First of all, this is NOT a thread to debate the merits of any religion, the sincerity of any person’s religious faith, or the social merits of any religious practice. If you want to do that, open a thread in GD.
For the purposes of this question, the term “Mormon” refers to a person or movement that accepts Joseph Smith as a prophet, leader, or teacher or accepts the Book of Mormon as scripture. It includes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah as well as other groups such as the Community of Christ and the Church of Christ, Temple Lot.
Many Mormons practiced polygamy in the 19th century and small groups practice it to this day. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Utah currently believes that polygamy is OK with God in general but that God has asked them to stop practicing polygamy on Earth at this time.
Was Mormon polygamy ever recognized as valid under the laws of any government? For example, has a Mormon polygamous marriage ever been recognized as legally valid in a country that recognizes Muslim polygamy as valid?
Has there ever been any cross-recognition of polygamy between Mormons and non-Mormons who believe in or practice polygamy? For example, has any Mormon church ever accepted a convert from Islam who was in a polygamous Islamic marriage and recognized the polygamy as valid? Has there ever been a fatwa issued on whether or not polygamous Mormons in general or a specific polygamous Mormon can convert to Islam and continue living in their polygamous marriage or whether their polygamy is invalid and they must get re-polygamously-married via Islamic ceremonies or else break up (or be guilty of adultery)?
I mentioned this in another thread, but polygamy was at least tolerated in Mexico. I believe it is illegal now, but not sure about the past.
The sidebar here vaguely suggests that in many places it may be legal for Muslims but not other religions. I am not aware of any joint agreement between religions and kind of doubt it; Mormons and Muslims don’t meet in great numbers, especially with one strongly encouraging proselytizing and the other strongly discouraging apostasy.
Polygamy in Islam allows up to 4 wives. Mormonism has no such limit. A place with Sharia may not smile upon someone with five wives. In both religions, there are/were regions which support polygamy (really polygyny in both cases), and regions which do not have a history of polygamy (Turkey, Tunisia, European Muslims).
It would be interesting to see if Islam ever had to deal with converts from other faiths (neither Muslim nor Mormon) that were already polygamously married. This might have some applicability to whether or not converts from a Mormon faith to Islam would be allowed to keep polygamous relationships up to Wife #4. There might be issues on validity, for example an imam might say that an ex-Mormon wannabe Muslim man with 6 Mormon wives can live with Wives #1, 3, 5, and 6 because Marriages #2 and #4 are invalid under Islam because the bride was too young (or the proper consent was not obtained, or there were serious mental health issues at the time, or because it was not witnessed by at least 3 people, whatever).
The Apostle Paul indicates in 1 Corinthians 7:12-16 that monogamous marriages of converts to Christianity are not inherently invalid.
One other aspect to consider in cross-recognition is the difference between acceptance of prior marriages of converts and recognition of marriages done by followers or ex-followers in other religions. For example, the Roman Catholic Church generally recognizes monogamous non-Catholic marriages of converts who have never been Catholic that fulfill criteria such as the correct intent and capacity, but does not recognize marriages where a Catholic gets married in a non-Catholic ceremony without a bishop’s permission, even if the same ceremony would have been recognized had the parties both been non-Catholic. Protestants generally have no problem with cross-recognition of marriages - if a Presbyterian gets married to an Amish person in an Episcopalian ceremony, most would consider this valid.
Currently, as far as the LDS Church goes (biggest one, which most people think of when they think “Mormons”), polygamy of any kind is strictly verboten (at least among the living). This includes areas where it is legal. So if a Muslim man with three wives were to convert, he would be expected to narrow it down to one.
You will find that members of the LDS church are often more anti-polygamy than the average person. My opinion is that this is largely due to the desire to not be confused with the polygamous sects.
Interestingly enough, it looks like there was an interreligious controversy over polygamy in India. Apparently polygamy is legal there for Muslims (but not Hindus) A Hindu converted (or pretended to convert) to Islam, got polygamously married in an Islamic ceremony, then converted back to Hinduism. Wikipedia’s cite is pretty dense with jargon so I might be missing something but it doesn’t appear to say whether or not the man’s second (polygamous) marriage was voided on returning to Hinduism, whether it triggered an automatic divorce by operation of law, or what.
Any Indians here who know anything more about this phenomenon? Are people who were bona fide Muslims with polygamous marriages who have a bona fide conversion to another religion like Hinduism or Christianity allowed to keep their polygamous marriages? If not, what actually happens?
It looks like the UK recognizes certain polygamous marriages that were valid in the place where they were performed but does not allow polygamous marriages to be created locally under UK law. So apparently some polygamous Muslims can immigrate to the UK and be recognized as legal polygamists, but once in the UK, they can’t add any more wives nor can non-polygamist Muslims in the UK become legal polygamists. The UK situation would seem to exclude the reasonable possibility of recognition of most Mormon (e.g. FLDS) polygamous marriages because those marriages are generally performed in Utah, Arizona, or some other place in the US where polygamy is flat out illegal. No valid polygamy in the origin country means no valid polygamy in the UK.
I don’t think the big church really “recognizes” any marriages that it didn’t perform. A convert couple that stuck with the church would eventually have another wedding (a sealing ceremony in a temple).
The LDS Church recognizes them as valid marriages “for time,” i.e. the same as most religions, but not as eternal marriages, which is what the sealing ceremony is for. A significant portion of Mormons don’t get sealed in the temple, but are still considered married for this life.
Iirc, a “for time” marriage that is recognized by the LDS church, for example, a marriage entered into by a couple where one or both later converted to the LDS church, is valid in the sense that continued cohabitation is not considered fornication or another conjugal sin. The marriage would end when one of them dies. The LDS also practice “celestial” marriage which supposedly lasts for eternity and is required for certain blessings to be received and this is done in a temple (not a regular church building). So arguably there’s a reason for a convert couple to “upgrade” to a Celestial Marriage, but in the meantime they can continue to live together as a married couple and do things married couples do.
Yes, and in fact many LDS couples who get married outside the temple later go through the sealing ceremony in the temple to “upgrade.” But in either case, it’s usually referred to as a sealing of an existing marriage, not a new marriage.