Wednesday 16 February 2011

The soul

The Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day Saints was set up by Joseph Smith who found some indecipherable inscribed gold plates in up-state New York, and then discovered some magical spectacles which allowed him to transcribe the plates into the "Book of Mormon".

The book bears a striking resemblance to the Judeo/Christian Bible but allows and forbids a few different things. Until 1975 the Mormon Church still taught that black people don't have souls. (God thoughtfully revealed to them that it was wrong only the day before the US law changed on this matter.)

Of course the irony of it is that perhaps they were right and that none of us have souls. Studies of consciousness suggest that the concept of 'the soul' is perhaps only a pious hope.

1 comment:

Doug said...

That's incorrect. They taught (and still often do) that non-whites were less valiant in the "pre-existence".