Originally posted by: Vic
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: Zebo
I've never understood why people have a problem with mormons and thier wives. As long as it's consenting adults whats the problem?
Bump
Well, Zebo, you do bring up an interesting question.
As long as it's consenting adults, I for one do not care. When looked at from a biblical perspective, there is nothing forbidden about having multiple wives.
As I already pointed out in this thread, the Mormons have not practiced (nor allowed to be practiced) polygamy for more than 130 years. All the "Mormons" who still do practice polygamy (an extremely small number) are in fact excommunicated outcasts from the official church.
Why did the Mormons practice polygamy from 1847 to 1869? Because after having been brutally persecuted in the Midwest and then fleeing to Utah in 1847, the women greatly outnumbered the men. Having a strong desire to reproduce and increase their numbers as quickly as possible, they instituted the practice of polygamy. This same practice was also seen not too long ago and for the same reason in the former Soviet Union, after the Russians lost some 20 million men during WWII. As I already mentioned, the practice of polygamy is not forbidden in the Bible. In addition though, there was no law against polygamy in the United States at that time.
Going even further, Utah was not even in US terrority in 1847, but was a part of Mexico. After the US seized Texas, Colorado, and California during the Mexican War of 1848, the Mormons created their own semi-independent territory called Deseret. As Utah was considered worthless country at the time, and the Mormons were anti-slavery, no one really cared and the status quo continued until after the Civil War, even though Utah was officially US territory.
After the Civil War though, the US got busy building a trans-continental rail line to more easily access gold and silver deposits in California and Nevada, and Utah lay directly in the path of that proposed rail way.
In 1869, Congress passed a law making polygamy illegal and sent the Army to crack down on those polygamy-practicing satanist Mormons. Despite the fact that Brigham Young immediately complied with the federal government and forbade Mormons from practicing polygamy anymore, and that he also agreed to yield government power to the US, the army invaded Salt Lake City and burned it to the ground.
There ya go.
