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Mark E. Petersen

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American religious leader (1900–1984)
Mark E. Petersen
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 20, 1944 (1944-04-20) – January 11, 1984 (1984-01-11)
LDS Church Apostle
April 20, 1944 (1944-04-20) – January 11, 1984 (1984-01-11)
ReasonExcommunication of Richard R. Lyman
Reorganization
at end of term		Russell M. Nelson and Dallin H. Oaks were ordained after the deaths of Petersen and LeGrand Richards
Personal details
BornMark Edward Petersen
(1900-11-07)November 7, 1900
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
DiedJanuary 11, 1984(1984-01-11) (aged 83)
Murray, Utah, United States
Resting placeSalt Lake City Cemetery
40°46′37.92″N 111°51′28.8″W / 40.7772000°N 111.858000°W / 40.7772000; -111.858000
Spouse(s)Emma Marr McDonald
Children2 daughters
Biography portal   LDS movement portal

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.

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. 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. He served as president of the West European Mission 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.

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". 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. 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. 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.

Death

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

  • Grave marker of Mark E. Petersen Grave marker of Mark E. Petersen
  • Grave markers of Mark E. Petersen and Emma Marr Petersen Grave markers of Mark E. Petersen and Emma Marr Petersen

Publications

This section may be too long and excessively detailed. Please consider summarizing the material. (March 2022)

References

  1. ^ "Tabernacle Funeral Services Planned For LDS Church Elder Mark Petersen". The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1984-01-13. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-03-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. Monson, Thomas S. (March 1984). "In Memoriam:By His Words—Elder Mark E. Petersen - new-era". New Era. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  3. "Mark E. Petersen Named Visiting Authority". Washington County News. Saint George, Utah. 1962-02-01. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-17 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. Press, A. (13 Jan 1984). "Mark Petersen, One of Mormons' Apostles Council". Boston Globe. ProQuest 294232213. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
  5. ^ "This week in Church History". Church News. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News. 3 January 2009. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  6. O'Donovan, Rocky (1994). Multiply and Replenish: Mormon Essays on Sex and Family. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. p. 147. ISBN 1-56085-050-7. Retrieved 27 November 2016.
  7. Kimball, Edward L.; Kimball, Andrew E. (1977). Spencer W. Kimball: Twelfth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft. p. 381. ISBN 9780884943303.
  8. Petersen, Elder Mark E. (27 August 1954). "Race Problems— As They Affect The Church". archive.org. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  9. Tanner, Jerald and Sandra (2004). "Appendix B: Race Problems—As They Affect The Church". Curse of Cain?: Racism in the Mormon Church. Utah Lighthouse Ministry.
  10. McNamara, Mary Lou (24 January 2001). Contemporary Mormonism: Social Science Perspectives (Reprint ed.). Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press. p. 318. ISBN 0252069595. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  11. Bush, Lester E. Jr.; Mauss, Armand L., eds. (1984). "Appendix: Authoritative Statements on the Status of Blacks". Neither White nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church. Midvale, Utah: Signature Books. ISBN 0-941214-22-2.
  12. Embry, Jessie L. (1994). "Chapter 3: Impact of the LDS "Negro Policy"". Black Saints in a White Church: Contemporary African American Mormons. Signature Books. pp. 40–41. ISBN 1560850442. 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') {{cite book}}: External link in |quote= (help)
  13. Driggs, Ken (2001). "'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. 43 (1): 49–80. doi:10.1093/jcs/43.1.49. JSTOR 23920013.
  14. "LDS Apostle Mark Petersen Dies of Cancer". The Daily Herald. Provo, Utah. 1984-01-12. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-03-18 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. "Religious Leaders Euglogize Elder Mark E. Peterson". The Salt Lake Tribune. Salt Lake City, Utah. 1984-01-13. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-03-18 – via Newspapers.com.

Further reading

External links

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints titles
Preceded byEzra Taft Benson Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
April 20, 1944 – January 11, 1984 		Succeeded byMatthew Cowley
Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Notes
  1. ^ Never a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
  2. ^ Term ended by excommunication.
  3. Term ended by resignation.
  4. Term ended by removal of apostleship; was later excommunicated.
  5. Term ended by suspension of priesthood.
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