Speculation on Polygamy...

[_consiglieri]

If this is correct, and LDS believe that polygamy is accepted, yet not required, would polygamy play a substantial role in modern Mormonism, if polygamy were legal?

This is a good question, Liz, as is the OP.

I don't know the answers (though I think Aristotle Smith did a good analysis), but I do think there may be a connection to how hard the LDS Church is fighting against legalized gay marriage.

If two men (or two women) can marry, what legal principle would then prohibit a man and two women from getting married?

And if polygamy were considered lawful in these United States, it might put the Church leadership in a somewhat uncomfortable position.

I mean, if Mormons abandoned plural marriage because the Supreme Court upheld legislation outlawing it, how would they explain not adopting plural marriage once more should the Supreme Court reverse itself?

As long as we're speculating . . .

All the Best!

--Consiglieri

[_consiglieri]

Ooo! I guess you're stuck with the ex for all eternity. How's that going to work out? Does she get along with the present Mrs. consiglieri?

No, she doesn't.

Nor with me, come to think of it.

I am seriously considering having difficulty remembering my ex-wife's new name come resurrection morning . . .

[_Zelder]

I'm talking about different types of sexual relationships not about the laws governing what is legal or illegal.

I'm talking about the rights of inheritance and property that marriage laws were put in place to enforce. And that polygamy really complicates, especially now, when it's technically illegal.

Okay. That would be neither here nor there in a society living in the united order and practicing plural marriage.

[_Quasimodo]

Ooo! I guess you're stuck with the ex for all eternity. How's that going to work out? Does she get along with the present Mrs. consiglieri?

No, she doesn't.

Nor with me, come to think of it.

I am seriously considering having difficulty remembering my ex-wife's new name come resurrection morning . . .

:D. "Hmmm, was it Sally? Dawn? Gertrude?..."

[_Yahoo Bot]

If two men (or two women) can marry, what legal principle would then prohibit a man and two women from getting married?

Well, the California Supreme Court specifically addressed this bogeyman and disposed of it in In Re Marriage cases.

And if polygamy were considered lawful in these United States, it might put the Church leadership in a somewhat uncomfortable position.

No it wouldn't. Polygamy is lawful through large parts of Africa and I see no Church leader sweating it.

I mean, if Mormons abandoned plural marriage because the Supreme Court upheld legislation outlawing it, how would they explain not adopting plural marriage once more should the Supreme Court reverse itself?

[/quote]

One does not equal the other. Just because Prohibition was repealed doesn't mean that I have an obligation to pick up drinking again.

[_Stormy Waters]

One does not equal the other. Just because Prohibition was repealed doesn't mean that I have an obligation to pick up drinking again.

If the only reason you stopped drinking was because of prohibition, it would make sense that you might pick it up again when it became legal again. In the first official declaration it was made quite clear that the reason the church was abandoning polygamy was because of societal pressures.

The question is this: Which is the wisest course for the Latter-day Saints to pursue—to continue to attempt to practice plural marriage, with the laws of the nation against it and the opposition of sixty millions of people, and at the cost of the confiscation and loss of all the Temples, and the stopping of all the ordinances therein, both for the living and the dead, and the imprisonment of the First Presidency and Twelve and the heads of families in the Church, and the confiscation of personal property of the people (all of which of themselves would stop the practice); or, after doing and suffering what we have through our adherence to this principle to cease the practice and submit to the law, and through doing so leave the Prophets, Apostles and fathers at home, so that they can instruct the people and attend to the duties of the Church, and also leave the Temples in the hands of the Saints, so that they can attend to the ordinances of the Gospel, both for the living and the dead?

Also as others have pointed out, a man can still be sealed to more than one woman at a time as long as the other wives are dead. So doctrinally it's a perfectly reasonable expectation that the church would resume polygamy if it were made legal. Realistically the church wouldn't because it would be a PR nightmare.

[_Zelder]

If the only reason you stopped drinking was because of prohibition, it would make sense that you might pick it up again when it became legal again. In the first official declaration it was made quite clear that the reason the church was abandoning polygamy was because of societal pressures.

Also as others have pointed out, a man can still be sealed to more than one woman at a time as long as the other wives are dead. So doctrinally it's a perfectly reasonable expectation that the church would resume polygamy if it were made legal. Realistically the church wouldn't because it would be a PR nightmare.

Maybe but Jacob Chapter 2 makes it clear that polygamy is the expection not the rule.

[_Zelder]

Well, the California Supreme Court specifically addressed this bogeyman and disposed of it in In Re Marriage cases.

Where can I read up on what they said on this?

[_Stormy Waters]

Maybe but Jacob Chapter 2 makes it clear that polygamy is the expection not the rule.

The church currently practices polygamy so I guess we are the exception. If Polygamy became legal it wouldn't make sense to allow polygamy when the other wives are dead, but not allow it when the other wives are alive.

[_Zelder]

Maybe but Jacob Chapter 2 makes it clear that polygamy is the expection not the rule.

The church currently practices polygamy so I guess we are the exception. If Polygamy became legal it wouldn't make sense to allow polygamy when the other wives are dead, but not allow it when the other wives are alive.

That's a stretch. If a person is jealous that their spouse gets married when they die, they have serious issues. There is a huge difference between having two living spouses in your house and getting remarried after your spouse dies.