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.

Following are some excerpts of his messages on the subject:

In an address to seminary and institute teachers at Brigham Young University on June 27, 1958, President Kimball, then a member of the Council of the Twelve, said:

". . .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."

Speaking to Indian students at Brigham Young University on Jan. 5, 1965, President Kimball, as a member of the Council of the Twelve, said:

"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 through a hundred years has proved to us that marriage is a very difficult thing under any circumstances and the difficulty increases in interrace marriages."

Addressing a Brigham Young University devotional on Sept. 7, 1976, President Kimball counseled the students:

"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."