Modern-day Mormons disavow polygamy
Church ended practice a century ago and today excommunicates any
members who promote or practice the belief
By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
04/20/2008
Despite the LDS Church's repeated efforts to distance itself from
the polygamy-practicing Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, many Americans have trouble distingui****ng the
two.
More than a century ago, the now 13-million member Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints officially discontinued its practice of
polygamy and today excommunicates anyone who promotes or practices it.
Those who want to participate in temple rituals are asked whether they
"sup****t, affiliate with or agree with" any opposition groups, which
is often understood as code for polygamists. And the church's global
missionaries cannot share the church's message with African
polygamists.
Mormons do not live in isolated compounds, arrange marriages,
dress in old-fa****oned clothing or wear unusual hairstyles, LDS
Apostle Quentin L. Cook said Friday in a video interview. Rather, they
are participating members of the communities in which they live, get
married at the average age of 23, and are well educated.
Still, it's easy for casual observers of the two groups to be
confused.
After all, the FLDS trace their origins to LDS founder Joseph
Smith, use the same religious freedom arguments and have the same
devotion to their prophet-leader as early Latter-day Saints did to
Brigham Young. The FLDS follow Mormon scripture, wor****p in the same
way, subscribe to LDS tenets and were willing to go to jail for their
beliefs.
Indeed, the FLDS see themselves as the true Mormons, holding fast
to "the principle" once considered essential by LDS faithful.
A biblical precedent
Smith first encountered the idea of taking multiple wives, Mormons
believe, during his 1831 study of Bible passages describing the
polygamous marriages of revered figures such as Abraham, Jacob and
David. It was part of Smith's efforts to "restore" the ancient order
of priesthood, which he taught was lost over the centuries.
In 1843, Smith recorded what he said was a divine revelation,
defining "a new and everlasting covenant, including the eternity of
the marriage covenant, as also the plurality of wives." He initiated
it among a small circle of followers.
After Smith's death in 1844, Mormon pioneers took plural marriage
to their Great Basin kingdom in Utah. There it flourished, first in
secret and then openly, until the U.S. government stripped polygamists
of their right to vote, hold office or own property. It eventually
disincor****ated the LDS Church itself and refused to allow Utah to
become a state.
Finally, in 1890 LDS President Wilford Woodruff issued "the
Manifesto," in which he promised "to submit to those laws, and to use
my influence with the members of the church over which I preside to
have them do likewise."
Though the LDS Church had disavowed polygamy, it is still
enshrined in Mormon scripture (Doctrine & Covenants 132) and some
believe it will one day be re-established, if not on Earth, at least
in heaven. In his quasi-official 1966 book Mormon Doctrine, which
remains in print, the late LDS Apostle Bruce R. McConkie wrote that
"the holy practice will commence again after the Second Coming and the
ushering in of the millennium."
And by policy, men can be "sealed" for eternity in LDS temple
rites to more than one wife, though women are permitted only a single
sealing.
Three of the church's current apostles, for example, were widowed
and remarried. Each will have two wives in the eternities.
Then and now
These days many Mormons see the polygamy of the past as a noble,
God-sanctioned venture, but the contem****ary practice as not only
illegal, but debased, unhealthy and burdensome on society.
Indeed, there are differences between then and now, said Kathryn
Daynes, who studied Mormon polygamous communities in her ground-
breaking book, More Wives than One: Transformation of the Mormon
Marriage System 1840-1910.
In the 19th century, the number of practicing polygamists varied.
At its height in 1860s rural Utah, Mormon polygamy involved about 46
percent of the population; in the capital city, it was much lower.
While there were instances of men with dozens of wives, two-thirds
had only two.
"On the frontier when life is really hard, you have more women
going into plural marriage," Daynes said. "As their fortunes rose, you
saw fewer women doing it. More and more women who were born in Utah
elected for monogamy."
Whether polygamous or monogamous, just about everyone married.
"There were no 'lost boys'," Daynes said, referring to the FLDS
teens who either leave or are kicked out of the sect.
Brigham Young did not arrange marriages unless asked and readily
consented to a divorce, allowing any woman who wanted to get out.
Second and third wives were more likely than first wives to divorce,
but they didn't always turn to monogamy. Many were remarried in
polygamy.
A third of plural wives were raised in polygamy, a third had no
fathers in their lives, and a third were widowed, divorced or older.
In other words, Daynes said, two-thirds of the women had economic
motives for marrying a polygamist.
The influx of immigrant women, many of whom were older, was
another real difference, Daynes said. The FLDS is a more inbred,
closed society, with no outreach or new converts.
Another one is the allegation against the FLDS of underage
marriages.
"I am hard-pressed to think of a place in the U.S. during the 19th
century where a young girl marrying at 15 was abused at that time,"
she said. "The common-law marriage age was 12. In so many other
cultures, when a woman came close to puberty, usually at 14 to 15, it
was assumed, she was ready for marriage."
Now, that is not just unacceptable, it's a crime in most states.
The FLDS mentality mirrors the 19th century, Daynes said. "I
suspect it is hard for them to get their minds around that. They are
living in another time in many ways."
http://www.truthandgrace.com/polygamy.com
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