Plural Marriage Essay Buried on LDS.org

[_No_Hidden_Agenda]

No wonder the "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Navuoo" essay has had so little effect... You gotta really hunt to even find it!

If you pull up the topics page and sort alphabetically in "P" the essay "Plural Marriage in Kirtland and Nauvoo" is not listed! The only one is "Plural Marriage in The Church.." From there you get a watered-down, fairly non-controversial essay! No teen brides. No polyandry. No Law of Sarah.

In that essay you can click a link to learn more about the Kirtland/Nauvoo time and get to the essay you really wanted, but only if the whitewashed sampler paragraphs weren't enough for you, and I think they are plenty for the faithful...

I think most TBMs who get brave enough to actually read the essay will go to find it, get the crappy white-washed version, think they've read the "controversy" and see no problems, and assume we're overblowing a non-issue.

Sneaky!

[_just me]

This is not surprising. It was put there simply to be pointed to when someone asks why they weren't told about it. ------> Look, it's right here on the church website. It's all your own fault you didn't know about the shinanigans of Nauvoo, ya dummy!

[_Sanctorian]

"The concern going in from the Brethren was how to roll this out without creating a (look-at-all-of-our-problems) page. The Brethren don't want to start faith issues where they don't currently exist, and they are correct that the majority of active and believing Saints don't know or care about this stuff, particularly outside of Utah and the United States.

"The decision was made to incorporate them [the essays] into already-existing areas of the [Mormon Church's official] website and not do a big campaign (outside of the organic interest that will naturally result). From a business perspective, it's probably a wise move. . . . . [I]t's really all about inoculating the next generation. Elder [Steven] Snow has said as much directly to me. They are well aware that skeptics will likely not be satisfied with these answers or their choice of roll-out. It's there for members to see if they are planning lessons, talks, and I know that they are working towards integrating them with curriculum; particularly youth curriculum." . . .

“This much is clear: They [the essays] are not designed to restore people's faith as much as they are designed to lessen future disaffections; Members who come across damning information for the first time and turn to LDS.org to see what the Church says on the matter. The goal is to give them a faithful response while still acknowledging the complexity of the issue.”

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1120016,1120016

[_Mormonicious]

You can find it right after the admission of fault for the Meadow Mountains Massacre and just before the Mormon churches financial disclosure forms.