Mormon Stories # 046: Understanding Mormon Fundamentalist Polygamy Part 5: Anne’s Beliefs and Testimony
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In the final portion of our 5 part interview with Anne Wilde (Mormon Fundamentalist and Polygamist), Anne shares with us her views on a plethora of topics, including the Adam God Theory, Blood Atonement, Blacks and the Priesthood, feminism, and homosexuality. She also discusses her view of the future–both for Mormon Fundamentalism, and the world. And in my favorite part of the entire series, Anne concludes by sharing with us her testimony.Your story, today on Mormon Stories.
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Understanding Mormon Fundamentalist Polygamy Part 5: Anne's Beliefs and Testimony [34:09m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
Great Interview! It is great to see the other side of polygamy and not what just the news reports.
I don’t know why but I lost it when she bore her testimony. It made me realize that most of us are just trying to do the right thing and hoping for the best.
Anne is an amazing woman.
John, wow! This woman is way out there in left field. She actually believes this stuff???
Wes, She does actually believe this stuff. I met her late husband a few years ago, and discussed some of it with him. He and Anne are/were very intelligent articulate folks, and they’re also very earnest and sincere.
And, if you live in Utah, you might be surprised to figure out how many people around believe at least some of this stuff.
Thank you for doing this John. I tend to listen to these in bits and pieces so am afraid that I miss things sometimes. Did she ever say where and how they were married? Did she have any ground rules that you can share about subjects she wasn’t willing to discuss? (And is Anne reading the comments?)
Also, I was thinking while I listened to this, that you ought to have links to some books about polygamy on amazon. I don’t know how it works but don’t you get a little bit of the proceeds if someone buys one from your link if you’ve set it up with them?
Paula, I know what you mean. I used to live in Utah when I went to BYU so I am familiar with the mindset. Ms. Wilde’s views are even more extreme and outlandish than many TBM mainstream mormons.
But I bet that you would find one or two of those beliefs in many TBMs, in Utah. Maybe that is dying out in Utah now, but when I was there in seminary, I heard many of the things that she is talking about, some as doctrine, some mentioned as folk beliefs.
John-
Great Job! Thank you. And please extend my thanks to Anne. She did a great job as well. I truly appreciate her openess. As I listened to each episode, my respect for her grew. She was very interesting.
I look forward to more female guests on your show and more womens issues as topics.
Thanks again for all the heart and soul you put into Mormon Stories. It is remarkable.
John, excellent series with Ms. Wilde. I finished listening to this final segment today.
Her illustrations of the compatibility of polygamy and feminism certainly painted some positive advantages regarding career and school options. I have to wonder if those options are there for most polygamist women. Her situation sounds like it was vastly different, living away from the other families. Most of the polygamist families I’ve heard of are hardly the portrait of the progression that her story represents. Are there many like her flying under the radar?
Regarding the doctrine she got into, Occam’s Razor comes to mind. The fundamentals of Christianity can be summed up in 2 commandmants – to love god and love thy neighbor. If this is true, why should so many doctrines be complicated? (rhetorical question)
Her testimony was quite touching. I agree with the first commenter in that we’re all just trying to do the right thing.
Ms. Wilde has had an amazing journey. Your podcast definitely interested me in reading some of this material she worked on with her husband.
Also, I second Paula’s suggestion that you get an Amazon affliate account set up and have ads for books on the sidebar. I’d support ya.
Great series, John.
A technical issue: I listened on my iPod, and I noticed that the audio versions of each episode were truncated. (In the most extreme case, the audio version of episode 44 was 3:06, while the video was 30:57.) But the audio versions included your spoken introduction, which was not on the video, so I ended up listening to both versions (fast-forwarding the video to the truncation point of the audio).