‘Sister Wives’: The ‘Separation Procedure’ for Divorce in Spiritual Marriages According to the AUB Church
Sister Wives stars Christine Brown and Kody Brown are officially divorced after 27 years of spiritual marriage. However, Christine decided not to go through with the “separation procedure” Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) members must go through. How do wives leave their spiritual marriages if they were never legally married?
How is a ‘spiritual’ marriage officiated?
The group that the Browns belong to is called the AUB (also known as “The Work” or “The Allred Group”), which is a fundamentalist sect of Mormonism (or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints). This sect of fundamentalist Mormonism not only supports polygamy but endorses it. They refer to polygamy as “plural marriage” or “celestial marriage.”
The AUB believes that plural marriage is a requirement for exaltation in heaven. And the only way to enter the highest level of the “celestial kingdom” is for a man to have multiple wives. These ideas stemmed from Brigham Young’s teachings back in the 19th century.
Celestial marriage is more than a marriage. It goes beyond the grave and ensures that husband and wife are “sealed for eternity.” The only marriages recognized within the AUB are those conducted within a Mormon temple by a male church elder who holds “the priesthood.”
In 1994, Christine was sealed to Kody as his 3rd wife after he was already sealed to Meri and Janelle Brown. However, after 27 years of celestial marriage, Christine wanted out. So since Christine and Kody were never legally married, what does divorce look like in plural marriage?
Husband and wife in plural marriage but be ‘unsealed’ in a ‘temple divorce’
According to the AUB doctrine, a woman seeking a divorce must apply to the First Presidency for a “cancellation of sealing,” otherwise known as a “temple divorce.” This allows her to be unsealed from her husband for eternity, and she can then marry another man.
In their belief system, a woman who doesn’t apply for a sealing cancellation is still considered sealed to her original husband for eternity. However, they also believe that marriage should be voluntary and that even in the afterlife, both the husband and the wives have the right to choose if they want to stay married.
In the Sister Wives Season 16 tell-all reunion, Christine shed some light on the divorce process within the church. “We can leave [a] marriage in our church,” Christine said. “If it’s a marriage like mine and Kody had, where it’s just a spiritual marriage, then they release you spiritually. And you go through them,” she revealed.
However, her sister wife, Robyn, believes Christine is still sealed to Kody until she goes through with the temple divorce. “Well, Christine says they’re divorced. And, technically, in my head, they’re not,” Robyn told the host. “Because their marriage was done by our church officials. And they haven’t granted them a divorce. But, I don’t know,” she said.
Christine doesn’t want to go through the church to get divorced
In the same tell-all, Christine revealed why she doesn’t feel the need to go through the church to be granted a divorce. “As far as I’m concerned, that’s just between me and God,” she said.
“I just have no interest in the church. So to me, the ecclesiastical authorities in that church, I don’t really care. As far as a religious sealing, I think that God’s fine if I just want to be happy,” Christine admitted.
In Sister Wives Season 17, Christine discussed the moment that she felt like she was divorced from Kody when she told her 11-year-old daughter Truely that she and Kody are “divorced.”
“In plural marriage, when you’re not married legally, you usually have to go through some sort of a separation procedure kind of thing. And I didn’t know if Kody and I were divorced until this second,” Christine said in the clip.
“There’s not ever going to be a piece of paper from the government that says you’re divorced because we were never married legally. So I just really quickly made up my mind and told her, ‘No, we’re already divorced,'” Christine concluded.
Christine revealed in Sister Wives Season 16 that she is no longer part of the church and no longer practices the principle of polygamy. She has decided that if she starts dating again, it will be a monogamous relationship.
New episodes of Sister Wives Season 17 air Sundays at 10 p.m. EST on TLC.
