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| Mormonism Exposed |
Though it seems like a long time since I learned that Artichoke was, in
her words disaffected from the church, it has been only a few weeks. When I
heard her words I put my arms around her and told her how much I loved her and
that I would always love her no matter what she did. I was able to do that
because disaffected means something different to me than what she intended. I
didn’t realize the full import of what I was hearing. I thought I was hearing dissatisfied,
disturbed, upset. What she was saying was repelled and that she had withdrawn.
Coming to terms with the actual truth of the situation has been difficult.
The thing that works best for me is to pretend that I did not hear
those words. The only way to keep up the pretense is to be around Artichoke as
little as possible. A part of me wants to sit her down and make her listen. I
know that is not workable. She would run away to shut out my words. It is
terrible to admit, but my feelings toward her have changed. I do not delight at
the prospect of seeing her. I feel uncertain and insecure in her presence. I
feel betrayed. I still love her, but right now we have no common ground.
One of the things that disquieted Artichoke was learning about Nauvoo
and polygamy. It made her sick to her stomach she said, and refused to talk
about it. I learned about polygamy in high school. I don’t remember it being
shocking. When I started putting together my family tree I learned that some of
the women in my ancestry had been in polygamous marriages. I will write about
them in the future.
Later I read about the practice of celestial marriage in Hubert Howe
Bancroft’s one volume history of Utah. here Bancroft made an attempt to be even
handed and fair in his discussion of the Mormon’s and their history. Though he
acknowledges all the good that he can see in the society they built in Utah he
also gives credence to many things that he is only able to see through the eyes
of detractors.
At the outset he declares that most of the evidence available is rumor,
general assertions and bold statements from men filled with lethal hate. In
detailing the origins of plural marriage Bancroft erects a logical frame work
for the practice. The reasoning, he points out is, that a people who believe in
the whole Bible where plural marriage is commonplace, and who read no
condemnation of it from God would naturally support plural marriage as part
of the acceptance of the ancient religious tradition where the roots of
Mormonism lie. After receiving revelation on the matter and
desiring to make the principal known without splitting the church Joseph began
to quietly approach first men and then women with the details of the practice. Next he began to take plural wives. Others
began to follow his example. Bancroft
tells us this is the orthodox and authorized explanation of the question. The
unorthodox, unauthorized explanation is the one given by apostates who have
written down the rumors, general assertions and half truths about the practice.
Bancroft continues to explain that the Mormon’s were no worse than the
gentiles who hated them because of their unity, industry and success. He
concludes that compared with their enemies who gloried in the depredations they
visited upon the Saints he could find no evidence to prove the allegations that
the Mormon’s were guilty of any crimes persons in Missouri or Illinois
of laid at their door. He concludes that
they were refined, clean in their habits and decent in speech.
Polygamy was a weighty burden. It placed the saints outside the law and
the limits of respectability yet it bound them. It strengthened their community
against a hostile world. “Forever after they have this mighty obstacle to
contend with; forever after they must live under the ban of the Christian world;
… and in all sincerity and singleness of heart thank God they were accounted
worthy to have all manner of evil spoken of them falsely.” p. 166-167
