Civil Religion

I love this comment! This is exactly the reason we left the church, they are dishonest with themselves.

“Big Love” aside, polygamy is nearly always a fascinating doctrinal topic within the relatively short history of Mormonism. From founder Joseph Smith’s installing of the practice, including himself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_the_wives_of_Joseph_Smith,_Jr.), to the definitive teachings of Prophet Brigham Young:

“Now if any of you will deny the plurality of wives, and continue to do so, I promise that you will be damned,” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 266).

“The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy,” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. 269).

“We are told that if we would give up polygamy - which we know to be a doctrine revealed from heaven, and it is God and the world for it - but suppose this Church should give up this holy order of marriage, then would the devil, and all who are in league with him against the cause of God, rejoice that they had prevailed upon the Saints to refuse to obey one of the revelations and commandments of God to them. Journal of Discourses, vol. 11, p. 239).

Of note, the Salt Lake Tribune recently filed for bankruptcy. Should it not emerge successfully from such, one cannot expect the other main daily in the area (LDS Church owned Deseret News) to have the level of depth and objectivity that the Tribune did for obvious reasons.

A question for our LDS friends: why do the widely used titles of basic LDS teaching materials, such as the current edition of Gospel Principles and recently published series of the Teachings of the Prophets, ignore this history?