By ERASMUS
EVEN AS American debates over race and identity turn increasingly toxic, one of the country’s most powerful religious groups and one of its most venerable anti-racist groups have taken a step in the opposite direction. The president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, still known widely as the Mormons even though they have renounced that name, received a warm welcome on July 21st in an unlikely setting: the annual convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).
“We strive to build bridges of co-operation rather than walls of segregation,” declared Russell Nelson, a lively 94-year-old, at the gathering in Detroit. Drawing polite applause, he quoted a line from the Mormon scriptures, affirming that Jesus Christ “denies none that come unto him: black and white, bond and free, male and female, all are alike unto God.”
