should the LDS Church embrace its polygamist past?

[© tweed]

any mention to an LDS higher-up of the LDS Church's relationship to polygamy will most certainly send them into a tizzy.  and perhaps rightfully so; misconceptions abound about the present-day relationship of the LDS Church to polygamy.

but, yet, polygamy remains an important part of Mormon history.  Church pioneers and prophets alike were polygamists, and the Church endorsed the practice through 1890.  but, in the present, is it going to far?

many influential Mormons alive today are descendants of plural wives.  is their existence illegitimate?  of course not.  but by blanketly minimizing the impact of polygamy on Mormon history, and even dismissing it as some sort of a black mark in said history, LDS higher-ups are sending the wrong message.

case-in-point, sort of: in 1998, the late former LDS President (and 'prophet') Gordon B. Hinckley, who was, by all accounts, a wonderful man, sat down for an interview with Larry King.  when asked about polygamy, Hinckley, as part of his remarks, stated, "it is not doctrinal."  now, this is not incorrect, but perhaps (intentionally) misleading, and has become the target of anti-Mormons on YouTube who claim that the statement is in contrast with a statement Hinckley made earlier in the interview, "thou shalt not bear false witness."

my question/suggestion: why couldn't Hinckley have said "polygamy is no longer doctrinal"?  this would have been just as, if not more, accurate a statement, and also deprived anti-Mormons of some of their ammo.

[© tweed]

They still approve of it in the shadows.

no, not at all.  there are still pockets of 'closet' polygamists that are LDS members in and around Salt Lake City, but the practice is no longer condoned by the church leadership and if such people are 'found out' they are faced with excommunication.

[© tweed]

Mainstream Mormon culture is really self-correcting and strict so any 'shadow' approval would be essentially meaningless in the mainstream view.  Really nothing to do with secret Mormon Church conspiracies.  Those outside of said culture are more likely to be social moderates, and tow line to secular culture, which is hardly a hotspot of polygamy.

Rocky Ridge, Utah; Colorado City, Ariz.; Hildale, Utah; Pinesdale, Mont.; Bountiful, B.C.

That's pretty much it.

the residents of the above places are not members of, nor are they affiliated with, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints