Three Hearts, One Love: Secretly Living Polygamy In Today's Society
Description
Polygamy has been sensationalized by the likes of Dan Rather, Mike Wallace, and a number of others. Their so-called exposes of secret cult-like activities mirrors the common conception, the stereotype, of polygamist behavior. Leering old men buying young virgins for lustful purposes; uncles marrying their underage nieces; dozens of starving ill-clad children. Now it is true that there are plural marriages that fall into these absurd categories just as there are severely dysfunctional monogamous families.
However, the truth is that most polygamous families live relatively normal, uneventful, non-sensational lives. Just like the DANIEL CARTER family, a clan of Mormon Fundamentalists living in Southern Utah.
For some the expression "Mormon Fundamentalists" is an oxymoron. Since 1890 when polygamy was abolished by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the official name of the Mormon Church, Mormonism has quickly and fervently excommunicated any member caught living, or even advocating, "the principle," the term given to denote divinely instructed polygamy. A Mormon Fundamentalist is one who believes in the tenets of Mormonism but also believes that plural marriage was and is the law of God, that it was abolished purely for political reasons. Therefore, we have two segments, the Mormons (LDS) and the Mormon Fundamentalists (FLDS) who are not members of the LDS Church but who still believe in the faith as well as in the principle.
Unknown to the outside world, and to most Mormons themselves, there is a third group--the secret Mormon Fundamentalists. These are members of the Mormon Church, who because they treasure their membership so much, hide their belief in, and their practice of, polygamy. Daniel Carter is a 31 year old university professor who lives in a rural area of Southern Utah. Since 1978, he has belonged to this group--he is a covert Mormon Fundamentalist.
Daniel's wife, Allison, an LDS Idaho farm girl of significant Mormon heritage, is a quiet reserved woman who befriends one of her husband's students, JerriLu Summers, a younger, vivacious outgoing gal. They develop a special friendship, which culminates on their strategizing to induce and seduce Daniel to take JerriLu as his plural wife. This story examines how these protagonists become involved in
polygamy, how they resolve the conflicts that accompany such a life-style, and how they maintain the secrecy of their unique relationship. We view the interaction between the main characters and their friends, neighbors, Church officials, and children, seeing how each handles feelings of jealousy, possessiveness, and suspicion.
Then years later the relative calm and cohesiveness that the family has developed is threatened as into the mix comes Maralee Kasten, a girl some 30 years younger. She is a recent Mormon convert who says what's on her mind and what's on her mind is the desire to join the family as Daniel's third plural wife.
As the contentions of this new wrinkle are being dealt with, the family suffers their coup de grace as they are "outed" in 2001. And so finally we see if, and how, they survive the ramifications of this--their ultimate challenge.
However, the truth is that most polygamous families live relatively normal, uneventful, non-sensational lives. Just like the DANIEL CARTER family, a clan of Mormon Fundamentalists living in Southern Utah.
For some the expression "Mormon Fundamentalists" is an oxymoron. Since 1890 when polygamy was abolished by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the official name of the Mormon Church, Mormonism has quickly and fervently excommunicated any member caught living, or even advocating, "the principle," the term given to denote divinely instructed polygamy. A Mormon Fundamentalist is one who believes in the tenets of Mormonism but also believes that plural marriage was and is the law of God, that it was abolished purely for political reasons. Therefore, we have two segments, the Mormons (LDS) and the Mormon Fundamentalists (FLDS) who are not members of the LDS Church but who still believe in the faith as well as in the principle.
Unknown to the outside world, and to most Mormons themselves, there is a third group--the secret Mormon Fundamentalists. These are members of the Mormon Church, who because they treasure their membership so much, hide their belief in, and their practice of, polygamy. Daniel Carter is a 31 year old university professor who lives in a rural area of Southern Utah. Since 1978, he has belonged to this group--he is a covert Mormon Fundamentalist.
Daniel's wife, Allison, an LDS Idaho farm girl of significant Mormon heritage, is a quiet reserved woman who befriends one of her husband's students, JerriLu Summers, a younger, vivacious outgoing gal. They develop a special friendship, which culminates on their strategizing to induce and seduce Daniel to take JerriLu as his plural wife. This story examines how these protagonists become involved in
polygamy, how they resolve the conflicts that accompany such a life-style, and how they maintain the secrecy of their unique relationship. We view the interaction between the main characters and their friends, neighbors, Church officials, and children, seeing how each handles feelings of jealousy, possessiveness, and suspicion.
Then years later the relative calm and cohesiveness that the family has developed is threatened as into the mix comes Maralee Kasten, a girl some 30 years younger. She is a recent Mormon convert who says what's on her mind and what's on her mind is the desire to join the family as Daniel's third plural wife.
As the contentions of this new wrinkle are being dealt with, the family suffers their coup de grace as they are "outed" in 2001. And so finally we see if, and how, they survive the ramifications of this--their ultimate challenge.
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