Sunrise Tantalize

Question: How do you make sure you are getting impartial, accurate information about LDS Church history and practices? When investigating an idea in the academic world, you find articles and books about subjects and weigh their arguments against each other. You can also use primary sources to form your own opinions about the idea. But how do you do this with information about the LDS Church found on the internet?

For example, let’s say I want to explore the history of the relationship between blacks and the LDS Church. I know the basic facts: Black men couldn’t hold the priesthood until 1978. (Black women and all women haven’t held the priesthood thus far, but that’s another issue.) I know how supporters of slavery often used the Bible to justify that horrible practice. I have the sneaking suspicion that similar arguments may have been used to deny black men the priesthood, but I’m not sure. I also have my own opinion on the issue: The exclusion of blacks from the priesthood was an unjustifiable mistake. Prophets who taught this practice were influenced by their times and the teachings of other churches. Their decision to deny the priesthood was not divinely inspired. The intent of this post is not to start an argument about the church and blacks and the priesthood or anything related to that. I wish to discuss how someone could find good information about that or any other issue related to the Church. Also keep in mind that I don’t want to write a 20-page research paper on the topic.

First you have the Church website. The first site that pops up when you search “blacks” on LDS.org leads to this article on race relations on the Church newsroom site. Now, no organization is going to want to say bad things about itself. So it doesn’t really go in depth. I also looked at the Encyclopedia of Mormonism under “blacks” which also gives a short history. Jeff Lindsay’s FAQ site has a page about the issue of race in the Mormon Church. He answers several common questions about the issue, but how do I know I can trust his information? He does cite other sources but there must be additional sources that do not support his viewpoint. There are articles at the FAIR website as well. I wish there was a nice, impartial source or sources that was not affiliated with the LDS Church. Someone who didn’t have an interest beyond historical accuracy. (Yes, I am aware that all history is biased, at least slightly.)

Has anyone found a source like this? Have other people run into similar issue while investigating the practices or history of their faith? What are some tips for finding accurate information on theological issues and church history? I’m sure this won’t be the last issue I’d like to investigate.