guynoirprivateeye Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it was in the Church News, at the same time (1978) > that the prohibition was ended. I remem reading it > there. IDK who authored it, but someone will.
You might be thinking of the 17 June 1978 article "Interracial Marriage Discouraged" (Church News, page 4)? No author named for the short article itself, but it mainly consisted of quotes from Spencer W. Kimball spanning a couple decades:
27 June 1958 - "...there is one thing that I must mention, and that is the interracial marriages. When I said you must teach your young people to overcome their prejudices and accept the Indians, I did not mean that you would encourage intermarriage."
5 January 1965 - "Now, the brethren feel that it is not the wisest thing to cross racial lines in dating and marrying. There is no condemnation. We have had some of our fine young people who have crossed the lines. We hope they will be very happy, but experience of the brethren though a hundred years has proved to us that marriage is a very difficult thing under any circumstances and the difficulty increases in interracial marriages."
7 September 1976 - "We are grateful that this one survey reveals that about 90 percent of the temple marriages hold fast. Because of this, we recommend that people marry those who are of the same racial background generally, and of somewhat the same economic and social and educational background (some of those are not an absolute necessity, but preferred), and above all, the same religious background, without question."
The article itself had opened with this comment: "For a number of years, President Spencer W. Kimball has counseled young members of the Church to not cross racial lines in dating and marrying."
Boyd K. Packer makes the stance abundantly clear at a BYU-Hawaii devotional on January 14, 1977: “We've always counseled in the Church for our Mexican members to marry Mexicans, our Japanese members to marry Japanese, our Caucasians to marry Caucasians, our Polynesian members to marry Polynesians. The counsel has been wise. You may say again, "Well, I know of exceptions." I do, too, and they've been very successful marriages. I know some of them. You might even say, "I can show you local Church leaders or perhaps even general leaders who have married out of their race." I say, "Yes--exceptions." Then I would remind you of that Relief Society woman's near-scriptural statement, "We'd like to follow the rule first, and then we'll take care of the exceptions... You may not be the exception.... For every exception we can show you tens and hundreds, and I suppose thousands, who were not happy. Plan, young people, to marry into your own race. This counsel is good, and I hope our branch presidents are listening and paying attention. The counsel is good." (http://speeches.byu.edu/reader/reader.php?id=6172)
From a 17 July 1947 letter by George Albert Smith's First Presidency (including J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and David O. McKay) to Dr. Lowry Nelson:
"Furthermore, your ideas, as we understand them, appear to contemplate the intermarriage of the Negro and White races, a concept which has heretofore been most repugnant to most normal-minded people from the ancient patriarchs till now. God's rule for Israel, His Chosen People, has been endogamous. Modern Israel has been similarly directed. We are not unmindful of the fact that there is a growing tendency, particularly among some educators, as it manifests itself in this area, toward the breaking down of race barriers in the matter of intermarriage between whites and blacks, but it does not have the sanction of the Church and is contrary to Church doctrine."
From this and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. This is his objective and we must face it. Mark E. Petersen, 'Race Problems As They Affect The Church', August 27th, 1954
Here's a few from Apostle Mark E. Petersen--they are true jewels of Mormondom:
Now what is our policy in regard to intermarriage? As to the Negro, of course, there is only one possible answer. We must not intermarry with the Negro... Mark E. Petersen, 'Race Problems As They Affect The Church', August 27th, 1954
What is our advice with respect to intermarriage with Chinese, Japanese, Hawaiians and so on? I will tell you what advice I give personally. If a boy or girl comes to me claiming to be in love with a Chinese or Japanese or a Hawaiian or a person of any other dark race, I do my best to talk them out of it... I teach against inter‑marriage of all kinds. Mark E. Petersen, 'Race Problems As They Affect The Church', August 27th, 1954
Notice how he specifies "any other dark race?" It's really time to toss Petersen under the bus with Brigham.