Do Mormons Really Have More Than One Wife?
- By Derek Welch --
- 11 Apr 2016 --
Is polygamy practiced today in the LDS Church? Tackling the misconceptions of Mormonism.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not in any way encourage polygamy among its members. In a statement by Gordon B. Hinckley, the former president of the LDS Church, the Church strongly condemns the polygamy practice.
Do Mormons Really Have More Than One Wife?[/tweetthis]
His statement that he put forward in 1998 stated that; “This Church has nothing whatever to do with those practicing polygamy. They are not members of this Church…. If any of our members are found to be practicing plural marriage, they are excommunicated, the most serious penalty the Church can impose. Not only are those so involved in direct violation of the civil law, they are in violation of the law of this Church.”
However, there have emerged various offshoots from the mainstream LDS Church, and this has diluted the real definition of the terms “Mormon” and “Polygamy”. The polygamy issues started in the 1800s with the pioneers of Mormon, who hailed from Utah such as Joseph Smith. They were later persecuted and chased away by people in Nauvoo, Illinois.
Mormons polygamy practices stopped a long time ago in the 1890s when the U.S. government enacted stringent measures against polygamous church members. Further, Edmunds-Tucker Act was established which gave the government the right to confiscate church properties in case the church was found guilty.
It was this period that President Wilford Woodruff came up with a God’s revelation called “The Manifesto” that proclaimed that time has come to stop polygamy. Most Mormons who had already been in the practice found it hard to stop the practice, and they forced to relocate to Canada and Mexico City.
The question of polygamy has continued to receive mixed reactions from the LDS members. Some view the practice as an eternal law based on Doctrines and Covenants 132 and that would not be practiced until it became legal again in future.
@_Chubbs__ not at all. Polygamy is against traditional Mormon beliefs. But some branches practice it. (I.E. the FLDS religion)
— snakes (@kingdad2024) March 10, 2016
The offshoots of the LDS Church claims that they practice the older and truer form Mormonism, and they don’t observe Joseph Smith believes on polygamy. The mainstream LDS Church has continued to grow globally with a population of over 16 million members, and they have not expressed any interest in practicing polygamy either.
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