sivusto luettavaksi

By the early 1840s, most of the leaders of the Mormon Church were aware of polygamy, as well as those families that were participating in it. Some families, for example the Higbees and the Laws, refused to accept polygamy as divinely inspired and so declared Joseph Smith to be a fallen prophet. The doctrine of polygamy was a major factor in the decision of the Higbees and the Laws to publish the Nauvoo Expositor. This paper castigated Joseph Smith and was subsequently destroyed by order of the Nauvoo City Council. The riot that followed the destruction of the press was the immediate charge with which Joseph Smith’s enemies had him arrested and hauled off to Carthage Jail, where he was murdered by a mob on June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial. After the exodus of the Mormon pioneers to the Rocky Mountains, polygamy was practiced more openly, though never widely. Estimates are that, at most, twenty percent of Mormons were associated with polygamous families. Some estimates put it as low as five percent.

Among Mormons, many folk doctrines and myths exist as to why polygamy was introduced. Many have taught that polygamy was introduced to help care for young widows or that there was an excess of women in the Mormon population. Neither was the case. Though these were factors in certain polygamous marriages, these cannot explain why polygamy was introduced. The only answer possible is the one that the Book of Mormon gives and which was echoed by later Mormon prophets. Sometimes, God commands his followers to practice polygamy.

Tämä on ihan mielenkiintoinen sivusto, map-jäsenen ylläpitämä, ei siis anti-sivu.

Ja on täällä juttua Fannystakin (jonka jotkut täällä keskustelupalstalla ovat kieltäneet koskaan Josephin vaimon edes olleen):
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The wife about whom we know the least is Fanny Alger, Joseph's first plural wife. He came to know her in early 1833 when she stayed at the Smith home as a house-assistant of sorts to Emma (such work was common for young women at the time). There are no first-hand accounts of their relationship (from Joseph or Fanny), nor are there second-hand accounts (from Emma or Fanny's family). All that we do have is third hand accounts, most of them written many years after the events.

Unfortunately, this lack of reliable and extensive historical detail leaves much room for critics to claim that Joseph Smith had an affair with Fanny and then later invented plural marriage as way to justify his actions. The problem is that we have no evidence one way or another, and so are left to assume that Joseph acted honorably (as believers) or dishonorably (as critics).

There is some historical evidence that Joseph Smith knew as early as 1831 that plural marriage would be restored, so it is perfectly legitimate to argue that Joseph's relationship with Fanny Alger was in line with the doctrine of polygamy."