Polygamy

The term polygamy (literally many marriages in late Greek) is used in related ways in social anthropology and sociobiology.

In social anthropology, polygamy is the practice of marriage to more than one spouse simultaneously (as opposed to monogamy where each person has only one spouse at a time). Like monogamy, the term is often used in a de facto sense, applying regardless of whether the relationships are recognized by the state (see marriage for a discussion on the extent to which states can and do recognize potentially and actually polygamous forms as valid).

In sociobiology, polygamy is used in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating. In a narrower sense, used by zoologists, polygamy includes a pair bond, perhaps temporary.

Forms of polygamy

Within the animal kingdom, many species have multiple pairing. Most species have one "alpha" male mating with several females, and one alpha female who leads the female grouping. Together they may be referred to as the alpha pair. Lions, chimpanzees, canines including wolves are among many others that follow this pattern. Other males usually must fend for themselves and may not have mating privileges.

Human polygamy exists in three specific forms, including polygyny (one man having multiple wives), polyandry (one woman having multiple husbands), or group marriage (some combination of polygyny and polyandry). Historically, all three practices have been found, but polygyny is by far the most common.

A notable example of polyandry occurs in Hindu culture in the Mahabharata, where the Pandavas are married to one common wife, Draupadi. Today it is almost exclusively observed in the Toda tribe of India, where it is sometimes the custom for several brothers to have one wife. In this context, the practice is intended to keep land (a precious resource in a populous country like India) from being split up amongst male heirs. Polyandry was traditionally practiced among nomadic Tibetans, where it meant two poor brothers sharing a wife.

Group marriage, or circle marriage, may exist in a number of forms, such as where more than one man and more than one woman form a single family unit, and all members of the marriage share parental responsibility for any children arising from the marriage. Another possible arrangement not thought to exist in reality, although occurring in science fiction (notably in Robert Heinlein's The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress), is the long-lived line marriage, in which deceased or departing spouses in the group are continually replaced by others, so that family property never becomes dispersed through inheritance.

A related term is Bigamy, and it refers to someone who has two spouses at the same time. Many countries have specific statutes outlawing bigamy, making any secondary marriage a crime.

Note that these laws aren't limited to case of traditional polygamy, where there is some tradition of polygamy and spouses may know about each other. On countries with polygamous history, usually the law stipulates that they must declare whether the marriage is monogamous or polygamous at the start. Bigamy also covers cases such as a man who breaks up with his wife, and without divorcing her, marries another woman. It even covers the occasional case of a man who sets up a second family with a second wife, keeping his dual marriage a secret from one or both of them. In both of these cases, the effect of these laws is to protect people from being married under false pretenses. In many countries and some states within the United States have some reluctance to prosecute bigamy cases and the laws remain unenforced.

Trigamy refers to someone who has three spouses at the same time. From the legal perspective, this is just seen as two counts of bigamy.

The term polyamory refers to romantic or sexual relationships involving multiple partners at once, regardless of whether they involve marriage. Any polygamous relationship is polyamorous, and some polyamorous relationships involve multiple spouses. "Polygamy" is usually used to refer to multiple marriage, while "polyamory" implies a relationship defined by negotiation between its members rather than cultural norms.

Polygamy worldwide

File:800px-Polygamy world map.png

Countries where polygamy is accepted (green)

According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook derived from George P. Murdock’s Ethnographic Atlas recorded the marital composition of 1231 societies, from 1960-1980, 186 societies were monogamous. 453 had occasional polygyny, 588 had more frequent polygyny, and 7 had polyandry. The distribution of polygamous relationships within the world is more rare than this data may suggest. Even within societies which allow polygyny, the actual practice of polygyny often occurs only rarely. To take on more than one wife often requires considerable resources: this may put polygamy beyond the means of the vast majority of people within those societies. Such appears the case in many traditional Islamic societies and historically within Imperial China. India has an occurrence of polygamy about 4% of the Hindu population and about 3% within the Islamic population. There is some discussion about whether the practice of polygamy within the various cultures of Africa is traditional, influences by either Islam or Christian proselytizing. However, even within those countries with both Islamic and traditional support for polygamy, it never is a majority of the population in such relationships.

There are basically three factors that influence the occurrence of polygynous polygamy. Some societies, particularly in tropical regions, have a long post-partum sex taboo. Kwashiorkor is a tropical disease of protein deficiency that affects those with parasites of diarrhea. Infants are particularly susceptible, and nursing longer can help them. To keep her milk, often women may refrain from sexual activity for up to two years when the infant is stronger. Often the women feel that in such a long time her partner will seek other sexual partners. To know about another wife may be preferable to an unknown other woman.

Another factor that seems to promote polygyny is an imbalance of men to women. Statistics do indicate that societies with a high male mortality rate have a higher incidence of polygyny. The imbalance in such societies is often due to warfare.

The third factor is men marrying later in life increases the incidence of polygyny. It is not clear why men may marry late. In a statistical control analysis, it seems that the sex taboo factor is not as salient as the other two factors, but concurrence of the later two are high indicators of the occurrence of polygyny.

Within some polygynous societies, multiple wives become a status symbol denoting wealth and power. Sometimes this is actually a by-product of how the women care for agriculture, as in the Siwai society in the South Pacific. There, the status is in having pigs and since women care for the pigs, multiple wives increase the ability to have more pigs. Some polygynous wives may want helpers with the work and childcare that comes from other wives. This concurs with the occurrence primarily in rural areas of polygamy, and helpers are particularly useful in agricultural settings.

There is much reported about jealousy and fighting within some polygynous societies. Yet this does not occur as frequently in some societies as in others. Factors that create less tension include societies where co-wives are sisters. This is called sororal polygyny. In such societies, such wives may share a residence. Clarity and societal enforcement of rules of conduct also decrease tension. Some societal rules enforce the man's frequency of co-habitation, and rule adultery if this is not followed. The Tanala of Madagascar allow a women slighted in this way to sue for divorce and up to one third of her husband's assets. In societies where the first wife is given seniority rights in all household judgements, such as in Tonga, there also seems to be less stress. Although could seem to increase tension, it may serve to compensate her as younger wives may be favored more for their youth and attractiveness.

Polygamy and religion

Confucianism

Since the Han Dynasty, technically, Chinese men could have only one wife. However throughout the thousands of years of Chinese history, it was common for rich Chinese men to have a wife and various concubines. Although these women were concubines, they had certain marginal legal rights and the children were given a status, although much lower than those from the "first" wife. They were subservient to the "first" wife who ran the household. Polygyny is a by-product of the tradition of emphasis on procreation and the continuity of the father's family name. [1] Before the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it was lawful to have a wife and multiple concubines within Chinese marriage. Emperors, government officials and rich merchants had up to hundreds of concubines after marrying their first wives. [2]

In Confucianism, the ability of a man to manage a family, which usually meant more than one wife and set of children, was emphasized as part of the steps of learning for personal growth in Daxue (Great Learning) Quoting Professor Xu who explained the Confucianism (大學之道)Quoting 徐醒民教授《儒學簡說》: 格物、致知、誠意、正心、修身、齊家、治國、平天下] which Zhu Xi had summarized from the book of Great Learning(Daxue). The 8 learning steps & use

The Chinese culture of Confucianism and thus the practice of polygyny spread from China to the areas that are now Korea and Japan. Before the establishment of the modern democratic mode, Eastern countries permitted a similar practice of polygyny. [3]

Islam

According to traditional Islamic law, a man may take up to four wives, and each of those wives must have her own property, assets, and dowry. The Qur'an also stipulates that a husband must be able to love them equally.

The Qur'an in verse 4:3 states (English translation by Dr Muhammad Taqi-ul-Din Al Hilali and Dr Muhammad Muhsin Khan):

"And if you fear you shall not be able to deal justly with the orphan girls, then marry (other) women of your choice; 2, 3 or 4, but if you fear you may not be able to deal justly (with them) then only one."

This verse is linked to the preceding verse which relates to a man taking an orphaned girl as his wife. The caregivers of these orphan girls have an unfair advantage (especially during the time during which the Qur'an was revealed) over them if they wish to marry them. As their guardians, they may be tempted to marry them without paying them their full dowries or in order to confiscate their inheritance. This verse is telling these men that if they fear that they cannot deal justly with the orphans whom they wish to marry, then they should marry other women (not orphaned women but free women with guardians and families who can look over and protect their rights). However, the verse could also have another meaning, such as if a person is worried about on not treating fairly orphan(s) that is/are under his care, he could have a wife or wives to delegate the tasks of taking care of them.

It's important to note the context within which the term 'orphan girls' is being used here. Orphaned girls (that is, orphaned of both mother and father as well as any immediate family to look after them) at the time when the Qur'an was revealed had very low status in society and virtually no recognizable rights, unless a caregiver chose to take them in. The relationship of the caregiver to the orphaned girl would have to satisfy the criteria set out in the Qur'an verses 4:23 and 4:24 as to which women a man is permitted to marry under Islamic law in order for verse 4:3 to be valid.

Some Muslims, however, believe that polygamy is restricted (e.g. [4]). They quote the following verse 4:129, (translation by Yusuf Ali):

"Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women, even if it is your ardent desire: But turn not away (from a woman) altogether, so as to leave her (as it were) hanging (in the air). If ye come to a friendly understanding, and practice self-restraint, Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."

This, combined with the requirement for fairness stated in 4:3 and arguments based on its context, has led them to conclude that polygamy is only sanctioned in exceptional circumstances - e.g. when there is a shortage of male adults after a war - and that monogamy is generally preferable. Opponents of this view believe that verse 4:129 does not seek to discourage polygamy, but instead guides the husband on how to treat all of his wives fairly in practice, even though he will not be able to love and feel the same for them (all).

Islamic polygamists point out that an imbalance of the ratio of men to women means that polygamy serves to help women maintain a respectable presence. They cite cases in supposedly monogamous societies where women may become mistresses to men with a legal wife, and be in a forbidden, shameful relationship. As a co-wife, they have legal rights and status. It is also mentioned the practice within monogamy of simply taking one wife after another leaves the first woman abandoned and in a more shameful and un-protected state. This is often referred to as serial monogamy.

Hinduism

Both polygamy and polyandry were practiced in ancient times among certain sections of the Hindu society. Except for Brahmins, Hinduism does not prohibit polygamy, nor encourage it. Brahmins have never been allowed to marry more than once. The elective nature of marriage within Hinduism in general is because it is expensive to have more than one wife and many children, and hard to dedicate the time required to raise the family well. Historically, only kings, in practice, were polygamous, and this in part because they could afford it. For example, the Vijaynagara emperor, Krishnadevaraya had multiple wives. Hinduism, and other religions such as Buddhism, & Jainism, actually consent for a man or woman to marry more than one person. Polyandry, where a woman has more than one husband, has never been popular and is a rare, exceptional case. As of October, 2004, marriage laws in India are dependent upon the religion of the subject in question.^[5] Indian law prohibits Hindus from having more than one marriage partner. Islamic people in India are allowed to have multiple wives. It is interesting to note however, that the occurrence of polygamy is more frequent within the Hindu cultural sphere than within the Islamic. There have been efforts to propose a uniform marital law that would treat all Indians the same, irrespective of religion, but this has not occurred as of yet.

Judaism

Although classical Jewish literature indicates that polygamy was permitted, the various segments of Judaism have now outlawed polygamy. The first was Ashkenazi Jewry, which followed Rabbenu Gershom's ban since the 11th century. However, there are some who claim the ban was a temporary measure that no longer applies according to the Jewish law and want to restore polygamy. See [http://polygamy.com/Jewish/index.htm Jewish Doctrines Pertaining To Polygamy. Some Sephardi and Mizrahi groups only discontinued polygamy much more recently, to the point that the State of Israel had to make provisions for polygamous families immigrating after its 1948 creation. Many Jewish families from countries such as Iran and Yemen were assimilated to the general common culture of a family made up of a man, two or more wives, and their children.

Christianity

Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy, and wrote about it in The Good of Marriage (chapter 15, paragraph 17), where he stated that though it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce. For there is not now necessity of begetting children, as there then was, when, even when wives bear children, it was allowed, in order to a more numerous posterity, to marry other wives in addition, which now is certainly not lawful." He declined to judge the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygamy. In another place, he wrote, "Now indeed in our time, and in keeping with Roman custom, it is no longer allowed to take another wife, so as to have more than one wife living [emphasis added]."

Periodically, Christian reform movements that have aimed at rebuilding Christian doctrine based on the Bible alone (sola scriptura) have at least temporarily accepted polygamy as a Biblical practice. During the Protestant Reformation, Martin Luther advised Philip of Hesse that although he found nothing un-biblical about polygamy, he should keep his second marriage a secret to avoid public scandal. The radical Anabaptists of Münster also practiced polygamy, but they had little influence after the defeat of the Münster Rebellion in 1535. Other Protestant leaders including John Calvin condemned polygamy, and sanctioned polygamy did not survive long within Protestantism.

"On February 14, 1650, the parliament at Nürnberg decreed that because so many men were killed during the Thirty Years’ War, the churches for the following ten years could not admit any man under the age of 60 into a monastery. Priests and ministers not bound by any monastery were allowed to marry. Lastly, the decree stated that every man was allowed to marry up to ten women. The men were admonished to behave honorably, provide for their wives properly, and prevent animosity among them." Larry O. Jensen, A Genealogical Handbook of German Research (Rev. Ed., 1980) p. 59 [6].

The modern trend towards frequent divorce and remarriage is sometimes referred to by conservative Christians as 'serial polygamy'.

Mormonism

Although polygamy was not an original part of the Mormon doctrine, early in its history The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints allowed it. As early as 1831, Joseph Smith Jr., the founder and father of the Mormon religion, received a revelation on Celestial marriage, although it was not recorded until 1843. This is a church doctrine that states it is spiritually necessary to be married, and that marriage will be in the afterlife as well as our life on earth. When severe persecution had reduced the numbers of eligible bachelors, polygamy was seen as a way to fulfill their spiritual mandate. This was referred to it as "plural marriage". In the next generation when the suitable marriage partners were even in terms of gender, this practice largely died out.

The public revelation of the Church's practice of polygamy, however, led to escalated persecution. Many novelists began to write books and pamphlets condemning polygamy, portraying it as a legalized form of slavery. The outcry against polygamy eventually led to the federal government's involvement and the enacting of anti-polygamy laws. Although Latter-day Saints believed that their religiously-based practice of plural marriage was protected by the United States Constitution, opponents used it to delay Utah statehood until 1896. Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation penalized Church members, disincorporated the Church, and permitted the seizure of Church property until the Church ordered the discontinuance of the practice in 1890. A "Second Manifesto" against polygamy was issued in 1904 that clarified that all members of the LDS Church were prohibited from performing or entering into polygamous marriages, no matter what the legal status of such unions was in their respective countries of residence. Since that time, it has been Church policy to excommunicate any member either practicing or openly advocating the practice of polygamy. The ban on polygamy resulted in a schism within the Church, with various splinter groups leaving the Church to continue the practice of polygamy.

Mormon fundamentalists (who are not associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) continue to practice polygamy today, more than 100 years after the LDS Church discontinued the practice. These fundamentalists practice polygamy by tending to aggregate in communities where they all commonly share their own specific religious basis for polygamy. Notable polygamous communities (with over 500 residents) are located in Bountiful, British Columbia; Centennial Park, Arizona; Colorado City, Arizona; Hilldale, Utah; Ozumba, Mexico;Pinesdale, Montana and Rocky Ridge, Utah.

Legality

Secular law in most countries with large Jewish and Christian populations does not recognize polygamous marriages. However, few such countries have any laws against living a polygamous lifestyle: they simply refuse to give it any official recognition. Parts of the United States, however, criminalize even the polygamous lifestyle; these laws originated as anti-Mormon legislation, although they are rarely enforced. Polygamists may find it harder to obtain legal immigrant status.

Muslim polygamy, in practice and law, differs greatly throughout the Islamic world. Polygamy is most widely practiced by Muslims in Africa (where it is also widely practiced by non-Muslims), as well as in certain traditionalist Arabian states such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. In cultures where polygamy is still commonplace and legal, Muslim polygamists do not separate themselves from the society at large, since there would be no need as each spouse leads a separate life from the others. Polygamy is rare in the secular Arab states like Lebanon. In the non-Arab Muslim countries,such as Turkey and Malaysia, it is either extremely rare or even banned outright.

In Muslim countries where polygamy does occur, there are certain core fundamentals found in common among most of them. Often secular law confirms sharia, or Islamic law, a man may marry only as many wives as he can afford to take care of properly, up to four in total. In many cultures, previous to Islam, some men would marry innumerable wives, and often there was much difficulty arising from these circumstances. In this perspective, historically Islam has often served to help and protect women and children who may have not been given rights without sharia. This is often disputed in our modern times when monogamy is usually the norm.

Usually wives have little to no contact with each other and lead separate, individual lives in their own houses, and sometimes in different cities, though they all share the same husband. Thus, polygamy is traditionally restricted to men who can manage things. In West Africa the education of men increases the incidence of polygamy, but the education of women decreases their participation in such relationships.

Many areas in Africa are heavily influenced by sharia, even when Islamic people are not in a majority. The countries in Africa have multiple cultural and religious influences, and often the law reflects this diversity. The enforcement of law, however, is often done through local ethnic and religious affiliations and leadership. In North Africa, there is a very strong influence of sharia. Although moderated by local customs, generally the Islamic view is followed. In West Africa, it becomes more diverse in application. Some Muslim and Christian areas have strict monogamy, and some are legally polygamous. In some Christian areas, polygamy is allowed within the law of the church for clergy who are currently within a polygamous marriage or, although it may be formally disapproved, it is simply ignored. South Africa is also diverse in application.

In India, the law applicable to you depends on your religious affiliation. Hindus are forbidden polygamy, while Islamic men are allowed up to four wives.

China had legal polygamy until the Communist government ruled that this was injurious to women who were equal workers with men. The State took over all legal aspects of marriage.

Justice for women and children

In Africa, a growing problem of justice for children and women within polygamy is challenging the con-flux of the various legal domains of sharia, National, and Tribal or ethnic law. In many cases, although laws may have been enacted, they are not necessarily enforced. Christian groups basically support monogamy and individual rights that could help women and children, but some groups ignore the polygamous within their midst and may even have polygamous clergy. Questions of polygamy are often ignored in an effort to avoid conflicts of power between various domains of national, religious or local authority. Many politicians believe they cannot lose the support of local leaders, and do not challenge practices that may be hurtful to women and children.

Particularly women's groups are challenging the unfair and damaging application or non-application of laws about polygamy. Although most countries have some law requiring declaration of marriage to be polygamous or monogamous at the onset, this often is not done. In many localities marriages are only performed according to local custom, without legal registration. When problems arise, such people are not entitled to the protection within such laws. One common problem is that a man will change his mind as his wife ages, and decides he then wants to get a younger wife. Such a second wife may be technically entitles to support, but especially if she is living separately it may be very difficult to obtain it. Another problem occurs in traditional cultures where is a woman is widowed, she must be isolated in mourning. Often during this time, her in-laws may take all the material goods leaving her without anything when she may emerge from the mourning period. Efforts are being made to help such women recover property rights. The situation remains grim for most who have no recourse to the expense of legal representation. Even when formal legal representation can be obtained, ostracism from tribal cultures in Africa can mean starvation for women without education or skills to survive in urban environments. In this environment,polygamy often remains beyond the realm of choice for many women.

Multiple divorce and marriage for polygamy

Some polygamous families use a system of multiple divorce and legal marriage as a loophole in order to avoid committing a criminal act in the United States. In such cases the husband marries the first wife, she takes his last name, he divorces her and then marries the next wife, who takes his name. This is repeated until he has married and divorced all his wives, except possibly the last one. This way the wives feel justified in calling themselves Mrs. [husband's last name] and, while legally they're divorced from the husband, they still act as if married to him and expect those around them to acknowledge and respect this.

Since only one wife is married to the husband at any one time, no law is being broken and so this type of polygamous family unit can be overt about their relationship.

The conviction of Thomas Arthur Green in 2001 may have made the legal status of such relationships more precarious in Utah, although Green's bigamy convictions were made possible only by his own public statements.

Recent polygamy cases

Polygamy within the United States presents interesting legal challenges. Without evidence, they are merely subject to the laws against adultery or unlawful cohabitation. These laws are not commonly enforced because they also criminalize other behavior that is otherwise socially sanctioned. However,some "Fundamentalist" polygamists marry women prior to the age of consent or commit fraud to obtain welfare and other public assistance. In 2001, when the state of Utah in the United States convicted Tom Green of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy for having 5 serially monogamous marriages, while living with previous legally divorced wives. His cohabitation was considered evidence of a common-law marriage to the wives he had divorced while still living with them. That premise was subsequently affirmed by the Utah Supreme Court in State v. Green, as applicable only in the State of Utah. Green was also convicted of child rape and criminal non-support. In 2005, the state attorneys-general of Utah and Arizona issued a primer on helping victims of domestic violence and child abuse in polygamous communities. These states are emphasizing enforcement of crimes of child abuse, domestic violence, and fraud over the enforcement of the crime of bigamy. The priorities of local prosecutors are not covered by this statement. [7]

Edith Barlow, a mother of five in the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C., was denied permanent residence and has been asked to leave the country after ten years in Canada. [8] A Salt Lake Tribune article.

How polygamists find more spouses

Those who live in faith communities are often matched by their parents. Often, multiple partners arise from the desire of the man for a younger wife, or even the rural need for more help with the work. In some of these situations, the first wife may help in the selection process. Usually, however, the second wife has little contact or may not even be known to the first wife. In the United States of Canada, polygamous communities may find their additional spouses from within their own communities or networks of like-communities. Some polygamists from all groups have used the Internet to find additional spouses. However,these options are very limited. There are few web sites that can offer women who are interested in polygyny.

Polygamy in fiction

A number of writers have expressed their views on polygamy by writing about a fictional world in which it is the most common type of relationship. These worlds tend to be utopian or dystopian in nature. For instance, Robert A. Heinlein uses this theme in a number of novels, such as Stranger in a Strange Land.

Polygamy is practiced by the Fremen in Frank Herbert's Dune as a means to pinpoint male infertility. It is socially accepted as long as the man provides for all wives equally. Cultures described within the Dune novel series have intentional similarities to Islamic, Arabic, and other cultures.

Similarly, the Aiel society in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series practice a form of polygamy, in which multiple women may marry the same man; in that fictional culture, women are the ones who propose marriage.

Sheri Tepper uses an extreme portrayal of Mormon polygamy in her book, 'The Gate to Women's Country'. The novel is set in the future, after major calamities and atomic warfare, where a group of Mormons are left to develop as a community. The women of this group are portrayed as sex slaves who also do cooking and laundry.

Noted libertarian author L. Neil Smith included a character married to two sisters in his book The American Zone. The dominant culture in the novel sees one's religion and personal living accommodations as no one else's business, and "acts of capitalism between consenting adults" as the norm instead of something immoral.

The arguments for and against

The most salient arguments for or against the practice of polygamy should come from those who have the most occurrence of it, or familiarity with the practice in reality not just theory. Polygamy is only practiced in large numbers in the world today in Africa and some Islamic countries. In these countries, tradition and religion usually mix to form a confusion of law and application of law, creating problems of clear jurisdiction and/or officials who hesitate to enforce laws that may conflict with another's jurisdiction. There is a developing movement of women lawyers and others who are working to secure rights of women and children who suffer under this system.

Typical abuses are that the woman is not even aware of any other wives, as they have separate residences and usually this simply means the woman must effectively care for any children and the house alone. There are efforts to create of enforce local laws that would provide for responsibility from her husband. Other abuses occur because the women may have little access or ability to make any income, and they become trapped in the marriage. Many are from traditional societies that would completely ostracize them if they left their marriage.

Arguments from more affluent, developed areas where polygamy is rarely practiced are less salient, and more hypothetical and even strike one as recreational in comparison to the real needs of women and children often in desperate situations within these marriages.

The Libertarian Party in the United States supports complete decriminalization of polygamy as part of a general belief that the government should not regulate marriages. The argument that polygamy tends to benefit most women and disadvantage most men is used to support and oppose polygamy by different theorists. [9] [10]

The ACLU of Utah is opposed to Utah's law against bigamy, which is used in polygamy cases. [11]

Those who advocate a Federal Marriage Amendment in the United States to prohibit same-sex marriage generally word their proposed laws to also prohibit polygamy.

Most modern religion condemns the practice of polygamy, though few religious texts are concrete in the condemnation. The Catholic Church clearly condemns polygamy in their cannon; the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists it in paragraph 2387 under the head "Other offenses against the dignity of marriage" and states that it "is not in accord with the moral law." Also in paragraph 1645 under the head "The Goods and Requirements of Conjugal Love" states "The unity of marriage, distinctly recognized by our Lord, is made clear in the equal personal dignity which must be accorded to man and wife in mutual and unreserved affection. Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive."

The illegality of polygamy in creates additional arguments against it. Paul of Tarsus writes "submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience" (Romans 13:5), for "the authorities that exist have been established by God." (Romans 13:1) St Peter concurs when he says to "submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right." (1 Peter 2:13,14) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints supports enforcing laws against polygamy.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Cairncross, John. 1974. After Polygamy Was Made a Sin: The Social History of Christian Polygamy London: Routledge & Kegan Paul ISBN 0710077300
• Campbell, James. 2005. The History and Philosophy of Marriage First published in Boston (1869) Re-published online at TruthBearer.org August 5, 2005
• Chapman, Samuel A. 2001. Polygamy, Bigamy and Human Rights Law Xlibris Corp ISBN 1401012442
• Hillman, Eugene. 1975. Polygamy Reconsidered: African Plural Marriage and the Christian Churches New York: Orbis Books ISBN 0883443910}}
• Van Wagoner, Richard S. 1992. Mormon Polygamy: A History (2nd edition) First Edition (1975) Utah: Signature Books ISBN 0941214796
• Wilson, E. O. 2000. Sociobiology: The New Synthesis Harvard Univ Pr ISBN 0674002350
• Ember, Carol R., Melvin Ember. 2004. Eleventh edition "Cultural Anthropology" New Jersey: Pearson, Prentis Hall ISBN 0-13-111636-3

External links

General

• Pro-Polygamy.com - Provides op-eds and press releases on polygamy-related current events for the secular mass media
• Anti-Polygamy.org - A pro-polygamy website that analyzes anti-polygamy rhetoric and arguments.
• Anti-Polygamy.com - A discussion forum for both sides of the anti-polygamy debate.
• [12]

Christian polygamy

• Christian Polygamy Info - Presents definitions and the history of the new, modern social movement which has no connection to Mormon polygamy.
• TruthBearer.org — Organization for Christian polygamy Provides activists with teachings, resources, support, and media interviews
• Biblical Polygamy - Presents biblical exegesis of arguments to support polygamy and lists out all the polygamists in the Bible

A defense of Christian polygamy - discusses and answers objections many Christians have to polygamy with cited evidence in the Bible Another defense of Christian polygamy

Mormon polygamy

• Hope for the Child Brides - non-profit organization in St. George, Utah, that offers assistance to any victims of abuse who live in specific Mormon polygamous communities where underage marriage occurs
• Mormon Polygamy - A study of the four major periods of Mormon Polygamy
• MormonPolygamy.com - A group of Mormon women in Utah called "Principle Voices of Polygamy" who advocate and defend consensual, adult Mormon polygamy
• Tapestry Against Polygamy A group of ex-Mormon fundamentalist polygamous wives in Salt Lake City, Utah, who offer insight and assistance for anyone seeking to leave specific Mormon polygamous communities

Muslim polygamy

• When is polygamy allowed in Islam? - from a Muslim point of view

Jewish polygamy

• Jewish Polygamy

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