites offered to become slaves to the Nephites to “repair … the many murders and sins which we have committed against them.” Instead, the Nephites offered the [Page 262]converted Lamanites land, military protection, and citizenship. The converts agreed to give material support in return. The Nephite pledge was shortly put to the test as an army of the remaining (unconverted) Lamanites had followed the refugees and attacked the Nephites. “A tremendous battle” ensued, “such an one as never had been known among [the Lehites].” Three years later, the Nephites again protected the converted Lamanites, now known as the people of Ammon. “The Nephites would not suffer that they should be destroyed.” Several years later, during the six-year Lamanite-Nephite war, the Nephites protected the people of Ammon a third time. The Book of Mormon does not record any Nephite complaints, suggesting the whole Nephite nation willingly sacrificed for their converted brethren.

The record does not specify the number of Nephite deaths in the three wars. After the first one, the casualty report was “a tremendous slaughter among the people of Nephi … there was a great mourning and lamentation heard throughout all the land, among all the people of Nephi.” For the second war the record notes that “the number of their dead was exceedingly great.” Casualties in the long six-year war were also high. The Nephites paid a high price to love their new Lamanite fellow citizens. Again, the Nephite record contains no complaints about their sacrifice, only that during the six-year war, converted Lamanites were willing to break their oath to help defend their new home.

The record is silent about how many Nephites scorned the original mission and wanted instead to exterminate the Lamanites. We do not know if this was a majority or minority view. But, given King Mosiah’s reluctance to send his sons and their friends, previous unsuccessful efforts, and numerous Nephite-Lamanite wars, likely few Nephites thought their mission was a good idea.¹²³ At least some of those who later gave their lives for Lamanites — or who put their lives at risk — must have been those who earlier did not endorse the mission or suggested exterminating the Lamanites. These Nephites also had been redeemed in an extraordinary way.

Thousands of Lamanites were redeemed from their hatred of the Nephites, and many Nephites were redeemed from their hatred of the Lamanites. The turning point came when the small group of Nephites risked their lives not to exploit Lamanite hatred of the Nephites nor “to destroy our brethren,” but to “save some few of their souls” and “perhaps … cure them of their hatred toward the Nephites” (Mosiah 28:1–2; Alma 26:26). The group achieved their goal and more, as Richard [Page 263]Bushman noted, “by simple acts of love and generosity.”¹²⁴ These acts, which were “so contrary to the Lamanite stereotypes of the Nephites,” touched the Lamanites’ hearts. Bushman adds that the group’s work “set the pattern for later conversions,” which “strengthens the implication that conversion to the gospel and repudiation of false traditions was the only workable basis for permanent peace.”

This offers a clear lesson for us today. Seemingly unredeemable people (Alma 26:17, 23–25) can indeed be redeemed. If Nephites and Lamanites can be redeemed from bigotry by following the Lord through acts of service, love, and generosity, so can we.

Conclusion

The culture of Joseph Smith’s time was not conducive to producing a book in which more than half its verses directly or indirectly preach international and intranational amicability. This fact is additional evidence of the book’s divinity. Inclusive messages were not common in Joseph Smith’s day.¹²⁵ He lived in a culture where Native Americans were exterminated or sent on forced marches,¹²⁶ African Americans were held in slavery, Chinese Americans were denied citizenship,¹²⁷ and Latter-day Saint Americans were driven out of the country. Attempts by early Latter-day Saints to be inclusive of Native and African Americans — to implement messages of the Book of Mormon — stimulated persecution of Latter-day Saints in the 1800s.¹²⁸

[Page 264]Understandably, that atmosphere led people, including Latter-day Saints, to interpret Book of Mormon references to skin color in racial terms. Furthermore, as articulated by Paul Reeve, Latter-day Saints in the 1800s and early 1900s were seen as non-white by other people of European ancestry in the United States, in large part because of the Latter-day Saint outreach efforts and inclusive doctrines taught in the Book of Mormon.¹²⁹ This, Reeve noted, contributed to racial attitudes among the predominantly European-American Latter-day Saints as they tried to be seen as “white.” Peter Coviello blames 1800s racism within the church, including efforts of American Latter-day Saints to “become white” in the eyes of their countrymen, as contributing to racist perceptions of the Book of Mormon; this is “one obstacle to seeing clearly the counterracialist possibilities of The Book of Mormon, ” he said.¹³⁰ With such previous, entrenched¹³¹ teachings now officially disavowed,¹³² perhaps we can see more clearly the non-discriminatory message of the book and live like the Christlike Nephites and Lamanites in the book.

Instead of highlighting how a few verses were interpreted as reflecting 1800s attitudes, a better focus is on the inclusive messages that are in more than half of the book’s verses:

• God loves all people and his message is for all people on earth (Table 4).
• God will treat all people fairly (Table 4).
• God favors personal righteousness, not lineage (Table 4).
• Every group (Nephites, Lamanites, Jaredites, Jews, and Gentiles) has had times of righteousness and times of wickedness.¹³³
• All groups need to repent (tables 5–6, 20–22).
• [Page 265]The aim is spiritual beauty and cleanliness, not physical attractiveness (Table 3).
• The Gentiles have persecuted Lehite descendants and Jews. The Gentiles’ need to repent is particularly emphasized (tables 21–22).
• All people (Lehites, Jews, and Gentiles) are promised blessings and happiness if they follow the Lord (tables 4, 17–19).
• Anti-Semitism is evil (Table 21).
• Slavery is evil (Mosiah 2:13; Alma 27:9).
• Righteous Nephites viewed the Lamanites as brothers, and vice versa (tables 11, 13).
• Righteous Nephites reached out to the Lamanites, and vice versa (Table 12).
• Righteous people were kind to others. Sometimes these acts cost unselfish people their lives or put their lives at risk (Table 13).
• Unkind actions against others are condemned (Table 14).
• Persecution or oppression of others is wickedness (Table 15).
• Attitudes of superiority are condemned (Table 15).
• Class distinctions are evil (Table 15).
• Exploitation of vulnerable people is evil (Table 16).
• Although defensive war may be necessary, war is started by wickedness (Table 23).
• Conspiracies, which in our day are involved in some discriminatory actions or crimes, are extremely evil (Table 24).
• The wicked punish the wicked (Mormon 4:5).
• On no occasion do righteous Nephites seek to destroy Lamanites or vice versa (Table 23).
• People can learn from despised people. Multiple times Lamanites, who were scorned periodically by the Nephites, are examples of righteousness (Table 8), even when “unconverted” (Table 9).
• Christ taught us to focus on fixing ourselves and not others (3 Nephi 14:3–5; Matthew 7:3–5). The Nephite record does that by focusing on Nephite faults and de-emphasizing Lamanite ones (tables 5–7, 9–10).

Righteous people in the Book of Mormon cared about others. Whatever the differences truly were between the Nephites and Lamanites, [Page 266]those people gave us much to learn from in our day of unrelenting discrimination.

As leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have taught, the Book of Mormon has messages for our time, was written for us today, and should be an important focus of gospel study.

[The Book of Mormon’s] narrative is a chronicle of nations long since gone. But in its descriptions of the problems of today’s society, it is as current as the morning newspaper and much more definitive, inspired, and inspiring concerning the solutions of those problems.¹³⁴

It was written for our day. The Nephites never had the book; neither did the Lamanites of ancient times. It was meant for us. … Each of the major writers of the Book of Mormon testified that he wrote for future generations. … If they saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, “Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?”¹³⁵

I speak about the power of the Book of Mormon and the critical need we have as members of this Church to study, ponder, and apply its teachings in our lives.¹³⁶

Immersing ourselves regularly in the truths of the Book of Mormon can be a life-changing experience. … It contains the answers to life’s most compelling questions. It teaches the doctrine of Christ. … We learn about the gathering of scattered Israel. … These and other truths are more powerfully and persuasively taught in the Book of Mormon than in any other book. … I promise that as you daily immerse yourself in the Book of Mormon, you can be immunized [Page 267]against the evils of the day. … This is the book that will help to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.¹³⁷

How appropriate then, that so many of the book’s verses directly or indirectly impart an anti-discriminatory, inclusive message — a message sorely needed in today’s diverse, interconnected, and contentious world. This message is not just important for getting along. As prophesied in the Book of Mormon, the gospel is going to all people on earth. The inclusive message is therefore critically important for those who preach and hear the gospel. Joseph Smith wrote, “A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”¹³⁸

Despite obvious reasons to hate their Lamanite enemies, righteous Nephites in the Book of Mormon chose to put differences aside in their dealings with the Lamanites. Despite deep traditions of resentment and bitterness, righteous Lamanites were also exemplary in their dealings with the Nephites. Righteous Lamanites and Nephites also acted honorably toward others within their own nations. Today, whatever the apparent justifications for racial, ethnic, international, or class strife may be, whatever the reasons for divisions or for others’ circumstances and regardless of a person’s ethnicity, economic class, gender, or other characteristic, you and I can and should choose to love and reach out to others. Furthermore, let us not condemn or misread a book that overwhelmingly teaches us to love and serve others — however different from us they may be — because we live in a different time and culture, have different expectations, and are confused by a very small number of its passages.¹³⁹

[Page 268]Tables

The following pages provide the detailed tables referenced in this article, Table 1 through Table 24. The caption before each table provides a limited amount of explanatory information. At the end of each table there may be footnotes to some of the content within the table.

Any column with the heading “CV” stands for “count of verses.” Table-specific legends appear before each table, with notes, if any, after each table.

I acknowledge the help of Brant A. Gardner’s Second Witness: Analytical and Contextual Commentary on the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2007), Volumes 1, 2, and 5 in interpreting some verses, particularly verses from Isaiah.

[Page 269]Table 1. Book of Mormon verses directly or indirectly dealing with interracial, interethnic, international, or interclass relations, organized in the order they appear in the book. The column headers are abbreviated as follows, and Tables 2–24 list verses by topic and define topics.

[Page 297]*Each paragraph in title page and witness testimonies is considered one verse.

Table 2. Book of Mormon verses discussing Lamanite cursing (12 instances) or relevant to Lamanite cursing or cursing in general (17 instances marked with asterisk). Each entry is a separate instance.

Table 3. Book of Mormon verses discussing appearance; verses relevant to appearance; or verses that commonly are thought to refer to people’s appearance (e.g., light, dark, fair, delightsome), including references to skin. Each entry is a separate instance (46 total).

Table 4. Book of Mormon verses stating God’s message and blessings are available to any person and verses stating God treats each person fairly. No distinctions are made based on ancestry, class, nationality, and so forth. The test is righteousness only. Except as noted, each entry is a separate instance or thought on this subject (116 total).

*Continuation of previous entry, one line above.

[Page 307]Table 5. Book of Mormon verses where Lamanites are said or implied to be wicked or where negative characteristics are given. Negative labels or descriptions were counted (N) if the term could have been used by an outsider to view the Lamanites in a negative or prejudicial way (e.g., Alma 26:23–35), but this does not necessarily mean the label was used that way in the verse. Labels are given in summary column, but a label is only listed once even if used multiple times. A synonym may also be used. Except as noted, each row entry is a separate instance (54 total).

[Page 310]†The descendants of Book of Mormon people are often just called “Lamanites” but the record makes clear that descendants of both Nephites and Lamanites would survive after the book ends (1 Nephi 13:30–31; 1 Nephi 15;13–14; 1 Nephi 22:7–8; 2 Nephi 3:3, 23–24; 2 Nephi 9:53; 2 Nephi 10:18–19; 2 Nephi 26:15; 2 Nephi 28:2; 2 Nephi 30:4–5; Alma 45:14; Helaman 3:16). In addition, the formation of Lamanites after Christ appears is based on those who chose to leave the church, not on lineage (4 Nephi). Until the two nations completely reform, lineage seems to have little to do with whether a person was a Lamanite or Nephite. Presumably intermarriage between descendants former Nephites and Lamanites was common during the peaceful era after Christ’s visit. Mormon notes that he was “a pure descendant of Lehi” (3 Nephi 5:20), and Moroni notes that Mormon “was a descendant of Nephi” (Mormon 8:13). Moroni did not use “pure” in his statement. Perhaps Mormon and Moroni had Lamanite ancestry as well.
¶Continuation of a previous entry one line above.
‡Lamanites labeled themselves.
*All or additional descriptions were given to both Nephites and Lamanites (as or essentially as one people) and are not counted here.
γI include the wickedness described between 4 Nephi 1:20 and 4 Nephi 1:35 with both Nephites and Lamanites. The record is not clear if the break-off “Lamanites” (verse 20) or the other people are the perpetrators.
§Before Christ (appears to Lehites), 1 Nephi through 3 Nephi 7; after Christ, 3 Nephi 8 through Moroni.

Table 6. Book of Mormon accounts where Nephites were labeled or implied to be wicked or where consequences of Nephite wickedness were prophesied. Negative Nephite characteristics or labels given in these verses are counted (N) if the term was descriptive and could have been used by an outsider to view the Nephites in a negative or prejudicial way, but this does not necessarily mean the label was used that way in the verse. Labels counted are given in summary column, but is only listed once if used multiple times. A synonym may also be used. Except as noted, each entry is a separate instance (146 total). (N = number of negative labels.)