by Laura Strebel

Created on: March 12, 2009

The State of Utah and polygamy are inseparable. With the world headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, more commonly known as Mormons, in Salt Lake City and 98% of the elected Senators and Congressmen being of that faith, it's simply the way it is. The state is actually better governed than what most, on the outside, could imagine under the circumstances.

Although there appears to be an issue with mixing of state and religion, "the church", for all intents and purposes, is quite careful to keep to itself on most issues. Keeping all the lay people of the membership in line is not a simple task but it does the best that it can.

The original religion of the Mormons instructed them that to reach the fullness of the doctrine, the members must practice polygamy. Then, in order to become a state there had to be a revelation doing away with the practice of polygamy. Up front, it is said to be something that no longer applies but it is still in the most popular books of the church and, I'm told, taught in the temples. A few members seem to believe it still applies although the church itself has said time and again that it does not, and a few went back to the practice. Maybe more than a few.

Most of the oldest families are from polygamous families in the past and all of the old families had plenty of children to keep the tradition going, if in the dark. Also a few converts, those that decided to drop their former religions in order to follow the Mormon doctrine, added their numbers to the ranks.

About every decade or so, there comes along someone who, out of embarrassment or will to do right, try to start prosecuting for the illegal act of polygamy. They shake a few people out of the woodwork, other members and the sympathizers start plugging the streets of whichever courthouse is holding the side show and its all back in the news.

Utah can't shake the polygamy any more than it can shake the beautiful Wasatch mountain range that is the backdrop to the scenery each story plays out to. But as for the legalities of prosecuting

The Texas case that hit the news lately, one very large state, trying to help what it thought was a young girl trying to escape polygamy, ended up spending tens and even hundreds of millions when it removed more than 600 children from one Mormon enclave in order to save the children from what it thought was a hellish condition. All but a small handful of children have been returned to their families and the lawsuits will keep

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