In her excellent book on the Mormon controversy, Sally Gordon reports that the practice of Mormon polygamy persisted quietly, with some degree of approval from church authorities, until a scandal surrounding hearings about the election of Senator Reed Smoot. The hearings persisted from 1904 - 1907. (This, obviously, supports Nelson's point).
She also reports that, from 1907 onward, the Mormon Church has vigorously insisted that only heterosexual, monogamous marriages are legitimate. Polygamous patriarchs have been "ostracized" (this, I think, supports the line being taken by Bobby and Paul; it seems to me that the current church's opposition to polygamy is sincere). See Sarah B. Gordon, The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constititutional Conflict in Nineteenth Century America 233-238. --Chris Robert Justin Lipkin wrote: > In a message dated 7/14/2003 1:33:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time, > [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > >> This strand has been particularly strained in my view, because there >> are, of course, a significant number of fundamentalist Mormons today >> who are polygamous in Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. > > This is, of course, correct. However, does anyone know whether > the LDS Church recognizes these people as members? Or, instead, is one > excommunicated for entering plural marriages? It is my understanding > that "fundamentalist Mormons" are not considered members of the > Church. Moreover, although I'm pretty sure the people Marci refers to > consider themselves to be members of the "true church," do they > consider themselves members of the official (recognized, how does one > say this?) Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? How would one > identify the relevant groups for constitutional purposes? > > Bobby Lipkin > Widener University School of Law > Delaware -- Christopher L. Eisgruber Director, Program in Law and Public Affairs Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Public Affairs Woodrow Wilson School Princeton University Princeton NJ 08544 [EMAIL PROTECTED] tel: 609 258-6949 fax: 609 258-0922
