Today we’re joined by Carol Lynn Pearson—poet, playwright, and author of The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy.
With extraordinary honesty, clarity, and compassion, Carol Lynn shares her deeply personal perspective on this chapter of our history and why she believes polygamy was a great mistake—one that continues to “haunt the hearts and heaven” of many Latter-day Saints today.
In this episode, we learn how she holds this belief alongside a deep devotion to her faith. She shares how it’s shaped her understanding of prophetic authority, and why she feels we can honor our past without being bound by it.
Carol Lynn believes it’s time we stop letting polygamy burden our spirits, our relationships, or our view of God. With both tenderness and conviction, she calls us to help the human family “cross the plains of patriarchy into the land of partnership.”
Her faith, strength, and spiritual integrity continue to inspire us, and we’re so grateful for the wisdom she brings to this conversation.
Quick note—during the conversation, we mention some Come, Follow Me curriculum for children originally included in this week’s lesson. Since recording, the Church has made important revisions to that material, which we would’ve highlighted had they been available at the time.
You can find Carol Lynn’s book The Ghost of Eternal Polygamy on Bookshop.org or on Amazon, and you can read her essay “Exorcising the Ghost of Eternal Polygamy” here:
Exorcising the Ghost of Eternal Polygamy
Today is not a good day to defend the abuse of women. Today is a very good day for all organizations, all churches–including ours–to examine themselves carefully for the attitudes, the teachings and the practices that place men and women on very uneven ground and make women feel that they have been badly treated, sometimes in ways that make them weep in the night. To my experience the confusing past and the presumed eternal future we Latter-day Saints have with the doctrine of polygamy is a sad anachronism in the midst of the many splendid teachings offered by our church.
This episode is part of a five-part series on polygamy. We invite you to listen to all five episodes for a range of perspectives and voices on this important topic.
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