Trading Polygamy for Statehood?

Was the Church wimping out in 1890 – did it trade a true principle for statehood?  The Mormon Heretic takes a look at the situation the LDS Church was faced with:

I’d like to get into some of these details leading up to the Manifesto.  (This is a shorter version–more details are found here.)  I talked about the Manifesto previously in the context of whether the prophet would ever lead the church astray.  It should be noted that the church had been fighting federal anti-polygamy legislation for nearly 30 years, so I think it should be noted that the Manifesto banning polygamy in 1890 was not a spur-of-the-moment quick capitulation.  I’ll be taking my quotes from 2 books: Forgotten Kingdom by David Bigler, and Great Basin Kingdom, by Leonard Arrington.It was during the administration of Abraham Lincoln that the first federal anti-polygamy legislation passed Congress, but Lincoln wanted to ignore the issue.  With the outbreak of the Civil War, Lincoln’s first priority was slavery.  In 1862, Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which (from Wikipedia)

banned plural marriage and limited church and non-profit ownership in any territory of the United States to $50,000.^[1] The act targeted the Mormon church ownership in the Utah territory. The measure had no funds allocated for enforcement, and President Lincoln chose not enforce this law; instead Lincoln gave Brigham Young tacit permission to ignore the Morrill Act in exchange for not becoming involved with the Civil War.^[2] General Patrick Edward Connor, commanding officer of the federal forces garrisoned at Fort Douglas, Utah beginning in 1862 was explicitly instructed not to confront the Mormons over this or any other issue.

Birth Control

Mormon Matters took on the question of whether Mormon childbearing was “Too Much of a Good Thing”.  It quoted from Church Presidents, such as those below, who discouraged the practice of birth control:

Joseph F. Smith, prophet (1916). In answer to your communication in which you ask me for my views on the issue of “birth control, or the limiting of the number of children in a family to one or two”… I have this to say: The first great commandment given both to man and beast by the Creator was to ‘multiply and replenish the earth;’ and I have not learned that this commandment was ever repealed. Those who attempt to pervert the ways of the Lord and prevent their offspring from coming into the world in obedience to this great command, are guilty of one of the most heinous crimes in the category. There is no promise for eternal salvation and exaltation for such as they, for by their acts they prove their unworthiness for exaltation and unfitness for a kingdom where the crowning glory is the continuation of the family union and eternal increase…”

Julie Beck, general RS president (2008). Mothers who know desire to bear children. Whereas in many cultures in the world children are “becoming less valued,” in the culture of the gospel we still believe in having children. Prophets, seers, and revelators who were sustained at this conference have declared that “God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.” President Ezra Taft Benson taught that young couples should not postpone having children and that “in the eternal perspective, children—not possessions, not position, not prestige—are our greatest jewels.”  Faithful daughters of God desire children.

The Missing Mormon Men

Beliefnet’s Dave Banak comments on the Mormon Gender Gap -

From a Washington Times article “Marriage as a Mormon value“

According to [the] Pew [Forum], Mormons have one of the most lopsided gender ratios of any religion: 44 percent men and 56 percent women.

You can’t argue with the gender gap — that’s what the data is. The question is why such a disproportional gender gap emerges in the LDS Church. [And let's just take it for granted it's not because the researchers just forgot to factor in all those absent 19-to-21-year-old men off serving missions.]

One set of possible explanations centers on the men. It could be that the high-and-getting-higher expectations focused on young LDS men drives some of them away. It could be that the LDS cultural focus on family and responsibility and work is unappealing to the slacker male twenty-somethings we’re hearing so much about these days. It could be that the current feelings-based approach to LDS worship just doens’t work for some LDS guys. And just where have all these missing LDS men gone?

Proxy Baptism for Polygamists

Under the title “Polygamous fundamentalists baptized by proxy, researcher says” the Salt Lake Tribune (via Kristen Moulton) reveals some unsuall choices for work for the dead:

Prominent fundamentalist Mormons, most of whom were excommunicated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for practicing polygamy while they were alive, have been posthumously re-baptized in LDS temples, a Salt Lake City researcher says.

Helen Radkey said in a new report that she obtained church records on 20 fundamentalists — from murderer Ervil LeBaron to Joseph Musser to Rulon Jeffs — showing that they’ve been baptized and have had their plural marriages “sealed” for time and eternity by proxy LDS members, one as recently as this year.

Saving ourselves and our children

From the article “To Help your Struggling Children: Swim for Shore” by Colleen C. Harrison, and original published at Meridian Magazine.

Years ago I heard a compelling story. I can’t find any reference to it in Church magazines, so I assume I heard it at a stake conference or a BYU Education Week. Wherever I heard it, the Spirit brought it home to my heart with such power that its message has never left me. It became the guiding vision of my most recent and most successful parenting experiences. I only wish I had heard it twenty years earlier. Today, I am grateful to have the opportunity to honor it as the overarching metaphor for my testimony concerning parenting.

A Great Adventure Suddenly Turned Dangerous

The speaker began his story describing a family vacation and the high adventure of spending a day on a white-water river rafting trip. Most of the course of the swift river was smooth and invigorating, surrounded as it was by exquisite mountain scenery. There would be some stretches of rapids, though, and the anticipation of riding through them was a big part of the thrill of the day.

As the raft full of excited adventurers was carried along on the current, it became obvious that the streambed beneath was growing rockier. Just below the surface, boulders could be seen causing the current to pass over them in smooth, unbroken humps of icy water. The river guide was doing his best to avoid these submerged obstacles, but suddenly the edge of the raft was caught in the upward rise of water over a boulder and the raft bucked and nearly flipped.

In a split second, the fun of running the river turned to terror for this father and one of his children—a daughter—as they were thrown out of the raft and into the snow melt temperature of the river. Even though they were wearing life jackets, the deep current around the rocks pulled them under, and the shock of the cold water was immediate. Dazed and confused, they began to desperately flail around, grabbing at each other.

All their frantic efforts only served to submerge both of them over and over. Gasping for breath, the father realized he and his child were being swept away from the raft and ever closer to the actual rapids. Suddenly, terror set in as he realized they could die in this incident. “O God,” he cried out. “Please let me save my child. Please!”

Into his mind came the most irrational and counterintuitive thought: “Turn and swim for shore.” He couldn’t believe that thought could be from God! How could God tell him to turn away from his child and swim for his own life? He knew he could probably make it on his own, but he couldn’t just abandon her to be pulled under and swept away, possibly to her death! In a growing panic, he kept trying to get some hold on her, but with no lasting success. He could feel his strength waning. In a short time, he knew he wouldn’t have the strength to even save himself. They would both be lost. “Swim for shore.” The words came to his mind again, and finally a third time. “ Swim for shore! ” He could no longer deny the clarity and the finality in the words. They were a command.

Feeling like a failure, feeling he had lost his daughter, feeling he was saving himself while leaving her to drown, he turned sobbing and swam diagonally across the powerful current toward the shoreline. He couldn’t believe how strong the current was. Every stroke felt like his last. He felt like he weighed a thousand pounds and even when his feet finally found some footing, he couldn’t keep his balance and had to keep swimming.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he found himself in water shallow and slow enough that he could touch the bottom and get his feet under him. Only then, when he tried to stand up, did he realize that what he had thought was the terrible grasp of the swift current pulling him backwards was actually the weight of his daughter who had grabbed hold of a dangling strap on the back of his life jacket. Thus, in obeying the impressions of the Spirit to swim for shore, he had not only saved himself, but his child as well.

Dating & Marriage at the B.Y.U. Zoo

An interesting study into LDS dating.  The figure that surprised me most was that only 22-29% of men and women pray about who they will marry.

Summarized by Kevin Barney -

The latest BYU Studies, 46/3 (2007), just hit my mailbox, and features an article by a bunch of folks entitled “A Survey of Dating and Marriage at BYU.” I thought I would take a shot at summarizing it for the benefit of our non-subscribers.

The piece begins by describing a 2001 study of 1,000 college women across the U.S., which found that dating has almost disappeared in favor of Elder Oaks’ favorite bogeyman, “hanging out,” which then leads to the non-LDS variant of “hooking up” (isolated sexual experiences without any expectation of anything more) Only half of the women had been on six or more dates over their entire college career, and 1/3 had two or fewer dates over the entire four years.

These results motivated the authors to do a study at BYU to determine to what extent these trends had penetrated BYU culture. A mail survey was done in 2002, and relied on 784 responses from single students at the Y.

The LDS Paradox on Polygamy

From the Enduring to the End blog -

Polygamy.

Everyone has an opinion about it, and they always seem to manifest whenever the Fundamentalist LDS Church has a run-in with the government.

I have to give Brother Murray over at Messenger and Advocate a huge thumbs-up for his continued coverage of the case in Eldorado, Texas as it continues to unfold. His post, Standing with Our FLDS Sisters and Brothers, sparked my interest when I read it earlier this evening–especially as I read the reactions of other LDS bloggers on the web.

As members of the LDS Church, we seem to be in agreement that how the FLDS are being treated is unprofessional, and most likely un-Constitutional. It’s disconcerting to see that an affidavit based on the claims of one family on the compound is enough cause to bring the state government of Texas descending upon the entire compound to take 400+ children and their mothers away. Especially since the original subject of the affidavit–a single girl–cannot be located. I have seen, as I’ve read different reactions of the web, that I am not alone in my frustration that the FLDS church should have their Constitutional rights so blatantly denied.

Eugene England’s Worst Argument Ever (on Plural Marriage)

Jacob J on New Cool Thang penned this response to England’s anti-polygamy article -

I know, we all love Eugene England. You do and I do. Nevertheless, someone needs to point out that the arguments in his famous On Fidelity, Polygamy, and Celestial Marriage are not good arguments, and it might as well be me that does it. Twenty years after being published this paper is still influential and gets semi-regular mention in the bloggernacle. The main point of the paper is to argue that there will be no plural marriage in the celestial kingdom. Not for Abraham, not for Brigham Young, and not for your grandpa who was sealed to a second wife after his first wife died.

I don’t have a firm opinion either way as far as this conclusion is concerned. I am not as upset about polygamy as some people are, but I’ll be perfectly happy if Eugene England is correct. My problem with the paper is that I think the arguments he presents are not good arguments. My suspicion is that the arguments frequently get a pass because there are so many people who want the conclusion to be correct that they are not as critical as they would otherwise be. Sometimes I really want a conclusion to be true too, so I know how it feels.

The Inevitability of Plural Marriage in the Celestial Kingdom

Nephi Anderson, “The Inevitable,” Improvement Era 10, no. 10 (August 1907):

The blinds were drawn, a fire blazed in the grate, and the ground-glass electric globes mellowed the light on the reading table. Bert Archer sat on one side of the table reading. His wife’s easy chair stood on the other side, in the cosy corner between the fireplace and the book case. The chair was still unoccupied, but the subdued noises of work being finished in the next room soon ceased, and Lucy Archer came in. She took a book from the top of the case, and then seated herself. She did not begin to read, however, but placed the unopened book on the table. She then leaned forward in her chair and gazed steadily into the fire.