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Cast from HBO's "Big Love"
Posted on 06/12/2007 2:31:05 PM PDT by deaconjim
CENTENNIAL PARK, Arizona (Reuters) - When Ephraim Hammon returns home from a day of working construction near Arizona's border with Utah, he's greeted by his wife SherylLynne. And then by his wife Leah.
Polygamy, once hidden in the shadows of Utah and Arizona, is breaking into the open as fundamentalist Mormons push to decriminalize it on religious grounds, while at the same time stamping out abuses such as forced marriages of underage brides.
The growing confidence of polygamists and their willingness to go public come at an awkward moment for mainstream Mormons, who are now in the spotlight as Republican Mitt Romney, a prominent Mormon, seeks the U.S. presidency.
The Salt Lake City, Utah-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon church, introduced polygamy before the Civil War but banned it in 1890 when the federal government threatened to deny Utah statehood. Today, about 40,000 "fundamentalist Mormons" in Utah and nearby states live polygamy illegally.
Romney, whose great-grandfather had five wives and whose great-great-grandfather had a dozen, has dismissed the practice as "bizarre" -- a comment that infuriates Hammon, whose father and grand-father practiced plural marriage.
"If it was me, I wouldn't apologize for my past. My ancestors did what they did. I can't help that," said Hammon, 36, who legally married SherylLynne, 32, in 1994 and was joined with Leah, 21, a decade later as his "celestial bride" in a religious ceremony that has no legal binding.
Leah bristles at the idea of women being forced into polygamy. "The women in this society are educated," she said.
Her husband likened the struggle for acceptance with the civil rights movement. "It's like the work Martin Luther King did in relation with African Americans," he said, holding year-old Ava, one of his eight children, in the living room of his three-story home in Centennial Park, a dry, dusty Arizona town run by polygamists near the Utah border.
Excommunicated by the church, they see themselves as true believers in Mormonism as practiced by founder Joseph Smith.
Historians say Smith took at least two dozen wives, some of them before 1843, the year he announced a revelation from God saying polygamy was a crucial key to entering the Kingdom of Heaven.
"I don't think the revelation that Joseph Smith received came from Christ," said John Llewellyn, a retired Salt Lake County policeman who once practiced polygamy but now campaigns against it. "I think it came from his Y (male) chromosome."
'TERRIBLY WRONG'
Llewellyn, an author of several books on polygamy, said the mainstream church could do more to stop it. Its "Woodruff Manifesto," which banned polygamy, never revoked Smith's revelation on plural marriage, which remains in section 132 of the Doctrine and Covenants, a Mormon book of scriptures.
"We believe in this continuing flow of revelation, and it's (God's) right to authorize and de-authorize -- to turn it on or turn it off," said Elder D. Todd Christofferson, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, a leadership body of the mainstream Mormon church.
To revive polygamy, he added, the church's 96-year-old president, regarded as a living prophet, must receive a revelation from God sanctioning it.
"That's where we think that those who have left the church to pursue a polygamous lifestyle have gone terribly wrong. They assume their right to choose that and to authorize it when there is only a divine sanction possible to authorize that."
Polygamist advocate Anne Wilde said the church has the right to its beliefs, just as polygamists should be allowed their interpretation of Mormonism without persecution.
"As consenting adults, which is the key, we ought to have that choice to live that lifestyle. We live it because of strong religious convictions," said Wilde, 71.
'BIG LOVE'
The attorneys general of Utah and Arizona said in separate interviews they had no intention of prosecuting polygamists unless they commit other crimes such as taking underage brides -- a practice authorities said was rampant in a Utah-Arizona border community run by Warren Jeffs before his arrest in August.
"We are not going to go out there and persecute people for their beliefs," said Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard.
Adds Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff: "We determined six or seven years ago that there was no way we could prosecute 10,000 polygamists and put the kids into foster care. There's no way that we have the money or the resources to do that."
The last big prosecution, in 1953, backfired. Arizona's National Guard raided a polygamist colony on the Utah/Arizona border, but images of kids split from mothers, with fathers jailed, provoked national sympathy for the polygamists.
"No matter how much persecution the people have endured because of their belief, history has borne out that it will survive," said Ephraim Hammon's mother, Marlyne, who was a four-month-old baby in the colony when it was raided.
A turning point for polygamists came in August 2003 when dozens made a public stand by showing up en masse at a "polygamy summit" in St. George, Utah, organized by the Utah and Arizona attorneys general. "Before then, we discussed all these things in private," said Hammon.
Many are finding they have an unlikely ally in Hollywood, since the start of "Big Love," HBO's series about a fictional polygamous family.
But many polygamists still live discreetly in middle-class neighborhoods next to conventional families, fearing the stigma of the practice could threaten careers and cause their children to be taunted at school.
Although encouraged by the state's reluctance to prosecute them, several expressed fears of the future and want some legal protection in case the public mood turns against them.
I saw this coming as soon as the gays started pushing for “marriage”. I’m surprised it hasn’t moved faster towards polygamy, especially up here in Canada.
Well, look at the source: al-Reuters. This is a “Romney is scary” article. Al-Reuters probably has no complaint whatever about the islamists’ polygamy practices.
I’ve seen real polygamists on TV. The women are usually on the high side of three bills and ugly as hell.
Calling these polygamists "Mormons", of any stripe, is no more accurate than someone from Venezuela calling himself "American". It's just not true.
I did note the reference to Romney, but I’m more concerned about the damage being done to society by the anything-goes crowd than I am about Romney’s campaign. Romney knew before hand what kind of problems his church could cause him, and he accepted the risk.
But why is Romney even a keyword in this article? Ted Kennedy or Bill Clinton would be more appropriate since they were diddling with office staff while married.
ML/NJ
I would think as followers of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon that they possibly have as much right to it as you do.
Besides, they are following Mormonism the way it was taught by Brigham Young and Joseph Smith, and maintain that it was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who corrupted the “true” religion.
Which has more authority to claim themselves Mormon....LOL
BWAHAHAAA!
Outstanding, VM.
>>>Romney knew before hand what kind of problems his church could cause him, and he accepted the risk<<<
Well, not really his church. That’s like saying being a Catholic is held against you because of what went on with the Inquisition. There’s not a single Mormon alive today whose polygamous marriage was graced with the church’s approval.
I guess you can say that there are those who hold the Inquisition against Catholics, but they’re only doing that because they’re looking for reasons to say that they hate Catholics.
all most people hear is "Mormon"......the fundamentalist (lunatic) part does not compute.
Soon Mormons and Mohammedans will be the same in most people's mind....and it will be a "media delight"....
they (the media) are trying mightily
Not in the way the word is understood. That was the point I was making.
Polygamy is practiced and condoned by numerous and past cultures, sodomy is not. So why is the US freaking out over the prospect of polygamy and silent on the legalization of sodomy.
You are far closer than the slight sarcasm in your post would indicate!
Seriously - There are people out there pushing for “gay marriage”, not because they are gay, but because they know that no rule regarding who (or what) you can marry will be able to stand.
Santorum Alert!
Hey, when you’re Mormon, you can always takes your wives and many kids to the star Kolob for an intergalactic vacation, and meet other gods and spirit children yet to be born.
Talk about opportunism! This criminal, and that's what he is, first takes advantage of Mitt's campaign to jump into the spotlight, then starts the "victim" song and dance by his ridiculous comparison of his sect to blacks.
Unfortunately, this Reuter's piece will most likely be picked up by numberous media outlets, and shine the spotlight on Romney's vulnerability in this matter. The average voter is going to have a hard enough time in divorcing "polygamy" from Romney anyway.
I could totally tolerate polygamy as long as the plygamist folks are law abiding citizens, I don’t care what they do in their home. However, I do care about gay marriage and don’t want that in my country at all.
Honestly, polygamy is gross and I believe immoral, but they don’t bother me so much.
I saw that movie too. I didn't know people could bend that way...
Yep, I remember when Andrew Sullivan dismissed this as a fantasy. That was just a few years ago.
The result will be that Arab immigrants who could never afford multiple wives in their own countries will marry four women and bring them here. Women in this country can work, so the men will have time to hang out at the mosque getting radicalized.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
If I were a Muslim with more than one wife or a Muslim who wanted to have more than one wife, I can tell you what states I would consider moving to: The states (Utah and Arizona) where they have done virtually nothing about and are deeply disinterested in enforcing the laws against polygamy. It will be interesting to see what happens in these states in regard to the Muslim population in the future.
In Arizona they are very slowly getting things done. I think this is more because of one of the local media.
As far as I can tell, this is a Mormon myth. According to the Bible, Abraham had sex with a maidservant to produce a child. Never says anything there about him being married.
And don't get me started on the kings of Israel.
Of course don't get you started on the kings 'cause you don't want to mention Solomon...'cause if you have to mention Solomon, then you have to imply that not only is polygamy a-OK, but so is concubines as partners...and I don't think you want to go there.
For millenia, polygamy was a natural institution
No it wasn't. It wasn't outlined in early Genesis--one man, one woman. Deuteronomy condemned it. Abraham did NOT practice it, but some of his kin did. Some Israelite kings practiced it, but usually it was tied to treaties made with other people groups.
I do not doubt that there are special circumstances for sanctioning polygamy such as increasing the number of righteous as in Abraham's time. But those are special circumstances. Not the general rule. King Solomon's motives in taking multiple wives were less than pure as noted in the Old Testament. It led directly to the division of his Kingdom.
Yep. The liberal media is trying hard to keep Romney down.
Oh, so you're trying to tell us that there's no practicing polygamist Mormons in the celestial kingdom, eh? (All of those polygamist LDS--or those who had wives serially on earth but is sealed to more than one--didn't make it beyond the veil w/all wives in tow, eh?)
Polygamy is even forbidden in the Book of Mormon (Book of Jacob, for example). It didn't stop Joe Smith or any that followed him.
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Cast from HBO's "Big Love"
The "Official Declaration" which brought an end to most plural marriages in the LDS church never actually rescinded Doctrine & Covenants 132 (LDS Scripture), which refers to this practice as part of an "everlasting covenant."
So fundamentalist Mormons who practice it simply point to D&C 132.
True, to a point. The Bible doesn't specifically condemn either polygamy, nor chattel slavery as it does homosexuality. But neither does it sanctify those two "institutions". It *does* sanctify monogamy, though, so to live a Biblically guided life, polygamy is out...
the infowarrior
Sometimes ya gotta wonder. (Here, let me whisper something in your ear for only you to hear: Polygamy is, uh, oh, how am I going to say this? Polygamy is, well...let just blurt it out: 'It's an illegal practice engaged in by citizens who are not totally law-abiding.' There. I got it out. I hope that didn't surprise you)
>>>>>>>It’s like the work Martin Luther King did in relation with African Americans,” he said, holding year-old Ava, one of his eight children, in the living room of his three-story home in Centennial Park, a dry, dusty Arizona town run by polygamists near the Utah border.<<<<
That whirring sound you hear is MLK spinning in his grave.
God's intent from the beginning was that one man married one woman. Any sex outside that relationship is considered adultery. There is nothing in the New Testament nor anything Jesus said that supports marriage to more than one woman at a time.
What's untrue in the article?
the marriages aren’t legal to their second, third, etc..wives, and that is why the govt won’t do anything about them. Look, there is no difference between them, and Hugh Hefner living with 3 girlfriends. That is why I don’t care so much.
However the laws are wht they are and they should be enforced or change them.
LOL!!!!
Deuteronomy 17:17 specifically warns against practicing polygamy--a warning ignored by a handful of Biblical characters: "He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray."
This is precisely what happened to Solomon (700 wives; 300 concubines according to 1 Kings 11:3). The result of Solomon holding "fast to them in love" (1 Kings 11:2) was that "his wives led him astray." (1 Kings 11:3). "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lrod his God...So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely..." (1 Kings 11:4,6)
“HBO’s “Big Love” about a fictional polygamous family.”
The really fictional part are the three slim urban hotties.
The “Mormon Corridor” knows much better.
I disagree w/you. Otherwise you are saying there is absolutely no difference between marriage and cohabitation.
Ouch!!! That’s gonna leave a mark!!!!
polygamist aren’t married to their extra wives legally, but only in their reglious beliefs. They are typically married to their first wives, and the others just live with them. So, yes, I see that as very similar to Hugh Hefner, cept he isn’t married to any of his girlfriends, he is just living with all of them.
Who said that men can't get pregnant? This was Joseph Smith's "pregnancy." (And Brigham Young and John Taylor & other LDS prophets & general authorities were this practice's "godparents.")
Thanks for reminding us all that there are a few Taliban Christians out there. As for myself, I'd rather go to hell with the Mormons, or Catholics, or Lutherans or Jews or whomever else it is that you have a problem with, that go to heaven with your Taliban christians. (Small "c" intentional, because the Taliban part is more important to your type)
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