Polygamy
Polygamy and the Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discontinued polygamy over a century ago and excommunicates anyone who practices it.
The reason many people associate Mormonism with polygamy is that the Church did support plural marriage until 1890.
Joseph Smith introduced plural marriage early in the history of the Church as the result of a revelation from God. He first wrote about it in 1843, although the revelation had occurred much earlier.
Although many justifications were offered for the practice of plural marriage, there was really only one reason for it: God had told the Mormons to do it.
It took great courage to introduce this practice, as Smith was aware that it would expose the Church to ferocious attack, as well as putting himself in personal danger.
The early Mormons were often unwilling to enter a plural marriage, and many only did so after much prayer and anguish.
1852
The revelation of plural marriage was proclaimed by Brigham Young in 1852, and the practice became more common after that. It was held that a person could only attain the highest level of the celestial kingdom after death if they had been a partner in a plural marriage.
Despite this the popular idea that Victorian Mormon husbands had many wives is untrue. Men rarely had more than three wives. And in fact no more than 5% of Mormon adults were ever part of polygamous families.
Persecution
The outside world was unanimously hostile to plural marriage, and new plural marriages were banned by the Church following a revelation to President Wilford Woodruff in 1890.
Those who were already in plural marriages were not forced to end them.
Plural marriage is illegal under Utah's constitution.
The present day
There are said to be over 30,000 people practising polygamy in Utah, Idaho, Montana and Arizona, who either regard themselves as preserving the original Mormon beliefs and customs, or have merely adopted polygamy as a desired way of life and not as part of the teachings of any church.
The Utah government has taken recent action against polygamy by raising the age of consent and hiring an investigator to probe "secret societies".
But polygamists are now lobbying for their right to practice plural marriage as part of their First Amendment rights.
And the Coalition for Religious Freedom and Tolerance went to the state Capitol in January 2002 to demand a constitutional amendment that would legalise polygamy.
The most public anti-polygamy action in recent years was the case of Tom Green who was sentenced to five years in prison for bigamy in Utah in August 2001, despite arguing that he was permitted several wives because of his beliefs. (Read the BBC report of the case here.)
Mr Green had been excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1980.
The Church itself has no connection with these people.
Polygamy was much in the media spotlight during the Winter Olympics at Salt Lake City in 2002.
A new Utah beer was named Polygamy Porter and features a man with several women on the label. The advertising slogan urges buyers to bring some home "for the wives".