Kody Brown and his four wives brought polygamy into the mainstream on Sister Wives, but what is there to know about their faith and lifestyle? Polygamy has always been considered taboo, and Kody and his wives sought to show audiences that they are just normal people like everyone else. Still, their religious practices are unique and not fully understood. Here's what we know about the Brown family's religion and plural marriages.
Kody Brown grew up as a traditional Mormon, until his father felt called by God to "the practice" when he was in his 40's. The practice refers to polygamy or having more than one wife. Kody Brown followed in his father's footsteps and decided to enter into plural marriages with four wives. His four wives are Meri, Jenelle, Christine, and Robyn, but since polygamy is not legal in the US, he is only legally married to his most recent wife, Robyn. His other three marriages are considered "spiritual unions" and are acknowledged only by his church. Because polygamy is illegal, the Browns have left their church in Utah behind and currently live in separate homes in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Kody and his wives Meri, Jenelle, Christine, and Robyn belong to an offshoot of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Their sect, called the Apostolic United Brethren church, recognizes the Mormon church as legitimate, but they feel there's one thing the church got wrong: banning polygamy. The AUB is more fundamentalist than the Mormon church but is not the same as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). The AUB church has made sure to distance itself from the FLDS by reiterating that wives must be 18 to get married and may choose their own husbands. The church's founder wanted to be transparent with his community about the church's beliefs so that their lifestyle wouldn't be seen as threatening, and the Browns followed the same thought process when they agreed to film Sister Wives.
The Apostolic United Brethren church that all of the Browns belong to believes that polygamy is one of God's desires. The founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, also practiced and preached polygamy, and the AUB feels that Mormons should never have banned the practice and that they need to keep it alive. Polygamy is only one-way, meaning women cannot have multiple husbands. The Brown family believes that "the gospel" calls for plural marriage to make their family stronger and help them live the way God intended. Along with traditional Mormons, they believe that after death they will be married eternally to their spouses in the highest tier of Heaven, which is called Celestial Heaven. In Kody and his wives' case, they don't need to be legally married in order to all be together in Heaven, because they have each been "sealed" into spiritual marriage by their church.
When asked why they chose plural marriage over monogamy, the Brown family gave different answers. Kody said that it was based on their religious principles, but Christine said it was because of Kody himself. Robyn said that she saw beauty in it and the relationship with God that it creates. To the AUB, plural marriage is just as important to God as anything else in The Bible, and for Kody and his wives, it's what gives their lives meaning, even through hard times.
Source: YouTube