What was going on when I was born?

The Mormon Church, saying church pioneers had chosen Utah as a ''base from which to carry the gospel of peace to the peoples of the earth,'' today announced its opposition to deployment of the MX missile system here and in Nevada. The message was wired to the Utah and Nevada Congressional delegations and to President Reagan, whose Administration is reviewing options on how to deploy the multibillion-dollar nuclear weapons system. The statement was issued by the church's president, Spencer W. Kimball, and his two counsellors, N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney, at the headquarters here of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The decision is expected to have profound influence on public opinion in predominantly Mormon Utah as well as in Nevada and among the Mormon population at large. There are one million Mormons in Utah, which has a population of 1,460,000, and 56,000 Mormons in Nevada, which has a population of about 800,000.

''Our fathers came to the Western area to establish a base from which to carry the gospel of peace to the peoples of the earth.

International NATO de-emphasized detente and portrayed the Soviet Union as increasingly lacking in restraint and responsibility. A communique issued at the end of a two-day meeting of the Atlantic Alliance foreign ministers in Rome constituted a step by Western Europe in the direction of the Reagan Administration's position on Soviet goals and conduct. (Page A1, Column 1.) Britain affirmed its policy on Northern Ireland, saying it would not be changed despite the death of Robert Sands on the 66th day of his hunger strike and the street violence that followed. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said during questioning in Parliament that granting demands by Irish Republican Army prisoners for political status would ''give a license to kill.'' (A1:3-4.)

Crime and the economy are the two topics most frequently discussed by the New Jersey gubernatorial candidates in their primary election campaigns. Traditionally, candidates in a primary try to present themselves as the persons best able to carry their party's banner in the November general election, without being too specific on issues. The idea is to size up the general-election opposition and then adopt stands on the issues that will appeal to the greatest number of voters and place the opponents at a disadvantage. However, the large fields in the New Jersey primary, 13 Democrats and eight Republicans, have prompted some candidates to try to separate themselves from the pack by taking bold positions early and trying to make the competition look unexciting by comparison. This has become an issue in the Republican primary.

The dollar surged in value against other currencies in European trading today following yesterday's one-point increase in the Federal Reserve's discount rate to a record 14 percent. Although the dollar eased in later New York trading, the strong showing in Europe raised widespread fears among European bankers and monetary officials that other countries would also be forced to increase rates to defend their currencies against the dollar, further depressing Europe's recession-gripped economy and creating more unemployment. Contributing to those fears, France's central bank today raised its discount rate for seven-day Treasury bills a full percentage point, to 13.5 percent, in an effort to bolster the sagging franc. The franc has been depressed by the fast-climbing dollar and fears that President Valery Giscard d'Estaing may lose next Sunday's Presidential election to his Socialist opponent, Francois Mitterrand.

The North Atlantic alliance moved today toward a harder view of East-West relations, presenting an analysis that deemphasized detente and cast the Soviet Union as a force increasingly lacking in restraint or responsibility. The analysis, contained in a communique made public at the end of a two-day meeting of the NATO countries' foreign ministers, constituted at least a preliminary verbal step by the alliance in the direction of the Reagan Administration's position on Soviet goals and conduct. The communique followed the American announcement yesterday of willingness to discuss limitation of middle-range nuclear missiles in Europe with the Soviet Union by the end of the year. The statement by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization appeared to represent a kind of exchange - with the Europeans accepting the American view on detente and the Soviet Union and the Americans accepting a negotiating commitment. Some European governments feel they need such a negotiating commitment to deal with public opinion reluctant over deployment of new nuclear weapons.

Immigrants are coming to New York City from virtually every country, territory and island on the globe, creating a city more diverse in race, language and ethnicity than it was at the turn of the century when immigrants from Europe poured through Ellis Island. The new influx, ranging from Europeans to Orientals and including Indians, South Americans and natives of the Caribbean, has brought vitality and a new entrepreneurial spirit to the streets of New York and new strength to its neighborhoods. But the surge of immigrants has also put a strain on the city, particularly its educational, health and police services. The 800,000 aliens who registered in New York State last year listed 164 different countries and dependencies as their places of birth, the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Service reported. While the Immigration Service does not keep separate statistics for New York City, other estimates for the total number of foreign-born people who have come to the city in recent years range as high as two million.

President Reagan has decided to send Philip C. Habib, a veteran American diplomat, to the Middle East as his special envoy in an effort ''to defuse tensions'' over the crisis in Lebanon, the White House announced today. State Department officials said that Mr. Habib, who is of Lebanese descent, would travel first to Lebanon and then to Syria and Israel to explore ways of preventing a clash between Syria and Israel over the recent developments in Lebanon. A Move to Gain Time A major purpose in asking Mr. Habib to come out of retirement, officials said, was to send someone with stature to the region to gain additional time for diplomacy to produce a solution before a conflict erupts that probably would serve neither Israel's nor Syria's interests. Mr. Habib was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the top career position in the Foreign Service, when he retired in 1978. In Beirut, meanwhile, Syria's Foreign Minister, Abdel Halim Khaddam, dismissed as ''ridiculous'' Israel's demands that Syria remove the antiaircraft missiles it has emplaced in Lebanon. (Page A3.)

THE New York Philharmonic and a mixed chorus had already swung through a hymn called ''Old Hundred'' and a rousing version of ''America the Beautiful,'' and the orchestra had warmed up with Beethoven's ''Leonore'' Overture. Zubin Mehta returned, at a deliberate pace, to the podium of the Carnegie Hall stage last night, raised his arms and whipped them down, as the orchestra crashed with a rush of cymbals, brass and horns. ''Ah,'' smiled Stewart Warkow, ''that's the one Tchaikovsky conducted in '91.'' And as the orchestra continued through Tchaikovsky's ''Marche Solennelle'' with its persistent resonance, Mr. Warkow, executive director of the hall, continued to smile because his party was going well, and, as he put it, Mr. Mehta was conducting Tchaikovsky as Mr. Warkow was certain Tchaikovsky had conducted Tchaikovsky in that first Carnegie Hall concert on May 5, 1891, ''with force, energy, excitement.''

Idle oil tankers are being used as floating storage tanks in Caribbean waters. Others are filling that static role off the Japanese coast. Still others are passing the time by steaming, empty, toward the Persian Gulf, moving slowly in order to save fuel. Weighed down by excess capacity and imperiled by growing demand for energy sources other than oil, the world oil tanker industry is floundering in the wake of the current oversupply of oil.

The Senate Banking Committee today approved a measure that could confront New York City with the choice of phasing out rent control or losing Federal funds for housing. It appeared likely that the measure, an amendment to the housing bill, would be approved by the full Senate and by the House of Representatives, which approved a similar measure last year. A White House spokesman said that it was not President Reagan's habit to announce so far in advance whether he would sign or veto any measure. But the fact that the amendment is attached to the Reagan Administration's major piece of housing legislation this year made White House approval seem likely.

The Senate Finance Committee approved legislation today that would cut $10.33 billion out of a wide range of social programs, including welfare, Medicaid and unemployment compensation. The vote in the committee, which is controlled by Republicans, was 17 to 2, with the two negative votes cast by Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, and Senator Bill Bradley, Democrat of New Jersey. The committee vote marked the first major legislative step in creating a Federal budget for the fiscal year 1982, which is still being debated on Capitol Hill. Action in House on Budget In the House of Representatives today, members approved by voice vote an amendment to allow an increase in authorizations for military spending in the 1982 budget that the Democrats have put before the House. The increase of $6.5 billion would bring the authorization for the military to $226.2 billion, the level proposed by President Reagan.