A new essay by the Mormon church about the practice of plural marriage published days after a judge struck down key parts of Utah’s polygamy law is something of a revelation to millions of Mormons worldwide, says Armand Mauss, retired professor of sociology and religious studies at WSU. Mauss estimates that less than 10 percent of rank-and-file Mormons would previously have known everything in the article.
The acknowledgement that as many as one-third of Mormons lived in polygamous households by 1870 contradicts a widely held belief that polygamy was practiced by only 2 or 3 percent of Mormons, Mauss said. The new article and previous scholarly research show that polygamy was a formative institution among Mormons during that time, Mauss said.