The Lonely Polygamist

We also should acknowledge that there are some dark shadows in the church's past. Without going into them, don't some of the more troubling issues in the church's history give you some pause?

Do I have problems with the church? Yes and no. I understand the value of the church and when I read about Joseph Smith or Brigham Young or any of the founding figures in the religion, I can appreciate the greatness of a lot of the things they did. But I also have problems with some of the things they did and said. I'm a very logical person so it's hard for me to overlook certain things in church decisions. I can't easily look past those things and yet I really do cherish my membership, my sense of belonging, my heritage in the Mormon church. I'm very proud to call myself a Mormon. 

Will you write more on polygamy? Or the Mormon community?

I don't think I'll write anything else about polygamy. I've got that out of my system, now. But I will continue to write about people who are struggling with religion, with God and with their own spirituality. I think there is a blind spot in American literature, even our literature that goes back a century or more -- in which religious people are all too often depicted as dunderheads or even evil. There is very little literature that depicts religious people in a fair and balanced way. I think it's my job to write some of those books.

I agree with you. Let's jump all the way back to Charles Dickens. I'm a big fan of his work, but there are lots of dunderheads and a good number of evil religious figures in his novels. Dickens had a strong spiritual philosophy about helping other people, but he didn't care much for organized religion. Yes, there is quite a heritage of bashing religious people in our best literature -- from the 1800s to today.

Think about more recent books, too. If a priest shows up in a novel we're reading today, then he's probably a terrible person. Or, religious people are often cast as meek lambs who do things they're told. It's hard to think of an important character in an important novel that has a strong and healthy religious sensibility.

Well, you've achieved an important landmark with The Lonely Polygamist. You've taken a subject that most Americans assume is either lurid or despicably criminal and you've put a human face on your fictional family. I think readers will like Golden and his clan. So, there's one novel on the shelf of positive portrayals of religious people. How does it feel to have finished it?

It feels nice! (Laughs!) Very nice! As I was working on the novel, at one time it got up to 1,400 pages. It was out of control for a while! I wondered if I would ever finish it. Now, it's so nice to see it getting good reviews and hear from people who enjoy reading it. A writer couldn't ask for anything more.

This article is reprinted with permission from ReadtheSpirit.com.

David Crumm is an author, journalist, and filmmaker with more than twenty years experience as a Religion Writer for the Detroit Free Press, Knight-Ridder newspapers, and Gannett. Crumm is now the Editor of ReadTheSpirit, a new online home for important voices in religion and spirituality.