The First Presidency rules that a prominent Egyptian polygamist can be baptized because polygamy is legal in Egypt. This is in reference to "an earlier ruling in the matter of Indians who had married more than one wife and it was decided that they may be baptized, if they were legally married according to their tribal customs." The First Presidency agrees that such legal polygamists cannot be sealed in temples, to avoid confusing the LDS policy toward Mormon Fundamentalists. With regard to black Africa, President David O. McKay says it "is a cruel thing" to require Nigerian polygamists to cease their legally polygamous marriages, yet the Presidency decides to forbid the baptism of black African polygamists (who are also denied priesthood ordination by LDS policy for all persons of black African descent). By contrast, the Egyptian polygamist, a Coptic Christian, is baptized in London in February 1963 and ordained an elder.
[Source: The Mormon Hierarchy - Extensions of Power by D. Michael Quinn, [New Mormon History database ( http://bit.ly/NMHdatabase )]]
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