Inspired by Hawkgrrrl’s post over at Mormon Matters, I decided to write a post asking what you’re thankful for. It doesn’t have to necessarily be Mormon-related. I realize I asked this question last year, and I talked about the First Thanksgiving last year, but I think we don’t talk about our thanks as much as we should. So here are a few things I am thankful for:
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I came across this recent article at Christianity Today describing meetings between evangelicals and Mormons. Here are some interesting excerpts from the article:
LDS president Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors permitted Standing Together, an alliance of 90 Utah evangelical churches, to use the historic Salt Lake City Tabernacle for a September 13 revival meeting. Throngs of evangelicals and Mormons enjoyed gospel songs and prayed together.
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Ok, I’ve talked about this book quite a bit–I’ll probably take a break for a while after this post. (If you’re tired of the topic, perhaps you’d like to see what I wrote over at Mormon Matters: Utah Happiest State in Nation.)
One of the stereotypes of polygamy has been that Mormon men were just horndogs and married women for sex. Another stereotype has been that women joined into polygamy under duress–that it was preached for their salvation. While this is partially true, it leaves out significant parts of the story. Surprisingly, Utah had THE most liberal divorce laws in the nation during the Brigham Young era. In fact, “gentiles” seeking divorce utilized Utah’s liberal divorce laws, forcing the Utah legislature to close a loophole allowing non-residents to obtain divorce in Utah.
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Kathryn Daynes tells a really interesting story about an infertile couple in her book More Wives than One. The Church Handbook of Instruction was leaked onto the internet a few years ago, and the church sued to stop it’s publication. The only reference I could find indicates that the Church strongly discourages members from participating in surrogate motherhood. I know someone who was considering becoming a surrogate mother prior to her marriage. While part of me respects such a decision, I always thought that participating in surrogate parenting was a strange idea. I remember a NJ woman refused to give up the baby she had carried for another couple about 10-20 years ago, so there can be some real challenges for people who choose to participate in parenting via this route. You hear about weird mixups like this one, and you understand the church’s decision on why it is a bad idea. As I read the following story, it seems Brigham Young probably didn’t have a problem with surrogate parenting.
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I have really been enjoying the book More Wives than One by Kathryn Daynes, an associate professor of history at BYU. In my previous post on the book, I mentioned that marriage wasn’t as regulated as it is today. There were no marriage licenses, blood tests, or even ceremonies required. If a couple said they were married, then courts ruled that they were. That was all that was needed. It seems that many of the marriage regulations we are familiar with today were influenced by the federal government’s efforts to stamp out Mormon polygamy. Daynes gives a history of marriage starting on page 58.
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