The Church Has No Official Position on Evolution - New Era

The Church's October 2016 issue of the New Era magazine says the following about evolution:

The Church has no official position on the theory of evolution. Organic evolution, or changes to species’ inherited traits over time, is a matter for scientific study. Nothing has been revealed concerning evolution. Though the details of what happened on earth before Adam and Eve, including how their bodies were created, have not been revealed, our teachings regarding man’s origin are clear and come from revelation.

Before we were born on earth, we were spirit children of heavenly parents, with bodies in their image. God directed the creation of Adam and Eve and placed their spirits in their bodies. We are all descendants of Adam and Eve, our first parents, who were created in God’s image. There were no spirit children of Heavenly Father on the earth before Adam and Eve were created. In addition, “for a time they lived alone in a paradisiacal setting where there was neither human death nor future family.” They fell from that state, and this Fall was an essential part of Heavenly Father’s plan for us to become like Him.

This statement is historic. Although David O. McKay privately indicated that the Church had no position on evolution, I don't recall an explicit 'no position' statement ever appearing in official Church publications. The statement also references the Evolution entry of the Encyclopedia of Mormonism, which contains the following counsel given by Heber J. Grant in 1931:

Upon the fundamental doctrines of the Church we are all agreed. Our mission is to bear the message of the restored gospel to the world. Leave geology, biology, archaeology, and anthropology, no one of which has to do with the salvation of the souls of mankind, to scientific research, while we magnify our calling in the realm of the Church….

The New Era statement seems to have adopted Grant's approach.

In case you are worried that the statement will settle arguments about the Church and evolution, be at peace. There will still be plenty to bicker and argue about. Some will see the second paragraph as a negation of the first. Others will argue about how both paragraphs can be true at the same time. And so forth.

Nevertheless, from my point of view this is a step forward and I am pleased to add it to the historical record.

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