FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Joseph Smith/Polygamy"
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#{{note|by1}} {{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|title=Plurality of Wives—The Free Agency of Man|date=14 July 1855|vol=3|disc=39|start=266|end=266}} | #{{note|by1}} {{JDfairwiki|author=Brigham Young|title=Plurality of Wives—The Free Agency of Man|date=14 July 1855|vol=3|disc=39|start=266|end=266}} | ||
#{{note|jt1}} Van Wagoner, ''Mormon Polygamy'', 89. | #{{note|jt1}} Van Wagoner, ''Mormon Polygamy'', 89. | ||
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==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
Revision as of 21:18, 4 March 2010
Contents
- 1 Important introductory material on plural marriage available here
- 2 Criticism
- 3 Response
- 3.1 Initiation of the practice
- 3.2 Unchristian?
- 3.3 Hiding the Truth?
- 3.4 Source(s) of the criticism
- 3.5 Illegal?
- 3.6 Source(s) of the criticism
- 3.7 Carnal Desires and lustful motives?
- 3.8 Marriages to young women
- 3.9 Coercion
- 3.10 Children through polygamous marriages
- 3.11 Marriage to already married women? (Polyandry)
- 3.12 What did Joseph's wife Emma know about the practice of polygamy?
- 3.13 Did Joseph write secret "love letters" to his plural wives?
- 3.14 Miscellaneous
- 4 Conclusion
- 5 Endnotes
- 6 Further reading
Important introductory material on plural marriage available here
| Answers portal |
| Plural marriage |
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 RESOURCES
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Joseph Smith era:
Post-Joseph Smith:
Post-Manifesto–present |
 PERSPECTIVES
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 MEDIA
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| OTHER PORTALS
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Criticism
Critics attack Joseph Smith for his introduction and practice of polygamy. These attacks usually focus on arguing that:
- Polygamy is unchristian or unbiblical
- Joseph hid the truth about the practice of polygamy
- Polygamy was illegal, and therefore improper
- Polygamy sprung from Joseph's carnal desires
- Joseph desired to marry young women
- Joseph married women who were already married to other men (polyandry).
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
Response
Plural marriage is a complex topic; the reader is encouraged to consult the sources under Further Reading for more thorough treatments of these and other issues.
Initiation of the practice
Unchristian?
The criticism that polygamy is irreligious appeals to western sensibilities which favor monogamy, and argues that polygamy is inconsistent with biblical Christianity or (ironically) the Book of Mormon itself.
There is extensive, unequivocal evidence that polygamous relationships were condoned under various circumstances by biblical prophets, despite how uncomfortable this might make a modern Christian. Elder Orson Pratt was widely viewed as the victor in a three-day debate on this very point with Reverend John P. Newman, Chaplain of the U.S. Senate, in 1870.[1]
Even were there no such precedents, LDS theology has no problem accepting and implementing novel commandments, since the Saints believe in continuing revelation.
Hiding the Truth?
Source(s) of the criticism
- Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 283, 572n11 ( Index of claims )
- George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), 1, 3-4, 51, 247. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review))
It is true that Joseph did not always tell others about plural marriage. He did, however, make some attempt to teach the doctrine to the Saints.
A contemporary journal describes the reaction:
- When the prophet “went to his dinner,” [Joseph Lee] Robinson wrote, “as it might be expected several of the first women of the church collected at the Prophet’s house with his wife [and] said thus to the prophet Joseph O mister Smith you have done it now it will never do it is all but Blassphemy you must take back what you have said to day is it is outrageous it would ruin us as a people.” So in the afternoon session Smith again took the stand, according to Robinson, and said “Brethren and Sisters I take back what we said this morning and leave it as though there had been nothing said.”[2]
Joseph tried to teach the doctrine, but it was rejected by many Saints, including Emma, his wife. Joseph then began to teach the doctrine privately to those who would obey.
Keeping the doctrine private was also necessary because the enemies of the Church would have used it as another justification for their assault on the Saints. Orson Hyde looked back on the Nauvoo days and indicated what the consequences of disclosure would have been:
- In olden times they might have passed through the same circumstances as some of the Latter-day Saints had to in Illinois. What would it have done for us, if they had known that many of us had more than one wife when we lived in Illinois? They would have broken us up, doubtless, worse than they did.[3]
It is thus important to realize that the public preaching of polygamy—or announcing it to the general Church membership, thereby informing the public by proxy—was simply not a feasible plan. Critics of Joseph's choice want their audience to ignore the danger to him and the Saints.
See: Gregory L. Smith, "Polygamy, Prophets, and Prevarication: Frequently and Rarely Asked Questions about the Initiation, Practice, and Cessation of Plural Marriage in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," FAIR, 2005.
Illegal?
Source(s) of the criticism
- George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), 3. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review))
Polygamy was certainly declared illegal during the Utah-era anti-polygamy crusade, and was arguably illegal under the Illinois anti-bigamy statutes. This is hardly new information, and Church members and their critics knew it. Modern members of the Church generally miss the significance of this fact, however: the practice of polygamy was a clear case of civil disobedience.
- The decision to defy the [anti-polygamy laws] was a painful exception to an otherwise firm commitment to the rule of law and order. Significantly, however, in choosing to defy the law, the Latter-day Saints were actually following in an American tradition of civil disobedience. On various previous occasions, including the years before the Revolutionary War, Americans had found certain laws offensive to their fundamental values and had decided openly to violate them.…Even though declared constitutional, the law was still repugnant to all [the Saints’] values, and they were willing to face harassment, exile, or imprisonment rather than bow to its demands.[4]
The Church believes in honoring and sustaining the law, but it does not believe that members must surrender their religious beliefs or conscience to the state. Elder James E. Talmage taught that members should obey the law, unless God commanded an exception:
- A question has many times been asked of the Church and of its individual members, to this effect: In the case of a conflict between the requirements made by the revealed word of God, and those imposed by the secular law, which of these authorities would the members of the Church be bound to obey?…Pending the overruling by Providence in favor of religious liberty, it is the duty of the saints to submit themselves to the laws of their country.[5]
Not surprisingly, the question comes down to whether Joseph was a Prophet and whether God commanded his actions.
Carnal Desires and lustful motives?
Neutral observers have long understood that this attack is probably the weakest of them all. One might reasonably hold the opinion that Joseph was wrong, but in the face of the documentary evidence it is laughable to argue that he and his associates were insincere or that they were practicing their religion only for power and to satisfy carnal desires. Those who insist that “sex is the answer” reveal more about their own limited perspective than they do of the minds of the early Saints.
For a detailed response, see: Did Joseph have "lustful motives" for practicing polygamy?
Marriages to young women
Coercion
Children through polygamous marriages
Critics claim that Joseph Smith fathered children with some of his plural wives, and that he covered up the evidence of pregnancies. They also claim that Joseph Smith had intimate relations with other men’s wives to whom he had been sealed, and that children resulted from these unions. DNA testing has so far proven these allegations to be false.
For a detailed response, see: Did Joseph have any children through polygamous marriages?
Marriage to already married women? (Polyandry)
For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith and polyandry and Zina and Henry Jacobs
What did Joseph's wife Emma know about the practice of polygamy?
Did Joseph write secret "love letters" to his plural wives?
Miscellaneous
Conclusion
Plural marriage was perhaps the greatest challenge to the early members of the Church. Critics are anxious to avoid putting the choices of early members in context, in an effort to make the early members look like reprobates or dupes. In doing so, they hope to discourage those who hear their version of events from even considering whether these men were true prophets of God.
Endnotes
- [note] Orson Pratt and John Philip Newman, “Does the Bible Sanction Polygamy?” Deseret News, 12–14 August 1874.
- [note] Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986),48; citing Robinson, Journal, 23–24.
- [note] Orson Hyde, "The Marriage Relations," (6 October 1854) Journal of Discourses 2:75-75.
- [note] James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard, Story of the Latter-day Saints, 2nd edition revised and enlarged, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992[1976]), 401. ISBN 087579565X. GospeLink
- [note] James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1981[1899]),382–383.
- [note] Bernard Shaw, The Future of Political Science in America; an Address by Mr. Bernard Shaw to the Academy of Political Science, at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, on the 11th. April, 1933 (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1933) as cited in Richard Vetterli, Mormonism Americanism and Politics (Salt Lake City: Ensign Publishing, 1961), 461–462.
- [note] Brigham Young, "Plurality of Wives—The Free Agency of Man," (14 July 1855) Journal of Discourses 3:266-266.
- [note] Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy, 89.