Eldridge Cleaver's Spiritual Odyssey and Embrace of Mormonism

Eldridge Cleaver, one-time Black Panther, author of the critically acclaimed best-selling memoir Soul on Ice, and notorious fugitive from justice, was the most famous African American to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints immediately following the 1978 Black Revelation.1 Cleaver's baptism took place in December 1983, some three years after his initial contact with the Church. He remained a member of record up to the time of his death on May 1, 1998.2Cleaver's involvement with Mormonism has received minimal attention in three recent biographies. Kathleen Rout's Eldridge Cleaver dismisses the one-time Black Panther's conversion to Mormonism as simply “a complete rejection of a positive black identity.”3 Justin Gifford, through the pages of Revolution or Death: The Life of Eldridge Cleaver, likewise downplays Cleaver's so-called “dabbling in Mormonism” although concedes that his conversion “shocked the world.”4 Finally, Target Zero: Eldridge Cleaver a Life in Writing, edited by Cleaver's one-time wife, Kathleen, makes no mention whatsoever of his Mormon interlude.5This article seeks to redress such omissions and misperceptions, arguing that Cleaver's involvement with the Church represents an important phase in the one-time Black militant's lifelong odyssey as a religious seeker. Much of this story is drawn from an unpublished autobiography Cleaver penned in the wake of his contact with Mormonism and from interviews conducted with Latter-day Saints who knew and interacted with the former Black Panther.6Born in 1935 in Wabasika, Arkansas, LeRoy Eldridge Cleaver was brought up Baptist by his devoutly religious mother. As an adolescent, he converted to Catholicism. Following that he became a militant Black Muslim during his lengthy twelve years of incarceration in a series of California prisons. After his 1975 return to the United States, following a six-year exile abroad, Cleaver proclaimed himself a born-again Christian, involving himself in a number of different Christian groups and causes. He also tried, with limited success, to establish his own Eldridge Cleaver Crusades and later his own congregation, the Third Cross of the Holy Ghost. He attempted to create his own religion, Christlam—a hybrid body of beliefs drawn from Christianity and Islam.7 Cleaver subsequently involved himself with Rev. Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church through his support of Project Volunteer.8 In sum, as Cleaver himself recalled: “I like to study religion. . . . I have been a Moonie, a Black Muslim, a Catholic, a Baptist, a Jehovah's Witness, a Seventh-day Adventist. . . . I guess that's all.”9Cleaver's initial interest in Mormonism came in the late 1970s.10 His wife, Kathleen, having attended a Bible study class in which her group had been studying the book of Hebrews, asked her husband “about Melchizedek, a man without a father, without mother, neither beginning of days or end of life, made like unto the Son of God abiding in the priesthood continually.” Kathleen's query prompted Eldridge to read the whole book of Hebrews noting that “somehow, I knew this was something very important. I also felt there was something special about [Kathleen] bringing this to my attention,” adding “there was a spiritual quality about this experience.” Eldridge asked his own Bible teacher “what he knew about Melchizedek,” who responded by becoming “very upset” and “very quickly changed the subject.” In response, Cleaver “started bugging everybody,” asking, ‘What about Melchizedek?’” “Whenever, I asked about Melchizedek” while traveling about speaking at various “churches and theological seminaries the response was negative. I couldn't figure out what was going on.”11Ultimately, Cleaver came across a book on communal architecture, containing a drawing of the interior of Kirtland Temple, “showing two podiums, one for the Aaronic Priesthood and one for the Melchizedek Priesthood.” “‘What is this?’ I said, out loud. The Mormons know something about Melchizedek.” This prompted Cleaver to learn more. He initially contemplated attending a church service at an LDS ward house near his home in Menlo Park, but he held back. As he later recalled, “I had heard many things about the Mormons. Like how they didn't want black people in their church. I was afraid they might not let me in, and I would . . . get my feelings hurt.”12 All of this occurred in 1980.In September 1980, Cleaver encountered Carl Loeber, a former associate from his days as a radical activist, who had recently joined the LDS Church. Loeber had served as Cleaver's campaign manager during his 1968 campaign for president on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket.13 As Cleaver jokingly recalled: “I didn't recognize him because he was so clean shaven, he had a short, neat haircut, and was wearing a suit. The last time I saw him he was so greasy; you'd need ice prongs to grab a hold of him.” Loeber, in describing his involvement with the Church, declared that he had held the Melchizedek Priesthood “for about ten years.” Immediately, Cleaver “started asking all kinds of questions about Melchizedek,” prompting Loeber to reply, simply, “I know some young men who can answer all your questions.”14Thus began the three-year process leading to Cleaver's ultimate baptism into the Church. Initially, Cleaver met with the stake missionaries in the home of Dennis and Sonja Peterson in Cupertino. At the time, Peterson was bishop of the San Jose Sixth Ward and later president of the San Jose Stake. His wife, Sonja, was the niece of future LDS Church President Ezra Taft Benson. Cleaver's interest in Mormonism caught the immediate attention of high LDS Church officials, specifically President Benson himself, who inquired directly with the Petersons concerning the extent of Cleaver's interest in the Church.15Cleaver met privately with Paul H. Dunn, a member of the First Council of the Seventy and regional administrator for California. Dunn, like Benson, carefully assessed the former Black Panther's desire to join the Church. But as Cleaver recalled, Dunn “would not allow me to get baptized” despite an immediate desire to join. The reason was because “I was still on probation. [Dunn] felt I should clear up my differences with the law before joining the Church.”16Through Carl Loeber, Cleaver met another prominent Latter-day Saint, W. Cleon Skousen, with whom he developed a close relationship. Skousen, a Brigham Young University (BYU) professor of religion, was the founder/president of the Freeman Institute—a conservative, anticommunist political education organization.17 The two initially met at a “Know Your Religion” event at which Skousen was the featured speaker. As Cleaver recalled, “I was overwhelmed with the words of Dr. Skousen. From my own political background, and my experiences in the communist countries, I knew he was telling the truth. I was relieved to hear so much sound thinking from an anti-communist.” Taking note of Skousen's central argument that the LDS Church stood as a bulwark against communism, Cleaver further praised what he had to say: “Hearing him speak about the Gospel and politics at the same time really made sense to me. I believe the world could not be saved without the Gospel, but it was communism, a political force, that was fighting God and the spreading of the Gospel more than any other single force.” Cleaver then concluded, characterizing Skousen, “a fanatic, just like me, fighting for the gospel, while struggling for freedom and America.”18 Skousen, taking note of Cleaver's like-minded beliefs and rhetorical skills, signed him on as a regular speaker for the Freeman Institute. All of this, in turn, further facilitated Cleaver's desire to become a Latter-day Saint.Meanwhile, Cleaver continued to meet and interact with Dennis and Sonja Peterson, developing a close congenial relationship, ultimately becoming good friends. As Cleaver recalled, Peterson, a biology professor at De Anza Community College, “had a beautiful way of sharing the gospel. . . . I was very impressed to hear the gospel taught by a man who was also a scientist.”19 Cleaver, along with Kathleen and their two young children, son Maceo and daughter Joju, became frequent guests in the Peterson home, invited to dinners and interacting socially, with their young children becoming playmates. Sonja Peterson fondly recalls Eldridge as “light, kind, and soft-spoken,” further characterizing both Eldridge and Kathleen as “impressive both in demeanor and intellect.” Eldridge was “extremely proud” of his children as well as his wife, Sonja further recalled. But at the same time, Kathleen, in contrast to her husband, “never indicated any interest, whatsoever, in the Church.”20Kathleen, in fact, left Eldridge in September 1981, accompanied by their two children, moving to New Haven, Connecticut, to attend Yale University on a scholarship. Eldridge was unable to accompany them, given the terms of his probation, and thus extremely reluctant to see them leave. Although the couple put a good face on their separation, the marriage had been turbulent, allegedly marred by infidelity and abusive behavior on the part of Eldridge.21 Kathleen recalled “the tremendous strains” on their marriage during this period, adding, “We grew distant from each other, no longer sharing the same aspirations and beliefs.” Being without his wife and children proved extremely difficult for Eldridge, given that “he adored his children and his awareness of life's spiritual dimension was stimulated as he watched them grow up.”22 Eldridge repeatedly tried to renew Kathleen's interest in the Church during his visits to New Haven, “possibly delaying his baptism in the hopes that she would have a change of heart.”23Following Kathleen's departure, Eldridge, finding himself without a place to live, took up temporary residence with Lee Senior, a mutual friend of both Cleaver and Carl Loeber. Like Loeber, Senior was an active, practicing Latter-day Saint. Senior provided Cleaver short-term employment as a tree trimmer with his Blue Ox Tree Company. At the same time, Lee, along with his brother John, acting as informal missionaries, further instructed Cleaver on Mormon doctrine and practice.24Concurrently, Cleaver “started going to church all the time,” initially attending with Carl Loeber at the San Jose Sixth Ward in Cupertino. Ultimately, he began attending on his own. However, he confessed to being uncomfortable and feeling “very strange” within the congregation “seeing nothing but white people.” But he said, “Still I felt good being there, that there, given that there was a purpose for me being there.”25Given this situation, Cleaver expressed a desire “to talk to some black” Latter-day Saints. Accordingly, local Church officials arranged for Cleaver to meet some black missionaries. One was Danny Frazier, a one-time linebacker for the BYU football team. Cleaver characterized Frazier as “as a shining jewel of a young man” who related to Cleaver how he became a missionary. Frazier explained how he had been so hung up on football that he didn't think he would have become a missionary. However, “he broke his neck while playing for the university, which he proclaimed “a blessing in disguise” declaring himself “really happy to be on a mission.” Frazier went on to bear his testimony, which Cleaver claimed “relaxed me on the whole question of whether or not blacks belonged in the Mormon Church.” Cleaver also met with a second black missionary, Alan Cherry, who likewise “shared a very powerful testimony.”26Cleaver's commitment to the Church was further strengthened by his close association with Skousen. Cleaver's initial speech for the Freeman Institute was in January 1981 to the Century Club on the campus of BYU, attended by an audience of more than nine hundred. Subsequently Cleaver, with Skousen's enthusiastic backing, spoke at some twenty-five to thirty events throughout the western United States and into Canada.27 Cleaver was reportedly paid some $500 for each lecture he delivered.28Cleaver and Skousen became extremely close, despite their contrasting backgrounds and experiences. Skousen was a one-time Federal Bureau of Investigation agent and former Salt Lake City police chief prior to his founding the Freedom Institute. He had, black priesthood prior to of religious . . . the them differences the and anticommunist visits to Skousen provided Cleaver and other of the Freeman Cleaver's speaking In the the two developed a close relationship. characterized Cleaver “a whom she very At the same time, she expressed about Eldridge and Kathleen's marriage was still at this noting that a adding that Kathleen “had her own Cleaver a close association with Sun Myung and his Unification Church, at and throughout the United States the of the for the of Unification officials characterized Cleaver as an and further noting that “a of Cleaver that his with them has been a positive but any of becoming a he characterized himself a in the of the Cleaver was reportedly paid for each speech he on of in 1981, Cleaver made clear his to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day which attention in and throughout the Cleaver himself, asked about his a “I very enthusiastic about what I . . . my spiritual in the years has me to this another he that becoming a Mormon would be the of a “for to . . . I just at home in the He further to a that he was drawn to the by “the that Latter-day Saints and “the on close to a Cleaver claimed he had his spiritual home a different in different and the Latter-day Saints that I and at home three years later on December 1983, Cleaver was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the by his good Carl Loeber. He was then by Dennis Peterson, likewise a close friend and Cleaver's former The service was of people many of Cleaver's LDS from the San Jose At the same time, of the First to which Cleaver belonged following his from San Jose to that the had “a high in the sense of in this He carefully time how well he is in the Church, but I think the of this ward Eldridge just as they would any other that same on December Cleaver a in the Aaronic In January Cleaver an group of Latter-day at a in his spiritual odyssey in becoming a Latter-day Saint, with a powerful as to the of the Cleaver's involvement in the Church and by the late although he remained a member of to Cleaver the First Ward and was more an than an Cleaver's frequent to his as a speaker with the Freeman Institute and involvement in local continued to following his from to in ward recalls Cleaver's adding that much to further noting that he was not one to with ward Cleaver's involvement with the ward had to a complete by the time as Cleaver's at LDS Church with Church officials directly as to Cleaver's In one last at Cleaver was to attend the black As recalled by President himself an African Cleaver attended a couple of although he in a Black by the question what prompted Cleaver's from Church given his prior to important the of Cleaver's and ultimate from Eldridge was left with her she took their two young difficult was of his son and Eldridge had been a His fondly recalled: and I had a throughout his with the was Kathleen's to become a Latter-day Saint, despite to get her to up to the time of their in to Cleaver's into was his change of moving from San Jose to to In the he left a close of Latter-day Saints with whom he had interacted during the three years prior to his The most important of Carl Loeber and Lee Senior, along with Dennis and Sonja Peterson, all of with whom he developed close he was unable to a of with any of his in the his he stood out as a African American in both given that the of the with a and with a of African attended the two Sonja Peterson that Cleaver “would have been much he could have out of the W. Cleon Skousen to Cleaver to from the to Salt Lake thus him to both the Church and the of the Freeman Institute. Skousen was ultimately to Cleaver as a Freeman Institute given his to up at events at which he was to Skousen later Cleaver his in the wake of his both and drawing Cleaver from the Church was his involvement in local and In Cleaver his for a in the of as an in to the most of who the and In his own as a and Cleaver as “a in the of the . . . a world But the the two African in with Cleaver's as he to for a on the City Cleaver as an the and that not given as a of Cleaver last in a of Cleaver made one last for political In he the for a In what was a Cleaver to the with his characterizing himself as “a with a record Black In the Cleaver short, in a of twelve all three Cleaver any to his LDS Church following his for a in the of he his two campaign both Latter-day of some in campaign further that neither the the LDS Church the men for their in turn, further facilitated his from the the wake of his in the political Cleaver became more and in his behavior and in turn, him further from the Church. behavior in part from the that he continued to He of a series of and that he continued to during this period, He also made and and and and and that he had the such limited Cleaver a He to in the San and San he claimed a of had been years He claimed that he a the and to the San of to to a for the himself he to the of the on that he be to local officials his was no to he had a the his an that the to his as and Cleaver his as “a against the that has been into and being by He further that the to and world while men from what he “the His he would like his at a in the proved a response to his series of and Cleaver in specifically which was and other across the United States in the Cleaver's a further in his In and in he was on involving of in Cleaver was and in a He was and on the with a by police and the of he was initially But the extent of his Cleaver to a local he of for the and Following he went through a lengthy of Cleaver during this with whom he met through a mutual The two an relationship, with becoming But that their of the with whom they her to have an But the couple this “We the and son was I didn't see about I just saw him as their son and despite being with Eldridge him the couple an through their of who provided Eldridge “a of throughout the of his from involvement in the LDS Church he was concerning his own beliefs and about Mormonism in As Carl Loeber, his close friend and Latter-day commitment to the Church was and in that he to be a Mormon but not want to the commitment to to Church on a regular In a with Cleaver characterized himself as a further that the Church had to the gospel a very positive for for and so but carefully adding “the that Black people not was to years he confessed to a Salt Lake that while he was longer in the Church, he remained a further “I impressed with the of the Church and the of the Church. a very good of taking of their people I they would allow to have a more Cleaver made no to his involvement in the Church in a series of to a question about the of in his own life, he it a given that is to and one and to of all of and in a conducted by of the Cleaver made no mention of his Mormon simply characterizing his religious more to and to an in Cleaver, is my in describing his association with the for Christian in at the service held at the United Church following Cleaver's death on May 1, no mention was made of Cleaver's Although he had been “the during his Black he was as “a His at the in was with the the question what is to be made of Eldridge Cleaver's with have the of Cleaver's a and former Black Panther, Cleaver “a could have himself so that he . . . that a of Cleaver's conversion from a different that Cleaver's most was characterizing him as an who “the to himself more than carefully adding that he was not in this people a series of events in their that can be Cleaver's through Mormonism an study into the of religious Mormon has that Cleaver's involvement with the Church represents a for that him throughout his and that Cleaver's in and not but by many His of following his involvement with represents what Kathleen has characterized as Cleaver's return “to the he had felt more and further that Cleaver was a spiritual and rhetorical being who remained to his to create his as a spiritual through a series of religious religious that Cleaver “never because he to be in the having interest in and was to be about the of his feeling for the for joining the Church of Jesus Latter-day the story of Eldridge Cleaver's with Mormonism of author to the following for their Justin Gifford, professor of at University of for a of Eldridge Cleaver's unpublished autobiography and for and an of this and a professor of at an and professor of the

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