Originally posted by gop_jeff
The official position of Mormonism for the first years of their religion were that Joseph Smith (founder of Mormonism) had a divine revalation that polygamy was OK. The reasoning behind it was that Mormonism teaches that there are a finite number of people waiting to be born, and the sooner that they are all born, the sooner Jesus would return. So polygamy was instituted.
However, after the Mormons had settled Utah and were applying for statehood, Congress balked because of polygamy. The leading prophet of Mormonism at the time (whose name escapes me) then had another revelation that outlawed polygamy, and the official church doctrine banned it.
The fallout from this can still be felt today. First, on the issue itself, there are many fundamentalist Mormons who believe that polygamy is still OK, and they still practice it. Second, it questions the other "revelations" of Joseph Smith. Was he wrong about polygamy? If so, what other "revelations" was he wrong about? Or did God change his mind about it? If so, what else has the Mormon God changed his mind about?