Joseph Smith's Polygamy
Joseph Smith's Polygamy
Episode 13 (Theology): Common but Inaccurate Explanations for Mormon Polygamy
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The practice of polygamy expanded as the Latter-day Saints migrated to the Rocky Mountains in 1846. Their move away from Illinois and its state laws that condemned the matrimonies brought them into US territories that did not prohibit it. Nonetheless, early Utah pluralists recognized that defending it as a legitimate religious practice would not be an easy task. Plural marriage on earth expands a man’s emotional and sexual opportunities as a husband as it simultaneously fragments a woman’s emotional and sexual opportunities as a wife. While it would be undoubtedly different in the eternal worlds, on earth it is difficult to defend as fair and nonsexist.