K-TALK
LDS Apologist Van Hale on Polygamy
Van Hale hosts his own Salt Lake area radio program called "Mormon Miscellaneous."
On June 12th, 2005 Mr. Hale discussed Josph Smith's polygamy and defended
his earlier statement that sexual access was not the reason for it.
Public
Responses to Van Hale's Polygamy Statemement
The link I provided
Van Hale was two excerpts of LDS historian Todd Compton's book which
shows that sexual relations were a prime motivation in Joseph Smith's
polygamy practice. The point I want to make in this post is to show
readers how Hale tries to dismiss Compton's research by merely stating
to his radio audience (assuming that he has one) that I (Randy) "provided
a link."
But did Van Hale
GIVE his radio audience that link, or did he TELL THEM what info was
in the link? From reading the transcript of his radio show, he did not.
This is a typical tactic of Mopologists, which I've pointed out many
times in the past---when they are confronted with data which refutes
their positions, they either ignore it, downplay it, or dismiss it out-of-hand.
The ironic thing
about Hale's disingenuous behavior here is that he has recently stated
that (paraphrasing) "the most accurate treatments of Mormon history
have been produced by active, believing, degreed historians." But
Todd Compton is an active, believing, degrrred historian, and yet Van
Hale dismisses his research on Joseph Smith's sexual activities, SOLELY
BECAUSE IT CONFLICTS WITH HALE'S DESIRED IMAGE OF JOSEPH SMITH. Hale
knows that if he admits that Joseph Smith was a sexual addict, that
that reflects poorly on Smith's character and his alleged "prophethood";
so Hale's tactic is to reject or downplay the information, so that he
can maintain his "testimony."
Thus we see that
a career in Mormon apologetics is really just a lifelong exercise in
ignorance and denial.
One more point regarding
Hale's Pollyanna-ish view that polygamy served to "provide good
husbands for larger numbers of women": I had neglected to mention
the case where Joseph Smith had one of his loyalists, Joseph Kingsbury,
enter into a "sham" civil marriage with Sarah Ann Whitney,
whom Smith had "plural married." Obviously, Smith did not
need to "plural marry" Sarah so she could have a "good
husband."
The ONLY logical
reason I can deduce for this act was so that in case Smith impregnated
Sarah, she would have a "paper husband"---Kingsbury---to be
the child's legal father. In that scenario, Smith would not have served
as a "good provider" to Sarah or any child he might have sired
by her; Kingsbury would have been the man to care for mother and child.
And along those
same lines, if Smith was supposed to serve as a "good husband"
for his "plural wives," he failed miserably, seeing as how
the deciet and illegality surrounding his secret polygamy practice factored
heavily in his death during the height of it. Other men were left to
care for Smith's "plural widows" and any children he may have
fathered.
One more comment
on another Hale statement:
"But the
one thing I never encountered was any argument from Mormon sources
saying the reason for polygamy was that men could find greater sexual
satisfaction and gratification. That simply was never presented as
a reason; in fact, it would have been much easier, as anyone could
well imagine, if that were the position that you can have sex with
anyone you want to, if that were the Mormon position and if it was
just for expanded opportunity for sexual gratification then why not,
why bring the whole marriage concept into it and the having of children
and the responsibility of large families and the support that all
that required and so forth."
This really demonstrate
Hale's naivete. If Smith---the alleged "prophet" of an allegedly
Christian sect---had just gone around and indiscriminately propositioned
women for sex, he would have been exposed and deposed far sooner than
he was. For Smith to get all the sex his "alpha-male" personality
wanted, he had to concoct a theology which allowed (or as he asserted,
"commanded"), him to practice it. That's why he used the examples
of Old Testament polygamy, and told his potential conquests that "an
angel with a flaming sword has threatened my life if I don't practice
polygamy" nonsense.
Smith also used
Swedenborg's concepts of "eternal marriages" to bolster his
theology: promising women that they would belong to Smith's "celestial
kingdom" in the afterlife if they "plural married" him
"for time and all eternity, with all the rights and privileges
of earthly marriage" to help get women into bed.
If the real purpose
of polygamy was NOT sex, then it would have been better for Smith and
Mormonism's reputation if he had never made sex a part of it AT ALL.
But the evidence which shows that Smith had sex with, or attempted to
have sex with, a substantial number of his "plural wives,"
clearly indicates that having sex was a major factor. One might ask,
"How long would have Mormon polygamy lasted, and how popular would
it have been among Mormon men, if sexual relations in those marriages
HAD BEEN STRICTLY FORBIDDEN BY CHURCH LEADERS?" I will guarantee
you that if that had been the case, polygamy would have never existed
in Mormondom. As one recent refugee from the FLDS cult said awhile back
(paraphrasing), "Church leaders say that polygamy isn't about sex,
but I'm here to tell you that it's ALL about sex." She characterized
FLDS polygamists as a bunch of dirty old men.
I wonder if Van
Hale (who claims to have been studying polygamy for 24 years) has ever
read Martha Brotherton's account at
http://www.xmission.com/~country/reason/mbrother.htm
Randy Jordan
The
fact is the ONLY reason the Lord commanded Joseph Smith to take "virgins
a hundred fold" in this life was to "multiply and replenish
the earth" with them. It's right there in D&C 132.
See: http://www.i4m.com/think/joseph-smith-polygamy.htm
Mormon Polygamy
was and is about male leader sexual ACCESS to women - not necessarily
pleasure or gratification, but ACCESS.
In fact, D&C
132 says nothing about providing good husbands for a larger body of
women. That notion is not only "speculational" but also blatantly
false, since Smith had sex with women who were already married to good
church leaders.
Joseph Smith did
not provide for a single one of his polygamist wives (unless you count
the two girls living with him that Emma did not know had married him).
Joseph Smith's polygamous
adventures are not at all in harmony with Van Hale's explanations.
Yes, Van Hale admits
sex "might" have been a part of "some" of Joseph
Smith's plural marriages. But the scriptural revelation (D&C 132)
gives sexual ACCESS to women as the sole reason for polygamy. There's
no revelation by Joseph Smith that he is to take on teenagers because
they can't find good husbands.
Van Hale's fundamental
claim is that rational people can come to entirely different conclusions
about Mormonism. How can that possibly be?
Deconstructor
While Van Hale wants
to believe that polygamy served a noble purpose of "providing good
husbands for a large number of women," the fact is that polygamy
(a.k.a. bigamy) was illegal in the state of Illinois during the entire
time Joseph Smith practiced it there. Polygamy's illegality, and its
repugnance as viewed by decent folk, are the very reasons Joseph Smith
kept it a secret, and vehemently denied teaching or practicing it every
time anyone "in the know" tried to expose it.
When John C. Bennett
published his expose' of polygamy in 1842, Smith and his loyalists "turned
the tables" on him, and claimed that it was Bennett who was advocating
multiple wifery.
When others, like
Sarah Pratt, Nancy Rigdon, and Martha Brotherton spoke out publicly
against polygamy, Smith and his goons besmirched their reputations,
calling them "common whores" and the like.
When William Law
& Co. split from Smith in 1843, primarily over polygamy, Smith and
friends accused them of being adulterers. And when Law & Co. published
their paper exposing Smith's polygamy, and filed bigamy charges against
Smith mere weeks before his death, he replied "I have been accused
of having seven wives, but I look around, and can see but one."
Few Believing Mormons
realize that during his entire lifetime, Joseph Smith NEVER ONCE PUBLICLY
ADMITTED TO TEACHING OR PRACTICING POLYGAMY. In the one instance where
he was quoted as advocating it, he issued a clarification saying that
he was referring to polygamy "as practiced in former days,"
meaning Biblical times, rather than modern times. And all the while
he steadfastly denied teaching or practicing polygamy, he was "plural
marrying" more than 30 women, and having sex with many of them.
And few Believing
Mormons, probably including Van Hale, realize that polygamy was specifically
prohibited by the 1835 edition of the D&C, which was the edition
in force during Smith's administration. Meaning, the practice which
the Van Hales of Mormondom believe served some noble social purpose
was against the laws of both church and state, and made liars and adulterers
out of Joseph Smith and every other Mormon who participated in it. If
polygamy was noble and decent, Smith and friends would not have had
to lie about it, or accuse others of the very behavior in which they
were engaging.
Randy Jordan
When Daniel Peterson
appeared on Van Hale's radio show a few months ago, Peterson addressed
the criticisms Ex-Mormons have of the church's suppression and cover-up
of details about polygamy. Peterson's rather sarcastic response on the
issue was essentially "If any Mormon grows up and doesn't know
about polygamy, it's his own fault." As is typical with Mopologists,
Peterson tried to saddle the problem onto ignorant Mormons or us Ex-Mormons.
To bolster his case, Peterson
cited the church-published supplemental reading manual "My Kingdom
Shall Roll Forth: Readings in Church History," which does indeed
contain lots of information about polygamy. But what Peterson didn't
say is that that manual was published in 1979---26 years ago---and because
I'm no longer a Mormon, I don't know whether it is still in print and
distributed churchwide or not.
Be that as it may, 1979 was
during the "golden age" of historical information, when Leonard
Arrington was the church historian, Michael Quinn was combing the archives,
and Lavina Fielding Anderson was running the "Ensign." Meaning,
they were a lot more liberal with the dissemination of church history
than church leaders allow them to be nowadays. Arrington was kicked
downstairs and is now dead, and Quinn and Anderson were excommunicated
for being too thorough in their historical research (in opposition to
Boyd K. Packer's 1981 edict that church-paid scholars were not to tell
the whole truth about chuurch history.)
Since those days, the church
has published less and less information about polygamy. Recent "Ensign"
articles on the lives and ministries of such Mormon giants as Joseph
Smith and Brigham Young have omitted all mention of it, and most of
us are well aware of the recent instances where historical references
to polygamy were altered and omitted from lesson manuals such as the
1997 "Teachings of Brigham Young."
My point being that contrary
to Peterson's attempt to blame the ignorance on rank-and-file Mormons,
lack of knowledge of the details about polygamy, especially among younger
Mormons, is largely due to the deliberate, systematic efforts of church
leaders over the last 15-20 years to provide as little information on
the subject as possible. As LDS historian Todd Compton wrote in his
"In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith,"
most Mormons are not even aware that Smith was a polygamist; they believe
that Brigham Young began the practice after the Mormons settled in Utah
after Smith's death.
The main point of this post
is that while Peterson went on Hale's radio show and blamed rank-and-file
Mormons and us Ex-Mormons for our ignorance of polygamy, Van Hale's
own ignorance of the details of polygamy, as exhibited by his comments
quoted on this thread, demonstrates that he, too, has been kept in the
dark: while Hale boasts that he has studied polygamy for 24 years, he
still repeats the "faith-promoting" myths about polygamy which
have been long ago debunked. Hale believes that polygamy was instituted
to provide "good husbands for single women" (or widows); that
polygamy corrected an imbalance in population between Mormon men and
women; that polygamy didn't provide any more sexual opportunities for
the men than did monogamy; and that polygamy served to "raise up
a righteous seed" of Mormons.
Those "faith-promoting"---though
completely false---myths have been disseminated by church leaders and
apologists, and continue to be to this day. Many of you have read my
essay where I rebutted BYU "professor of history" Kathryn
Daynes' assertions at a recent FAIR apologetic convention, wherin she
repeated the false idea that polygamy was instituted to provde husbands
for widows whose husbands had died crossing the plains. So we see that
even a supposed BYU "professor of history" is not immune from
catching Daniel Peterson's ignorance virus.
I would ask some
open questions of the Daniel Petersons of Mormondom: If ignorance about
polygamy is the fault of rank-and-file Mormons, or of us evil apostates,
then where in church-pblished materials can we find the following details:
*The fact that Joseph Smith's
first documented "plural wife" was a teenaged housemaid named
Fanny Alger
*The fact that that relationship
took place between 1833 and 1836---seven to ten years before Smith ever
even produced his "revelation on celestial marriage."
*The fact that Emma Smith
threw Fanny out of her home when she learned of the affair
*The fact that Oliver Cowdery
and Warren Parrish attempted to try Smith on adultery charges over the
affair, but Smith had a loyalist spirit Fanny out of town so she couldn't
testify to the relationship
*The fact that polygamy was
specifically prohibited by the 1835 edition of the D&C, which was
the edition in force during Smith's lifetime
*The fact that polygamy (a.k.a.
bigamy) was illegal in Illinois during the entire time Smith practiced
it there
*The fact that Smith kept
his polygamy practice a secret, denied it every time he was confronted
with it, and called his accusers liars, and assassinated their own characters
and had them excommunicated to silence their dissension
*The fact that according
to LDS historians, Smith "plural married" between 33 and 48
different women during his lifetime
*The fact that at least 11
of those women were currently married to, and living with, other men---including
some of the highest church leaders of the day
*The fact that historical
evidence shows that Smith had sex with a substantial number of those
women, including some of those who were married to other men at the
time
*The fact that Smith was
indicted on charges of bigamy and adultery mere days before his death,
which charges he vehemently denied
*The fact that Smith ordered
the destruction of the printing press of a dissident newspaper during
that time, whose leading figure was the man who had Smith indicted on
bigamy and adultery charges
*The fact that polygamy was
illegal the entire time the Mormons practiced it throughout the 19th
century; that no Mormon "plural marriage" was ever a legal
marriage; and that the many thousands of children born of such relationships
were all illegitimate
*The fact that while church
president Wilford Woodruff publicly claimed to repudiate plural marriages
in 1890, he and other church leaders secretly continued to authorize
or enter new plural marriages until about 1904
When the Daniel
Petersons of Mormondom can provide the references from church-published
materials for these points, he can support his assertion that ignorance
about the details of polygamy is the fault of people other than the
church itself.
More
on Mormon Polygamy Here
Mormon
Van Hale