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Mormons To Celebrate 1978 Lifting Of Ban On Blacks In Clergy

The Mormon Priesthood serving sacrament, including colored patrons.
mormonnewsroom.org
The Mormon Priesthood serving sacrament, including colored patrons.

The Mormon church says it will celebrate the upcoming 40th anniversary of its reversal of a ban on blacks in the religion's lay priesthood.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Monday night that the celebration will take place June 1 in Salt Lake City.

The ban on men of African descent being allowed to participate in the religion's lay clergy ended in 1978 when the religion says its top leaders received a revelation from God after praying about it.

Black Mormons still account for only a small percentage of the church's 16 million members worldwide.

A 2013 church essay disavowed the ban and explained that it was put into place during an era of great racial divide that influenced early Mormon teachings.