Wilford Woodruff Quotes
This manifesto only refers to future marriages, and does not affect past conditions.
Woodruff, Wilford. "Interview with President Woodruff." The Salt Lake Times, vol. 2, no. 65, 23 Oct. 1890, p. 1.
The church advised this to its members
This edict illustrates the state of sexual mores in the 5th Century. Celibacy of priests was not then a requirement and many had children. One problem was that if a priest allowed his daughter to marry a man who lived with a concubine or mistress, the priest was accused of pandering his daughter and forcing her (the bride’ permission was not required then) to become an adulteress. However, almost all men of substance who would be good matches already had concubines. The pope’s edict was necessary in order for the daughters of priests to be married to suitable husbands.
Many whites applauded his views when they corresponded to Christian mores of the time.
“Celestial Marriage” is the term then used be Mormons to describe plural marriage.
This is a classic example of taking a principle and extrapolating it to an absurd degree. The Supreme Court did rule that there was a right to privacy and did rule that the state could not interfere with most consensual sex in the home including adultery. However the court did not permit bigamy or polygamy, sex with minors, and a host of other areas where the common weal is benefitted. Santorum and others with his view believe that the state should have the right to criminalize adultery and homosexual contact in a private home. And they indeed had this prerogative at earlier times. People were jailed for adultery in Virginia, for having intercourse in different positions in Alabama, for using condoms in Connecticut and others. However, most of the support for these sexual control laws came from religious fundamentalists who wanted the state to enforce their religious beliefs on all. That together with the privacy right, no longer allowed these state abuses if individual freedom. Ironically, most of the advocates for the state’s having the right to restrict sexual freedom. Think of themselves as advocates of individuality and the government not telling folks what to do or how to behave.
In a sense, Ebla had the first “shotgun weddings”. But it shows the value to this ancient society to having a family unit for the raising of children.
This is one of the several examples of Biblical injuntions to burn transgressors at the stake. See Related Quotes for others. Both New and Old Testamant not only did not condemn this cruelty, but actually proscribed it. This was one of the reasons that it was so difficult for Christian nations to abolish the practice.
Wilford Woodruff Sr. was an American religious leader who served as the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1889 until his death. He ended the public practice of plural marriage among the members of the LDS Church in 1890.
