Reprint of an article from the Institute for Religious Research
(https://mit.irr.org/)
Copyright 2004
Institute for Religious Research.
All rights reserved.
In the 170-plus year history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, every member of the Quorum of the Twelve (apostles) has been a white male of American or European heritage. This pattern remains unbroken following the October 2, 2004 announcement at its General Conference of two new apostles – David A. Bednar, an American and Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a German. The two fill the vacancies left by the deaths of apostles Neal A. Maxwell and David B. Haight, who died several months ago within weeks of each other.
Though over half of the Mormon Church’s 12 million members are now in countries outside North America, and more than a third (4.25 million) are Latin Americans, the Quorum of the Twelve remains a solidly white body.1 It’s difficult to imagine that Mormons of color will not be disappointed and perhaps dismayed by this development.
There are a number of non-Anglos in the Quorums of the Seventy, most of whom are of Hispanic descent. However, none has ever been elevated to the position of apostle, even though many of them have been Seventies for 10 years or more. Currently these include Carlos Amado, Claudio Costa, Walter Gonzalez, Yoshihiko Kikuchi, Francisco Viñas, and Adhemar Damiani. All of these are members of the first and second quorums of the Seventy, and the majority have more years seniority at this level than either Bednar or Uchtdorf.
Mormon membership in Germany, homeland of new apostle Dieter Uchtdorf, is less than 37,000; in all of Europe—West, Central and Eastern combined—Mormon membership is barely 393,000. By comparison, the Church boasts memberships of nearly a million in Mexico, 850,000 in Brazil, and in excess of 500,000 in both Chile and the Philippines. Yet in terms of qualification for the Mormon hierarchy, the message to these faithful Mormons of color seems to be, non-Anglos need not apply.
- Statistical data taken from the Deseret Morning News 2004 Church Almanac, published in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2004. ↩︎
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