Thirty-five years after lifting a ban on blacks entering the priesthood, the Mormon church has offered an explanation for a practice that was in place for more than 100 years, saying it was rooted in the racism of the times.A church-produced essay, "Race and the Priesthood," ties the ban to an 1852 speech by Brigham Young, the faith's second president, who led the church to Utah, and distances the modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from the policy.
"The justifications for res
