I’VE BEEN CHIN DEEP IN Utah era polygamy again, this time scouring the plural marriage defenses written by Orson Pratt and his contemporaries. I’ve long been intrigued by how polygamy continues to shape the traditions and values of the mainstream LDS church, and I’ve written before about what I call polygamy culture. I admit, though, that when I coined the term years ago, I hadn’t yet comprehended the depth of the problems. I’m still working it through and am now in the process of writing a book to satisfy this need of mine to put then and now together in a meaningful way. As I study, I can’t stop thinking about Pres. Russell M. Nelson’s Oct. 2023 General Conference address, “Think Celestial!.” In it, Pres. Nelson forwards ideas that Pratt used to defend and promote polygamy. In other words, justifications for polygamy persist in current prophetic teaching. I find that disturbing but not surprising, considering the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints still believes in eternal marriage for eternal increase. But its side effect seems to be that Church leadership continues to view women as helpmeets for men with priesthood rather than as their equals. Let’s start with what Pres. Nelson said and then trace it backward along a Church history timeline to its origin with Orson Pratt, who, to be clear, was called by Brigham Young to be the Church’s official voice for plural marriage.

Continue reading “Celestial Bodies and Eternal Increase: The Line Connecting a Modern Prophet to Early Mormon Polygamy Defenses” →