Sister Wives

Wow, Rapunzel. Do you live in an area without many Mormons?

On another note, we came from a city where there were a lot of Muslims (like traditional garb Muslims, even the occasional full burka). We would often see groups of women shopping together with all of their kids, and paying as one. I always figured they were probably polygamous, but who knows.

[Michele]

I think the groups of Muslim women are just good friends/supportive for each other. I think it's more of a community approach. Also, it's my understanding that women can only talk to other women in certain sects of Islam.

Count me as one of the uneducated who thought polygamy was a Mormon thing. I figured it was a loose interpretation and that most didn't do it, but I thought it was part of the religion.

[scarlett09]

I caught most of the birth episode the other night (and subsequently had a dream that I had a baby boy). Kudos to Robyn for doing it naturally and at home. And having her dad there, which makes me feel awkward, but it's not for me to judge her decision. I don't know if I could have all of those people there in the middle of the night (DH kept saying, I would want to go back to bed, lol) but I know how important the baby was to bringing the family together.

As for the dynamics of the family, I knew all of the stuff about the move being hard on the older kids. What really surprised me was the verbalization of the feelings of the sister wives about each other. I could tell in previous episodes what they were probably feeling or saying behind the scenes just based on body language or tone of voice. But to actually hear Christine say she was having issues with Robyn and was making a "peace offering" for her and the baby was a big "wow!" moment for me. And for Meri to say that she had always wanted close relationship with sister wives and didn't have it until Robyn came along was also a shocker, as I thought she had good relationships with the other wives. I've missed a few episodes so I need to catch up.

I think they're an interesting family and I enjoy seeing the dynamics about how this type of lifestyle plays out. I couldn't share my husband with another woman, but they seem to make it work somehow. And they seem as though they are living in the Mormon "culture" but obviously not the "church".

And yes to what Michele said about Muslim women. Sometimes the women will run their errands together because they can't go out on their own without their husbands, but they can go in a group of women.

[Vanquisher]

See, now I feel like I have to post the flip side to the "they're not Mormon" argument. They are - just a different sect. They are Fundamentalist Mormon or Fundamentalist LDS. The only difference that I can see between the modern LDS church and theirs, is that they still practice polygamy. Frankly, it seems to me that they are practicing a truer representation of their faith and not bending to the societal pressures of bigamy law. They all practice pretty much the same overall faith though with many or most of the same ideals. They believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet who founded their religion by translating the book of Mormon from golden plates that he was led to. They believe that Christ lived in the Americas among many other things that are unique to Mormonsim. It's funny to me the disdain that the modern LDS church members have for polygamy, especially considering the founding members of their church whom they consider to be prophets of God practiced it. But, I don't get why people believe a lot of things, but this does seem especially hypocrtical.

I personally find the show to be fascinating, and I have watched it from the beginning and TiVo every episode. I have definitely seen a new side of polygamy with this family because I thought most polygamists were followers of Warren Jeffs. Growing up in Utah, I used to see polygamists all over the place and waited on them in restaurants. The clothes and hair were a dead give away, but this family turns that image on its head. It's refreshing, and I say they should have a right to live this way. They are all consenting adults, and deserve the freedom to live this if they want to. It definitely isn't for me, though, I can see some advantages to having an extra wife or two!

Now, the problems and abuses going on in the sect that follows Warren Jeffs is sick and disgusting. Incest and rape of children, forced marriages, and lost young men make me furious and sick. But, this show has definitely allowed me to see a different side of polygamy.

From Wiki:

The history of Mormon polygamy (specifically polygyny) began with Joseph Smith, Jr. claiming to have received a revelation on July 17, 1831 that "plural marriage" should be practiced by some Mormon men who were specifically commanded to do so. This was later published in the Doctrine and Covenants by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).[51] Despite Smith's revelation, the 1835 edition of the 101st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, written after the doctrine of plural marriage began to be practiced, publicly condemned polygamy. This scripture was used by John Taylor in 1850 to quash Mormon polygamy rumors in Liverpool, England.[52] Polygamy was made illegal in the state of Illinois[53] during the 1839–44 Nauvoo era when several top Mormon leaders, including Smith,[54][55] Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball, took plural wives. Mormon elders who publicly taught that all men were commanded to enter plural marriage were subject to harsh discipline.[56] On June 7, 1844 the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith for plural marriage. After Joseph Smith's murder by a mob on June 27, 1844, the main body of Mormons left Nauvoo and followed Brigham Young to Utah where the practice of plural marriage continued.[57]
In 1852 Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage through a sermon he gave. Additional sermons by top Mormon leaders on the virtues of polygamy followed.[58] Controversy followed when polygyny became a social cause, writers began to publish works condemning polygamy. The key plank of the Republican Party's 1856 platform was "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery".[59] In 1862, Congress issued the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which clarified that the practice of polygamy was illegal in all US territories. The LDS Church believed that their religiously-based practice of plural marriage was protected by the United States Constitution,[60] however, the unanimous 1878 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. United States declared that polygamy was not protected by the Constitution, based on the longstanding legal principle that "laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices."[61]
Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to Canada and Mexico. In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff issued a public declaration (the Manifesto) announcing that the LDS Church had discontinued new plural marriages. Anti-Mormon sentiment waned, as did opposition to statehood for Utah. The Smoot Hearings in 1904, which documented that the LDS Church was still practicing polygamy spurred the LDS Church to issue a Second Manifesto again claiming that it had ceased performing new plural marriages. By 1910 the LDS Church excommunicated those who entered into, or performed, new plural marriages. Even so, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.[62] The last documented mainstream LDS polygamous marriage was the grandfather of current LDS apostle Eyring, Edward Eyring, and two distant cousins of Mitt Romney. One of the cousins died in 1954, turning the marriage into a monogamous one.
[edit] Fundamentalist Mormonism

Enforcement of the 1890 Manifesto caused various splinter groups to leave the LDS Church in order to continue the practice of plural marriage.[63] Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah and neighboring states as well as in the spin-off colonies. Polygamist churches of Mormon origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist" even though they are not a part of the LDS Church. Such fundamentalists often use a purported 1886 revelation to John Taylor as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.[64] The Salt Lake Tribune stated in 2005 there were as many as 37,000 fundamentalists with less than half of them living in polygamous households.[65]

[Pollyanna]

I personally find the show to be fascinating, and I have watched it from the beginning and TiVo every episode. I have definitely seen a new side of polygamy with this family because I thought most polygamists were followers of Warren Jeffs.

Me too! I was thinking I was the only one that watched, lol. Honestly, the women on this show are FAR from repressed. They seem to pretty much run the show. They do not feel like the Warren Jeffs of the world represent their faith and it makes them sick to the point of tears. I find them to be a very likable and normal family. I have no idea how they make it work financially and it is interesting to see the children talk about whether or not they want a polygamist lifestyle. I have to have respect for people that have a profound belief and then follow it, even if it's not easy. One of the wives said that if her children do not follow in the faith she will feel like she failed as a mother in some way.

[Pollyanna]

It's funny to me the disdain that the modern LDS church members have for polygamy, especially considering the founding members of their church whom they consider to be prophets of God practiced it.

This is an interesting point. How does the LDS church explain this (I'm not challenging, just curious)?

[SoonerTexan]

This is an interesting point. How does the LDS church explain this (I'm not challenging, just curious)?

So, I know I'm getting the terminology wrong, but I follow a blog of a Mormon girl religiously (ha--pun!) who basically explained that they don't necessarily consider the polygamy of the past "wrong" but the current truth that has been revealed to them does not condone it. And though it isn't likely, they could technically go back to it.

Does that sound right, Rapunzel, etc?

I have watched out of mere curiosity... I find the man incredibly self righteous. As anyone noticed he drives around in a two seater Lexus when he has 16 kids?

DH's childhood friend is LDS and they explain it like, Back then they needed polygamy in order to take care of the women and bring more Mormons into the world. But, now that we don't need polygamy for those things as there are plenty of Mormon men, widows are well taken care of, etc., polygamy is wrong. I give them that because Christianity/Judaism also has a history of polygamy. For instance, the story of Jacob and his four wives.

I currently live in a large metropolitan area (1 million+) with about 10,000 LDS. I was raised in another large metropolitan area which has something like 50,000+ members. I grew up in the "Bible belt" where it was common to have Baptist preachers proselyting door to door in order to save people. I could positively answer I was "saved" (according to their definition) and was left alone - unless they asked me what church I belonged to. The local First Baptist and Methodist churches in my town held monthly "cult" meetings primarily about LDS (Mormons). Many of my friends at school attended these church youth meetings (these two churches had very large congregations for my town size). I actually had several of my teachers during my school years explain to me the errors of being a Mormon (usually after class not during).

Keep in mind that most of the members of the LDS (Mormon) church live outside of Utah. And, most of them live in Central and South America. Our church is primarily hispanic in current composition. Utah has the original Mormon pioneer history as well as the church headquarters, but it does not hold most of the membership. If you live in a large metropolitan area or Central/South America you probably have at least one family in your current neighborhood who is LDS. You just don't know it, because they look just like you.

Did we grow up in the same town? I was raised fundamentalist Baptist and we were always taught as kids why "Mormonism" was a "cult". (I'm not a fundamentalist anymore.) I don't believe that now, of course. DH grew up around Mormons since his best childhood friend was LDS. Through DH, I've met a great number of Mormons and they've all seemed like normal, regular, every day people to me.