Mark E. Petersen Explained

Mark E. Petersen
Birth Name:Mark Edward Petersen
Birth Date:7 November 1900
Birth Place:Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
Death Place:Murray, Utah, United States
President2:Heber J. Grant
Spouse:Emma Marr McDonald[1]
Children:2 daughters[2]

Mark Edward Petersen (November 7, 1900 – January 11, 1984) was an American news editor and religious leader. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1944 until his death. He became managing editor of the church-owned Deseret News in 1935 and then editor in 1941. He filled the vacancy in the Quorum caused by the excommunication of Richard R. Lyman.

Early life

As a young boy, Petersen was a newspaper carrier, and he also helped in his father’s construction business. Later, he attended the University of Utah and served a mission for the LDS Church in Nova Scotia. In pursuing a career, he became a reporter for the Deseret News and continued working for the paper for sixty years, advancing to the position of president and chairman of the board. Petersen wrote numerous editorials and published more than forty books and many pamphlets used in the church's missionary effort.[3]

LDS Church service

In April 1944, while serving as general manager of the Deseret News, Petersen was called to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[4] In his calling as an apostle, he directed the church’s public information programs and served on the Military Relations Committee. He was an adviser to the church's Relief Society, Indian Affairs Committee, and Music Committee.[5] He served as president of the West European Mission[6] for more than six years. Petersen was also involved in many community affairs. He was closely associated with the Boy Scouts of America and was a recipient of the Silver Antelope Award. In 1959, in response to a rash of arrests of gay men in Utah and Idaho, church president David O. McKay assigned apostles Spencer W. Kimball and Petersen to work on curing gays within the church.[7] [8]

Controversial teachings

At Brigham Young University on 27 August 1954, at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Petersen delivered the speech, "Race Problems—As They Affect the Church".[9] [10] The speech outlined the religious underpinnings of racial segregation and supported its continued practice as it related to intermarriage between blacks and whites. Particularly, he reaffirmed the LDS Church's teaching at that time that those with dark skin had been less valiant in their lives before coming to earth.[11] [12] He also reiterated the idea that blacks were to be servants to righteous white people after the resurrection, as was the case with Jane Manning James who was sealed to Joseph Smith to be his servant in the next life.[13] Petersen said:

In spite of all he did in the pre-existent life, the Lord is willing, if the Negro accepts the gospel with real, sincere faith, and is really converted, to give him the blessings of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. If that Negro is faithful all his days, he can and will enter the celestial kingdom. He will go there as a servant, but he will get a celestial resurrection. He will get a place in the celestial glory.

In the 1940s, Petersen coined the term "Mormon fundamentalist" to describe people who had left the LDS Church to practice plural marriage.[14]

Death

Petersen died from longstanding complications of cancer after entering Cottonwood Hospital in Murray, Utah, and undergoing surgery.[15] [6] He was buried at Salt Lake City Cemetery.[16]

Publications

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Tabernacle Funeral Services Planned For LDS Church Elder Mark Petersen. 1984-01-13. 22. The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. Newspapers.com. 2022-03-17.
  2. News: Monson. Thomas S.. In Memoriam:By His Words—Elder Mark E. Petersen - new-era. 16 May 2018. New Era. March 1984.
  3. News: Mark E. Petersen Named Visiting Authority. 1962-02-01. 1. Washington County News. Saint George, Utah. Newspapers.com. 2022-03-17.
  4. News: Press . A. . Mark Petersen, One of Mormons' Apostles Council . 19 March 2022 . Boston Globe . 13 Jan 1984. .
  5. News: Tabernacle Funeral Services Planned For LDS Church Elder Mark Petersen. 1984-01-13. 22. The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. Newspapers.com. 2022-03-17.
  6. News: 3 January 2009 . . . Salt Lake City, Utah . This week in Church History . 7 May 2018.
  7. Book: O'Donovan. Rocky. Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family. 1994. Signature Books. Salt Lake City. 1-56085-050-7. 147. 27 November 2016.
  8. Book: Kimball. Edward L.. Kimball. Andrew E.. Spencer W. Kimball: Twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1977. Bookcraft. Salt Lake City. 381. 9780884943303.
  9. Web site: Petersen. Elder Mark E.. Race Problems— As They Affect The Church. archive.org. 7 May 2018. 27 August 1954.
  10. Book: Tanner. Jerald and Sandra. Jerald and Sandra Tanner. Curse of Cain?: Racism in the Mormon Church. 2004. Utah Lighthouse Ministry. Appendix B: Race Problems—As They Affect The Church. http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/curseofcain_appendix_b.htm.
  11. Book: McNamara. Mary Lou. Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives. 24 January 2001. University of Illinois Press. Champaign, IL. 0252069595. 318. Reprint. 7 May 2018.
  12. Book: Bush. Lester E. Jr. . Mauss. Armand L.. Lester E. Bush, Jr.. Armand L. Mauss. Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. 1984. Signature Books. Midvale, Utah. 0-941214-22-2. Appendix: Authoritative Statements on the Status of Blacks. http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black-appendix/.
  13. Book: Embry. Jessie L.. Jessie L. Embry. Black Saints in a White Church

    Contemporary African American Mormons

    . 1994. Signature Books. 1560850442. 40–41. Chapter 3: Impact of the LDS "Negro Policy". http://signaturebookslibrary.org/impact-of-the-lds-negro-policy/. Sourced from the George A. Smith family papers, 1731-1969' (box 78, folder 7) on the 'Quorum of the Twelve Apostles— Excerpts from the weekly council meetings dealing with the rights of African Americans in the church (1849-1940').
  14. Driggs. Ken. Ken Driggs. 'This Will Someday Be the Head and Not the Tail of the Church': A History of the Mormon Fundamentalists at Short Creek. Journal of Church and State. 2001. 43. 1. 49–80. 10.1093/jcs/43.1.49. 23920013.
  15. News: LDS Apostle Mark Petersen Dies of Cancer. 1984-01-12. 1. The Daily Herald. Provo, Utah. Newspapers.com. 2022-03-18.
  16. News: Religious Leaders Euglogize Elder Mark E. Peterson. 1984-01-13. 22. The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. Newspapers.com. 2022-03-18.

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