People sometimes ask me if we believe in polygamy. What should I tell them?

We believe that marriage is between one man and one woman. However, in biblical and more modern times, polygamy (or plural marriage) has been practiced when God has directed it for specific purposes (see Jacob 2:27, 30). This is why Church leaders selectively authorized some plural marriages in the 19th century for about 50 years. It was officially discontinued in 1890 when President Wilford Woodruff directed that no more such marriages should take place. The state of monogamy (one man, one woman) has been the Church’s teaching on marriage ever since.

Today, we oppose the practice of polygamy. Groups who practice it now are not associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and any person practicing polygamy cannot be a member of the Church.