# Mormons Outlawed Polygomy??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874 "2008-04-11T11:15:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/1 "2008-04-11T11:15:44Z")
After the recent raid on that quasi-Mormon, Texas sex sect…the news claims the Mormons did away with polygomy a century ago. Really? Did anyone tell the Mormons that? I thought their belief in polygomy was well established to this day! What’s the SD? (Sorry, I no longer have a valid link to this news statement. You just have to take my word that this was said in a national article.) An eyebrow raising question for the SD, - Jinx :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Tristan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tristan/32/18058_2.png) [@Tristan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tristan)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/2 "2008-04-11T11:20:20Z")
The news article was correct. Polygamy was outlawed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints quite some time ago. However, what Warren Jeffs and others have done is create their own schism groups. The bunch in the news now, out of Texas, call themselves the Fundamental Church of Jesus etc. etc. They are not the only ones, just the ones that have managed to get themselves in hot water in the public eye. But they are not “Mormons”, as most folks would think it. They are the equivalent, in many ways, of the Westboro Babtist Church. In fact, living in a Poly household will get you kicked out of the mainstream Mormon Church, and arrested in Utah. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/3 "2008-04-11T11:20:33Z")
My eyebrow was raised by the thread title typo more than the question. 😉 Apparently, if you’re polygamous and Mormon, you’re [outside the church since 1890.](http://www.mormon-polygamy.org/) ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/4 "2008-04-11T11:25:53Z")
> **[Homepage - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints](https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/?lang=eng)** > > Discover a service-oriented, globally-connected Christian church that is led by a prophet of God and seeks to follow Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. > [@](#): > > The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. At certain times and for His specific purposes, God, through His prophets, has directed the practice of plural marriage (sometimes called polygamy), which means one man having more than one living wife at the same time. In obedience to direction from God, Latter-day Saints followed this practice for about 50 years during the 1800s but officially ceased the practice of such marriages after the Manifesto was issued by President Woodruff in 1890. Since that time, plural marriage has not been approved by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and any member adopting this practice is subject to losing his or her membership in the Church. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/5 "2008-04-11T11:38:05Z")
[QUOTE=Tristan] Polygamy was outlawed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints quite some time ago. [/QUOTE] Note: The “Latter-day” Saints are the big group. The “Latter Day” Saints are one of the smaller sects. [Cite.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latter_Day_Saint#Latter_Day_Saint_vs._Latter-day_Saint) ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/6 "2008-04-11T12:31:53Z")
[QUOTE=Tristan] In fact, living in a Poly household will get you kicked out of the mainstream Mormon Church, and arrested in Utah. [/QUOTE] Kicked out of the church definitely, but most likely not arrested. The authorities typically only bother prosecuting polygamy cases where there is child abuse, forced marriages, or welfare or tax fraud going on. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/7 "2008-04-11T12:33:53Z")
If a man (Mormon or non) wants to live with two women, have two marriage ceremonies, and call them both his wives, he is entitled. When he dies, the first wife could contest his will and claim all his inheritance. The second wife could be left out in the cold. ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/8 "2008-04-11T13:13:54Z")
[Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJCwV2UaDi8) is the then President and leader of the mainstream LDS (deceased) a decade ago where he pretty unequivicably denounces Polygamy - in a 1:01 min video - and states the Mormon Churches position on the issue ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/9 "2008-04-11T13:30:54Z")
I’ve always found it interesting that the decree outlawing polygamy was given the soulless and bureaucratic-sounding name **Official Declaration - 1** > **[1890 Manifesto](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1890_Manifesto)** > > The 1890 Manifesto (also known as the Woodruff Manifesto, the Anti-polygamy Manifesto, or simply "the Manifesto") is a statement which officially advised against any future plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Issued by Church President Wilford Woodruff in September 1890, the Manifesto was a response to mounting anti-polygamy pressure from the United States Congress, which by 1890 had disincorporated the church, escheated its assets to the U.S. federal ... It’s as if, for one theological moment the folks responsible for naming stuff in the LDS Church lost control and the beancounters grabbed the reins and used the opportunity to plaster a _proper_ designation on a Church pronouncement. Book of Mormon Book of Commandments Pearl of Great Price Doctrine and Covenants Official Declaration - 1 One of these things is not like the others. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/10 "2008-04-11T13:42:34Z")
I guess I’m a little suprised that anyone could be surprised that the mainstream LDS opposes polygamy. I guess if your only exposure to the church is what you see in the news (Jeffs and his ilk) it make sense, but your average Mormon is about as socially conventional as you can get. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/11 "2008-04-11T13:54:58Z")
Maybe they don’t have Mormons in space? (I found the question on the bizarre side, too. Whenever there’s an article about these FLDS folk, isn’t there always a mention about how the mainstream LDS church did away with polygamy over a hundred years ago?) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/12 "2008-04-11T13:55:01Z")
[QUOTE=Ice Wolf] My eyebrow was raised by the thread title typo more than the question. 😉 Apparently, if you’re polygamous and Mormon, you’re [outside the church since 1890.](http://www.mormon-polygamy.org/) [/QUOTE] Oddly polygyny is still allowed in the afterlife. Mormon marriage (aka sealings) last for eternity. A widower can remarry right away; a widow must first be unsealed from her late husband. The HBO series **Big Love** does a pretty good job of portraying Mormon fundalmentalists and the mainstream LDS church as well. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/13 "2008-04-11T14:46:56Z")
This is probably more of a GD rather than GQ subject, but I’ll try to keep this framed in factual answers. Many Mormons continued the practice of polygamy after 1890. [For example](http://www.media.utah.edu/UHE/p/POLYGAMY.html) > [@](#): > > All of these pressures had an impact on the church, even though they did not compel the Latter-day Saints to abolish polygamy. Church leaders as well as many of its members went into hiding–on the “underground” as it was called–either to avoid arrest or to avoid having to testify. Mormon Church President John Taylor died while in hiding. His successor, Wilford Woodruff, initially supported the continued practice of polygamy; however, as pressure increased, he began to change the church’s policy. On 26 September 1890 he issued a press release, the Manifesto, which read, “I publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land.” The Manifesto was approved at the church’s general conference on 6 October 1890. > > Rather than resolving the polygamy question, however, according to one historian: “For both the hierarchy and the general membership of the LDS Church, the Manifesto inaugurated an ambiguous era in the practice of plural marriage rivaled only by the status of polygamy during the lifetime of Joseph Smith.” Woodruff’s public and private statements contradicted whether the Manifesto applied to existing marriages. As a result of the Manifesto, some men left plural wives; others interpreted it as applying only to new marriages. All polygamous general authorities (church leaders including the First Presidency, Council of the Twelve Apostles, church patriarch, First Council of Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric) continued to cohabit with their wives. Based on impressionistic evidence in family histories and genealogical records, it appears that “most” polygamists followed the general authorities’ example. A number of mainstream Mormons continued polygomy in Mexico and Canada for a while after the 1904 the Church issued a second Manifesto which further clarified the Church’s opposition to the practice of polygamy. Note that the 1890 and 1904 manifests disavoid the _practice_ of polygamy and not the _principle_ of polygamy. While growning up as a Mormon, I was clearly taught that there would be polygamy in heaven. I have never seen anything which disavows the principle. If you watch the video tape linked above, you will notice that Hinckley does not say the Mormons do not believe in polygamy, he said that God said that the **practice** of plural marriage should be discontinued. There are certain practices within the Mormon church which indicate that polygamy is still an accepted principle. For example, the temple marrage seals husbands and wives for “time and all eternity,” in other words for the next life as well. If a wife dies, the husband can get sealed again to another woman for this and the following world, but a woman, whose husband to whom she was sealed to dies, cannot be sealed to another man. They can marry for this world, but not for the following. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/14 "2008-04-11T15:07:03Z")
[QUOTE=flurb] I guess I’m a little suprised that anyone could be surprised that the mainstream LDS opposes polygamy. I guess if your only exposure to the church is what you see in the news (Jeffs and his ilk) it make sense, but your average Mormon is about as socially conventional as you can get. [/QUOTE] I’ve \*\*never \*\*seen a news story which didn’t include somewhere a CYA disclaimer that the “real” Mormon church outlawed or discontinued the practice of polygamy years ago. Unless this is the first news story about a “Mormon” cult the OP has ever read, I fear we’ve been whooshed. ETA: I mean a news story about polygamy in the “Morman” sects, of course. I don’t think they mention Mormon polygamy in news stories about cheese or the Iraq war. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/15 "2008-04-11T15:07:24Z")
Was Utah always part of the United States, even when it was a territory, or did it start out independent? My impression is that polygamy was outlawed so that Utah could become, specifically, a US State. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/16 "2008-04-11T15:24:03Z")
[QUOTE=Sunspace] Was Utah always part of the United States, even when it was a territory, or did it start out independent? My impression is that polygamy was outlawed so that Utah could become, specifically, a US State. [/QUOTE] It was a condition of Congress accepting the petition for statehood. Prior to that, Utah was a Mexican territory until the end of the Mexican-American war. The Utah Territory was organized by the federal government around 1850 and consisted of what is now Utah plus a large portion of Nevada, Colorado and a corner of Nebraska. The Mormons petitioned congress to form the Utah territory into the State of Deseret in 1849, but this was quickly rejected. The federal government disapproved of the Mormon practice of plural marriage right from the beginning, and this conflict ultimately led to a minor scuffle known as the [Utah War](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utah_War). The US Civil War then shifted people’s priorities somewhat. In the ensuing decades, the Mormon church banned polygamy, and a new petition for statehood – which included a Constitutional ban on the practice of polygamy, was accepted by Congress for the much smaller state that is now Utah. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/17 "2008-04-11T15:27:02Z")
I am curious. Who else found this to be new information? Don’t worry, there’s no gotcha here or something. I’m genuinely curious to know how widespread might be the belief that the LDS still endorses or even practices polygamy. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/18 "2008-04-11T15:39:09Z")
My understanding was that the Mormons said publicly that they do not condone polygamy anymore but continue to practice it privately. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/19 "2008-04-11T15:49:19Z")
[QUOTE=Ca3799] My understanding was that the Mormons said publicly that they do not condone polygamy anymore but continue to practice it privately. [/QUOTE] That understanding would be incorrect as far as the official LDS Church goes. As has been mentioned, there are sects which still try to practice it, but those sects are denounced and rejected by mainstream Mormons. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2008, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874/20 "2008-04-11T15:58:29Z")
[QUOTE=Annie-Xmas] If a man (Mormon or non) wants to live with two women, have two marriage ceremonies, and call them both his wives, he is entitled. [/quote] Even when the “women” are 13-year-old girls? Sometimes this kind of toerance sounds nice in theory, but in practice (as we’re seeing in Texas), it amounts to basically the farming of sex slaves. These girls are isolated from mainstream society and brainwashed from birth to believe that they have no choice but to be the sexual property of men (who half the time are their own uncles or cousins). They aren’t really given any opportunity to refuse consent. It’s a depicable practice and I think _all_ these compounds need to be raided and _all_ these little sex farm operations need to be broken up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mormons-outlawed-polygomy/444874.md?page=2)