Wasn’t this abolished more than a hundred years ago. My Mormon neighbors tell me that if any member is engaged in polygamy they are excommunicated.
All the more reason for some groups to be interested in polygamy. It allows them to take a strike at the Mormon Church politically. If it was at least decriminalized, couldn’t that be a persuasive tool to convince Mormons to support a change in stance about not allowing polygamy, because it isn’t so criminal anymore? How about the thought of getting Mormons to rethink their stance on future equivalents of Proposition 8? I can see some potential reasons why some groups would be interested in legalizing polygamy, specifically for trying to gain support of a group, but then again, it’s hard to say how likely this is that this would happen.
My Mormon neighbors tell me that if any member is engaged in polygamy they are excommunicated.
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yes and no.
The first ‘manifesto’ (that is what the LDS call it) stating that the prophet would no longer support polygamy came out in 1890, in order for Utah to get statehood.
HOWEVER, polygamous marriages occured (even by the leaders) clear up until the 1930’s. At that time a second statement came from SLC calling for the end of polygamy.
Also, there are many LDS who are expecting a return to polygamy and even looking forward to it. The common view today is polygamy was ‘taken’ because the LDS ‘couldn’t live it’ and that when they are ready it will be brought back, which may coincide with Jesus returning to Missouri and setting up a Mormon theocracy.
The LDS doctrine of ‘celestial marriage’ as given by Joseph Smith requires polygamy in order to get to the highest level of Mormon heaven (godhood). This is another reason that it is looked forward to.
Finally, the standard response is that the LDS excommunicate those who practice polygamy but that is not entirely true. If open about it, you will be excommunicated, but I know several polygamous families INSIDE the mainstream Mormon church. They keep it hidden, for the most part, but there are also accounts of the Church looking the other way. When I was LDS, and in Utah, I was approached to be a polygamous wife to a man in good standing in the LDS church. The cover story was I was a cousin that was going to BYU. If I got pregnant, then I ‘made a mistake’ but the good LDS family would let me stay with them and raise the child in their home.
If polygamy is legalized, bet on the LDS bringing it back.