Curse and mark of Cain
[1] The word translated as "mark" in Genesis 4:15 is א֔וֹת ('ōṯ), which could mean a sign, omen, warning, remembrance, motion, gesture, agreement, miracle, wonder, or, most commonly, a letter.
Modern interpretations of the Hebrew verse 12 suggest that Cain went on to live a nomadic lifestyle and that he was also excluded from the family unit.
[6] In the Septuagint, the emphasis on Cain's curse is dramatically increased by the combination of the Greek participles στένων καὶ τρέμων (stenōn kai tremōn, "groaning and shaking upon the earth").
[7] Syriac Christianity[8] interprets the Greek version to mean that Cain experienced a real physical affliction[9] that would enable others to know who he was when they saw him.
The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Targums translate the same verse to mean that Cain feared being "an exile and an unstable man".
Some commentators, such as Rabbi Michael Berg in his English commentary on the Zohar, suggest that the mark of Cain was the letter vav (ו).
[18] According to author Ruth Mellinkoff, commentators' interpretations of the nature of the "mark" depended on their views regarding the status of Cain, as either being given additional time to repent or as being further shamed.
[19] At some point after the start of the slave trade in the United States, many[citation needed] Protestant denominations began teaching the belief that the mark of Cain was a dark skin tone in an attempt to justify their actions, although early descriptions of Romani as "descendants of Cain" written by Franciscan friar Symon Semeonis suggest that this belief had existed for some time.
[20] The split between the Northern and Southern Baptist organizations arose over doctrinal issues pertaining to slavery and the education of slaves.
[21] Southern Baptists either taught or practiced various forms of racial segregation well into the mid-20th century, though members of all races were accepted at worship services.
[23] The curse of Cain was used to support a ban on ordaining Black people to most Protestant clergies until the 1960s in both the United States and Europe.
One exception was that certain Catholic dioceses in the Southern United States independently adopted a policy of not permitting Black people to oversee, administer sacraments to, nor accept confessions from White parishioners.
[citation needed] The justification for this policy was not excused by the espousal of a "curse of Cain" doctrine, instead, it was justified by the widely held perception among southern clergy and congregations that it would offend too many White parishioners if slaves or their descendants had any authority over White people – the race of their former masters and still their presumptive superiors.
[28] Brigham Young both taught that Black people were cursed descendants of Cain, and used it to justify slavery.
You will see it on the countenance of every African you ever did see...."[27]: 42 [33] As related by Abraham O. Smoot after his death, apostle David W. Patten said he encountered a Black man in Paris, Tennessee, who said that he was Cain.
The account states that Cain had earnestly sought death but was denied it, and that his mission was to destroy the souls of men.
After the death of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young (the second President of the Church) accepted the idea that people of African ancestry were generally under the curse of Cain, and in 1852, he stated that people of Black African descent were not eligible to hold the church's priesthood.
[42][43] Although the church had previously been criticized for its policy during the civil rights movement, the change seems to have been prompted by problems facing mixed-race converts in Brazil.
