Plural marriage

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Mormonism and polygamy

Jump to Subtopic:

• Polygamy in Latter-day Saint scripture
• Polygamy in the 19th Century
• The attitude of the modern Church toward polygamy
• Polygamy as practiced anciently
• Joseph Smith and polygamy
• Implementation of plural marriage
• Doctrinal issues related to plural marriage
• Critics' claimed motivations for Joseph's implementation of plural marriage
• Keeping plural marriage a secret
• Entering into plural marriage
• Joseph Smith and polyandry
• Emma Smith and polygamy
• Children of Joseph Smith by polygamous marriages
• Mormonism and divorce in the nineteenth century
• Gospel Topics, "Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah"
• Valerie Hudson, "A Reconciliation of Polygamy"

Polygamy in Latter-day Saint scripture

Jump to Subtopic:

• Doctrine and Covenants Section 132 and plural marriage
• 1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy—D&C 101 (original)
• Book of Mormon statements about the practice of polygamy
• Does Joseph Smith's lack of children through polygamy contradict the commandment to "multiply and replenish the earth"?

Polygamy in the 19th Century

Summary: Video published by the Church History Department.

Jump to Subtopic:

• The purpose of plural marriage
• Plural marriage as a requirement for exaltation
• 19th century statements from Church leaders regarding the practice of plural marriage
• John Taylor's statements regarding polygamy
• Brigham Young's statements regarding polygamy
• Early Church leaders' comments about the difficulties of plural marriage
• Reports that the Lamanites were to become "white and delightsome" through polygamous marriage
• Divorce among Mormons in the 19th century
• Divine manifestions to plural wives and families
• Polygamy practiced after the Manifesto
• Prevalence of polygamy in Utah
• The Law of Adoption: The sealing of men and women as children to prominent Latter-day Saint leaders
• Parley P. Pratt's marriage and murder
• Lorenzo Snow's statements about polygamy during the Temple Lot case

1. REDIRECT The Church of Jesus Christ and plural marriage today

Polygamy as practiced anciently

Jump to Subtopic:

• Early Christians on plural marriage
• Why was Joseph Smith sealed to mothers, daughters and sisters? Did this not violate a biblical prohibition?

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Joseph Smith and Plural Marriage (Polygamy)

Summary: Plural marriage—or one man marrying multiple women—has been practiced since ancient times (see Genesis 16:1–3; Doctrine and Covenants 132:34–39). It was practiced among the Latter-day Saints as commanded by God (see Doctrine and Covenants 132:32–34, 40), until God directed that the Saints discontinue it (see Official Declaration 1).

Joseph Smith is frequently criticized for his introduction and practice of plural marriage (often called polygamy).

From a Christian perspective, these attacks usually focus on arguing that polygamy is unchristian or unbiblical, and that Joseph hid the truth from the world.

From a secular perspective, it is asserted that the practice of polygamy sprung from Joseph's carnal desires to marry young women. Of particular interest is the fact that Joseph was sealed to women who were already married to other men (polyandry).

To view articles about plural marriage, click "Expand" in the blue bar:

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Articles about Plural marriage

Doctrinal foundation of plural marriage	Purpose of plural marriage Plural marriage as a requirement for exaltation Plural marriage in early Christianity Plural marriage in the Book of Mormon Plural marriage and the Bible
Introduction of plural marriage	Initiation of the practice of plural marriage 1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership Divine manifestations to plural wives and families Plural marriage and the law
Questions about Joseph Smith and plural marriage	Initiation of the practice of plural marriage Fanny Alger was Joseph Smith's first plural wife Joseph Smith hid polygamy from the general Church membership Joseph Smith's marriages to young women Did Joseph Smith coerce women to marry him? Mormon women refusing offers of plural marriage Polyandry Joseph Smith and children through plural marriage Marrying other men's wives? Joseph Smith hiding plural marriages from his first wife, Emma Emma Smith's reaction to Joseph Smith's plural marriages Emma Smith in Doctrine and Covenants 132 Did Joseph have lustful motives for practicing polygamy? Did Joseph Smith send men on missions in order to steal their wives? Did Joseph Smith practice polygamy for the purpose of monetary gain?
John C. Bennett and Nauvoo polygamy	Bennett before Nauvoo Bennett and Prostitution Brothel at Nauvoo Rise and Fall of Bennett Sarah Pratt Nancy Rigdon Sidney Rigdon
Plural wives of Joseph Smith	Divine manifestations to plural wives and families Emma Smith Fanny Alger Louisa Beaman Prescindia Lathrop Huntington Buell Sarah Kingsley Howe Cleveland Agnes Moulton Coolbrith Elizabeth Davis Goldsmith Brackenbury Durfee Esther Dutcher Hannah S. Ells Olive Grey Frost Desdemona Catlin Wadsworth Fulmmer Lucinda Pendleton Morgan Harris Clarissa Reed Hancock Elvira Annie Cowles Holmes Sarah Maryetta Kingsley Howe Marinda Nancy Johnson Hyde Vienna Jacques Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs Almera Johnson Helen Mar Kimball Maria Lawrence Sarah Lawrence Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Malissa Lott Sylvia Sessions Lyon Martha McBride Eliza Partridge Emily Partridge Rhoda Richards Ruth Vose Sayers Patty Bartlett Sessions Delcena Diadamia Johnson Sherman "Miss Smith" Mary Heron Snider Eliza R. Snow Lucy Walker Sarah Ann Whitney Nancy Maria Winchester Flora Ann Woodworth Fanny Young
Plural marriage in Utah	Difficulties with plural marriage Brigham Young's statements regarding plural marriage John Taylor's statements regarding polygamy Latter-day Saints and divorce in the nineteenth century Prevalence of plural marriage in Utah
End of plural marriage	The First Manifesto Official Declaration Number 1 Plural marriage practiced after the First Manifesto The Church of Jesus Christ and plural marriage today

Video from FAIR Conference.

Video from Church History Department.

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Source(s) of the criticism

Critical sources

Allen Rock Waterman, "Why I'm Abandoning Polygamy," Pure Mormonism blog. http://puremormonism.blogspot.ca/2010/06/why-im-abandoning-polygamy.html J. GI SON DIVINE [Sidney Rigdon], "To the Sisters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," Latter Day Saint's Messenger and Advocate (Pittsburgh) 1/10 (15 March 1845): 154–158. William Marks, “Epistle,” Zions Harbinger and Baneemy’s Organ 3 (July 1853): 52–54 (published in St. Louis, by C. B. Thompson). William Marks, True Latter Day Saints’ Herald (23 October 23 1859): 25–26. Richard Abanes, Becoming Gods: A Closer Look at 21st-Century Mormonism (Harvest House Publishers: 2005). 226. ( Index of claims ) Richard Abanes, One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2003), 129, 133, 282–3, 531n37, 529n14-15 (paperback) ( Index of claims ) John C. Bennett, The History of the Saints, or an Exposé of Joe Smith and Mormonism (Boston: Leland & Whiting, 1842), 243,245. (Bennett examined) Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), ???. ( Index of claims ) Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 181–183, 269, 298–302, 308, 345, chapter 24. ( Index of claims ) John L. Brooke, The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 (Cambridge University Press, 1996), 212. Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 1. ( Index of claims ) John Dehlin, "Questions and Answers," Mormon Stories Podcast (25 June 2014). John Dehlin, "Why People Leave the LDS Church," (2008). William Hall, Abominations of Mormonism Exposed; Containing Many Facts and Doctrines Concerning That Singular People, During Seven Year's Membership with Them; from 1840 to 1847 (Cincinnati: I. Hart, 1852), 113. Marvin S. Hill, Quest for Refuge: The Mormon Flight from American Pluralism (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books, 1989), 59–60. Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (Anchor, 2004), =88-90, 115-116, chapter 11. John D. Lee, Mormonism Unveiled; or, the Life and Confessions of the Late Mormon Bishop, John D. Lee; (Written by Himself) Embracing the History of Mormonism ... With an Exposition of the Secret History, Signs, Symbols and Crimes of the Mormon Church. Also the True History of the Horrible Butchery Known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre (St. Louis: Bryan, Brand, 1877), 147. Walter Martin, The Kingdom of the Cults (Revised) (Minneapolis: Bethany House Publishers, 1997), 182, 190. ( Index of claims ) Bill McKeever and Eric Johnson, Mormonism 101. Examining the Religion of the Latter-day Saints (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 2000), 254, Chapter 17. ( Index of claims ) Website: The Mormon Handbook, Article: "Polygamy," URL: mormonhandbook FAIR review MormonThink.com website (as of 28 April 2012). Page: http://mormonthink.com/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm Linda King Newell and Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith, 2nd edition, (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 65, 147. Richard and Pamela Price, Joseph Smith Fought Polygamy: How Men Nearest the Prophet Attached Polygamy to His Name in Order to Justify Their Own Polygamous Crimes, Volume 1 (Price Publishing Co, 2000), Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3. D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 88. Charles A. Shook, The True Origin of Mormon Polygamy (Cincinnati: The Standard Publishing Company, 1910), 79, 82. George D. Smith, Nauvoo Polygamy: "...but we called it celestial marriage" (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2008), 1. ( Index of claims , (Detailed book review)) Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 205, 219, 231, 263.( Index of claims ) Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 1–. Richard S. Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon: A Portrait of Religious Excess (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 2005), 293–294. (Reviews) Watchman Fellowship, The Watchman Expositor (Page 3) Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith, Jr."–Primary editor: COgden, with additional contributions by multiple editors. ( FAIR's Analysis of this Wikipedia article) Ann Eliza Young, Wife No. 19, or the Story of a Life in Bondage, Being a Complete Exposé of Mormonism, and Revealing the Sorrows, Sacrifices and Sufferings of Women in Polygamy (Hartford, Conn.: Custin, Gilman & Company, 1876), 324–326. Gary James Bergera, "Identifying the Earliest Mormon Polygamists, 1841–44," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought no. 3 (Fall 2005), 30n75. Lawrence Foster, "A Little-Known Defense of Polygamy From the Mormon Press in 1842," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 9 no. 4 (Winter 1974), 24–25. Search for the Truth DVD (2007) Resources ’’Rethinking Mormonism’’, “Did Joseph Smith have sex with his wives?” (Web page) George D. Smith, “Nauvoo Polygamy: We Called It Celestial Marriage,” Free Inquiry [Council for Secular Humanism] 28/3 (April–May 2008): 44–46. Jerald and Sandra Tanner, "Sacred Marriage or Secret Affair? Joseph Smith and the Beginning of Mormon Polygamy," Salt Lake City Messenger, No. 112, May 2009.

Notes

FAIR Answers—back to home page

Essays on various topics in Joseph Smith's plural marriages

When did plural marriage start?

Joseph Smith and plural marriage

• Beginnings of plural marriage
• Fanny Alger: Joseph's first plural wife
• Early womanizer?
• Illegal marriages in Ohio?
• Age of wives
• Children of polygamous unions
• Marrying other men's wives?
• Polyandry
• John C. Bennett

John C. Bennett and plural marriage

• John C. Bennett prior to Nauvoo
• Bennett's brothel in Nauvoo
• Rise and Fall of Bennett
• Sarah Pratt
• Bennett and Prostitution
• Nancy Rigdon
• Sidney Rigdon and Bennett's charges
• Stealing missionary wives?

Gospel Topics, "Plural Marriage and Families in Early Utah"

Gospel Topics, (2013)

In accordance with a revelation to Joseph Smith, the practice of plural marriage—the marriage of one man to two or more women—was instituted among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840s. Thereafter, for more than half a century, plural marriage was practiced by some Latter-day Saints. Only the Church President held the keys authorizing the performance of new plural marriages. In 1890, the Lord inspired Church President Wilford Woodruff to issue a statement that led to the end of the practice of plural marriage in the Church. In this statement, known as the Manifesto, President Woodruff declared his intention to abide by U.S. law forbidding plural marriage and to use his influence to convince members of the Church to do likewise.

After the Manifesto, monogamy was advocated in the Church both over the pulpit and through the press. On an exceptional basis, some new plural marriages were performed between 1890 and 1904, especially in Mexico and Canada, outside the jurisdiction of U.S. law; a small number of plural marriages were performed within the United States during those years. In 1904, the Church strictly prohibited new plural marriages. Today, any person who practices plural marriage cannot become or remain a member of the Church.

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Valerie Hudson, "A Reconciliation of Polygamy"

Valerie Hudson,  Proceedings of the 2011 FAIR Conference, (August 2011)

During the period of time when the restored Church was commanded by the Lord to practice polygamy, some practiced it without any discernible hardship and still others with great pain. Contemporary Church members may look back upon that period with acceptance, or indifference, or discomfort, and I would like to say at the outset that I don’t see that diversity of feelings is harmful that people differ in their reactions to polygamy I don’t think is the issue. Rather, since the New and everlasting covenant of marriage is at the heart of the work of eternal life and godhood; confusion about the nature and form of lawful marriage ordained by God is harmful.

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To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, [[../CriticalSources|click here]]

Notes