Plural marriage (LDS)
Plural marriage among Latter-day Saints is a sort of polygamy (more properly called polygyny) formerly practiced by some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the church's 19th century founding days and currently practiced by splinter groups.
Its practice among church members substantially subsided after the Church issued a "Manifesto" against the practice in 1890. However, a few members continued to practice plural marriage privately with the approval of a few Church leaders until a second proclamation was issued by the Church in the early 1900s. Under that proclamation, those who continued to practice it became subject to excommunication from the Church.
The Church continues to forbid the practice under the penalty of excommunication, and Church leaders have asked that groups who do practice it should not be referred to as "Mormons" or "Mormon fundamentalists." It should be noted that the term Mormon is itself controversial for some.
Origin
In the process of re-translating the Bible, Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Church, prayed about the polygynous practices of biblical figures such as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He claimed to have received a revelation from God regarding plural marriage (see Doctrine and Covenants 132), and a new commandment from God to take more wives. In one account Joseph was reluctant to practice polygyny, and did so only because an angel appeared and told Joseph that he would be cut off if he continued to disobey the Lord's commandment.
The practice of polygyny
Polygyny was practiced as early as 1833 although the practice was not publicly taught until 1852, some five years after the Mormons came to Utah, and eight years after Smith's death. Smith introduced the doctrine to select individuals, some of whom (such as Brigham Young) were told to take more wives. Some Mormon leaders at the time voiced their objection to the practice and left the Church. Others struggled with their consciences and agreed to the practice only after much prayer. Brigham Young famously said that after the doctrine was communicated to him, he would gladly have traded places with the body in a hearse he saw passing down the street, than embrace this new doctrine. In one instance the first mayor of Nauvoo, John C. Bennett, was excommunicated for the adulterous practice of "spiritual wifery."
Some of those who left or were driven from the Church set out to expose Smith and his alleged corruption. Eventually this antagonism led to Joseph surrendering himself to jail for charges of riot and treason. While imprisoned, a mob rushed the jail and murdered Smith.
Joseph Smith's wives
Although there is some disagreement as to the precise figure, Joseph Smith was married to about 33 wives during his life. Under the doctrine of plural marriage, the first wife's consent should be given before a man should marry another wife. Joseph Smith's first wife, Emma, was at times opposed to the practice and Joseph may have married some women without Emma knowing beforehand.
Some of Joseph's wives were older women and some of them young, the youngest being Helen Mar Kimball who was 14. Although no evidence exists that Smith had or did not have sexual relations with Helen Mar, it is a practice in modern Polygamist groups to defer sexual relations in such a case. Documentation seems to suggest that the reason for this marriage was to join the Smith and Kimball families into the eternities through the sealing ordinance of marriage. Sexual relations would not have been necessary. In fact, it was a surprise to Helen Mar that at one point she could not attend a dance believing the marriage applied to eternity and not this life. If there had been sexual relations, it is unlikely she would have had this confusion. Heber C. Kimball, Helen Mar's father, was a devout Church-member and Church-leader.
In today's culture, a man marrying a 14-year old would be quickly labeled as a dirty-old man or felon. However, an entirely different culture existed in the pre-MTV, pre-Internet, pre-oversexed generation, mid-1800s. Victorian values ruled society. The average marrying age was between 14 and 16. As a general rule, parents controlled marriages and did so for economic or social reasons. By 14 most adolescents were working and finished with schooling creating an entirely different adolescent than in modern times. The dating-culture perspective of modern times did not exist.
Polyandry, sexual relations and fathering children
Some of Joseph Smith's wives were also married to other men (usually other Mormon men in good standing and in a few cases acted as a witness in Smith's marriage to his wife) at the time they married Smith. Typically these women continued to live with their first husband, not Smith. There is evidence that Joseph had sexual relations with some of his other wives and may have fathered a few children by one or two of them.
Critical views
According to sympathizers, Joseph, Brigham Young and other prominent Church leaders were reluctant to embrace the practice of plural marriage especially given their strict Victorian morals. Some critics contend that Smith at first committed adultery with Fanny Alger, a young maid in the Smith household, and later invented the doctrine of plural marriage to legitimize his immorality.
Some critics argue the LDS church is disingenous in its dismissal of plural marriage, since men can currently be sealed in LDS temples to more than one woman simultaneously, while women cannot be sealed to more than one man, (Devout Mormons consider such sealings as eternal, outlasting mortal life and civil marriages) and because of charges that plural marriage is still a seminal belief to Mormons, though it is not often discussed. Except under very unusual circumstances (a so-called "temple divorce"), men cannot be sealed to a second wife while the first is still living. It is unclear what the presumed status of widowers who are re-sealed is after death, if it is not an effective plural marriage.
See Also
Reference
Referenced By
Eliza R. Snow | Eliza Roxcy Snow | Eternal Marriage | Goddess (Mormonism) | Gutzon Borglum | Heavenly Mother
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