Over the last several years, the LDS Church history department has become increasingly open about the Church’s history. This can be seen in the work made available by the Joseph Smith Paper’s Project and in the recent release of several milestone Gospel Topics essays, especially those on the practice of polygamy by members of the LDS Church during the nineteenth century.
In an unanticipated and exciting step in the right direction, the LDS Church has now decided to teach this information in seminary classes. Parents can view the lessons on D&C 132 and the discussion of Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy on the lds.org website under seminary lessons here and 
here.
I urge parents to not only read the lessons but also discuss them together as a family. These lessons are carefully written to emphasize those aspects of the section dedicated to eternal marriage and can serve as a basic introduction to the early practice of polygamy in Nauvoo.
From these lessons, students will be taught about eternal marriage, the zenith doctrine of the Restoration. Then they will be taught that God commanded Joseph Smith to establish polygamy as part of the restitution of all things, he married many women, and it was a trial for both Joseph and Emma Smith. It was also a trial for other early polygamists who were reluctant to participate. Fortunately, this was a temporary commandment that was removed in 1890. These are not easy topics to discuss or understand, but avoiding them will not make them go away.
An Op Ed piece written by Kristy Money, a member of the Ordain Woman board, was published in the Salt Lake Tribune on Sunday, March 29, encouraging the boycott of these lessons by seminary teachers and parents. This seems like a step backwards if we want to be open about our past. In urging nonparticipation, she listed several concerns. Interestingly, what I read in the lessons was quite different from the references in Ms. Money’s essay.
Students will not be taught God commanded Joseph to marry teenagers, which is good because there is no evidence that he was ever commanded to marry teenaged brides, even though he did.
Students will not be taught that Joseph married women without Emma’s knowledge. Parents may, 
however, want to discuss this with their children, as the LDS Gospel Topics essay on Nauvoo polygamy covers this concern.
The lesson does not teach that “if a man simply ‘desires a virgin,’ he has a God-given right to take her as a plural wife,” despite the opinion of his first wife. This is a simplified contortion of complicated doctrine, and it is best that students learn it as worded in the revelation instead of how it is interpreted from critics or spun on the Internet.
The lesson does not teach the only reason polygamy was practiced was to raise righteous seed. It is listed as one of the reasons “as part of the restitution of all things.” The Gospel Topics essays also mention it being a customized trial for the Saints of that time. Parents may want to discuss these other reasons with their children.
Ms. Money contends that “sexual predators have been using these rationalizations to seduce girls long before the church recently published them.” If this is the case, then, as parents, we need to do all we can to make sure our teenagers are properly informed of what the historical record shows
regarding Joseph’s institution of polygamy and its limited practice, so they will not fall prey to such reprehensible acts out of ignorance. D&C 132 explicitly condemns sexual relations outside of the bounds of marriage.
The LDS Church is to be commended for their continual efforts to increase dialogue regarding challenging topics. As members, let’s own our genuine past and study our canonized scripture. Protecting our children includes teaching them truth, so when they encounter misinformation they can recognize it as error. As parents and their children discuss these deep doctrines and difficult aspects of history, they can move toward a better understanding of Joseph Smith’s practice of polygamy.
Laura Harris Hales is the mother of a seminary student and the co-author of Joseph Smith’s Polygamy: Toward a Better Understanding (Kofford Books, 2015).
You can’t teach seminary students or any other group of students and expect them to understand polygamy as practised at Joseph Smith’s time unless you teach them about the Law of Adoption. One must understand the latter in order to begin to grasp the idea about the polygamy.
Steen,
This is a start.
Laura
Finally some meat for our lactose intolerant children.
There are many sources that will point out the truth in a favorable light towards the Church. Besides Fair Mormon and many faithful LDS book authors, I particularly like:
mormondiscussionpodcast.org
It is truly ironic that the Ordain Women crowd is urging “nonparticipation” in the updated lessons. For years, these folk have demanded that the church “open up” about historical issues. Lo and behold! the Church does so, and they blink.
I was in seminary back in the early 80’s and polygamy was covered in the material. Not in depth but it was there and you could ask questions. I was home study so perhaps everybody else just slept through that part. People who accuse the church of covering up the past are only showing that they haven’t been paying much attention over the years.
As the seminary teacher that covered D&C 132 I was ready to teach all about Polygamy, but unfortunately the female students didn’t want to hear anything regarding the subject, so we just breezed through it. Nobody had serious questions, and hence meat wasn’t asked for… and unfortunately all I could hand out was milk.
I would like to know who authored them. The correlation department, individuals, scholars? Do they represent the position of the Church, are they reference material or something else? No signatures or names appear.
The Church curriculum department approves these lessons.
Laura,
Thank you and I also thank your husband for the wonderful work you both have done. The research Brian did is the best and most detailed ever and it addresses the most difficult issues head on and Joseph Smith still comes out on top – a true prophet of God.
Dwight
@Jc – just a clarification. Seminary and Institute manuals are written by the Curriculum Services Division within Seminary and Institute. I personally know a few of the curriculum writers. They told me that they are assigned a scripture block to write lessons for then the lessons are peer reviewed until it is approved by an interal committee in S&I. The lessons are then sent to Church Correlation where it is reviewed by them. Changes can be suggested by Church Correlation until they feel comfortable that the lesson represents Church Doctrine. At that point it is sent to publishing. The process takes many years. This lesson is not a knee-jerk reaction by the Church but part of a process that began years ago. It’s wonderful to see the vision of the Brethren in preparation to what they see coming in the future.
Thank you for sharing your perspective.
I am wondering about one of your statements:
> … because there is no evidence that he was ever commanded to marry teenage brides…
Lucy Walker, who was persuaded to marry the prophet at the age of 17 (so, a teenager), claimed Joseph Smith said this to her:
> I have a message for you. I have been commanded of God to take another wife, and you are the woman.
And when she wouldn’t, Joseph later encouraged her with these words:
> I have no flattering words to offer. It is a command of God to you.
These both appear to be from Lucy’s first-hand account of the events, and I pulled them both from Brian Hales’ website (http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/history-2/plural-wives-overview/lucy-walker/). So, it seems clear that 1) JS led Lucy to believe that God had commanded the marriage to JS and 2) JS was never instructed to wait until Lucy was not a teenager. In fact, if God knew JS was going to be martyred, and God expected the command to be carried out, then Lucy necessarily was being commanded to marry as a teenager (she would have been around 18 at the time of JS’s death). Any thoughts on this?