Placement marriage

The term placement marriage (also known as the law of placing) refers to arranged marriages between members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church). Placement marriage is believed and practiced by members of the FLDS Church to show their commitment and obedience in order to obtain salvation for themselves and their parents; it might be considered “the most visible outward symbol of members’ devotion."

The Fundamentalist Latter Day Saint group is one of eight primary Fundamentalist Mormon groups; other well known groups include: Apostolic United Brethren, Latter Day Church of Christ (also known of as the "Kingston group"), Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, and the Centennial Park group (also known of as "The Work of Jesus Christ" or just "The Work"). Placement marriage is a practice that uniquely belongs to the FLDS Church, although there may be some similarities between the beliefs in marriage practices with the Latter Day Church of Christ.

The idea of placement marriage within the FLDS Church did not exist prior to the 1940s. The group which eventually became known as the FLDS changed the concepts of courtship and marriage for their followers over the past fifty years. Before that most, if not all, fundamentalist Mormons chose marriage partners according to patterns which mirrored those of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) in the nineteenth century, in that their decisions for marriage were made by considering "varied combinations of personal attraction and principles of faith (which usually included testimony or personal revelation) along with direct or indirect influence of family and ecclesiastical leaders”. This latter method of freely choosing marriage partners is still predominately used by most Mormon fundamentalists who believe in or practice plural marriage. Most fundamentalist Mormons, apart from the FLDS, do not practice arranged marriages. Rather, they believe that arranged marriages violate the members’ "free agency". Most fundamentalist Mormons today are not and never were members of the LDS Church, because that church renounced polygamy in 1890 and excommunicated any of its members who were found to be practicing "plural marriage" (i.e. polygamy). Most fundamentalist Mormons today are descendants of those who were excommunicated from the LDS Church for entering into polygamous marriages.

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