Polygamy's Long Shadow

A Practice Abandoned but Not Forgotten

In 1890, under intense federal pressure that threatened the church's survival, LDS President Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto officially discontinuing the practice of plural marriage. The church that had proclaimed polygamy an "everlasting covenant" and taught that monogamy was a degraded institution suddenly reversed course. Members who continued the practice faced excommunication.

Many assume this ended the matter. Polygamy, they believe, is merely an embarrassing chapter in Mormon history—regrettable but resolved. The reality is far more complicated. Polygamy casts a long shadow over modern Mormonism in ways that most Latter-day Saints rarely consider but that significantly affect their theology, temple practices, and eternal expectations.

The Doctrine Was Never Revoked

Still Scripture

The revelation commanding plural marriage remains in LDS scripture. Doctrine and Covenants 132 has never been removed from the canon, despite the church's official discontinuation of the practice. This section declares plural marriage to be part of the "new and everlasting covenant" and threatens destruction upon those who reject it after receiving the law.

Every Latter-day Saint who studies the Doctrine and Covenants encounters this revelation. It stands alongside other canonized revelations as scripture. The church has never declared it false, mistaken, or superseded by later revelation. The Manifesto discontinued the practice for mortality; it did not revoke the doctrine for eternity.

The Everlasting Covenant

D&C 132 presents plural marriage not as a temporary accommodation but as an eternal principle. Verse 4 states: "For behold, I reveal unto you a new and an everlasting covenant; and if ye abide not that covenant, then are ye damned; for no one can reject this covenant and be permitted to enter into my glory."

The revelation links plural marriage to the highest exaltation. Verse 19-20 promises that those who enter this covenant and are sealed by proper priesthood authority "shall inherit thrones, kingdoms, principalities, and powers... and they shall pass by the angels, and the gods, which are set there, to their exaltation and glory in all things."

If this covenant is truly "everlasting," how can it be suspended indefinitely? Early prophets taught that plural marriage was essential for the highest exaltation. Brigham Young declared: "The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy." Has God changed his requirements for godhood?

Eternal Polygamy Today

Temple Sealings and Multiple Wives

While earthly plural marriage is prohibited, eternal plural marriage continues through current temple sealing policies. A widowed or divorced man may be sealed to multiple women for eternity, while women face significant restrictions.

Consider this scenario: A faithful LDS man is sealed to his wife in the temple. She dies. He later remarries and is sealed to his second wife. According to LDS doctrine, he will be married to both women in the celestial kingdom. He will be a polygamist in eternity, even if he never practiced polygamy in mortality.

High-profile examples illustrate this reality. Russell M. Nelson, the current LDS prophet, was sealed to his first wife Dantzel, who died in 2005. He later married Wendy Watson and was sealed to her as well. According to LDS doctrine, President Nelson will have two wives in the celestial kingdom.

Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, is similarly sealed to two women: his first wife June, who died in 1998, and his second wife Kristen. The two highest-ranking leaders of the LDS church are eternal polygamists by their own doctrine.

The Asymmetry for Women

The policy creates significant asymmetry between men and women. A woman sealed to one husband cannot be sealed to another while that sealing remains in effect—even if her husband dies or they divorce. She must either obtain a "sealing cancellation" (which requires First Presidency approval and is difficult to obtain) or accept that any subsequent marriage is "for time only," not for eternity.

A widowed woman faces an impossible choice: remain unsealed to a new husband, knowing the marriage ends at death, or seek cancellation of her sealing to her deceased husband, potentially affecting her eternal relationship with him and any children from that marriage. Meanwhile, a widowed man can simply add another eternal wife without disturbing his first sealing.

This disparity causes real pain for LDS women. Many struggle with the implications: Will their husbands have other wives in eternity? Will they be one of several? What does this mean for their eternal relationship? The church offers little clarity, typically counseling members that "it will all work out in the next life."

The Fundamentalist Challenge

Those Who Kept Believing

When the LDS church discontinued plural marriage, not everyone accepted the change. Some members believed the Manifesto was a strategic capitulation to government pressure, not a genuine revelation. They pointed to the prophets' own teachings that polygamy was an everlasting covenant essential for exaltation. How could such a principle simply be abandoned?

These believers went underground, continuing to practice plural marriage in secret. Over time, they formed fundamentalist Mormon groups that consider themselves the true inheritors of Joseph Smith's revelations. The largest is the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), but dozens of smaller groups exist throughout the American West and Mexico.

These groups present an uncomfortable challenge to the mainstream LDS church. They practice what Joseph Smith and Brigham Young taught. They take D&C 132 at face value. They believe the Manifesto was apostasy, not revelation. From their perspective, the mainstream church abandoned essential doctrine under worldly pressure.

The Mainstream Response

The LDS church vigorously distances itself from fundamentalist groups, emphasizing that anyone practicing plural marriage is excommunicated. Church public relations consistently clarifies that the FLDS and similar groups are not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Yet the theological question remains: on what basis does the mainstream church reject the fundamentalists? Both groups trace their priesthood authority to Joseph Smith. Both accept the same founding scriptures, including D&C 132. The fundamentalists can quote early prophets extensively in support of their position. The mainstream church's primary response is simply that the current prophet has discontinued the practice—but fundamentalists don't accept the current prophet's authority precisely because he discontinued it.

This creates a circular argument. The fundamentalists are wrong because they reject the prophet. But they reject the prophet because he contradicts earlier prophets on what was declared an everlasting principle. If prophets can reverse "everlasting" doctrines, what prevents future reversals of current teachings?

The Historical Pain

Women's Experiences

The historical practice of polygamy left deep wounds. While some plural wives spoke positively of their experiences, many others left records of heartbreak, jealousy, and loneliness. The system inherently created competition among wives for their husband's time, attention, and resources.

Emma Smith, Joseph's first wife, struggled intensely with plural marriage. Her journal and the testimony of those around her reveal a woman repeatedly blindsided by her husband's secret marriages, alternating between grudging acceptance and fierce resistance. D&C 132 threatens her with destruction if she doesn't comply. This is the founding prophet's treatment of his first and legal wife.

Zina Huntington Jacobs was already married and pregnant when sealed to Joseph Smith. After Smith's death, she became Brigham Young's wife while still legally married to Henry Jacobs. Henry remained faithful to the church that took his wife, writing heartbroken letters while serving missions. "Zina, my mind never was so taken up with any woman... O how happy I should be if I only could see you and the little children."

Family Disruption

Polygamy often disrupted existing families. Men were sometimes commanded to take additional wives by priesthood leaders, regardless of their first wife's feelings. Young women were sealed to much older church leaders—apostles and prophets who already had multiple wives. The power dynamics were inherently unequal.

Children raised in polygamous households often struggled with divided attention and complex family dynamics. Some fathers had so many wives and children that individual relationships were superficial at best. Brigham Young, with over fifty wives and fifty-six children, could not possibly have been an engaged father to each child.

The Biblical Perspective

God's Original Design

Scripture presents monogamy as God's design for marriage from the beginning:

Note the singular: "his wife," not "his wives." Two become one flesh—a union that is inherently exclusive. Jesus explicitly affirmed this creation design when questioned about marriage: "Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So they are no longer two but one flesh" (Matthew 19:4-6).

Polygamy's Fruits in Scripture

When polygamy appears in the Bible, it consistently produces conflict, jealousy, and dysfunction. This is not merely incidental; it illustrates why the practice departs from God's design:

Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar: Sarah's plan to provide an heir through her servant Hagar produced rivalry, resentment, and eventually the expulsion of Hagar and Ishmael. The conflict between their descendants continues to this day.

Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and their servants: The competition between Jacob's wives produced intense jealousy, manipulation, and dysfunction that affected their children for generations. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery partly because of favoritism rooted in these family dynamics.

David and Solomon: David's multiple wives led to family chaos, including Absalom's rebellion. Solomon's seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines "turned away his heart after other gods" (1 Kings 11:3-4).

Leadership Standards

The New Testament explicitly requires church leaders to be monogamous:

The same requirement appears for elders (Titus 1:6) and deacons (1 Timothy 3:12). If polygamy were God's ideal, why would he specifically exclude polygamists from church leadership? The requirement of monogamy for overseers reflects the broader biblical principle that one man and one woman united for life represents God's design for marriage.

Bringing Light to the Shadow

Polygamy's shadow falls across modern Mormonism in ways many members don't recognize. The doctrine remains in their scriptures. Eternal plural marriage continues through temple sealing policies. The theological contradictions between the "everlasting covenant" and its suspension remain unresolved. The fundamentalist groups practice what early prophets taught.

For our Mormon friends, this history can be deeply troubling—especially for women who realize the eternal implications of current sealing policies. We must approach these conversations with compassion, not condemnation. Many are wrestling with painful questions about their church's past and their own eternal futures.

We can point them to a better hope. In Christ, there is no second-class status for women. Marriage in the biblical understanding is an exclusive covenant between one man and one woman, reflecting Christ's relationship with his church (Ephesians 5:22-33). The redeemed are not sorted into celestial hierarchies based on how many spouses they accumulated; they are equally beloved children of God, joint heirs with Christ.

Jesus himself taught that in the resurrection, the institution of marriage as we know it will be transcended: "In the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). Our eternal joy will not depend on celestial marriages or plural sealings but on knowing God himself—the true and living God who loves each of his children infinitely and equally.