Current state of polygamy in the Latter Day Saint movement

Mormonism and polygamy
The wives and children of Joseph F. Smith, circa 1900.
Background Origin of Latter Day Saint polygamy Late 19th century Mormon polygamy Modern Latter Day Saint polygamy 1890 Manifesto Second Manifesto (1904) Mormon fundamentalism
Prominent practitioners Joseph Smith, Jr. Brigham Young Joseph Smith's wives List of Mormon polygamists FLDS Church
Related legislation Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act Poland Act Edmunds Act Edmunds-Tucker Act
Related case law Reynolds v. United States Mormon Church v. United States
Related articles Spiritual wifery Celestial Marriage Polygamy in the United States History of civil marriage in the U.S.
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According to the consensus of historians, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Joseph Smith, Jr., privately taught and practiced polygamy. After Smith's death in 1844, the church he established splintered into several competing groups. Disagreements over Smith's doctrine of "plural marriage" was one of the primary reasons the church divided.

The members of the largest group that resulted, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), continued to teach and practice polygamy throughout the 19th century. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the practice was formally abandoned as the LDS Church came under intense criticism by the United States government. The LDS Church no longer sanctions polygamy and its members do not practice it, although there are still elements of the doctrine in its theology.

The second-largest Latter Day Saint church, the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints or RLDS Church), has a history of opposing the LDS Church's practice of polygamy. Other smaller Latter Day Saint churches were also formed as a means of opposing the LDS Church's polygamy. The formal shift in doctrine by the LDS Church later in the early 20th century gave rise to the Mormon fundamentalism movement, which has since fragmented into a number of separate churches, the most well-known being the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church). The FLDS Church and other Mormon fundamentalists believe the practice of polygamy should continue and was wrongfully abandoned by the LDS Church.

Current state of polygamy in the LDS Church

There are two references concerning polygamy in LDS Church scripture which set forth the circumstances when the practice is acceptable "Abraham received concubines ... and it was accounted unto him for righteousness, because they were given unto him, and he abode in my law;"^[1] and "For if I will, saith the Lord of Hosts, raise up seed unto me, I will command my people;"^[2] which are pointed out in a standard Sunday School manual.^[3]

Joseph Smith, Jr. states in his journal October 5, 1843 as quoted in 'An American Prophet's Record: Diaries and Journals of Joseph Smith' page 417. "...Walked up and down St[reet] with Scribe and gave instructions to try those who were preaching, teaching, or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives on this Law. Joseph forbids it and the practice thereof. No man shall have but one wife. [rest of page blank]" President Joseph F. Smith stated, "The doctrine is not repealed, the truth is not annulled, the law is right and just now as ever, but the observance of it is stopped"^{[citation needed]} and that "[p]lural marriages have ceased in the Church. There isn't a man today in this Church or anywhere else outside of it who has authority to solemnize a plural marriage, not one."^{[citation needed]}

The LDS Church teaches that even during periods when plural marriage was sanctioned, several individuals disobeyed the word of the Lord in the way they entered into it. David, Solomon, and Rehoboam, among others, married women that were not the will of the Lord for them.^{[citation needed]} David's sin in having sexual relations with Bathsheba, then arranging for her husband to be killed in war is an example of this.^[4] The Book of Mormon prophet Jacob also discusses when plural marriage is allowed.^[5]

Scholarship beginning in the 1980s has led to estimates that the average incidence of polygamy was between 15-30%, depending on the years and location,^[6] including virtually all church leadership at the time.^[7]

Officially, the LDS Church has not tolerated plural marriages since the 1890 Manifesto was declared. However, all of the First Presidency and almost all of the apostles at that time continued to maintain multiple families into the twentieth century: they did not feel that they could dissolve existing unions and families. Polygamy was gradually discontinued after the 1904 Second Manifesto as no new plural marriages were allowed and as the older polygamists died off. Since the Second Manifesto, the official policy of the LDS Church has been to excommunicate members who enter into or solemnize new plural marriages. The current LDS Church does not teach the practice of plural marriage, nor does it have any formal ties with Mormon fundamentalist groups that do.

Relationship of current practices to plural marriage

Sealed marriages ended through death

As of 1998, by proxy "A deceased woman may be sealed to all men to whom she was legally married during her life. However, if she was sealed to a husband during her life, all her husbands must be deceased before she can be sealed to a husband to whom she was not sealed during life."^[8]

Implications

Theological issues are likely to exist when any church endorses the notion that marriage relationships continue into an afterlife, yet endorses people having more than one spouse during life. In this light, a doctrine of multiple marriage relationships in the afterlife does not necessarily imply an endorsement of plural marriage during life.^{[citation needed]}

Current state of polygamy in the Community of Christ

The Community of Christ (formerly the RLDS Church) has rejected the practice of polygamy since its inception and continues to affirm monogamy "as the basic principle of Christian marriage".^[9] Many in this church believe that Joseph Smith, Jr. never taught or practiced polygamy and that the doctrine began with the teachings of Brigham Young in the LDS Church.^{[citation needed]} The Community of Christ does not recognize Smith's 1831 revelation or the 1843 revelation as canonical, and some members regard them as inauthentic.

Although some past leaders of the RLDS Church—most notably Joseph Smith III and others who were descendants of Joseph Smith, Jr.—have strenuously denied that Smith taught or practiced polygamy, the Community of Christ today states that it "does not legislate or mandate positions on issues of history".^[9] The church acknowledges that research into the early Latter Day Saint movement "seem[s] to increasingly point to Joseph Smith Jr. as a significant source for plural marriage teaching and practice", but the church argues that it must be recognized that Smith was not infallible in his teachings.^[9]

Current state of polygamy in the Strangite church

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) have historically taught and, in limited numbers, have practiced plural marriage.^[10] James Strang was married to several women during his leadership of the church. However, the 1843 revelation by Joseph Smith, Jr. is rejected by the church as an inauthentic revelation.^[10] The Book of the Law of the Lord, a part of the Strangite canon, sanctions polygamy, but the church reports that "there are no known cases of polygamy currently in the church".^[10]

Current state of polygamy in the FLDS Church

The FLDS Church teaches that a man having multiple wives is ordained by God and is a requirement for a man to receive the highest form of salvation. It is generally believed in the church that a man should have a minimum of three wives to fulfill this requirement.^[11] Connected with this doctrine is the concept that wives are required to be subordinate to their husbands.

The FLDS Church currently practices the law of placing, whereby a young woman of marriageable age is assigned a husband by revelation from God to the leader of the church, who is regarded as a prophet.^[12] The prophet elects to take and give wives to and from men according to their worthiness.

Other LDS denominations that practice polygamy

This section requires expansion.

Over time, many of those who rejected the LDS Church's relinquishment of plural marriage formed small, close-knit communities in areas of the Rocky Mountains. These groups continue to practice 'the principle' despite the ostensible opposition, and consider the practice to be a requirement for entry into the highest heaven, which they call the "first degree" of the Celestial Kingdom. These people are commonly called Mormon fundamentalists and may either practice as individuals, as families, or as part of organized denominations.

In consequence of the tendency of outsiders to confuse the LDS church with the breakaway groups, the LDS church seeks vigorously to disassociate itself from the practice of plural marriage.^[13] Moreover, the LDS church has requested that journalists not refer to them as the 'Mormon Church', or the various polygamist sects as 'Mormons' or 'Mormon fundamentalists'; as such titles may become confusing when differentiating between denominations.^[14] Multiple churches and sects use the term 'Mormon', as their religious beliefs involve canonizing 'The Book of Mormon', as well as a shared belief with the LDS church of Joseph Smith's calling as a modern-day prophet.

Notes

References

• Hardy, B. Carmon (2005), "That 'Same Old Question of Polygamy and Polygamous Living:' Some Recent Findings Regarding Nineteenth and Early Twentieth-Century Mormon Polygamy", Utah Historical Quarterly 73 (3): 212–224, http://history.utah.gov/history_programs/utah_historic_quarterly/table_of_contents/documents/UHQSummerBook.pdf .