Officially no official position on natural selection

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drumdude
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Re: Officially no official position on natural selection

Post by drumdude »

Doctor CamNC4Me wrote:
Fri Jul 01, 2022 2:10 am
KevinSim wrote:
Thu Jun 30, 2022 9:16 pm

All the denials of evolution and the claims of a 7000-year-old Earth are not official doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I know what you're talking about. My parents, teachers, and peers raised me to believe that Darwin's theory was completely wrong, so when, as an undergraduate at the University of Washington I went to a Young Adult fireside on the topic of evolution, I expected to hear all that was wrong with Darwin's theory. Instead the speaker, the second counselor in the Seattle North Stake presidency, said the LDS Church didn't have an official position on that theory; and he went on to state that no serious scientist doubts that that theory is true; he himself clearly did not doubt it himself. That fireside was a critical point in my own personal evolution as a Latter-day Saint.
1909 official statement First Presidency.

- Doc

BYU still accepted that view as late as 1992.
This packet contains, as far as could be found, all statements issued by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints on the subject of evolution and the origin of man, and a statement on the Church's attitude toward science. The earliest First Presidency statement, "The Origin of Man," was issued during the administration of President Joseph F. Smith in 1909. This was followed by a First Presidency Message in 1910 that included brief comments related to the study of these topics. The second statement, "Mormon View of Evolution," was issued during the administration of President Heber J. Grant in 1925. Although there has never been a formal declaration from the First Presidency addressing the general matter of organic evolution as a process for development of biological species, these documents make clear the official position of the Church regarding the origin of man.

This packet also contains the article on evolution from the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, published in 1992. The current First Presidency authorized inclusion of the excerpt from the First Presidency minutes of 1931 in the 1992 Encyclopedia article.

Various views have been expressed by other Church leaders on this subject over many decades; however, formal statements by the First Presidency are the definitive source of official Church positions. It is hoped that these materials will provide a firm foundation for individual study in a context of faith in the restored gospel.

Approved by the BYU Board of Trustees, June 1992
How firm a foundation. Firm as sand.

https://biology.byu.edu/00000172-29e6-d ... ion-packet
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