Should Polygamy be legal?
826787
Marriage is part of capitalism.  Ignoring the moral side of the issue, think only on the economy of marriage.  A society that permits multiple spouses also consolidates vast amounts of wealth into single families.  A welthy man will attract more wives than a poor man.  For every new wife the wealthy man acquires his fortune is increased as she will have a net worth, in addition to her possesions, she will likely have an inheritence from her parents at some point.  So this wealthy man marries ten women, all whom now pool their money into this one family, if their is only one child from this 11 person family, the child will inherit a windfall amount of money.\n\nThe other economy of multilple spouses is in the avaiability of people.  The worlds population is roughly 50/50 men and women.  Societies that allow polygamy break the balance as those who wish to have many wives/husbands will reduce the availability of spouses for others.  An example is that during the early Mormon migration west young men would be left in the wilderness many,  many miles from the camp, with no provisions as a 'test' to see if they could make it back.  They most often did not, this was done because there were too few women for wives and to many single men that tended to get angry and resentful at their former friend that married four women while he still is single.\n\nThere is no enforced law in the US that prevents you from 'shacking up' with as many men or women as you want.  Form a nude commune in Montana and forget about what the government says about marriage.\n\nJust remember that it is hard enough to find that one special person and keep them happy.  Now imagine how hard it would be to keep them happy while you are out their trying to find wife number two.  And how is potential wife number two going to react when she finds out she is going to be second fiddle in the house.  Our society as a whole is not able to accecpt such a practice.  Cultures that still pracitice this are always male dominated, women are always suppressed and treated as property.
464838
No, the current LDS church does not practice polygamy, nor has it since the practice was officially ended in 1890.\n\nHowever, the church *did* practice polygamy in it's past starting with it's founding prophet Joseph Smith, and many split-off sects, such as the FLDS, still practice it today.
195246
People wish to live that way.  It is not legal in America so they merely live together most of the time.\n\nBut in other nations it is legal and a status symbol, like owning a new Beamer in your garage,  In other areas it is just the way society lives.\n\nBibically many people in the Old Testement lived in polygamy,
1060586
It's not legal, but it is practiced...\n\n"secretive society" that dominates Colorado City and Hildale, Utah, where many of the 8,000 residents practice polygamy."\n\nThey are from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
258810
I think it should be legalized, and so do a lot of other smart people, including the folks at the American Psychiatric Association\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/22/AR2005052200785.html\n\nAnd yet another study just came out today saying same-sex marriage bans cause trauma\nhttp://www.advocate.com/news_detail_ektid26315.asp\n\nThe California State Legislature also agrees that gay marriage should be legalized\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/06/AR2005090602076.html\n\nBut Arnold vetoed it (bastard)\nhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/07/AR2005090702020.html\nhttp://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/29/MNG4IEVVEG5.DTL\n\nOne the best articles to make the case has been reprinted in numerous journals and books, and you can find here\nhttp://www.indegayforum.org/authors/corvino/corvino59.html\n\nAs for books, I reccomend\n\nGay Marriage : Why It Is Good for Gays, Good for Straights, and Good for America by Jonathan Rauch, 2004\n\nSame-Sex Marriage and the Constitution by Evan Gerstmann 2003\n\nWhy Marriage Matters : America, Equality, and Gay People's Right to Marry by Evan Wolfson  2004\n\nWhat God Has Joined Together? : A Christian Case for Gay Marriage by David Meyers 2005\n\nWhy You Should Give A Damn About Gay Marriage by  Davina Kotulski 2004\n\nCabaj and Purcell, On The Road to Same-Sex Marriage (Jossey-Bass Inc., 1998)\n\nW.N. Eskridge, The Case for Same-Sex Marriage: From Sexual Liberty to Civilized Commitment (The Free Press, 1996).\n\nE.J. Graff, What is Marriage For? (Beacon Press, 1999).\n\nA. Sullivan, Same-Sex Marriage: Pro and Con, A Reader (Random House, 1997).\n\nAnd here is a shitload of websites:\n\nStart with this bibliography\nhttp://law-library.rutgers.edu/SSM.html\n\nAnd move on down\nhttp://www.sfgate.com/samesexmarriage/\nhttp://www.allianceforsamesexmarriage.org/\nhttp://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/user/scotts/domestic-partners/mainpage.html\nhttp://www.ftmf.org/fof/\nhttp://www.freedomtomarry.org/\nhttp://www.glaad.org/media/resource_kit_detail.php?id=3457\nhttp://www.lambdalegal.org/cgi-bin/iowa/issues/record?record=9\nhttp://www.marriageequality.org/main_home.php\nhttp://www.nbjcoalition.org/issues/marriage.html\nhttp://www.law.cornell.edu/topics/Table_Marriage.htm
684904
Polygamy is against the law.  The government has every right to disfranchise them.\n\nRegards,\n-Jim
452020
Because polygamy is WRONG.  Marriage is about commitment between two people, not three, four, or five.  And there's nothing wrong with homosexuality.  I think they have as much a right to get married as anybody else, as long as its only to ONE person!
570712
I personally think that anyone who wants to get married should!  To me, the what happens behind closed doors should remain behind closed doors and I do not think that any judicial system should have the right to say if it is wrong or right!
804476
There is a 14 year age differance between my husband and I. He was married when we met. We all decided to try polygamy because I love him and he loves me and her and couldn't lose either one of us.
700728
Breakaway Mormon polygamist types don't recognize the authority of the state when it comes to matters of mariage, so usually none of their marriages are legal. It's not bigamy unless you try to make it official with more than one partner. Polygamists typically don't get a marriage license for even wife #1. When it involves minors however, that's when they get into trouble.
594580
Downfall of mankind n moral decay. These r mere words. Different people make judgment on a particular situation using their own moral standards. Hugging n kissing openly is acceptable to some n abhorred by others. Polygamy is perfectly legal in some c'tries n illegal in others. In some c'tries, prostitution is a legal profession. Sometimes these laws n standards coexist esp in multi-racial, religious n cultural c'tries. Coming back to your question. What standards are u using when u posed this question?
895236
Let's okay gay marriages.  Then let's okay polygamous marriages. Then let's okay pedophiles marriage with children.  And we can okay cross dressers to marry themselves.  We don't want anyone to feel left out.  That wouldn't be fair.
212845
Have you ever heard of polygamy involving more than one husband? I like it about as much as the idea of a threesome with two women. Don't men have enough problems with just one wife?
367228
in the early days of the church thru revelation by the prophet certain men were chosen to take multiple wives, and support multiple families.  Similarly, by way of prophecy this  practise was done away with.  It is against the law, and those who continue to practise it are not members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  There are however sects that are not part of this church but which take similar church names that do practise polygamy.  Technically it is not possible to have more than one legal wife at a time.  The second marriage is automatically invalid and most multiple marriages are done outside of the legal system.  It's more like having one wife and them taking mistresses and maintaining them as family units complete with children, children being the desired result.
800020
I expect that if the issue of polygamy once again re-enters the political arena (after 200 years of being out of it), most people, whether Republican or Democrat, will oppose it.  It's not even on the radar these days so I don't think you should be worried about it coming to the forefront.
777915
Lizzie No offense to you but this is nuts to ask this.... \n\nPolygamy was excepted in the 1800's is nothing but a grown out lifestyle that satisfies only one person and leaves open doors for child molestation, abuse and  brain washing...\n\nAside from that, want to know why the law chases after them ? Because the few Polygamists that are in hiding are also "file and recieve"  public assistance.
333795
Peace on you …. Thank you for asking about my religion.\n1. Definition of Polygamy\nPolygamy means a system of marriage whereby one person has more than one\nspouse. Polygamy can be of two types. One is polygyny where a man marries\nmore than one woman, and the other is polyandry, where a woman marries\nmore than one man. In Islam, limited polygyny is permitted; whereas polyandry\nis completely prohibited.\nNow coming to the original question, why is a man allowed to have more than\none wife?\n2. The Qur’an is the only religious scripture in the world that says,\n“marry only one”.\nThe Qur’an is the only religious book, on the face of this earth, that contains the\nphrase ‘marry only one’. There is no other religious book that instructs men to\nhave only one wife. In none of the other religious scriptures, whether it be the\nVedas, the Ramayan, the Mahabharat, the Geeta, the Talmud or the Bible does\none find a restriction on the number of wives. According to these scriptures one\ncan marry as many as one wishes. It was only later, that the Hindu priests and\nthe Christian Church restricted the number of wives to one.\nMany Hindu religious personalities, according to their scriptures, had multiple\nwives. King Dashrat, the father of Rama, had more than one wife. Krishna had\nseveral wives.\nIn earlier times, Christian men were permitted as many wives as they wished,\nsince the Bible puts no restriction on the number of wives. It was only a few\ncenturies ago that the Church restricted the number of wives to one.\nPolygyny is permitted in Judaism. According to Talmudic law, Abraham had\nthree wives, and Solomon had hundreds of wives. The practice of polygyny\ncontinued till Rabbi Gershom ben Yehudah (960 C.E to 1030 C.E) issued an\nedict against it. The Jewish Sephardic communities living in Muslim countries\ncontinued the practice till as late as 1950, until an Act of the Chief Rabbinate of\nIsrael extended the ban on marrying more than one wife.\n(*Interesting Note:- As per the 1975 census of India Hindus are more\npolygynous than Muslims. The report of the ‘Committee of The Status of\nWoman in Islam’, published in 1975 mentions on page numbers 66 and 67 that\nthe percentage of polygamous marriages between the years 1951 and 1961\nwas 5.06% among the Hindus and only 4.31% among the Muslims. According\nto Indian law only Muslim men are permitted to have more than one wife. It is\nillegal for any non-Muslim in India to have more than one wife. Despite it being\nillegal, Hindus have more multiple wives as compared to Muslims. Earlier, there\nwas no restriction even on Hindu men with respect to the number of wives\nallowed. It was only in 1954, when the Hindu Marriage Act was passed that it\nbecame illegal for a Hindu to have more than one wife. At present it is the Indian\nLaw that restricts a Hindu man from having more than one wife and not the\nHindu scriptures.)\nLet us now analyse why Islam allows a man to have more than one wife.\n3. Qur’an permits limited polygyny\nAs I mentioned earlier, Qur’an is the only religious book on the face of the earth\nthat says ‘marry only one’. The context of this phrase is the following verse from\nSurah Nisa of the Glorious Qur’an:\n“Marry women of your choice, two, or three, or four; but if ye fear that\nye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one.”\n[Al-Qur’an 4:3]\nBefore the Qur’an was revealed, there was no upper limit for polygyny and\nmany men had scores of wives, some even hundreds. Islam put an upper limit\nof four wives. Islam gives a man permission to marry two, three or four women,\nonly on the condition that he deals justly with them.\nIn the same chapter i.e. Surah Nisa verse 129 says:\n“Ye are never able to be fair and just as between women....”\n[Al-Qur’an 4:129]\nTherefore polygyny is not a rule but an exception. Many people are under the\nmisconception that it is compulsory for a Muslim man to have more than one