Pacific Islanders and Mormonism

File:Pacific Culture Areas.jpg]]

Pacific Islanders have a particular place in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Its first non-English-speaking mission was in the region in 1844,{{refn|name=Missionaries|{{rp|85}}{{Cite journal |last=Britsch |first=R. Lanier |date=1980-04-01 |title=The Expansion of Mormonism in the South Pacific |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V13N01_55.pdf |journal=Dialogue |publisher=University of Illinois Press |volume=13 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/45224817 |issn=0012-2157}}{{rp|55}}}} less than twenty years after the church's founding,{{rp|84}} and there are currently six temples among the Pacific Island regions of Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia.{{rp|83}} In 2015 the Latter-day Saint population in the area was increasing in percentage and absolute numbers.{{rp|83}}

Since the 1850s Mormon leaders have identified Polynesian islands with the "islands of the sea" marked in their scriptures for missionary activity, and taught that the people there were descendants of Israelite people from the faith's canonized Book of Mormon.{{refn|{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Paul |date=2015-05-01 |title=Polynesians and Mormonism |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/nr/article/18/4/83/70838/Polynesians-and-MormonismThe-Church-of-Jesus |journal=Nova Religio |volume=18 |issue=4 |doi=10.1525/nr.2015.18.4.83 |issn=1092-6690 |publisher=University of California Press}}{{rp|85–86, 93}}{{Cite book |last=Neilson |first=Reid L. |url=https://archive.org/details/globalmormonismi0000unse/ | chapter=Joseph Smith’s Legacy in Latin America and the Pacific|chapter-url=https://rsc.byu.edu/sites/default/files/pub_content/pdf/Legacy.pdf |title=Global Mormonism in the 21st Century |date=2008 |publisher=Brigham Young University |isbn=978-0-8425-2696-8 |via=Internet Archive}}{{rp|39–40, 44–46}}{{Cite journal |last=Clement |first=Russell T. |date=December 1980 |title=Polynesian Origins: More Word on the Mormon Perspective |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V13N04_90.pdf |journal=Dialogue |volume=13 |issue=4 |doi=10.2307/45224944 |issn=0012-2157|publisher=University of Illinois Press}}{{rp|91–97}}}} There are numerous notable adherents of the church, and LDS missionary efforts in the region were highlighted in the film The Other Side of Heaven. The church began operating schools in the Pacific Islands in 1850,{{rp|59}} and currently owns and runs Brigham Young University–Hawaii (BYU–Hawaii) and the nearby Polynesian Cultural Center.{{rp|61}} The Book of Mormon has been translated into numerous local languages of the region since 1855.{{rp|56}}

History

Image:Polynesian Cultural Center entrance.jpg]]

The Pacific islands were one of the first areas to be evangelized by LDS Church missionaries after Europe and North America, notably Hawaii, which was annexed by the United States in 1898. The LDS Church began sending missionaries to the region in 1844,{{refn|name=Missionaries}} and 75 years later the Laie Hawaii Temple became the first LDS temple outside the continental United States in 1919.{{cite journal |last= Webb |first= T. D. |title= Profit and Prophecy: The Polynesian Cultural Center and La'ie's Recurrent Colonialism |journal= The Hawaiian Journal of History |volume= 27 |publisher=Hawaiian Historical Society |location= Honolulu, Hawaii |year= 1993 |url= http://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/handle/10524/617/JL27133.pdf |issn= 0440-5145 }}{{rp|pp=133–134}} In 1955, the church partially lifted some of its temple and priesthood racial restrictions and began allowing Melanesian women and men access to all temple ceremonies (called ordinances), and Melanesian men and boys to be ordained to the priesthood.{{cite book |title=All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage |first=Armand L. |last=Mauss |page=218 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-252-02803-1}}{{cite book|last1=Prince|first1=Gregory A.|last2=Wright|first2=William Robert|title=David O. McKay and the rise of modern Mormonism|date=2005|publisher=University of Utah Press|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|isbn=0-87480-822-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3UBXLIkLEQwC|via=Google Books}}{{rp|p=81}} The church allowed Pacific Islanders to hold the priesthood, and president of the church David O. McKay stated that native Fijians and Australian Aboriginals could also be ordained to the priesthood.{{rp|p=80–81}} Later that year the Church College of Hawaii was established, which would later become BYU–Hawaii.{{cite book |last1=Pratte |first1=Alf |last2=Shumway |first2=Eric B. |title=BYU-Hawaii: Prophetic Destiny, the First 60 Years |date=2015 |publisher=Brigham Young University-Hawaii |location=Laie, Hawaii |isbn=9780842529679 |pages=137–138}}

Hagoth

{{see also|Mormon teachings on skin color#Teachings on Pacific Islanders' skin color|Mormon folklore}}

In addition to the LDS Church's stories about people sailing to the New World, there is also the story of Hagoth ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|h|eɪ|.|g|ɑː|θ}}{{efn|IPA-ified from "hā´gäth"{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/scriptures/bofm/pronunciation?lang=eng |publisher=LDS Church|title=Book of Mormon Pronunciation Guide}}}}), a Nephite ship builder who according to The Book of Mormon lived in or around 55 BCE,{{lds|Alma|alma|63|5|8}} and whom some church publications have stated sailed from the Americas to Polynesia.{{refn|name=AcademicSources|{{rp|pp=91–97}}{{Cite journal |last=Douglas |first=Norman |date=June 1974 |title=The Sons of Lehi and the Seed of Cain: Racial Myths in Mormon Scripture and their Relevance to the Pacific Islands |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-9809.1974.tb00581.x |journal=Journal of Religious History |volume=8 |issue=1 |page=99 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-9809.1974.tb00581.x |issn=0022-4227}}{{cite book|last1=Parsons|first1=Robert E|title=The Book of Mormon: Alma, the Testimony of the Word |editor1-first=Monte S.|editor1-last=Nyman|editor2-first=Charles D. Jr.|editor2-last=Tate|chapter=Hagoth and the Polynesians|chapter-url=http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/book-mormon-alma-testimony-word/15-hagoth-and-polynesians-0|publisher=Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University}}}}{{efn|name=More|More examples of articles stating the Hagoth link between the peoples of the Pacific Islands and the purported peoples of The Book of Mormon are here:

Press release:{{cite press release|title=Latter-day prophets have indicated that Pacific Islanders are descendants of Lehi|url=http://www.ldschurchnewsarchive.com/articles/18187/Latter-day-prophets-have-indicated-that-Pacific-Islanders-are-descendants-of-Lehi.html|publisher=LDS Church|date=July 9, 1988}}
Student manuals:{{cite book|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/32506_eng.pdf?lang=eng|date=2009|publisher=LDS Church|title=Book of Mormon Student Manual: Religion 121–122|page=261}}{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/bookofmormonstud0000vari_v8t1/page/143/mode/1up?view=theater |title=Book of Mormon Student Study Guide |publisher=LDS Church|date=2000|via=Internet Archive|url-access=registration|page=143}}
Magazines:{{cite magazine|author-link=R. Lanier Britsch|magazine=New Era|publisher=LDS Church|quote=Since the days of George Q. Cannon in Hawaii (1851–54), the Church leaders had more and more frequently alluded to the idea that the Polynesians were descendants of Lehi, the early Book Of Mormon prophet. Although the relationship between the Polynesian peoples and the alleged “adventurer” Hagoth (see Alma 63:5–8) is not clear—he being a Nephite and the Polynesians appearing to be Lamanites—Church leaders have time and time again referred to the Polynesians as children of Lehi.|first=R. Lanier |last=Britsch|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1981/06/maori-traditions-and-the-mormon-church?lang=eng|title=Maori Traditions and the Mormon Church|date=June 1981}}{{cite magazine| first=Kathleen C. |last=Perrin|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/1994/06/tahitian-pearls?lang=eng|title=Tahitian Pearls|magazine=Liahona|publisher=LDS Church|date=June 1994}}}} Leaders of the LDS Church and LDS scholars have stated that the peoples of the Pacific Islands, including Hawaii, Polynesia, and New Zealand, are descendants of the Nephite Hagoth and his supposed followers,{{refn|name=AcademicSources}}{{efn|name=More}} and this accounts for their darker skin.{{refn|name=Skin|{{Cite journal |last=Murphy |first=Thomas W. |date=1999 |title=From Racist Stereotype to Ethnic Identity: Instrumental Uses of Mormon Racial Doctrine |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/483199 |journal=Ethnohistory |publisher=Duke University Press |location=Durham, North Carolina |volume=46 |issue=3 |jstor=483199 |page=457, 463, 472 |issn=0014-1801|url-access=limited}}{{Cite news |last=Dart |first=John |date=1979-02-10 |title='Curse' Idea Upsets Some Indian Mormons But Many Are Converted Despite Dark-Skin Teachings |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-spencer-w-kimball/20711676/ |work=The Los Angeles Times |page=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite journal |last1=Stuart |first1=Joseph R. |location=Cambridge, England|publisher=Cambridge University Press|title='A More Powerful Effect upon the Body': Early Mormonism's Theory of Racial Redemption and American Religious Theories of Race |url-access=subscription|journal=Church History |date=Sep 2018 |volume=87 |issue=3 |page=794 |doi=10.1017/S0009640718001580 |s2cid=165766064 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/more-powerful-effect-upon-the-body-early-mormonisms-theory-of-racial-redemption-and-american-religious-theories-of-race/6B910C6575F406655F36313AB5815270 |quote=However, Mormons would continue to proselytize among 'black-skinned' Pacific Islanders, East Indians, and South Americans because of their supposed Israelite blood.}}{{Cite journal |last=Simon |first=Hemopereki Hōani |date=2023-04-03 |title=A Kaupapa Māori Intervention on Apology for LDS Church's Racism, Zombie Concepts, and Moving Forward |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00664677.2023.2244184 |journal=Anthropological Forum |publisher=Taylor & Francis|volume=33 |issue=2 |doi=10.1080/00664677.2023.2244184 |issn=0066-4677|doi-access=free }}{{rp|128–129}}}} Many members of the LDS Church in Polynesia have come to believe that Hagoth is their ancestor.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/2000/12/a-worldwide-look-at-the-book-of-mormon?lang=eng |title=A Worldwide Look at the Book of Mormon |magazine=Liahona |date=December 2000|publisher=LDS Church}}{{cite magazine|first=Kathleen C. |last=Perrin |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/liahona/1994/06/tahitian-pearls?lang=eng |title=Tahitian Pearls |magazine=Liahona |date=June 1994|publisher=LDS Church}} Modern genetic testing has not established any connection between Pacific Islanders and purported peoples of The Book of Mormon.{{Cite journal |last=Simon |first=Hemopereki Hōani |title=Mormonism and The White Possessive: Moving Critical Indigenous Studies Theory into The Religious Realm |url=https://www.jcrt.org/archives/21.3/Simon.pdf |journal=Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=360 |date=Fall 2022}}{{rp|358–359}}

Folklore

File:TawhiaoNLA.jpg]]

Some of the folklore that exists in the relationship of the LDS Church and Pacific Islanders include:

Polynesian leader Tāwhiao accurately predicted the site of the 1958 Hamilton New Zealand Temple before his death in 1894;{{rp|125}}
Māori prophets or chieftains, including Paora Te Potangaroa and Tāwhiao, predicted the coming of Latter-day Saint missionaries to New Zealand;{{refn|{{cite magazine|author-link=Matthew Cowley|first=Matthew |last=Cowley |title=Maori Chief Predicts Coming of L.D.S. Missionaries |magazine=Improvement Era |url=https://archive.org/details/improvementera5309unse/page/696/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive |volume=53 |issue=9 |pages=696–698, 754–756 |date=September 1950}}{{cite book|author-link=Matthew Cowley|first=Matthew |last=Cowley |date=1954 |editor-first=Glen L. |editor-last=Rudd|title=Matthew Cowley Speaks: Discourses of Elder Matthew Cowley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|publisher= Deseret Book|pages=200–205}}{{rp|107–126}}{{cite magazine|author-link=R. Lanier Britsch |first=R. Lanier |last=Britsch |magazine=New Era |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/1981/06/maori-traditions-and-the-mormon-church?lang=eng |title=Maori Traditions and the Mormon Church |date=June 1981}}}}
During the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese aircraft pilots attempted to bomb or strafe the church's Laie Hawaii Temple, but were prevented due to a mechanical failures or unseen protective force.{{cite book|editor-link=Grant Underwood|editor-last=Underwood|editor-first=Grand| date=2000 |url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/voyages-of-faith-explorations-in-mormon-pacific-history/ |title=Voyages of Faith: Explorations in Mormon Pacific History|location=Provo, Utah|publisher=Brigham Young University Press|isbn=0-8425-2480-0}}{{rp|166}} An LDS-source stated that the Japanese pilot who attempted to bomb or strafe the Laie Hawaii Temple was converted to the LDS Church after he saw a picture of the temple in the possession of Latter-day Saint missionaries in Japan.{{rp|168}}

Temples

{{main|List of temples of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

The Oceania region has a number of church temples due to the numbers of members in many countries there. There are also temples in the Philippines and Australia.{{cite news|newspaper=Deseret News|date=24 November 2023|title=A complete list of Latter-day Saint temples in operation or under renovation|url=https://www.deseret.com/2023/3/31/23577862/list-of-lds-temples-church-of-jesus-christ-operating-under-renovation/}}

{{LDS Temple geographic header

| region = Country

| temples = 8

| map = {{List LDS Temple Oceania Map|width=150}}

}}

{{LDS Temple/Suva Fiji Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Papeete Tahiti Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Kona Hawaii Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Laie Hawaii Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Hamilton New Zealand Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Apia Samoa Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Apia Samoa Temple (original) | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

{{LDS Temple/Nuku'alofa Tonga Temple | format = LDS Temple geographic }}

Demographics

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Book of Mormon translations

File:Oceanic languages.svg. Orange is the Admiralties languages and Yapese, yellow-orange is St. Matthias, green is Western Oceanic, violet is Temotu, and the rest are Central-Eastern: dark red Southeast Solomons, blue Southern Oceanic, pink Micronesian, and ocher Fijian-Polynesian.]]

1855: Hawaiian language translation of the Book of Mormon, which was the first translation of the Book of Mormon to be published in a non-European language.{{cite magazine |first= Kai A. |last= Anderson |url= http://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/liahona/1997/06/in-his-own-language |title= In His Own Language |magazine= Liahona|publisher=LDS Church |date=June 1997 |page= 29}}
1889: Māori edition.
1903: Samoan edition.
1904: Tahitian edition.
1946: Tongan edition.
1965: Rarotongan edition.
1980: Fijian edition.
1981: Niuean edition (selections)
1987: Pohnpeian, Micronesian languages (selections).
1988: Palauan edition.
1989: Chamorro edition.
2001: Gilbertese (Kiribati) edition.{{cite encyclopedia|contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php?title=Oceania,_the_Church_in |contribution=Oceania, the Church in |last=Britsch|first=R. Lanier |editor-last=Ludlow |editor-first=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location=New York |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |year= 2005 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |title-link=Encyclopedia of Mormonism|via=Brigham Young University}}
2002: Tok Pisin edition.
2003: Marshallese edition.
2004: Bislama edition.
2004: Yapese edition.
2015: Kosraean edition, Micronesian languages.{{cn|date=November 2024}}
2015: Chuukese/Trukese edition, Micronesian languages.{{cn|date=November 2024}}