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Have a picnic day and skip it. We spend so much time excusing polygamy of the 1800’s. Rationalizing it. What if it was wrong? Plain old fashioned wrong?
We go round and round with explanations about why it was okay then and wrong now.
How do we rationalize the polyandry of BY?
An article about it that had really made me think is by Alan Rock Waterman.
http://puremormonism.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-im-abandoning-polygamy.html?m=1 Here is the link to my lesson that I have to teach soon. I know we have already discussed this, but I hadn’t read my lesson previously. I can’t believe it, the whole lesson is on polygamy and I don’t agree with a lot of the material. The kids now have to do assessments in seminary, its a kind of exam they take each semester, they are supposed to take the test during class time. Should I skip this entire lesson, and just do their test that day? I just don’t think in good conscience I should even approach this topic with other peoples kids, since I am so against polygamy right now. Or, do I just hit it head on and really discuss it with the kids, bring the church essays, and not shy away from it?
amateurparent wrote:Have a picnic day and skip it.
We spend so much time excusing polygamy of the 1800’s. Rationalizing it. What if it was wrong? Plain old fashioned wrong?
We go round and round with explanations about why it was okay then and wrong now.
How do we rationalize the polyandry of BY?
An article about it that had really made me think is by Alan Rock Waterman.
http://puremormonism.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-im-abandoning-polygamy.html?m=1 I read that essay and I just told DH that maybe I should believe this because it makes me like Joseph again and dislike Brigham the same as I always have.
slowlylosingit wrote:amateurparent wrote:An article about it that had really made me think is by Alan Rock Waterman.
http://puremormonism.blogspot.com/2010/06/why-im-abandoning-polygamy.html?m=1 I read that essay and I just told DH that maybe I should believe this because it makes me like Joseph again and dislike Brigham the same as I always have.
Just FYI, and this is only my opinion, but I think the article you reference is about as ‘true’ as the Angel with the Sword Story. JS was very clearly a polygamist in doctrine and in practice. The notion that polygamy was forced on the Church against JS’s will is, well… ridiculous. It’s an example of selective examination of history. Even the Community of Christ (former RLDS) Church now admits that JS was a polygamist. The Nauvoo Expositor, published while JS was still living, was very open about JS being a polygamist.There is a section in the article entitled “How we Got from There to Here.” I can tell you that from my study of polygamy that that section has zero historical merit.
After reading through the lesson material I’d skip it. If you fell you must have some discussion on the subject I’d go with stuff from the essays and have a discussion. Wow…that’s all I can say about that lesson. In good conscience I would not be able to teach that lesson. I would skip it or see if some poor unsuspecting victim wants to sub for a day.
If I were you, I would go with the essay discussion – or skip it and give the test. Personally, I’m confident enough that I might tell the kids and my Bishop what I am doing and why. I might say something like:
Quote:I am skipping the polygamy lesson today, because I can’t stand polygamy and don’t want to give the impression that I think anyone will have to be involved in polygamy in the next life. I don’t believe that, and I won’t teach it.
If the Bishop insisted on the lesson being taught, I would tell him to pick a substitute teacher for that lesson.
Old-Timer wrote:If I were you, I would go with the essay discussion – or skip it and give the test.
Personally, I’m confident enough that I might tell the kids and my Bishop what I am doing and why. I might say something like:
Quote:I am skipping the polygamy lesson today, because I can’t stand polygamy and don’t want to give the impression that I think anyone will have to be involved in polygamy in the next life. I don’t believe that, and I won’t teach it.
If the Bishop insisted on the lesson being taught, I would tell him to pick a substitute teacher for that lesson.
Oh, man. If you could get up the courage to say something like Ray suggests, you’d be my hero. I think this is what we need – more rank and file, active members quietly and politely speaking our minds.
(Personally, I don’t see a bottom-line difference between teaching the lesson and going through the essay. They both say God expressly commanded polygamy.)
Good luck with this.
Old-Timer wrote:Personally, I’m confident enough that I might tell the kids and my Bishop what I am doing and why. I might say something like:
Quote:I am skipping the polygamy lesson today, because I can’t stand polygamy and don’t want to give the impression that I think anyone will have to be involved in polygamy in the next life. I don’t believe that, and I won’t teach it.
There is a ward party tonight and I am pretty confident I could bring this up with the bishop there. I would be surprised if he said to teach it anyway, but I will let you guys know how that goes. He has been really great for stuff like this, he always tells me to do what I think is best and he will support it.
I just can’t go in a teach them that it was from God and then to say, “we just don’t know what will happen in the next life”. I have always hated that answer, it made me and still makes me anxious to think about.
Ann wrote:(Personally, I don’t see a bottom-line difference between teaching the lesson and going through the essay. They both say God expressly commanded polygamy.)
Good luck with this.
Because with the essays (there are three about polygamy) there is so much information you can skip over those parts you really object to or don;t necessarily believe (I don’t buy the angel and sword thing). Add to that the limited time frame (about 40 minutes) and if you can get a good discussion going with the kids expressing their honest feelings, and it’s pretty easy to leave all the really ugly stuff out.
As a side note it doesn’t have to be controversial or confrontational with the bishop. I know SLI said her bishop will probably be fine with it, but there is always the option of just getting a sub if you had a bishop where that wouldn’t go over. My wife taught early morning seminary for a few years and really never consulted the bishop about what she taught or didn’t teach – and I don’t know that he was all that interested in what she was or wasn’t teaching. I don’t know all the details, either, but I do know she picked and chose what to teach because there’s way more in those lessons than can be used anyway and teachers are supposed to teach what they feel is right/important (by the Spirit, of course).
Wow. That’s quite the lesson. I couldn’t teach that, but I do like the idea of reading the essays, or at the very least giving them the assignment to read them with their parents is a good idea. The polygamy lesson in seminary is one of the few that I remember clearly. I think that is because it just didn’t feel right. It was confusing. I didn’t question it because I didn’t think I could question anything. When we were leaving the seminary building I remember overhearing another student asking our teacher if Joseph Smith practiced polygamy (of course this wasn’t mentioned in the lesson and was actually framed like Joseph received the revelation, but it was other people who practiced it after he died). My seminary teacher responded, “Yes. Where did hear that?” All of that combined with the fact that during the lesson my teacher had a rant against feminists and in support of patriarchy (eye opening, and perplexing as a teenage girl).
I didn’t think about it much until later when I started learning more about polygamy. It was actually helpful for me to have known about Joseph Smith being a polygamist. That incident was the only time I ever heard about Joseph being a polygamist. I already was feeling very betrayed by the church, but I think it would have been even worse had I not previously even known he practiced polygamy. It was also helpful to be able to recall the strong feeling that something was wrong from that seminary lesson as I was trying to sort it out later. It was like an added witness against it.
If it were me, I would feel the obligation to at least give the kids the facts. I would also probably say something to the effect that there are lots of good members who don’t believe in it and if it doesn’t sit well with them not to worry about it. It was messy and it was painful. At the same time, the people practicing it believed it was a commandment and I honor that sacrifice (because how horrendous!) I also might consider spending the class time teaching a lesson about recognizing the spirit and how it communicates truth and how to recognize if something isn’t truth. I would use Moroni’s promise, D&C 9, and the section about recognizing the spirit from Preach My Gospel (there is a great quiz where you can go through each of the ways the spirit communicates and write down your own experiences with each one)… and then after that uplifting lesson either going over the essays together or sending them home to read with their parents and letting them know that they’re welcome to discuss the next day in class or to talk to you about it.
Alan Rock Waterman’s article has a lot of problems .. But I did appreciate the information about the Cochranites. IMHO, it explains a lot about BY’s approach to polygamy. And explains why it was embraced so quickly by so many .. The Cochranites brought it with them and were already living it. All to often a man is in a position of power .. And suddenly extra women appear. It doesn’t matter whether the position of authority is financial, academic, spiritual, or religious. Sexual misbehavior seems to follow all too often. Acknowledging it doesn’t mean that I take it as acceptable behavior. I don’t.
The lies bother me .. The Manifesto that ended polygamy. The church Moses it sound like the manifesto happened and no more polygamous marriages were allowed. In the first 14 years after the manifesto, the church performed over 250 polygamous marriages. Many of those were directly sanctioned form the first presidency.
I just read this and thought it applied. http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/2335798-155/op-ed-think-seminary-teachers-before-acceding Audrey wrote:I just read this and thought it applied.
http://www.sltrib.com/opinion/2335798-155/op-ed-think-seminary-teachers-before-acceding I read it and have decided not to do the lesson except ask if they have any questions regarding this weeks lessons. If they don’t bring it up, I’m not talking about it. But I will answer them honestly and use a lot of, “IMO”. Haha. I will just give them the test to do and it takes up the whole class time usually anyway. If I have to use a class to give the test, this is probably the best one to skip
So after my last seminary class, I told the kids I was leaving them in charge of what we were going to learn at the next class. I said, its on polygamy and we can go right in to that with a question and answer class, or if they didn’t feel the need to discuss polygamy we would do their assessments. Well, I got a very quick and powerful—POLYGAMY. Hahaha Then, one of my girls just started peppering me with questions. I felt very comfortable answering her and telling her that my intention of the class was to help her leave confident, not full of fear. She said, well, if the church ever comes back with polygamy, I will just stay single. This broke my heart. I thought, this is exactly what I didn’t want her to say, because marriage is such an amazing thing. I told her, I was pretty certain the church wouldn’t do that, but even if it did, YOU HAVE A CHOICE!!! No one can tell you to follow anything you don’t feel is right or okay. I think it is going to be a very interesting class! Good luck to me! :crazy:
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