Full Text of the Excerpt

BARBARA COPELAND:

Tell me some of the benefits of what you see of having a temple marriage would be?

MARGARET EDWARDS:

I think for one I'm pleasing God. We're sealed together forever through all eternity. The spirit will be with you. I feel like the spirit would be with me if I got married in the temple and stuff. It would be stronger because I felt like I'm doing what God wants me to do.

BARBARA COPELAND:

Right. Right. I know that the church is very, very adamant about if when the young couples when they get married, they try to encourage them to have their, have a temple wedding. But in order for them to have a temple wedding they have to get the temple recommend, and they have to have lived their life acc— [END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A] [TAPE 1, SIDE B] [START OF TAPE 1, SIDE B]

BARBARA COPELAND:

Well I was just mentioning to you a second ago about the temple recommend. You have to have a temple recommend from your bishop, and it just seems that everything is just so organized, and you were telling me that you like organized churches. Yeah. Tell me a little bit about the church's stance on when there aren't a lot of African Americans within the church. Like if an African American person was to join do they, does the church try to match you up with another African American person, or how do they feel about intermarriage? Like when a single person comes into the church or when they counsel the youth the young, not the youth but young adults, and they counsel them like a premarriage counseling type of thing and they get new members and they're single. Do they counsel them in the way to try to match them up with someone of their own race or do they feel comfortable? How does the church feel about—

MARGARET EDWARDS:

Mixed marriages.

BARBARA COPELAND:

Right, mixed marriages.

MARGARET EDWARDS:

Well as far as I know they don't, they're not against it. They would prefer you to marry your own race, but if you decide to marry outside your race, they don't knock it.

BARBARA COPELAND:

Would you say that they would prefer you and your mate remain, that the two of you be Mormons even if one was black and one was white or that you marry the two of you be of the same race even if one was in another church?

MARGARET EDWARDS:

I think they would prefer if one were white and one were black and be both Mormon. They would prefer it that way yeah.

BARBARA COPELAND:

They would. That's, it seems to be a prevailing controversy for different people's views regarding whether or not they would prefer if both of the couples be of the same race or one be of one race and one be another as long as the both of them are the same faith. Because I've often heard myself that coming from church leaders' authority that they really would prefer that the two, the couples both are of the same faith in the Mormon church. I think the reason for that is is because there's a, it's easy for the non-Mormon to convert the Mormon probably maybe there's a potential. Like if you were to marry someone outside of your faith, there's a potential that that person could get you to convert back to their—

MARGARET EDWARDS:

Right. Right.