"So Ham's wife that was preserved on the Ark was a Negro of the seed of Cain and there was a priestly purpose in it, that the Devil would have a representation as well as God"

Warren Jeffs’ statement proposes that among the individuals saved on Noah’s Ark, Ham’s wife was of African descent, specifically labeled as “Negro,” and, further, associated her lineage with the biblical figure Cain. Within longstanding interpretations in some branches of Mormon theology and among several fundamentalist sects, the descendants of Cain have been mythologized as inheriting a “curse,” often infamously and harmfully associated with Black skin. Jeffs recycles and perpetuates that racially charged doctrine, positing that the presence of Black people on the Ark was not accidental but part of a divine design to preserve Cain’s lineage through the Flood.

He further claims there was a “priestly purpose” to this arrangement, attributing a metaphysical motive: just as God would have a chosen lineage or representation on earth, so would the Devil. In this construction, non-white lineages, particularly Black people, were preserved to serve as a line through which “the Devil” could be represented among humanity, setting up a dualistic cosmic framework where whiteness is associated with God and Blackness with the adversary.

Such a reading served historically to rationalize both racist hierarchies and social exclusion within religious movements that adopted these doctrines. By inscribing racial difference into divine history, adherents were able to justify segregation, slavery, or denial of priesthood rights, arguing that such social divisions were decreed or foreordained. Importantly, mainstream Mormonism has officially renounced such teachings, though they persist in some isolated fundamentalist communities. Jeffs’ words reflect the endurance of old justifications for racism beneath appeals to divine authority, codifying prejudice into religious belief and increasing the challenge of reforming these attitudes. His statement exemplifies how religious texts and mythologies can be appropriated to legitimize existing social hierarchies and prejudice under the guise of spiritual or cosmic necessity.