Word: mormon
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...word came suddenly in June: after more than 100 years of barring blacks from its priesthood, the Utah-based Mormon Church was reversing its stand. Spencer Kimball, 83, the church's leader, had experienced a revelation. For 4 million practicing Mormons, a period of anxious waiting followed as Kimball refused to elaborate publicly on his moment of epiphany. Finally TIME Staff Writer Richard Ostling broke through the wall of silence to interview Kimball for this week's story on the Mormon Church...
...discussion took place in Salt Lake City in Kimball's dark paneled office overlooking a courtyard garden. For an hour and a half, the Mormon leader addressed questions about the scriptures of his church, the social changes it faces, and the issues stirred by the June revelation. Unaccustomed to talking to the press, Kimball seemed ill at ease and spoke tersely. Still, he clearly conveyed a sense of his inner reflections. Says Ostling: "I don't think the revelation was an easy thing for him to act on. He realized it would be a turning point...
...their churches should relate to society. Says Ostling: "It's more difficult now for those of us who watch the field to decide what we should cover. We have to be a lot more limber, and continually re-examine the news." This week's assessment of the Mormon Church, on which Ostling worked with Correspondent Edward J. Boyer and Reporter-Researcher Sara Medina, reaffirms TIME's longstanding commitment to do that...
...Despite Mormonism's obvious success and the comforting image evoked by Donny and Marie or the Tabernacle Choir, outsiders (known as Gentiles) still find something disturbing about the faith. Though Mormons are no longer as isolated as they once were in Young's mountain kingdom, they nonetheless seem to exist behind an invisible barrier. Once a Mormon temple is consecrated, no outsider may enter to see the secret rites or oxen-borne baptistries. Ecumenical entanglements with conventional Christian groups are forbidden. The Mormon religion, with its modern-day prophets and scriptures, can seem odd indeed to nonbelievers...
...most offensive tenet vanished in June in a "revelation" promulgated by Kimball, who is regarded as God's unique "Prophet, Seer and Revelator." Henceforth, headquarters announced, "all worthy males" may enter the priesthood, a lay office normally attained by all young men in the clergyless church. Previously the Mormons had denied the office to "Africans." The change will give blacks celestial benefits. Priests can "seal" their marriages for eternity in the temple. This, in turn, means they can aspire to the highest level in the multitiered Mormon heaven after they die. Thus Phone Repairman Joseph Freeman, 25, who became...