An Interview With Gordon Hinckley

A Look Back At Mike Wallace's 1996 Interview With The President Of The Mormon Church

(CBS)  Steve Benson left the church to become one of its most outspoken critics, even though his late grandfather, Ezra Taft Benson, President Eisenhower's Secretary of Agriculture, had been a church president.

Benson complains that by enforcing conformity, the church stifles independent thought. "The cultural mind-set in the church is when the prophet has spoken, the debate is over," he said.

"And the prophet is?" Wallace asked.

"Gordon B. Hinckley would be the prophet. When he has pronounced the church's position on any issue, it is incumbent upon the members of the church to pray, pay and obey," Benson claimed.

Hinckley's reaction? "Well, that's a clever statement from Steve, whom I know. Now, look, our people have tremendous liberty. They're free to live their lives as they please," he said.

"Are they? Really?" Wallace asked.

"Oh, absolutely. Surely. They have to make choices. It's the old eternal battle: the forces of evil against the forces of good," Hinckley replied.

The critics acknowledge they represent a tiny minority of Mormons. Still, they say that too many Mormons look and act like they came off an assembly line. But the young Mormon missionaries look that way on purpose.

"You all look alike, white shirts, some a little wrinkled; ties. I look at you, I look at your faces and think of your age and I'm inclined to say, 'Well, you're not much to look at, but you're all the Lord has,'" Hinckley said.

Many young Mormons leave college for two years, at their own expense, to be missionaries. Every day, 50,000 of them go door to door in America and 150 other countries.

The missionaries have helped Mormonism achieve its phenomenal growth: half its members are now from outside the United States. But until its expansion into Latin America and Africa, church membership had been overwhelmingly white.

"From 1830 to 1978... blacks could not become priests in the Mormon Church, right?" Wallace asked.

"That's correct," Hinckley acknowledged.

Why?

"Because the leaders of the church at that time interpreted that doctrine that way," Hinckley said.

"Church policy had it that blacks had the mark of Cain. Brigham Young said, 'Cain slew his brother and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin,'" Wallace remarked.

"It's behind us. Look, that's behind us. Don't worry about those little flicks of history," Hinckley said.

"Skeptics will suggest, 'Well, look, if we're going to expand, we can't keep the blacks out,'" Wallace said.

But Hinckley called that "pure speculation."

Now that blacks can be priests, the current issue is whether Mormon women will ever be priests.

Asked why men hold the priesthood, Hinckley told Wallace, "Because God stated that it should be so. That was the revelation of the church. That was the way it was set forth."

[bigball1232]

The fact is mormons are different and oddballs... there is no other group of people out there that believe the things mormons do... the god they believe in is NOT the same God that Christians believe in.

[bigball1232]

Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses, vol. 1, p.123
"Remember that God, or Heavenly Father, was perhaps once a child, and mortal like we ourselves and rose step by step in the scale of progress, in the school of advancement; has moved forward and overcome, until he has arrived at the point where he now is."

WHAT???? god is not all-knowing and perfect? he has to learn and advance...

[bigball1232]

Men- want to be a god... want to rule your own plant???
Women want to be eternally pregnant and married to a man who will be getting other women eternally pregnant???
Join the mormon church now...
See your local missionaried for details.

[dandehawk]

Your expose'' on the Mormon Church was one-sided. I am not Mormon, but you interviewed only conservative Mormons, attempting to give the impression they are outside the mainstream of society -- different, oddballs. Why did you interview Republican Orin Hatch and not interview liberal Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Utah, wno is also a Mormon?

[politica24]

efigge1, in response to your comment about the Marriott hotels and pornography, this is something I''ve looked into quite a bit, and because it is now a publicly owned company, these types of issues are out of Marriott''s hands. Like poor Carl Karchner, who had to watch his restaurant chain take its advertising campaign in a completely inappropriate direction.

[politica24]

I was highly disappointed in this story. Things were taken out of context and chopped up funny to the point where it was hard for me (a highly educated Mormon who was born and raised in the Church) to even follow. Very little respect was shown toward our beloved prophet and president Gordon B. Hinckley. President Hinckley was extremely humble, but he is one of the most brilliant leaders this world has seen. Mike Wallace was lucky to even be in his presence. And what''s with re-airing a show that was filmed 11-years ago (start to finish, without a real-time host) without at least updating some of the 11-year old footage? It made Mormons look like we''re 11 years behind in the fashion world, which is highly insulting to me.

[politica24]

I was highly disappointed in this story. Things were taken out of context and chopped up funny to the point where it was hard for me (an educated Mormon who was born and raised in the Church) to even follow. Very little respect was shown toward our beloved prophet and president Gordon B. Hinckley. President Hinckley was extremely humble, but he is one of the most brilliant leaders this world has seen. Mike Wallace was lucky to even be in his presence. And what''s with re-airing (start to finish, without a host) a show that was filmed 11-years ago without at least updating the footage? It made Mormons look like we''re 11 years behind in the fashion world, which is highly insulting to me.

[elder1952]

Mr. Mike Wallace, you need to research the truth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, before you question our First Presidency, and/or any other General Authority. I was very displeased as to your lack of insight and unprofessional demeanor towards then our Prophet and President Gordon B. Hinckley. Your layman approach was well noted and documented for all too see and hear. Atypical C.B.S., mentally as usual!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[bigball1232]

There is only one God... and if you really look into it, Mormons are polythesitic... they believe there are many gods and you can be a god too... and one day you can be a god of your own planet and in order for there to be people on your planet you have to have *** with your many spirit wives and impregnant them and when they give birth to the little spirit babies they are sent down to earth... Sound strange? BECAUSE IT IS!!! This is mormon doctorin

[bigball1232]

The fact is that Mormons believe in a god that was created... That is NOT the same God in the Bible... How can you be a Christian if you believe that god was once on another planet and worked is way up the Mormon ladder so that he could reign over his own
planet, which is our earth.. and he is so busy up there making spirit babies how does he have time to even care about you... and one day if your "good" and get married in the temple you can be a god too... see genesis.. that was satan first great lie.

[bigball1232]

It''s all one sided with you guys...you can except Jesus''s forgivness and you will still have consequences... it''s the Church telling you that if you take that approach that your saying you can do what ever you want and that you can sin and it''s okay... that''s not what I said...I said you can excpet Jesus''s forgivness and know that He loves you and forgives you and WHEN you sin he still loves you and forgives you and the consequence will come from your action it should not come from a church. A church is a place to turn for help not condemnation..

[Travis212]

Ok, all together now, lets pull the beams out of our eyes.

[Travis212]

vito98103,

Mormons have never claimed not to be Christian, and we would certainly not change our doctrine merely because a member is running for President.

The name of the church, since its founding in 1830, has alawys been The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is others who have said, and continue to say, that we are not Christian. Others are free to disagree, but we have always considered ourselves Christian.

[stevegolf121]

In everyday relationships, if you break a trust, you lose friends. In my opinion, the most general and simple context that anyone has for understanding anything is to look at the way life works! Decisions have consequences. Frankly, I would be more leary of a religion that required nothing of its members . . . that is an absolute departure from the way life works on its most simple basis. To say that a church leader might act inappropriately in the context of a confession is totally possible. Leaders in every church have made mistakes . . . some have molested children, others have made people feel worthless, etc. However, those, I believe, are the VAST minority!! It is unfortunate that it has happened . . . but if the basis for a church''s truthfullness were dependent on whether or not leaders are perfect, or void of the ability to make a mistake, no church could claim to be true. I would definately not make a judgement based on any one person''s bad experience. Rather, go to the source, and find out for yourself

[stevegolf121]

I have been a member my whole life, and still am. I, like most, have had problems and done things on occasion that are contrary to the teachings and expectations of the church. Each and every time I have ever been to a church leader to address the mistake, I have been treated with love and respect. Are there consequences? Of course. I think it is comical that people think they can do whatever they want, good or bad, without consequences. What experience in life has given anyone the idea that one could do anything with out some kind of consequence? In school, if you don''t do your homework, you fail. If you are truant, you are written up. Too many absences, you are held back. At work, if you don''t show up, you are fired.

[vito98103]

Yet another on the lips Mike Wallace piece on the Mormons - what is it with him? 20% of the whole story at best - the LDS has a very good PR operation, but are in fact a very strange group (ask what ''milk before meat'' means). In fact, there were many years when they claimed to not be Christian - until ol'' Mitt decided to make a run for it. Good thing Romney is DOA - maybe not as he''d be easy to beat in November. McClain won''t be that tough either.

BTW - this comment function doesn''t seem to be working - multiple copies of the same message (?).

[vito98103]

Yet another on the lips Mike Wallace piece on the Mormons - what is it with him? 20% of the whole story at best - the LDS has a very good PR operation, but are in fact a very strange group (ask what ''milk before meat'' means). In fact, there were many years when they claimed to not be Christian - until ol'' Mitt decided to make a run for it. Good thing Romney is DOA - maybe not as he''d be easy to beat in November. McClain won''t be that tough either.

BTW - this comment function doesn''t seem to be working - multiple copies of the same message (?).

[vito98103]

Yet another on the lips Mike Wallace piece on the Mormons - what is it with him? 20% of the whole story at best - the LDS has a very good PR operation, but are in fact a very strange group (ask what ''milk before meat'' means). In fact, there were many years when they claimed to not be Christian - until ol'' Mitt decided to make a run for it. Good thing Romney is DOA - maybe not as he''d be easy to beat in November. McClain won''t be that tough either.

BTW - this comment function doesn''t seem to be working - multiple copies of the same message (?).

[vito98103]

Yet another on the lips Mike Wallace piece on the Mormons - what is it with him? 20% of the whole story at best - the LDS has a very good PR operation, but are in fact a very strange group (ask what ''milk before meat'' means). In fact, there were many years when they claimed to not be Christian - until ol'' Mitt decided to make a run for it. Good thing Romney is DOA - maybe not as he''d be easy to beat in November. McClain won''t be that tough either.

BTW - this comment function doesn''t seem to be working.

[vito98103]

Yet another on the lips Mike Wallace piece on the Mormons - what is it with him? 20% of the whole story at best - the LDS has a very good PR operation, but are in fact a very strange group (ask what ''milk before meat'' means). In fact, there were many years when they claimed to not be Christian - until ol'' Mitt decided to make a run for it. Good thing Romney is DOA - maybe not as he''d be easy to beat in November. McClain won''t be that tough either.