Sunday, February 14, 2021

Question for Dennis B. Horne

I would begin by writing "hi Dennis," but I would hate to give the indication I have any respect for you. I mean, let’s be honest. A lot of your irrational hatred towards Terryl and Fiona Givens is not due to some of their theological problems (I say this as someone who has written a pretty exhaustive critique of their The Christ Who Heals book). Instead, it is the fact that people give them attention and take them seriously while someone like you will always remain largely unknown and you will die in obscurity. Well, here is your lucky day—I will give you some attention beyond your blog that makes the ramblings of Creed from the Office look sane:


In reference to your post Apostles, Prophets, and God’s Former Priesthood Restriction, my question is this: imagine it is 1971. Your daughter brings home a man she tells you she wants to marry. He is well-educated, respectful towards your daughter, a true gentleman, faithful, etc (basically all the qualities a father wants to have in a son-in-law). However, he is also black. My question is this: how many seconds will elapse before you kick him out and tell your daughter to either break up with him or you will disown her? After all, to quote a President of the Church: "If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so" (Brigham Young, March 8, 1863 [Journal of Discourses 10:110--you can reverse this question and answer the same for your son who brings home a black woman]), and let us not forget, you use the term "Negroes" to describe blacks, such as the opening lines "The purpose of this piece is to substantiate the inspired genesis and continued correctness of the priesthood restriction on black male members (meaning Negroes) until June of 1978" wherein you defend  "the Negroes [not being] entitled to the full blessings of the Gospel" prior to 1978 (the latter is part of a quote, to be sure, but you happily use the term in your own contributions. Please do me a favour: walk up to the next black man you see and call him that word. I dare you to [unless you are a spineless coward who hides behind a keyboard who spews this nonsense in private but would never do it in public(*)]).


For anyone who clicked on Horne's article, I am sorry. To help make amends, here are two important resources:


Gospel Topics Essay: Race and the Priesthood


Russell W. Stevenson, For the Cause of Righteousness: A Global History of Blacks and Mormonism, 1830-2013


(*) I will be moving to Utah later this year. I will happily ask this question to your face and even consent to it being recorded as I have a spine.


Update (6 April 2021): I have asked this question half-a-dozen times on Horne's blog. He refuses to post it on the blog, let alone answer it. For this reason, I think it is safe to assume that the answer is "I would disown my daughter if she married the Negro."


Update: Turns out that Horne has made changes to his original piece to hide the more explicit racism in the blog post. One can find the original on archive.org. Be that as it may, here are some examples of Horne (not sources he is quoting from--an important distinction) using the "other" N-word:









Dennis Horne is a racist and a despicable, pitiful excuse of a human being.