Michael Quinn, an openly gay Mormon historian, who researched the continued practice of polygamy by some church leaders after it had been banned by the Manifesto. In an interview , Quinn says that contrary to church policy, which dictates that disciplinary councils be handled at the "stake" level, a representative of the national hierarchy intervened in his case and ordered him excommunicated.
Lavina Anderson, another of the September Six, who published in and edited the free-thinking Mormon publications Dialogue and Sunstone, accused church leaders of keeping tabs on Mormon scholars, a practice the church later confirmed. Journalists Richard and Joan Ostling write in their book Mormon America, "No other sizable religion in America monitors its followers in this way. Hinckley said this about the church's attitude toward modern-day polygamy :.
The official prohibition against polygamy dates back to and a "manifesto" by LDS President Wilford Woodruff, in which he advised members "to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land. Smith issued the "Second Manifesto," declaring that any church member continuing to practice polygamy would be excommunicated. Smith carried through on the threat by excommunicating two members of the church's Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
Despite the prohibition and an active crackdown on the practice by the LDS Church itself, splinter groups considering themselves "fundamentalist" Mormons have continued to practice polygamy. In , state authorities raided the polygamist community of Short Creek, Ariz. Today, the public face of polygamy is often that of its most extreme adherents like Warren Jeffs, who was the absolute ruler of an isolated community of Mormon fundamentalists.
He recently pleaded not guilty to charges he was an accomplice to rape for arranging the marriage of a year-old girl to an older man.
The Mormon church does not consider members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints FLDS -- the most widely-known modern group that continues to practice plural marriage -- or any other polygamist sect to be Mormons, and practicing polygamy is grounds for excommunication.
Nearly all of the polygamist groups in the intermountain west are technically schismatic Mormon groups. They accept the Book of Mormon as scripture and embrace LDS doctrines, mainly differing from the church headquartered in Salt Lake City over the issue of whether the manifesto that proscribed plural marriage was a revelation and over who ought to be presiding over the church.
From until , blacks could join the church but weren't allowed to be ordained to the priesthood. In the Mormon faith, being ordained to the priesthood is similar to a bar mitzvah, a more or less universal rite of passage that every Mormon male undergoes. Priesthood authority allows Mormon men to perform sacraments, give blessings, go on missions, hold office in the church hierarchy and seal couples in marriage. Women have never been allowed to hold the priesthood. Several reasons were given for the year ban.
The early rationale was that blacks were descended from the Old Testament figure Cain, whose skin was darkened after he murdered his brother Abel. This reasoning was also used by other Christian churches to justify their exclusion of blacks. Brigham Young in stated, "[A]ny man having one drop of the seed of [Cain] But according to Mormon historian Lester Bush , it appears Joseph Smith had allowed blacks to be priests; during Smith's time, the church had some black members and at least two black priests.
Another rationale, offered by some Mormons as far back as the s, is that the souls which inhabit black bodies had been neutral or even sympathetic to Lucifer during the War of Heaven. The Mormon Church's first official statement on the matter, issued in , alluded to this theory, stating that "the conduct of spirits in the premortal existence has some determining effect upon the conditions and circumstances under which these spirits take on mortality," and that therefore "there is no injustice whatsoever involved in this deprivation as to the holding of the priesthood by the Negroes.
Change came in the s: Not only were Mormons' ambitions to be a worldwide church growing, but black Africans were imploring the church to send missionaries so that they could be baptized.
All of this weighed on the church's new president, Spencer Kimball. Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email. Lee Hale. Since then he has reported on topics ranging from TSA PreCheck to micro apartments in overcrowded cities to the various ways zoo animals stay cool in the summer heat. But, his primary focus has always been education and he returns to Utah to cover the same schools he was teaching in not long ago. Lee is a graduate of Brigham Young University and is also fascinated with the way religion intersects with the culture and communities of the Beehive State.
He hopes to tell stories that accurately reflect the beliefs that Utahns hold dear. See stories by Lee Hale. Related Content. Support KUER. Some are disfellowshiped for a season; many, many more are quietly placed on probation by the bishop or stake president. The great majority of those who talk to their priesthood leaders about their personal problems are worked with confidentially without even the need for a court hearing or a formal disciplinary action.
The attitude of the individual is all important as he comes to his priesthood authority. If we seek help and correction with a contrite spirit and an unmistakable desire to do right, the priesthood leader can frequently bring about the miracle of forgiveness without the need for court action. This is particularly true of those who are in the beginning stages of transgression and particularly those young people who have fallen prey to the adversary on a one-time or so-called experimental basis.
When excommunication from the Church is necessary, however, we must not regard the penalty as an end to all blessings and eternal possibilities. Even excommunication, serious as it is, can have the effect of restoring the proper perspective of the offender. Once deprived of Church membership, it is interesting to note how vitally important rebaptism becomes.
The truly repentant excommunicated person will strive diligently to regain the waters of baptism. In the Church there are scores of members who have earned their way back into the Church through true repentance and who now stand on more firm ground than ever before in their lives.
They have learned their lesson well. They are not likely to make the same mistake again; and surely the blessings of eternity are once again a possibility, thanks to the sanctifying influence of true repentance coupled with the miracle of forgiveness. A bishop has the authority to convene a bishops court. The court consists of the ward bishopric, and they may consider the matter of excommunication for any member of the Church living in the ward except for one who holds the Melchizedek Priesthood.
The bishops court, however, may render a decision of disfellowshipment for any member of the ward, including Melchizedek Priesthood holders.
This court may also place any ward member regardless of priesthood status on probation. The high council court under the direction of the stake president consists of the stake presidency and members of the high council. This court has the authority to conduct hearings for any member of the Church residing in the stake, including both Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood holders, and also the authority to impose a decision of excommunication where appropriate.
Church members to be tried are notified in advance of the date, the hour, and the place the court will convene. The court should convene in the attitude of fasting and prayer.
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