Polygamists Fight to Be Seen As Part of Mainstream Society

The Washington Post published an article last week titled “Polygamists Fight to Be Seen As Part of Mainstream Society”.

Like many articles dealing with polygamy, this one seemingly obfuscates the distinction between religious organizations that practice polygamy and the LDS Church, which does not. The Church does not practice polygamy, and members of the Church found to be in this situation are excommunicated.

In the article the author takes an authoritative stance, claiming to know the reasons why the Church renounced polygamy in 1890. As a related example:

One reason [for the so-called "don't ask, don't tell" policy] was that the politically powerful Mormon Church, while officially opposing polygamy, did not want the bad press strict enforcement might bring.

Far from understanding the myriad of other reasons (as Pres. Wilford Woodruff comments in the Official Declaration) involved in the Church’s decision to renounce polygamy, the author thinks that the Church did so, and that it currently ignores those who continue to practice it, out of hoping to avoid “bad press”. This idea is unsupported and weak.

The fact remains that all those who practice polygamy are not members of the LDS Church. While their religious organizations may bear similar names and profess similar origins, these so-called “factions” are in no way related to the LDS Church.

Such an example is shown in the article here:

Nat was raised in a monogamous household but converted to Mormonism and decided to become a fundamentalist and a polygamist.

The ambiguity in this statement leads the reader to associate Mormonism with the “fundamentalist” groups, and those that practice polygamy. This is misleading, as Mormonism is not to be associated with such groups.

Any news article discussing the issue of polygamy should make clear that such groups have nothing whatsoever to do with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Since the LDS Church is sometimes known as the “Mormon” Church, and since many news reports cite the Warren Jeffs incident as concerning “Mormon fundamentalists”, the Church has responded by issuing an article to clarify the proper use of the word “Mormon”.

On page two of the online article, the author also calls the Church “The Church of Latter-day Saints”, while the correct name of the Church is “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints”.

The article’s author, John Pomfret, can be reached via email, or you may contact the Washington Post directly.