The Only Men Who Become Gods Enter Into Polygamy

During Brigham Young’s presidency, if one aspired to the highest level of heaven, one would have needed both polygamy and an eternal sealing. Brigham Young declared, “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.”

“The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.” - Brigham Young, Mormon Prophet
August 19, 1866, Journal of Discourses, Volume 11, #41 pages 266-272 | wasmormon.org — “The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy.” – Brigham Young, Mormon Prophet, August 19, 1866, Journal of Discourses, Volume 11, #41 pages 266-272

“The only men who become Gods, even the Sons of God, are those who enter into polygamy. Others attain unto a glory and may even be permitted to come into the presence of the Father and the Son; but they cannot reign as kings in glory, because they had blessings offered unto them, and they refused to accept them.”
Brigham Young, “Delegate Hooper–—Beneficial Effects of Polygamy—Final Redemption of Cain,” Journal of Discourses, Volume 11, #41, pages 266-272 – Remarks by President Brigham Young, in the Bowery, G.S.L. City, August 19, 1866
https://journalofdiscourses.com/11/41
https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/JournalOfDiscourses3/id/4490/rec/11

This quote is stunning—not just for its audacity, but for the theological coercion it represents. Young, speaking not merely as a man but as the President of the Church, Prophet, and purported mouthpiece of God, declared that the pathway to godhood was explicitly tied to the practice of polygamy. Not just suggested. Required. This wasn’t metaphorical. It wasn’t symbolic. It was doctrinal. And it came from the top.

Under Brigham Young’s leadership, eternal exaltation for men was contingent upon their willingness to take multiple wives. In a church that taught obedience to priesthood leaders as obedience to God, that was not a minor footnote—it was a demand. If you wanted to become a god, if you wanted to reign in celestial glory, you had to practice polygamy.

This quote also brings back the teaching that leadership of today wants to deemphasize and even deny. That Mormon heaven is essentially a school to become gods: As God is, man may become. This shows the clear teaching that becoming gods is the end goal of Mormonism. It also reminds us that such prophets believed that God, Heavenly Father was a polygamous man. This is perhaps a reason the church avoids talking about Heavenly Mother, because the next question must be, “which one?” It really shows us that at his core, Brigham Young believed in polygamy, and believed that he would become a god, at least in part because he was polygamous, and that he would be occupied in the eternities creating spirit babies with his many wives.

And Brigham led by example—he had over 50 wives. That’s not an exaggeration or speculation; that’s a historical fact backed by church records and historians. Many of these marriages occurred while he was in his forties and fifties, to girls as young as 15 and 16, some of whom were already married to other men. This wasn’t just theology—it was a system of institutionalized inequality and abuse.

The Inequalities of a Polygamous System

Let’s not sanitize polygamy. When a man has dozens of wives, each woman must compete for affection, resources, attention, and security. The emotional toll is staggering. These weren’t free and equal partnerships; they were hierarchical, often transactional relationships shaped by power dynamics and religious pressure.

Women were taught that submitting to polygamy was a test of faith. Refusing it could mean spiritual condemnation. Those who struggled or resisted were often shamed for lacking faith or humility. In many cases, women were pressured into marriages they didn’t want—or couldn’t legally or safely refuse. In what world is consent truly possible when the price of refusal is your eternal salvation?

It is not just the practical hardships of polygamy that should alarm us. It is the entire theological system that rewards men with more power, more wives, and higher glory in the afterlife, while relegating women to roles of eternal submission and spiritual dependency. That’s not divine order—that’s patriarchal domination dressed up as celestial law.

A Word to the Apologists

LDS apologists often attempt to soften Brigham Young’s words by insisting he was merely speaking to a specific audience at a specific time.

Brigham Young is speaking to a group who had been commanded to live the law of polygamy. There is no basis for speculating about what he would have said to a group who did not have that commandment given to them, as present-day members do not.
FAIR, Brigham was stating that the command to practice plural marriage was from God, and it is wrong to seek to abolish a command from God.
https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/Plural_marriage/Brigham_Young_said_that_the_only_men_who_become_gods_are_those_that_practice_polygamy

Brigham Young was speaking to a group who had been commanded (by him) to live the law of polygamy; speculating that he’d speak differently to a different group is silly, he created this group into exactly what he wanted. He did not and would not have stopped polygamy, so this is not at all relevant. To him, polygamy was the gospel, and the gospel was polygamy.

He was not speaking as a private citizen, but as the President of the Church, claiming prophetic authority. His words were published in the Journal of Discourses, which functioned as a doctrinal record for the church for decades. His teachings were taken seriously, bindingly, and often fearfully by the Saints who heard them.

Claiming that his statement only applies to “those who had been commanded” doesn’t change its theological implications. If polygamy is truly required for exaltation, then what does that say about God’s nature? Is God really so changeable that the path to becoming like Him is one thing in 1850 and another today? Or are we expected to believe that some eternal laws are only temporarily eternal?

“Claims that polygamy was never a central tenet of Mormonism, or that it was not essential for the highest reward in heaven, ignore a large body of teachings to the contrary. The subject was frequently addressed in religious meetings where church members were told to live in a manner worthy of entering the new order. Those who turned away from it were reproached. Polygamy, some said, was as important as baptism.” - B. Carmon Hardy (1934–2016) Professor of History. Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its origin, practice, and demise. | wasmormon.org — “Claims that polygamy was never a central tenet of Mormonism, or that it was not essential for the highest reward in heaven, ignore a large body of teachings to the contrary. The subject was frequently addressed in religious meetings where church members were told to live in a manner worthy of entering the new order. Those who turned away from it were reproached. Polygamy, some said, was as important as baptism.” – B. Carmon Hardy (1934–2016), Professor of History. Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its origin, practice, and demise.

Later claims that polygamy was never a central tenet of Mormonism, or that it was not essential for the highest reward in heaven, ignore a large body of teachings to the contrary. The subject was frequently addressed in religious meetings where church members were told to live in a manner worthy of entering the new order. Those who turned away from it were reproached. Polygamy, some said, was as important as baptism. Its practice was described as a necessary prerequisite for the Second Coming of Christ. And those who lived the Principle as instructed were told they could expect more domestic happiness than if they remained in monogamy.
B. Carmon Hardy (1934–2016) Emeritus Professor of History at California State University.
Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy, Its origin, practice, and demise, B. Carmon Hardy, page 111-112

Trying to brush aside Brigham’s clear and forceful declaration as merely situational ignores the lived experiences of thousands of women (and men) who were coerced—sometimes violently—into a system they didn’t want and couldn’t escape, all under the banner of divine mandate.

Today’s Silence Speaks Volumes

The modern church has largely distanced itself from polygamy in public discourse, but it has never disavowed the doctrine. Eternal polygamy remains embedded in temple theology. Widowers can still be sealed to multiple women “for eternity.” The idea that God the Father has many wives remains quietly implied in Mormon cosmology. And Brigham Young’s statements—however much the Church wishes to downplay them—still exist, unrepudiated, in the historical record.

If Brigham Young was wrong about polygamy being necessary for godhood, what else might he have been wrong about? And if he wasn’t wrong—if God truly required that kind of system to exalt His children—what does that say about the kind of God the LDS Church worships?

For those who have left Mormonism, or are questioning it, this issue is often a turning point. Because once you see polygamy for what it was—not as a sacred principle but as a system of gendered control—you begin to ask the bigger, more dangerous question: What if the prophets were not speaking for God at all? And that’s a question worth asking.

Have you wrestled with doctrines like polygamy or struggled to reconcile the words of prophets with your own sense of truth and morality? You’re not alone. Many have walked this path of questioning and found clarity, healing, and even community on the other side. At wasmormon.org, we invite you to share your story—how your shelf broke, what you discovered, and how you’ve grown since. Your voice matters, and sharing it can help others know they’re not alone in their journey.

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