Mormon church founder Joseph Smith insisted on introducing polygamy in the early 1800s despite knowing the societal risks and getting pushback from other leaders and his first wife, recounts a new church history book unveiled Tuesday.

A nearly 600-page book that covers early church history from 1815-1846 doesn’t dwell on polygamy, but doesn’t skip over it either. That’s noteworthy and marks The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ latest attempt to be more transparent about sensitive issues of its past. 

Quentin L. Cook and Dale Renlund, high-ranking leaders with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said the parts about plural marriage provide the full story within the context of what was happening at that time in history.   

“There is discussion of how it began, how it was viewed by the individuals and its part of the history of the restored gospel,” said Renlund, a member of a top governing panel called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. “It’s taken in that context without shying away from it. So, a person can get a clear view of what was going on and when and why.”

The book recounts founder Joseph Smith’s introduction of plural marriage after he received what he believed was a revelation from the Lord. The book details how his wife, Emma Smith, and many leaders recoiled and questioned the direction.

At one point, the faith’s polygamous practices led an excommunicated Mormon to publish an expose about the religion and give lectures titled, “The secret wife system at Nauvoo,” the new book says. Some Mormon leaders denied the allegation because polygamy was being practiced secretly and they were unaware.

Previous acknowledgments

The book’s recognition of polygamy — which the faith banned in 1890 and prohibits today — is the most recent example of the Utah-based faith acknowledging polygamous roots.

The faith published an online essay in 2014 that provided a detailed account of polygamous practices during the 1830s and 1840s in Kirtland, Ohio, and Nauvoo, Illinois. That essay acknowledged that while most of Smith’s wives were between 20 and 40 years old, he had one who was 14 years old.  

That young bride isn’t mentioned in the new book, but it does tell the story of his marriages to a pair of sisters who were older teens.

In 2015, the church included a small display about plural marriages when it opened its renovated history museum.

The book is a robust and honest version of early church history and while it doesn’t dwell on polygamy, it’s notable that it provides the history of plural marriages in a straightforward way, said Patrick Mason, a professor of religion at Claremont Graduate University in California who is the chair of Mormon Studies at the college.

Steven E. Snow, executive director of the church history department, said the book provides the whole story behind a difficult time and one that is not well understood.

“If people read this, they’ll understand we’ve been pretty forthright in our telling of the story,” Snow said.

Future books

The book is the first of four planned volumes that will retell the story of the faith. The first volume covers Joseph Smith’s “first vision” in which he said he received a visit from God and Jesus in 1820 in the woods of upstate New York that led to the foundation of the religion. It also tells the story of when Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were fatally shot by a mob in 1844.

The last multi-volume history of the faith was published in 1930 — when church membership was less than 1 million with most members in the American West. Today, the faith counts 16 million members with more than half outside the U.S. The book is available in 14 languages.

Snow said the book “draws on the power of narrative, but is not fiction,” with every scene and dialogue backed by historical research. 
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Prosecutors in Los Angeles said Tuesday that they would not pursue a sexual assault charge against actor Kevin Spacey because the statute of limitations has run out.

Spacey has been accused of assaulting a male colleague in 1992.

The Los Angeles district attorney’s office said it was also declining to charge another actor, Steven Seagal, on allegations of assaulting a teenage girl in 1993 for the same reason. Seagal denies the charge.

Spacey is facing other sexual assault charges, and also is under investigation for alleged misconduct in London.

The Oscar-winning star of such films as American Beauty was fired from the television series House of Cards earlier this year, and his appearance in the film All the Money in the World was edited out.

Spacey apologized last year for trying to seduce a teenage actor in 1986, and his spokesman said Spacey was seeking treatment. 
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In 2010, Natalie Portman opened the Venice Film Festival as a tormented ballerina in “Black Swan,” a role that earned her an Oscar. She was back Tuesday with “Vox Lux,” as a brattish pop star with a troubled past.

That past plays out in the film’s early scenes, where Portman’s character, Celeste, played as a 14-year-old girl by Raffey Cassidy, has her life transformed by a school shooting that leaves her wounded and psychologically scarred.

A song Celeste plays at a televised memorial for the dead propels her to fame, condemning the sweet young girl to grow up into an infantilized pop princess, managed by Jude Law who veers between nurturing and sleazy.

Speaking ahead of its world premiere, Portman said “Vox Lux” was “a portrait and a reflection of our society and this sort of intersection of pop culture and violence and the spectacle that we equate between the two.”

Calling the regularity of school shootings in the United States “a sort of civil war,” she added: “The psychological impact of what that means for every kid going to school every day, every parent dropping their kids off every day … small acts of violence can create widespread psychological torment.”

Writer-director Brady Corbet, who won prizes in Venice in 2015 for his debut “The Childhood of a Leader,” said Portman’s character was “really not designed to be a monster at all.”

“She’s as much a victim of the era as she is a leader of the era … the film is very much about the fact that the 20th century was marked by the term ‘the banality of evil’ and the 21st century, I think, will be defined by the ‘pageantry of evil.’”

With songs composed by Australian singer-songwriter Sia, “Vox Lux” is one of 21 films vying for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded in Venice on Sept 8.
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Brazil’s National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, which suffered a massive fire late Sunday, boasted the largest archive of historical artifacts and documents in Latin America, some 20 million pieces from around the globe. Museum officials say it’s too soon to say what has been lost or spared.

Here is a look at some of the museum’s most notable pieces, according to its website:

‘Luzia’

Discovered during an excavation in 1975 outside of the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte, the fossilized remains sat in storage for two decades. In the mid-1990s, tests by scientists determined it was the oldest fossil in the Americas. It was given the name “Luzia,” homage to “Lucy,” the famous 3.2-million-year-old remains found in Africa.

Ancient Egypt

Among the Egyptian relics is the mummy of Sha-Amun-In-Su, dating to 750 B.C. The mummy was in its original coffin, which was closed. It was given to Brazil’s emperor, Dom Pedro II, by Egyptian Viceroy Ismail Pasha during a visit to the Middle East. Egyptian authorities have expressed concern about the fate of the collection and the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities has told Brazilian authorities that it is ready to extend technical help for the restoration of artifacts.

Indigenous remains 

One of the museum’s most important expositions of indigenous peoples were three bodies mummified together, an adult and two children. It was originally found in the state of Minas Gerais. The collection also includes bows and arrows from different indigenous groups and explanations about studies conducted by the royal family on the Tupi and Guarani languages.

Meteorite

Called Bendego and weighing more than 5 tons, the meteorite is the largest ever found in Brazil. It was found in the state of Bahia in the 18th century. The meteorite, which sits in a main entrance, could be seen in the burned-out building.

Dinosaur 

One of the museum’s most popular displays was one of its biggest, a dinosaur called Maxakalisaurus tapai. Found in Minas Gerais in 1998, the excavation and reconstruction of the dinosaur took 10 years.
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The United Nations considers marriage before the age of 18 to be a human rights violation. While the highest occurrence is in the least developed nations, child marriage is also a reality in the United States. Researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health found some 78,000 American children between the ages of 15 and 17 are or have recently been married. VOA’s Elizabeth Lee has more on the effects of being married so young in the U.S.
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Brazilians are mourning the destruction of Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum in an overnight fire. Much of the collection of historic, scientific and cultural artifacts, among the largest in Brazil, is believed to have been destroyed. It was not immediately clear what started the fire late Sunday, but many are blaming the government for years of financial neglect. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.
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Yemenis file into a makeshift cinema for the first time since fighting broke out in their city of Aden more than three years ago – and watch some of their own story reflected back at them on the projector screen.

The film they have come to see is “Ten Days Before the Wedding” – a gripping drama about a young couple from the southern port city whose marriage plans are nearly derailed by the country’s civil war and other troubles.

It is the first film publicly screened there since the conflict erupted, and the first local Yemeni production in years.

The story rings true for the audience of men and mostly veiled women, sitting on chairs in a hall which is normally used for real-life weddings and other events.

“We lived through each stage of the movie, which talks about each one of us, so we felt as though the film represented us and we were a part of it,” says audience member Nour Sareeb.

The story follows the romance between Rasha and Mamoun and branches out to cover broader issues including the country’s economic collapse and the prospects of rebuilding after violence.

Characters wrestle with falling incomes, rising prices and the problems of raising a dowry.

“We’ve all suffered because of the war, it has affected us all, but we all have ambition and hopes that the country will get better. We all aspire to be happy in this country,” Nour adds.

“We are with you”

Yemen has been devastated by a conflict in which President Abd-Rabu Mansour Hadi’s government, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition, is fighting to drive the Iran-aligned Houthi group out of the capital Sanaa and other cities it seized in 2014.

Violence dropped off in Aden after pro-government fighters recaptured it from Houthi forces in 2015, though battles erupted again earlier this year as southern separatists fought government troops nominally on the same side of the larger war.

The threat of attacks by militants remains, including some from hardline groups opposed to the Western-tinged world of cinema. And economic decline exacerbated by a weakening currency triggered protests this week that paralyzed activity in Aden and nearby areas.

In such an environment, finding investors for the film was not easy, says director Amr Gamal.

“We had to oppose these ideas that make you fear producing anything in the arts and we had to strive and work hard,” he tells Reuters.

“We met with the production team and decided to do it after everyone’s agreement. They all told me ‘We are with you,’ and we were surprised to find that the people in the street supported us,” he adds.

The film premiered in Aden during last month’s Eid al-Adha Muslim festival and has been running ever since.

The United Nations says the war has created the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, and rights groups say both sides have inflicted indiscriminate violence. More than 10,000 people have been killed, while hunger and disease have spread.
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As firefighters sifted through the burned-out remains of Rio de Janeiro’s National Museum for hot embers Monday, Brazilians struggled with the loss of a vast collection of irreplaceable items from the country’s history.

 

The 200-year-old museum contained an extensive collection of paleontological, anthropological and biological specimens, such as a skeleton that was considered the oldest human remains ever found in the Americas and the largest meteorite ever found in Brazil, as well as historical memorabilia.

WATCH: Brazilians Mourn Loss of Most Important Museum

The feeling of loss quickly turned to one of anger among many in Rio de Janeiro, and several hundred people gathered outside the museum, demanding to see the damage. Some tried to push beyond a police line but were turned back by officers who used tear gas and batons.

 

“Our community is very mobilized, and very indignant,” said Roberto Leher, director of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, which runs the museum. “We all knew the building was vulnerable.”

 

Protester Laura Albuquerque, a 29-year-old dance teacher, said, “It’s a crime that the museum was allowed to get to this shape. What happened isn’t just regrettable, it’s devastating, and politicians are responsible for it.”

 

In recent years, Brazil has been rocked by a government corruption scandal and a recession. The museum, which has also suffered financial neglect, lacked a fire sprinkler system, officials said.

 

Marcio Martins, a museum spokesman, told the Associated Press the museum’s budget had fallen from around $130,000 in 2013 to around $84,000 in 2017.

 

President Michel Temer said in a statement Monday that the loss of the building — where the country’s royal family once lived — to fire late Sunday is an “incalculable loss for Brazil.”

 

About 10 percent of collection survived

 

The museum’s deputy director, Cristiana Serejo, told reporters that about 10 percent of its collection of more than 20 million items may have survived the flames. One thing officials say did survive the blaze was a large iron meteorite found in Brazil in 1784.

Museum curator Maria Elizabeth Zucolo was allowed to enter the burned-out building Monday to collect what remained of the meteorite exhibit.

 

“They let me enter because I could recognize the pieces. I knew where they were, and I could recover some of them from the ashes,” she said.

 

Education Minister Rossieli Soares told reporters the federal government said it has plans to restore the structure and rebuild its collection. He said officials were already speaking with UNESCO, and would likely seek international help in rebuilding.

 

The cause of the fire is still unknown, but the protesters, journalists and museum directors themselves said years of government neglect had left the museum underfunded.

Culture Minister Sergio Leitao told the Estado de S.Paulo newspaper an electrical short-circuit or a homemade paper hot-air balloon that may have landed on the roof were seen as the likely causes for the blaze. It is a tradition in the country to launch such balloons, but they have often caused blazes, officials said.

 

Roberto Robadey, commander of Rio de Janeiro’s military fire department, said experts will be brought in as soon as possible to salvage what they can from the ashes.

 

“We’re going to have the participation of museum employees. It will be a slow process so that we can, who knows, recover fragments — something that could still have historic value,” he said.

 

Civil authorities, however, warned the internal walls of the building, which lacked most of its roof after the fire, were likely to collapse further.

 

Robadey told reporters that hydrants outside the building were dry when firefighters arrived. Crews were forced to send tanker trucks to a nearby lake for water.

 

Sunday “was one of the saddest days of my career,” he added.

 

No casualties and no serious injuries have been reported because of the blaze, which started after the museum closed.
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As Venezuela descends into economic chaos and Brazil’s former president Lula is barred from making a comeback because of a corruption conviction, filmmaker Emir Kusturica has made an ode to one Latin American leader who gives socialism a good name.

El Pepe: A Supreme Life, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival on Monday, is a documentary about Jose “Pepe” Mujica, a former leftist guerrilla who as Uruguay President from 2010-15 earned a reputation as a man of the people, giving away much of his salary and eschewing the luxury trappings of office.

Double Palme d’Or winner Kusturica said Mujica was “the only president in the world who is leaving office and 150,00 people are crying.”

“I am positive he’s going to be an inspiration for those who are today losing love and belief in socialism,” the Serbian director told Reuters in an interview.

Former guerrilla

Mujica, now 83, was a leader of the Tupamaros guerrilla movement that carried out robberies, political kidnappings and bombings against the government in the 1970s.

He says he was shot six times, tortured and held by security forces in solitary confinement in a deep well. He was freed under an amnesty enacted following the end of Uruguay’s 1973-85 military dictatorship.

Asked about his biggest political concerns today, Mujica said it was the combination of capitalism and climate change that could cause an “ecological holocaust.”

“Soon there will be 9 billion people living in this world,” he said.

Climate change, capitalism

Driven by profit, consumption ever growing with mountains of useless things, “If the 9 billion people will live like the North Americans do today, the earth will not endure it,” he told Reuters.

“The danger for my generation was the atomic holocaust. The new generations run the risk that if temperatures go off balance this (world) turns into a huge frying pan.”

El Pepe screened out-of-competition at the Venice Film Festival, which runs from Aug. 29 to Sept 8.
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