For a man who insists he is happily married to his “true love,” Kody Brown speaks pretty negatively about marriage. In a recent episode of Sister Wives, the Brown family patriarch said he seriously considered walking away from his only remaining marriage at one point. He even suggested the entire institution of marriage is cult-like.

Kody Brown calls marriage a cult

Once upon a time, Kody Brown juggled four marriages with some success, although how successful they were depends on who you ask. Today, he has one monogamous marriage. While he claims to be happy in that partnership, he wants to make it clear that he thinks marriage is a cult, although he insists his religion, which he only sort of aligns with now, is not.

In the most recent episode of Sister Wives, Kody managed to shock even the most hardened of reality TV viewers. In a bizarre confessional scene, Kody theorized that his former religion couldn’t be considered a “cult” because it is difficult to get into and very easy to get out of. Still, he stopped short of suggesting he was never involved in a cult-like institution. The father of 18 seriously tried to indicate that the institution of marriage is a cult. He reasoned that it is a cult because it is very easy to get into a marriage, but difficult to leave.

What church did the Brown family belong to?

When Sister Wives began, the Browns were members of the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), a Mormon fundamentalist group that endorses polygamy as a spiritual principle. The AUB and several other sects are considered completely separate from the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The mainstream LDS church stopped the practice of polygamy in 1890 and has denounced it since.

Christine Brown is the only member of the family born into a polygamist family. Meri Brown’s family joined the church when her father took a second wife. She was a child, but remembers years when her family did not practice polygamy. Kody Brown was raised in a mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints household. His father joined the AUB while Kody was away on a mission. In the family’s book Becoming Sister Wives, Kody revealed that he began exploring polygamy after his return. Jenelle Brown also came into the practice as an adult.

Where does the family stand with religion now?

While they were initially members of the AUB, their faith has changed over the years. They are no longer associated with the AUB. Rumors have swirled that they were excommunicated from the community because of the way Sister Wives depicted the practice of polygamy. Their move from Lehi, Utah, to Las Vegas, Nevada, seems to have cemented the rift. None of the Brown family children practices polygamy. Several are in monogamous marriages.

In recent years, Kody has expressed disillusionment with organized religion. In a season 18 episode, he admitted feeling “too embarrassed” to attend church due to the public breakdown of his plural marriages. He has described himself as being in “limbo” spiritually. In other moments, he’s suggested he no longer believes in religion. Christine Brown has said the same, insisting she is no longer religious. Meri and Jenelle Brown have admitted to having a more complicated relationship with their faith after their divorces.