Mormon Church Changes Children Polygamy Lesson After Online Criticisms | Ep. 1995

In December 2024, the Mormon Church released a new chapter in the children’s Doctrine and Covenants Stories on the topic of polygamy. In that chapter they discuss how God sometimes commands his people to live polygamy and how hard it was for Joseph Smith to obey. The chapter also discusses how Joseph’s wife Emma did not want her husband to marry other women. Children were even taught that some of the brethren were arrested and put in prison for living polygamy.

After the release of that chapter many people spoke up, criticizing the church for this new content. Many believed these stories were too heavy for children and that by releasing this chapter the Mormon Church was actively teaching a story of sexual assault and grooming.

Today we learned that the church changed this chapter. Certain phrasing was removed as well as entire sections of the chapter. Is this due to online criticism of the church teaching children polygamy? Does the Mormon Church cave under pressure? Join us today as John, Julia (from Analyzing Mormonism), and Alyssa Witbeck discuss these changes.

YouTube

Show Notes

00:07:55 Clip - Criticism forces the church to change

00:25:36 Clip - Nathan Hinckley talking about them using the word “hard”

00:26:15 Comparing the original and the new version

00:35:20 Clip - Is God okay with forced polygamy?

00:36:55 Comparing the changes on the second image

00:42:20 Clip - “The Mormon church is participating in sexual assault”

00:53:46 Clip - Michelle Stone on Emma Smith00:56:10 In the new version this section has been completely taken out

01:01:58 Clip - “How did this get through the review process?”

01:15:22 Clip - Mormon leaders went to prison01:19:24 The last panel did not change on Woodruff’s manifesto

01:26:08 Polygamy is still hard on women today in an eternal aspect

01:36:25 What was the 2015 Exclusion Policy and how the church rolled it back

01:32:40 Answers from the Church History Survey

01:48:17 The story of Zina Huntington

01:50:30 Clip - Can consent be given in a Mormon context?

01:54:55 This is a positive change overall

02:03:10 What is it that causes people to question their faith?

02:06:11 Clip - “A faith that blinds you is problematic”

02:08:25 Final thoughts

___________________

At Mormon Stories we explore, celebrate, and challenge Mormon culture through in-depth stories told by members and former members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as well as scholars, authors, LDS apologists, and other professionals.  

Our overall mission is to: 

1. Facilitate informed consent amongst LDS Church members, investigators, and non-members regarding Mormon history, doctrine, and theology

2. Support Mormons (and members of other high-demand religions) who are experiencing a religious faith crisis

3. Promote healing, growth and community for those who choose to leave the LDS Church or other high demand religions

Want to create live streams like this? 

Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/4530951114981376

🤝Help us continue to deliver quality content by becoming a donor today

One-time or recurring donations: https://donorbox.org/mormon-stories?default_interval=m 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstories 

Venmo: https://account.venmo.com/u/mormonstories 

Paypal: https://paypal.me/mormonstories 

Join this channel to get access to perks:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCx6OgmoqJbOVRq-Lv1P7SzA/join

Our Platforms:

🌐Mormon Stories Blog: https://www.mormonstories.org/episodes 

🎙️Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mormonstories 

✳️Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4sDzk7dRjODTSEqzZKZJzk?si=148b0efc1ccc4404&nd=1 

🍎Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-stories-lds/id312094772 

🖼️Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mormstories 

📱TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mormonstoriespodcast 

🎮Discord: https://discord.com/invite/kuX5p6yyjF 

Contact us:

📧 [email protected]

📬PO Box 171085, Salt Lake City, UT 84117

#MormonStories #Mormon #lds