polygamy

I had a woman come up to me and asked if I was a Mormon. I told her I was a Latter Day Saint. I don't clearly remember the rest but I'll try. You still practice polygamy. (It wasn't a question.) No that was stopped in the 1800s. A lady chimed in backing me. We told her there were groups that still did it but not us. Telling the truth to her was like pouring water on a duck's back. This woman ended by telling me to say hello to my wives.



It has been years since I've heard this accusation and it came as a surprise. While it wasn't too bad, I'd say persecution is alive and well.



This question comes to me: Why would women want the Priesthood if we still practice polygamy? I know it's 2 different groups but it still seems Ironic to me.

I would've responded - "OK I'll tell them 'some crazy, funny-looking psycho who has comprehension problems said to say Hi"



but that's just me...

If the world is going to be ok and accepting of gays and lesbians and thus destroying the whole marriage between a man and a woman then it should also be accepting of polygamy.



While I would have zero intent on practicing it I would also have zero problems if polygamy was brought back (if implemented and run "correctly" which is a conversation in of itself).



And my response would have been: "Having one boss at home is enough for me so having three or four or five bosses at home isn't appealing!"

Polygamy being illegal in Utah seems silly.

Growing up outside of Utah, I would occasionally be asked by kids at school if, since I was Mormon, I had two moms. I usually responded with, "No. I only have one mother. My dad does have three wives. But I only have one mom."



That was usually followed by a, "Really?!" To which I would say, "No, that ended a long time ago in my church."

nuk13 wrote:

I had a woman come up to me and asked if I was a Mormon. I told her I was a Latter Day Saint. I don't clearly remember the rest but I'll try. You still practice polygamy. (It wasn't a question.)

You politely but firmly reply that she is confusing Mormons and Muslims. (Mormons (LDS) stopped practicing polygamy in 1890 (Pres. Wilford Woodruff issues a Manifesto that stopped the practice of polygamy).



Whereas Muslims still practice polygamy, even in America. It's done quietly. Some estimates place the number of Muslim polygamous families in the U.S. at 100,000. Although some Islamic countries have outlawed polygamy (Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, etc.). It's common for it to be practiced illegally in those countries.

nuk13 wrote:

I had a woman come up to me and asked if I was a Mormon. I told her I was a Latter Day Saint. I don't clearly remember the rest but I'll try. You still practice polygamy. (It wasn't a question.) No that was stopped in the 1800s. A lady chimed in backing me. We told her there were groups that still did it but not us. Telling the truth to her was like pouring water on a duck's back. This woman ended by telling me to say hello to my wives.



It has been years since I've heard this accusation and it came as a surprise. While it wasn't too bad, I'd say persecution is alive and well.



This question comes to me: Why would women want the Priesthood if we still practice polygamy? I know it's 2 different groups but it still seems Ironic to me.

How odd. She's probably thinking of those off-shoot fundamentalists down on the Utah Arizona border? Oh well. Some people will believe what they want to believe regardless.

It's more widespread in Utah than most are willing to admit. There are good numbers of them in west Salt Lake valley, south Utah County/ north Juab County, and elsewhere. Still not active LDS (polygamy is a fast track to excommunication), but to your average American the term "Mormon" applies to anyone who follows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, which would include the polygamous offshoots.

snoscythe wrote:

It's more widespread in Utah than most are willing to admit. There are good numbers of them in west Salt Lake valley, south Utah County/ north Juab County, and elsewhere. Still not active LDS (polygamy is a fast track to excommunication), but to your average American the term "Mormon" applies to anyone who follows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, which would include the polygamous offshoots.

Yup. Got this all the time when someone found out I was a "Mormon" when living in Houston as well as Philadelphia. They lump us with the good and the bad.

BroncoBot wrote:

It's more widespread in Utah than most are willing to admit. There are good numbers of them in west Salt Lake valley, south Utah County/ north Juab County, and elsewhere. Still not active LDS (polygamy is a fast track to excommunication), but to your average American the term "Mormon" applies to anyone who follows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, which would include the polygamous offshoots.

Yup. Got this all the time when someone found out I was a "Mormon" when living in Houston as well as Philadelphia. They lump us with the good and the bad.

To be honest, most LDS tacitly refer to the polygamists as Mormons as well. They call them 'radical', 'fundamentalist' etc.



But a radical what? A fundamentalist what? Both are just shorthand for radical Mormon or fundamentalist Mormon, the same as radical Muslim and fundamentalist Baptist.

BroncoBot wrote:

It's more widespread in Utah than most are willing to admit. There are good numbers of them in west Salt Lake valley, south Utah County/ north Juab County, and elsewhere. Still not active LDS (polygamy is a fast track to excommunication), but to your average American the term "Mormon" applies to anyone who follows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, which would include the polygamous offshoots.

Yup. Got this all the time when someone found out I was a "Mormon" when living in Houston as well as Philadelphia. They lump us with the good and the bad.

most Protestants are completely unable to understand the concept of a centralized church. That's a big part of the reason they can't separate what we would consider a tiny polygamous offshoot of our church from the real thing. It's all the same to them just like the Baptist church in the next neighborhood essentially has no real organizational connection to the one they attend other than the name. But they're both "Baptist" to them which implies more or less the same beliefs.

snoscythe wrote:

snoscythe wrote:

It's more widespread in Utah than most are willing to admit. There are good numbers of them in west Salt Lake valley, south Utah County/ north Juab County, and elsewhere. Still not active LDS (polygamy is a fast track to excommunication), but to your average American the term "Mormon" applies to anyone who follows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, which would include the polygamous offshoots.

Yup. Got this all the time when someone found out I was a "Mormon" when living in Houston as well as Philadelphia. They lump us with the good and the bad.

To be honest, most LDS tacitly refer to the polygamists as Mormons as well. They call them 'radical', 'fundamentalist' etc.



But a radical what? A fundamentalist what? Both are just shorthand for radical Mormon or fundamentalist Mormon, the same as radical Muslim and fundamentalist Baptist.

Completely agree.

BlueK wrote:

snoscythe wrote:

It's more widespread in Utah than most are willing to admit. There are good numbers of them in west Salt Lake valley, south Utah County/ north Juab County, and elsewhere. Still not active LDS (polygamy is a fast track to excommunication), but to your average American the term "Mormon" applies to anyone who follows Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, which would include the polygamous offshoots.

Yup. Got this all the time when someone found out I was a "Mormon" when living in Houston as well as Philadelphia. They lump us with the good and the bad.

most Protestants are completely unable to understand the concept of a centralized church. That's a big part of the reason they can't separate what we would consider a tiny polygamous offshoot of our church from the real thing. It's all the same to them just like the Baptist church in the next neighborhood essentially has no real organizational connection to the one they attend other than the name. But they're both "Baptist" to them which implies more or less the same beliefs.

interesting point.