Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yet they have and support polygamy. (some still do)
That the problems with pointless labels.
No. They do not support polygamy, and have not ever since 1896. Once it was banned by the church, it never was re-instituted. A very small group of heretics left, moved to a remote wilderness and continued. They have waxed and waned ever since, but never grew very much larger than when they began, as most of their people eventually left, and left the polygamy behind when they did.
Some were never baptized into the church. Others were, and petitioned to be baptized once they left. Some never joined any church again after they left. But they all quit the polygamy for good.
The splinter church that split away from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has no part in church membership or leadership, and have never had, ever.
They are a tiny group of self-isolated heretics.
The tens of millions of real Mormons, faithful and adherent or not, have nothing to do with them other than relatives who try to get their people to leave and come back home where they can become clean again.
More importantly, Utah's state government has held every criminal action of that little bunch accountable to the law ever since the turn of the 21st century.
This is why they fled to Texas. This is why the leaders who escaped Texas fled to Canada and other distant states. And Utah's pressure is the ultimate reason why it's official leader is now serving a life sentence in prison.
All their leaders are pariahs, outlaws who are being hunted by the law.
Whatever polygamy that still exists is being practiced only by legal adults outside the legalities of state-recognized marriage. No more child marriages, no more marriages against the will of a partner.
There are other people of all faiths, colors, and beliefs that do the same, as there are few laws that restrict adult mutual consent in co-habitation.
The millions of Mormons, the body of the real church, who share the same basic religious beliefs, but they marry, divorce, live together unmarried, have kids in and out of wedlock, go to church or not, just like everyone else in this country does everywhere.
Your last sentence is the only truth here. The label is pointless.
I don't know why you bothered to bring it up. It was cheap-shot meanness and nothing more.
Hate to tell you, banjomike.... there are polygamists - who are not the rabid FLDS who are living in my community and across the Salt Lake Valley. The State of Utah does absolutely nothing about them.
They violate child labor laws in their "family businesses". They deny reproductive rights to their daughters and wives. They don't access legitimate health care for fear of being found out.
The State and Mormon Church wash their hands of these people because of the state law - but turn their back on the women and children in these families until something erupts or they receive a report of abuse.
Or the feds and the IRS move in to shut them down.
Hate to tell you, banjomike.... there are polygamists - who are not the rabid FLDS who are living in my community and across the Salt Lake Valley. The State of Utah does absolutely nothing about them.
The real problem is that there are no laws against cohabitation, and it's hard to prove that these folks actually consider themselves to be married. If a man and two women were to move in down the street from me, didn't cause any trouble and minded their own business, I don't think I'd turn them in to the law. I've lived in Salt Lake City all my life, and I know there are isolated polygamist families in the area. I've seen them grocery shopping, etc. Depending upon the group, it can be pretty easy to spot them.
Quote:
The State and Mormon Church wash their hands of these people because of the state law - but turn their back on the women and children in these families until something erupts or they receive a report of abuse.
What responsibility does the LDS Church have in this that the Catholic Church or the Lutheran Church or any other church doesn't also have? If a Mormon is found to be living in a polygamous relationship, both the man and his wives are excommunicated -- no exceptions. The LDS Church is hardly in a position to do anything other than that.
That said, I'm not a Romney fan and won't be voting for him, but I can't help but wonder how any of this discussion of polygamy has anything to do with Romney announcing his run for the Senate. I think people just like to mouth off and any time the word "Mormon" is mentioned in a post, certain people take it as an invitation to hijack the thread.
The FLDS are the most famous splinter group, but there are others. I know the Sister Wives people belong to a non-FLDS one...something starting with an A. Mainstream Mormons haven’t practiced polygamy in over 100 years, as mentioned. Romney falls in the latter, so no worries on the polygamy front, sigh.
I wonder how many signatures he has now. Someone came by today. Husband didn’t want to sign (just because he didn’t want to get on a phone call list or anything) and I didn’t come to the door because my ankle is tweaked.
Hate to tell you, banjomike.... there are polygamists - who are not the rabid FLDS who are living in my community and across the Salt Lake Valley. The State of Utah does absolutely nothing about them.
They violate child labor laws in their "family businesses". They deny reproductive rights to their daughters and wives. They don't access legitimate health care for fear of being found out.
The State and Mormon Church wash their hands of these people because of the state law - but turn their back on the women and children in these families until something erupts or they receive a report of abuse.
Or the feds and the IRS move in to shut them down.
You don't know what you're talking about.
Oh, for sure there are still polygamists! I never said there weren't any, and I did not imply they didn't exist.
I have met a few over the years.
One guy who was never LDS migrated back and forth from Arizona to Idaho, selling handicrafts and living in a teepee in campgrounds wherever he went. He had 3 'wives', all muchh younger than him, but no marriage certificates for any, and they women came and went. Every time I would run across him there was someone new and someone else that had left him.
Another family was one man in his 60s who had 4 'wives', with only one who had the papers to prove it. The other 3 were all aging single women who just wanted a man in their lives; one was a widow, and I never knew if the others had ever been officially married or not. They were all quite content with it.
The thing is co-habitation can be anything, so long as everyone in it is agreeable. Outside of marriage, it can take any form, and it doesn't need marriage certificates to work.
But that is not the responsibility of any faith, nor is it any faith's burden. If polygamy is disavowed by doctrine, that's the limit of what a church can do about it.
Anyone can call themselves a minister and can create a faith of his own in any manner he chooses here in the U.S. That can include polygamy, and if the congregation approves, as long as the congregants fit in with the rest of the community, who's to ever know?
Sure, the neighbors probably figure out what's going on, but if a polygamist family are behaving themselves, most folks would sooner live and let live than start a big disturbance. And there's not much difference between a polygamist family and a house full of young people who are co-habitating without marriage.
Co-habitation outside of marriage is so common now that trying to enforce polygamy laws are much more trouble than it's worth unless there is some larger, more severe problem associated with it.
There's not much difference between a guy with 3 girlfriends at the same time who all live in separate homes or if they are all under the same roof. As long as they all get along, no one sees it as a big deal. Is this considered polygamy if none are officially married?
It may be breaking the law, but lots of folks break the law every day in some way. No church has the power to do anything about that.
We'll have to disagree. Children don't make that choice. And when laws are violated - like child labor laws - that's tragic.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
