Mormon Polygamy Apologetics w/ Sandra Tanner Pt. 2 | Ep. 1565

Mormon polygamy apologetics face a credibility crisis when Church historians admit that missionaries taught false stories for decades, yet new justifications prove equally fragile. When Kate Holbrook acknowledged that the "shortage of men" narrative was historically inaccurate, she opened a door that modern defenders now struggle to close. The alternative explanations examined in a recent Mormon Stories Podcast episode featuring Sandra Tanner reveal a pattern of coercion, deception, and theological gymnastics that the documented record does not support.

Background: Debunking Myths About Nineteenth-Century Polygamy

Holbrook's presentation, which Tanner and host John Dehlin analyze, represents the Church's latest attempt to frame plural marriage as a difficult but divinely mandated test. The historian conceded that generations of missionaries taught an empirically false claim: that Utah practiced polygamy because the frontier faced a shortage of men. Census data shows the opposite was true. Having abandoned the demographic argument, apologists now pivot to spiritual necessity, comparing plural marriage to Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac. Tanner finds this comparison telling. If the choice is between murdering your son and taking a teenage bride, you