Polygamy. Acceptable? Immoral? State your views here.

[Hyfi]

Polygamy, can never really be discussed unless you bring religion into it. It is base on religious faith/customs and that is where you will find the hard points of the argument. In old testament times ( which covers Christan's/Jews/Muslims faiths) you can read that man was to have only one main wife, but as man see things for himself if that woman was barren rules/bylaws/religious exceptions made it that he could take another to keep the family name going. Which brought additional rules/bylaws/exceptions if the first wife birth no sons. Most of these women were slaves/handmaids of the wife, so it was not like bringing a stranger into the home.

The most important thing was to have sons to help with fields/flocks and so forth and continue on the family name at all cost. Arranged marriages, gave value to the female (still practice in many hindo and other Indian countries), as the family of the female paid a dairy to the other family to have their son marry her. I think it was the story of Jacob was the first form of actual polygamy, were he worked for 7 years to marry one of his bosses (really a uncle) daughter, but the Uncle tricked him by saying he had to marry the oldest daughter first (not the one he wanted). Jacob worked another 7 years for the right to marry the one he wanted, so now he had 2 wives (sisters).

Now with that brief history lesson, some faiths have used that story as the right for a man to have multiple wives. Since there was no case of the first wife not being able to bare children before he married the other (if you read the story the first wife did turn out to be barren and offer up her hand maid in her place). As the church grew in power, they condemned the notion of multiple wives, but still allowed men to father children by the wifes hand maid upon consent of the wife.

This mentality remains to this day, in our own history during slavery this was the mindset of several slave owners, but not with the consent of the wife or reasons of her being barren, just sexual gratification. The Mormons kept it more to the arrange marriage view and to keep their faith pure from outsiders. But from pressure from the Feds cause Joseph Smith to have a vision and rule that polygamy will no longer be apart of the Mormon faith. With that decision the Mormon church had a split on fundamental beliefs

I knew this would turn into another Religion thread somehow.
Good background and info but as you state, people today use the Religious reasons to justify their own selfish pleasures.

I don't really care what people do as long as nobody is harmed, physically or emotionally.

I'm not real sure how the insurance policy works:
Family
Husband and Wife
Husband and Wife and Wife and Wife.....

I do think that since the basis of marriage is that 2 become 1, people who want multiple partners should not bother getting married and just enjoy the group sex or leftovers as a few spouses end up with. (sloppy 4ths)

Now on the lighter side...

What is the worst part of being a Polygamist?
















Multiple Mother in Laws

[ForeverAutumn]

I knew this would turn into another Religion thread somehow.

I don't think that you can completely keep religion out of this because the reason that people are polygamists has to do with their religious beliefs. What I think will keep this discussion civil (at least I hope so) is twofold. One,nobody here, that I am aware of, subscribes to this belief so it shouldn't get personal and, two, I see this more as a discussion about society and personal freedoms than I do a religious issue.

Is polygamy immoral and should it be punished if all of the people in the sexual relationship are consenting adults with the freedom to leave should they choose to do so and nobody (including the children) is getting hurt?

Does the State of Utah have the right to hold this family criminally accountable for their actions? If the husband lived with only one wife but had affairs with other women, no one would care. Even if those affairs resulted in children, no one would care. (...unless the man in question was a politician or a celebrity...then everyone would care. ) So, is it better or worse that he openly lives with four women instead of just having affairs?

If this family chose to live as polygamists but it was not for religious reasons, would that make any difference?

Discuss....

[Hyfi]

I don't think that you can completely keep religion out of this because the reason that people are polygamists has to do with their religious beliefs. What I think will keep this discussion civil (at least I hope so) is twofold. One,nobody here, that I am aware of, subscribes to this belief so it shouldn't get personal and, two, I see this more as a discussion about society and personal freedoms than I do a religious issue.

Is polygamy immoral and should it be punished if all of the people in the sexual relationship are consenting adults with the freedom to leave should they choose to do so and nobody (including the children) is getting hurt?

Does the State of Utah have the right to hold this family criminally accountable for their actions? If the husband lived with only one wife but had affairs with other women, no one would care. Even if those affairs resulted in children, no one would care. (...unless the man in question was a politician or a celebrity...then everyone would care. ) So, is it better or worse that he openly lives with four women instead of just having affairs?

If this family chose to live as polygamists but it was not for religious reasons, would that make any difference?

Discuss....

Nobody should be allowed to use religious beliefs to justify anything they do. I'm sure those same people will be picking and choosing the beliefs that work for them and not the rest.

I think you should be able to do anything you want as long as you handle the fallout and the cost of it all.

I should not have to pay more taxes or insurance premiums to support this just like I hate that I have to pay more for my insurance to offset single or divorced parents premiums. So I definitely do not want to start paying for all the children and divorced wives of polygamists.

[recoveryone]

Does the State of Utah have the right to hold this family criminally accountable for their actions? If the husband lived with only one wife but had affairs with other women, no one would care. Even if those affairs resulted in children, no one would care. (...unless the man in question was a politician or a celebrity...then everyone would care. ) So, is it better or worse that he openly lives with four women instead of just having affairs?

Discuss....

First off lets go back and look at what Utah really is:

The Utah territory as it once was called covered what we now call State of Utah, Part of Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona. And for the most part the State of Utah is the Mormon Church, not as much today as in the past, but nothing gets elected/laws or bills passed without some sort of approval from the church. As I stated above, Utah only became a state only after agreeing to denounce polygamy.

The United States was in no hurry to admit them into the union, until gold and silver was found in the Mountains of Nevada and California, Then old BYU himself (Governor of the Territory) cut a deal. So don't think the courts of Utah is turning over rocks and beating bushes to find these people, they normally let them go about their business, until some big story pops up and rocks the boat.

[JohnMichael]

My iPhone did something strange so I will try my post again. FA I do think a polygamist could legaly marry the first wife. In Ohio I can not marry even one man. As a gay man I have no rights. I can be denied housing. I have no protection from wrongful termination for being gay. Which explains why I walk and talk like John Wayne when looking for a new apartment or applying for a job. No protection from harassment. I remember the years of fear when I thought I might be discovered.

[ForeverAutumn]

My iPhone did something strange so I will try my post again. FA I do think a polygamist could legaly marry the first wife. In Ohio I can not marry even one man. As a gay man I have no rights. I can be denied housing. I have no protection from wrongful termination for being gay. Which explains why I walk and talk like John Wayne when looking for a new apartment or applying for a job. No protection from harassment. I remember the years of fear when I thought I might be discovered.

John, you are absolutely right and I apologize. Thanks for correcting me.

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