In addition, most of the Lamanites did not sin against light, as did their Nephite kinsmen. The Nephites simply knew better, and the Lord would inflict a punishment upon them far more readily than upon those whose sins and disbelief resulted from ignorant tradition.
“For behold,” Nephi, son of Helaman, said, the Lamanites “are more righteous than you, for they have not sinned against that great knowledge which ye [the Nephites] have received: therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them: yea, he will lengthen out their days and increase their seed, even when thou shalt be utterly destroyed except thou shalt repent” (Helaman 7:24). It is the light of the soul and not the color of the skin by which one is judged.