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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.
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Plural marriage |
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Joseph Smith era:
Post-Joseph Smith:
Post-Manifesto–present |
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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.
James E. Talmage, The Articles of Faith (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1981[1899]),382–383.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]
Summary: Under Illinois law, Joseph Smith was not guilty of a crime due to his private practice of plural marriage. Later Church members were certainly subjected to laws which targeted polygamy, beginning in 1862. They resisted these laws out of religious belief and constitutional conviction, in an act of civil disobedience.
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. Not surprisingly, the question comes down to whether Joseph was a Prophet and whether God commanded his actions.
Just because some members have come up with uninformed opinions about plural marriage, is this the Church's fault? The Church doesn't include any of these claims in its manuals.
Critics charge that the Church and its members participated in polygamy in violation of both state and federal laws. It is therefore argued that the Church abandoned its commitment to “obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law.”8 Critics, however, make such arguments without a full understanding of the legal considerations of the day and without understanding how civil disobedience plays into the picture.
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.
Elder James E. Talmage taught that members should obey the law, unless God commanded an exception:
Notes
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