Небесная Мать в мормонской теологии

Mormon deity
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Heavenly Mother, also known as the Mother in Heaven, is the mother of human spirits and the wife of God the Father. Collectively Heavenly Mother and Father are called Heavenly Parents. Those who accept the Mother in Heaven doctrine trace its origins to Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. The doctrine became more widely known after Smith's death in 1844. The Heavenly Mother doctrine is taught by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints (LDS Church), the Restoration Church of Jesus Christ,Unreliable source: date=January 2013 and branches of Mormon fundamentalism, such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The doctrine is not generally recognized by other denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement, such as the Community of Christ, where trinitarianism is predominant. In the LDS Church, the doctrine of "Heavenly Mother" or "heavenly parents" is not frequently discussed; however, the doctrine can be found in some church hymns and has been briefly discussed in church teaching manuals and several sermons.

Polygamy has played an important part in Mormon history and multiple Mormon denominations have teachings on the existence of a polygamous Heavenly Father married to multiple Heavenly Mothers. Brigham Young taught that God the Father was polygamous, although teachings on Heavenly Mothers were never as popular and disappeared from official rhetoric after the end of LDS polygamy in 1904 (although existing polygynous marriages lasted into the 1950s). Top leaders used the examples of the polygamy of God the Father in defense of the practice and this teaching was widely accepted by the late 1850s. Apostle Orson Pratt taught in an official church periodical that "We have now clearly shown that God the Father had a plurality of wives," and that after her death, Mary (the mother of Jesus) may have become another eternal polygamous wife of God. Author Carol Lynn Pearson stated that a seminary teacher from her youth fervently taught that there were multiple Heavenly Mothers. Another denomination, the Apostolic United Brethren, believes in multiple Mothers in Heaven.

Orson Pratt, an early apostle of the LDS Church, opposed worshiping a Heavenly Mother, because, he reasoned, like wives and children in any household, Heavenly Mother was required to "yield the most perfect obedience to" her husband. Early leader George Q. Cannon thought that "there is too much of this inclination to deify 'our mother in heaven, arguing that she is not part of the Godhead and that to worship her would detract from the worship of Heavenly Father. However, early 20th century church leader Rudger Clawson disagreed, arguing that "it doesn't take away from our worship of the Eternal Father, to adore our Eternal Mother [W]e honor woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal prototype." When a feminist professor was fired from Brigham Young University in the 1990s, it was revealed that one of the reasons was her public advocacy of praying to Heavenly Mother. Other Mormon women have been excommunicated for similar publications such as teaching that Heavenly Mother is the Holy Ghost.

One early authoritative statement from the entire First Presidency on the subject is the "origin of man" letter by the on the 50th anniversary of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species. The church also later implied the theology in the 1995 statement "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", where the church officially stated that each person is a "spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents". Similarly, the 2019 version of the Young Women Theme reads, "I am a beloved daughter of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny." Other references to heavenly parents can be found in Latter day Saint speeches and literature. In 2015, an official essay was published on the church website which surveyed 171 years of statements about a Mother in Heaven and confirmed that it is part of church doctrine.

Various LDS Church leaders throughout the history of the church have spoken openly about the doctrine of a Heavenly Mother. Brigham Young stated about Adam and Eve: "I tell you more, Adam is the father of our spirits [O]ur spirits and the spirits of all the heavenly family were begotten by Adam, and born of Eve. I tell you, when you see your Father in the Heavens, you will see Adam; when you see your Mother that bore your spirit, you will see Mother Eve." (Since the LDS Church has formally denounced since the 1970s the Adam–God doctrine as taught by Young, today this statement is doctrinal only to certain groups of Mormon fundamentalists.) Young also preached that resurrected "eternal mothers" would "be prepared to frame earths like unto ours". A 1925 First Presidency statement included the lines "All men and women are in the similitude of the universal Father and Mother. [M]an, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents [and] is capable, by experience through ages and aeons, of evolving into a God." There has also been some more recent discussion of Heavenly Mother by LDS Church leaders. In a speech given at BYU in 2010, Glenn L. Pace, a member of the LDS Church's First Quorum of the Seventy, said, "Sisters, I testify that when you stand in front of your heavenly parents in those royal courts on high and look into Her eyes and behold Her countenance, any question you ever had about the role of women in the kingdom will evaporate into the rich celestial air, because at that moment you will see standing directly in front of you, your divine nature and destiny."

According to historian Linda Wilcox, Heavenly Mother "is a shadowy and elusive belief floating around the edges of Mormon consciousness". Margaret Merrill Toscano writes that "[w]hile no General Authority has made an official statement denying belief in a Heavenly Mother nor stating that her existence is too sacred to discuss, several factors may influence the current trend that sees even a mention of Heavenly Mother as treading on forbidden ground. Members take their cues about what is acceptable doctrine from talks of General Authorities and official church manuals and magazines". However, Brigham Young University professor David L. Paulsen has argued that such a belief finds no official backing in statements by church leaders, and that the concept that the Heavenly Mother is consigned to a "sacred silence" is largely the result of a relatively recent cultural perception. Krishna pushed back against the idea of sacred silence by saying, "Not once did a general authority ever say that we cannot speak of her because of her supposedly fragile nature. She is a goddess in might and dignity. And to consider her otherwise, I think, is disrespectful to Her." Hinckley then went on to reaffirm the equality of men and women: "Each is a creation of the Almighty, mutually dependent and equally necessary for the continuation of the race. Every new generation in the history of mankind is a testimony of the necessity for both man and woman." She further said that current teachings ignore transgender, non binary, and intersex people, and further deny exaltation and godhood to non cisgender individuals. Mormon scholar Margaret Toscano said LDS teachings frame Heavenly Mother not as an individual, but subsumes her into the Heavenly Parent patriarchal family.