[LA Ute]

. . . so I haven't followed any of these threads. I'll repeat here what I wrote on Mike's original thread:

I was unaware of the offending language (we never got to this lesson when I was YM president, I guess, or maybe I wasn't there that day). I have only Manuals 1 and 2 with me, so I can't check the current Manual 3:

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Manual 3, lesson 31:

"Compare the results of the vote with the following statement by President Spencer W. Kimball. Have a young man read it.

“'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'” (“Marriage and Divorce,” in 1976 Devotional Speeches of the Year [Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1977], p. 144)."[/i]

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I have these responses:

1. I really hope this comes out of the manual. It's dated and too easy to misunderstand. (I am mildly surprised that it's still there. The Church has changed a lot since the early 70's.) In fact, I'm going to write a letter to that effect.

2. I bet this will come out of the manuals the next time a revised version is printed.

3. It's actually a pretty benign statement and is simply an effort to help kids understand ways to maximize their chances of a successful marriage.

4. My wife and I don't care a whit about the racial background of our kids' marriage choices. We care a lot about whether the prospective partner has a testimony and is spiritually committed to the gospel, has good character, etc.

5. I do think people need to be realistic about marital choices. I read a DesNews story about an African-American Mormon woman who married a white Mormon man, then complained that everyone treated them as "different" in the town they lived in. That town? Rexburg, Idaho. Well, ya think?