Polygamy: A Comprehensive Exploration to Plural Marriage (original) (raw)

Polygamy, is legal nowhere in North America, underscoring the depth of conviction held by the select few who practice it anyway.

In the United States, Fundamentalist Mormons are the most common groups to practice polygamy (although some Neopagans, Liberal Christians and some others also do). For Mormons, polygamy is the Divine Principle, reflecting God's wish that his people are "fruitful and multiply." Mainstream Mormons, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), officially stopped practicing the Principle in the late 1800s. Those who continued forming polygamous relationships were eventually excommunicated and became the Fundamentalist Mormons, which include various sects including the FLDS, the AUB, the Priesthood Work and the Independent Fundamentalists not associated with any particular group.

Most polygamists in North America, are practicing plural marriage as the Divine Principle, a component of the Mormon belief system. It was made very public, perhaps for the first time, in the HBO series "Big Love" or the TLC reality show "Sister Wives." The Divine Principle is still on the books in the LDS Church, but its practice has been discontinued. Mormons who refused to give it up were ultimately excommunicated from the LDS.

Estimates have their numbers at somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 in North America, most living in small communities in parts of the Western United States.

Polygamy is something of a mystery to most people living outside those communities. Outsiders are typically offered only a partial glimpse, and then it's in the context of a "raid" like the one that resulted in the arrest of Prophet Warren Jeffs, the removal of hundreds of children from their multiple mothers, and those rare photos of rural women wearing identical prairie dresses.

This is not, of course, the full picture of Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy. It's barely a sketch. For one thing, what's the Principle really about? When did it begin, how has it been practiced, and how, if polygamy is illegal, are tens of thousands of people marrying more than one spouse?

It starts with a man named Joseph Smith, who had a revelation.

Joseph Smith: The Principle

According to Mormon theology, God told Joseph Smith to practice polygamy and spread the word through his people.

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In the 1800s, "Mormon" meant one thing: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 1831, the head of the LDS -- the Prophet -- was Joseph Smith, and he believed God had ordered him to spread the practice of polygamy among his people.

Specifically, God revealed to Smith that Mormons were to practice polygany, which is the marriage of one man to multiple wives.

The revelation was based on a simple principle: God wanted his people to multiply. Men can produce any number of offspring at one time, while women can only bear about one child per year. A marriage between a single man and multiple women would therefore bear a greater number of offspring than one between a single man and a single woman.

The Mormon Church refers back to God's directive in Genesis 1:28, "be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth," for polygamy's ancient roots. Joseph Smith's revelation, the Divine Principle, is reflected in several passages of the Mormon scripture Doctrine and Covenants, including:

If any man espouse a virgin, and desire to espouse another, and if the first give her consent, and if he espouse the second, and they are virgins and have vowed to no other man, then he is justified; he cannot commit adultery for they are given unto him.

It's not all about multiplying, though. Smith and his followers also believed that plural marriage expanded the mind and the heart, encouraged patience, tested one's faith, and helped steer the righteous away from the sins of adultery and envy.

Still, in the aftermath of Joseph Smith's revelation, Mormons were faced with a difficult transition.

While this Mormon family from the 1890s still practiced polygamy, the LDS church banned all new plural marriages in 1889.

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Polygamy was slow to spread throughout the Church, taking years to catch on. It was not an easy directive to accept. For one thing, plural marriage was, and still is, illegal all over North America; accepting Smith's revelation made Mormons outlaws (although the principle of religious freedom often protected them from government interference, at least in the beginning).

Plus, in a group of devout people who had always practiced monogamy, a directive for a man to have sex with more than one woman was a tough sell.

But within a couple of generations, Smith's example (he ultimately married dozens of women, some quite young) became, if not the norm, then at least pretty normal. Enough people engaged in polygamy that it became a core practice within the Mormon belief system.

That lasted for about 60 years. The Divine Principle is still in the Mormon scripture and is still respected by the LDS Church, but the practice is not. In 1889, then-President and Prophet Wilford Woodruff received a revelation stating that the time for polygamy (and the outlaw Mormon) had passed.

The next year, the LDS issued a decree that there would be no new plural marriages in the Church, and in the early 1900s, the Mormon leadership began to excommunicate those Mormons still forming new polygamous unions. Those excommunicated Mormons became the Fundamentalist sects that still engage in polygamy today.

This is an important distinction to make. The differences between LDS Mormons and Fundamentalist Mormons go beyond mere labels.

The Fundamentalists

Sunday is usually the only day of the week when polygamous husband Joe, his three wives and their 21 children are able to all share a meal together.

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By various estimates and definitions, there are anywhere from five to more than a dozen different sects within the Fundamentalist Mormon community, each with its own Prophet and living space. At one point, they were all one group of Mormons excommunicated for maintaining a polygamous lifestyle, and many of the break-off sects are still connected financially in one way or another, sometimes via land rights or corporations.

Fundamentalist Mormons are spread out around the American West and in parts of Mexico and Canada. Their numbers are hard to pin down due to the secretive nature of their polygamist lifestyles, but most estimates are between 30,000 and 50,000.

The largest of these sects is the FLDS, or Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (primarily in Arizona and Utah). With about 10,000 members, it comprises perhaps 25 percent of Fundamentalist Mormons. The next largest is the AUB, or Apostolic United Brethren, also known as the Allred Group (primarily in Utah). Its numbers are in the area of 7,500.

Other, smaller sects have anywhere from a hundred to about 1,500 members. They include the Centennial Park Group (Arizona), the Davis County Cooperative Society (Utah), the Church of the Firstborn (Mexico), the Bountiful Groups (Canada), the Confederate Nations of Israel (Utah), the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days (Utah), and the Missouri Community (Mormons settled in Missouri after Joseph Smith revealed the Second Coming would take place there).

While it's true that some of the wives in polygamous marriages receive government support (only the first wife is legally married -- the others are single mothers), Fundamental Mormons also run farms and have construction companies. They work on construction projects -- legitimate ones -- all over the West and Mexico, and, with a few exceptions, interact with those outside their sects. In most cases, the people they work with outside their communities simply look the other way on the polygamy issue. It's illegal, but in many areas, particularly in Utah, outsiders practice a certain degree of lenience toward the religiously sanctioned plural marriages.

Polygamy, while invariably illegal throughout North America, is still a form of marriage. As such, there are guidelines regarding the way Fundamentalist Mormons form their commitments and carry them out. Perhaps the most basic one is this: Only a specific form of polygamy is sanctioned.

What are the rules of polygamy for Fundamentalist Mormons?

Most people associate North American polygamy with images of the FLDS and the 2008 raids on the Yearning for Zion compound in Texas.

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To those on the outside, Fundamentalist Mormon polygamy may look like a free-for-all, all those women and children, and children holding younger children. In fact, there are rules guiding polygamy just like there are with any other type of marriage. There's no "Polygamy Rule Book" to refer to -- these are outlaw societies, after all -- but some of the guidelines are clear.

Only Polygany is Allowed

Fundamentalist Mormons are not simply polygamous. Polygamy means "plural marriage" and includes polyandry, between one woman and multiple men; group marriage, between more than one woman and more than one man; and polygany (with an "n"), between one man and multiple women. The latter is the most common type of plural marriage in the world, and it's the one Fundamentalist Mormons practice. There are no polyandrous or group marriages in these communities.

The Prophet Must Agree

Each Fundamentalist group has a Prophet, and that Prophet, as God's messenger, grants the right to marry. In most sects, members will ask his permission to form a marriage, and he will allow it or not.

In the FLDS, which is the Warren Jeffs Community, it is believed that Jeffs actively arranged marriages, placing women (or, as is charged, young girls) with husbands according to God's determination.

Righteousness is Required

In order to be worthy of marriage and family, a man and his wives must be in good standing with God. Prophets have the power to "reassign" a man's wives and children if that man is deemed unrighteous. This is believed to be a rare occurrence in most sects.

Multiply

Most people associate Mormon Fundamentalism with pictures like these -- FLDS women and children removed from the Yearning for Zion compound in 2008.

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The Divine Principle begins with fruitfulness. Having many children is at the core of the practice, and men and women are expected to multiply. The more wives a man has, the more children he will father.

While there certainly are differences between the various sects in the details, it is within these basic guidelines that Fundamentalist Mormons practice polygamy. It's ordered by God, guided by the prophet, and for the overarching purpose of producing children.

Although, most of those practicing the principle will tell you that it is also, as much as any other marriage, about love.

LDS vs. FLDS

LDS Mormons, like those who meet and worship at the Salt Lake City temple and tabernacle, don't engage in plural marriage at all.

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Not all Fundamentalist Mormon groups are alike -- there are anywhere from five to more than a dozen separate Fundamentalist sects out there, depending on how you define "separate," and each has its own Prophet, location, name and customs. While they all tend to live in tight communities, dress conservatively and practice polygamy, there are profound differences between them, too.

Many people have come to associate Mormon Fundamentalism with media images and information released after raids on polygamist compounds: child brides, women and girls who look like they stepped out of 1920s rural America, and fully isolated lives.

Many of those images are of the FLDS, or Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (which is not affiliated with the mainstream LDS Church). A lot of Fundamentalist Mormons in fact live more open, "normal" lives. They have ties to the community, dress conservatively but in today's styles, and have modern hair styles. They get married when they want to and they choose their own spouses.

In the end, of course, the practice of polygamy sets all Fundamentalist Mormons apart from the monogamous majority. In areas where they've settled en masse, though, polygamists tend to find a relatively laissez faire attitude on the part of government agencies and neighbors, their religious choice tolerated unless it impinges on other rights. A marriage involving three consenting adults, for instance, may skate by under "religious freedom." One between two consenting adults and a 14-year-old child would draw the cops if the truth got out.

But most Fundamentalist Mormons don't form marriages that include children. Most are, polygamy aside, law-abiding citizens who either contribute to the community or else live quietly outside it, and most of the monogamous relationships surrounding them adopt a live and let live attitude.

Nonetheless, the division is deep: Most people don't marry two, three or 10 spouses, and the taboo seems to be an enduring one. As long as a Western marriage is between exactly two people, a certain degree of secrecy, and therefore separation, will be part of the polygamous lifestyle in North America.