Why 'they still practise polygamy' is wrong

Don't use

The LDS answer holds up. Do not lead with this one.

The claim to stop making

That Mormons still practise polygamy. Usually with prairie dresses and plural households in mind.

Why it is wrong

Since the 1904 Second Manifesto, contracting or performing a plural marriage means excommunication. The people in those pictures are FLDS, or AUB, or independents.

They are splinter groups, and the church denounces them.

What it costs you

Confusing the Latter-day Saints with the FLDS is the fastest way to be politely dismissed. And you will have earned it.

What still stands

Drop the claim about living people and the doctrinal one is untouched. D&C 132 is still canonised scripture.

Widowed men are sealed for eternity to more than one wife today; Presidents Nelson and Oaks both are. And the church's own history has leaders secretly authorising plural marriages for fourteen years after 1890.

How strong is this argument?

Do not use it as stated. Concede it fully and quickly, then ask the doctrinal question.

That is worth far more than the point you gave up.

What to say

"You're right, nobody practises it now. So why is the revelation still in your scriptures?"

Wilford Woodruff, who issued the 1890 Manifesto ending plural marriage in the mainstream church

Colorado City, Arizona, home of a separate church that broke away over a century ago

Joseph F. Smith, whose 1904 Second Manifesto made new plural marriage grounds for excommunication

How they answer this — at its strongest

Since 1904 a plural marriage gets you thrown out. Those pictures are FLDS.

That is false for the mainstream church.

Since the 1904 Second Manifesto, contracting or performing a plural marriage gets a member excommunicated.

Today's practising polygamists are splinter groups the Latter-day Saint church denounces. The FLDS. The AUB. Various independents.

The prairie-dress image is FLDS, not LDS.

The verdict

Do not use this one. Concede it fast, then ask the question that stands.

Mixing up the Latter-day Saints with the FLDS is the fastest way to be politely dismissed.

But drop the claim about people alive today and the doctrinal one stands untouched. D&C 132 is still canonised scripture. Widowed men are sealed for eternity to more than one wife today, and Presidents Nelson and Oaks each are. And the church's own history has leaders quietly approving plural marriages for fourteen years after the 1890 Manifesto.

Say this. You're right, nobody practises it now. So why is the revelation commanding it still in your scriptures?

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