FUNDAMENTALIST MORMONS & POLYGAMY

Matthew Aquino Jose Alvarado

Brandon Washington Selena PalomaresJeannae Carmichael Alison Gutierrez

HISTORY OF POLYGAMY WITHIN THE MORMON

CHURCH

Joseph Smith• Founder of LDS• Translated the Book of Mormon

• (Golden Plates)• Seen as a prophet to followers• Seen as a charlatan to outsiders

DEATH OF JOSEPH SMITH

MO RMO NS O STR ACIZ ED (HISTO RICALLY)

•Multiple objections to Mormonism (Mainly Polygamy)

•Faith-based objections

•Family-values-based objections

•Political Objections (Masking a greater debate)

THE CIVIL WAR

•Civil war became background for Mormon question

•North wanted Government intervention

•South wanted government to stay out of the issue of Polygamy

REPRESENTATIVE ALEXANDER H. STEPHENS OF GEORGIA

“If we discriminate to-ay against Mormons, to-morrow, perhaps, we shall discriminate

against Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, or Catholics. The evils of such discrimination …have been wisely provided against in the

Constitution.”

SMITH TEACHING POLYGAMY

•The affair with Fanny Alger

•Keeping quiet

•Recurring Visions

•Afraid of both outcomes

•Eventually taught polygamy as the word of God

BRIGHAM YOUNG

•Key Spiritual Leader of Mormon church

•Adopted Polygamy through Smith’s teaching

•BYU is named after him

QUICK POLL

HISTORICAL POLYGAMY

•Brigham Young was one of the finest candidates

•Unusual to have more than 4 wives (Most had 1-2)

•Freeing for women in some respects

•Mormon acceptance was slow

•Societal acceptance was near impossible

SECTION OF ORDER 44

 ”The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace--their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so to any extent you may consider necessary.”

THE END OF THE BEGINNING

•Many objections to the Mormon faith, spiritual, social, and political.

•This led to a long history of persecution that led to the death of their spiritual leader, the loss of their homes, and an assault on their spiritual beliefs.

•This most likely causes the Fundamentalist Mormons to be more resolute and not give in to societal pressures.

THE SPLIT OF POLYGAMY AND THE MORMON

CHURCH

Mormon Fundamentalists• Seek to uphold tenets and practices no

longer held by mainstream Mormons (members of the LDS Church)

• Principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage

THE SPLIT OF POLYGAMY AND THE MORMON

CHURCH

• Many of the views are essential for obtaining the highest degree of exaltation in the celestial kingdom.

• Today, the LDS Church will excommunicate any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.

START OF FUNDAMENTALIST

MORMONISM

Laws Passed Against Polygamy:• 1862 – The Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act• 1874 – The Poland Act• 1882 – The Edmunds Act• 1887 – The Edmunds-Tucker Act• 1904 – “Second Manifesto” by Joseph

Smith

WARREN JEFFS

Born: December 3, 1955

After his fathers’ death, he became the prophet

He was raised to be the “Chosen One"

JEFFS ’ BELIEFS /RO LES IN PO LY GAMY

He ran everything in his “colony”• Jobs• Education• Money• Children• Wives

JEFFS’ BELIEFS CONTINUED

Jeffs was later arrested for sexually abusing the young girls.

Warren Jeffs is currently in Jail for the things he did in the “colony” with the women.

• Sexual Abuse• Forced Marriage• Plural Marriages

WARREN JEFFS NOW

He continues to run the church from jail

He still continues to arrange marriages

POLYGAMY TODAY

•Polygamy in the US has been present for a very

long period of time.

• When the European settlers, came they very

often took native wives and the tribes since have

adopted the practice.

POLYGAMY TODAY

•Some of these tribes have also continued to use the

polygamy practice in the 20th century

•These practices began the spread of polygamy in the US

•More precisely members of the Fundamentalist Church of

Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) still participate in

polygamy today

BUSTING MYTHS

Not proving wrong, but rather exposing lack of hard evidence

Sex and Polygamy (Celestial Sealing)

Polygamy and Harems

Frontier Life

POLYGAMOUS FAMILIES

My Five Wives • Husband to five wives dad to twenty four

children • “Believing in equality for everyone and a

God who loves and accepts all -- a belief system Brady and his family call progressive polygamy -- the Williams family emphasize that their choice to be together is more about their mutual love and commitment than it is about religion. Though their beliefs and their decision to leave their church have led them to be shunned by their community and estranged from many family members, the Williams believe their sacrifices are worth it.”

POLYGAMOUS FAMILIES

Sister Wives• “The family at the center of

the reality show Sister Wives is celebrating after a federal judge ruled that key parts of Utah’s anti-polygamy laws are unconstitutional, and that polygamous families could no longer be arrested on felony charges.”

MORMONISM & POLYGAMY VS.

DOMINANT US CULTURE

FLDS/Polyga

my

Plural Marriag

e

Marriage

No freedom or

rights for

youth

ONE SOLE

LEADER

US domina

nt culture

Singular Marriag

e

DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMNE

T

Much more Youth

Freedom and

rights

Marriage/

sealing

Family Outloo

k

Religious

Values