Darron Smith to be on RadioWest on Wed. 11am and 7pm MST

[Clark Addison]

Originally Posted by jay santos

In all honesty I think SWK's quote and way of thinking probably weighted the american RM/Chilean girl marriage as more different and problematic than an American interracial marriage.

Given the famous "Lock Your Heart", I would not be surprised if you were correct. However, I think that many in the general population only think of this quote when they are exposed to a Black/White match up.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

Spoken like a true actuary.

Should we start counseling youth to avoid marrying outside their socio-economic class? I am sure that can be documented as carrying some degree of additional risk. Should we discourage people from marrying someone with a chronic disease? Where do we draw the line?

If you want to disagree with President Kimball highlighting what he considered to be "risk factors", that's fine. What I object to is taking that statement as primarily racist or motivated in part by his own racism.

And what is the reason for the additional risk? Could it be that the pressures from a society struggling to overcome racism may have something to do with it?

Absolutely. I said that earlier. It's not that the interracial union is wrong in and of itself, it's that there are pressures put on that relationship by others who aren't accepting of it. I see nowhere where President Kimball is stating that interracial relationships are morally inappropriate.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

I am amazed at the mental gymnastics that people will go through in order to interpret any statement our prophets, seers, and revelators make that even tangentially deals with race as racism.

It stems from the possible latent belief that men with authority from God could not err in their official capacities.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Clark Addison

Given the famous "Lock Your Heart", I would not be surprised if you were correct. However, I think that many in the general population only think of this quote when they are exposed to a Black/White match up.

Because he used the word "race" instead of "culture." You can be of different races, but of the same culture.

SWK's statement indicates that RACE should be a primary factor in selecting a mate.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

If you were a black member of the church, your perspective would change a bit I would think. I.e., the vast majority of the candidates for marriage are of a different race.

No question that this is true.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

There are many people in the church who hold these racist views. I remember being taught them in the church. I'm going to make sure my son and daughter are not taught them.

I once made a provocative (and I believe true) statement on CB, when I said that if you would never consider dating a member of a different race, out of hand, then you are a racist. A huge contingent opposed my statement.

I would have loved to have dated this really cute Indian (Asian, not American) if she had been interested...

I honestly didn't any social situations to interact with girls of African descent (I went to an all-boys private HS).

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by Indy Coug

Absolutely. I said that earlier. It's not that the interracial union is wrong in and of itself, it's that there are pressures put on that relationship by others who aren't accepting of it. I see nowhere where President Kimball is stating that interracial relationships are morally inappropriate.

See my post above about "race" and "culture."

Even though I do believe that "don't marry out of your culture" is code for "don't marry someone with different skin color."

When David Duke says "it's best not to marry outside your race" would you consider that statement likely racist?

When you consider the racism in the LDS church over the years, the most obvious interpretation is racism.

[UtahDan]

Originally Posted by jay santos

Good point. I think that might be true for me. I should think about that. Two reasons I think of:

--issue of the man being the breadwinner and primary responsible for quality of life issues
--men seem to be more prone to vices than women, making it more difficult for a woman to choose correctly

I think it is basically that we expect our sons will be self sufficient and that our daughters will be dependent. From a practical standpoint a neredowell son in law is a much larger liability than a similar daughter in law. Again, just from a financial standpoint.

[Clark Addison]

One more point on the quote in general. It is one thing to be like most of us, and be told that we shouldn't marry outside of our race. It doesn't reduce the potential marriage pool by that much, but what if you are on the other side of the question? We have a single black woman in our ward in her 30s. Would you really counsel her not to marry outside of her race? I am not aware of any single black men in our stake between the ages of 30 and 50. Let's say you could count up all the men who lived within 100 miles of her that met the following criteria:

- Single
- Black
- Between the ages of 30 and 50
- Worthy to hold Temple Recommend

How many do you think there would be? I really have no idea, but if there were more than 20 I'd be surprised.

EDIT: Didn't see Lebowski's post before I wrote this, which says basically the same thing. Sorry.

[Indy Coug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

When David Duke says "it's best not to marry outside your race" would you consider that statement likely racist?

Do you want to interpret the statement in a vacuum, or would you rather try to weigh those statements against the person who made it and what their real attitudes and actions were towards those of other races?

President Kimball vs. David Duke? Hmmmm.....