polygamy....?

Question

i don't care wether you think its imoral, but would like to know why polygamy is illegal (imoral is not a valis reason to me)

Answer 1

It's because it's against Christianity. That's why the whole abortion and gay marriage thing comes up too. Whoever decided this was a Christian country? Separation of church and state!

(I think polygamy is horrible because of the terrible stories you hear about - just saw a show on A & E about it. However, we shouldn't judge things based on religion's opinions of morals)

Answer 2

The short, simple answer is that polygamy is illegal because the government passed a law making it illegal. There are probably a number of reasons why this is the case, my guess being that it simply was tradition as the monogamous societies displaced polygamous ones.

It's not illegal everywhere. A number of Muslim countries still permit a man to have up to four wives (the limit imposed by the Qur'an). Perhaps several others in the traditionally Third World still allow it for at least some of their citizens.

The State of Utah is an interesting case as polygamy was legal in Utah until the 1890's, when the LDS Church chose to prohibit it among its adherents. However, there are some that still practice it (albeit extra-legally) in Utah and neighbouring Idaho, and it's rare that such husbands are prosecuted for this.

Answer 3

Secular law in most western 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.

Romer v Evans
Justice Scalia's Dissent suggests that the U.S. Supreme Court's Decision, in this case here, must seemingly "prohibit" old laws against POLYGAMY as now to be seen as being "Bad law"

Answer 4

Polygamy is not totally illegal in some countries.. in muslimes countries for example is totally legal but also organized. you can't have more than four wives at the same time and you must maintain equality among them in the housing and allowance and fair treatment.

and i think this low is better than the man go cheat on his wife with couple of mistress.

Answer 5

There are two reasons, one is the moral reason. This isn't a judgement on the morality of polygamy, this is just a fact.

The other reason is that marriage, as far as the government is concerned, is a contract. Many of the agreements involved in the marriage only work well when there are only two people involved (default inheritance, etc.)

Answer 6

Here's a reason beyond the religious take why polygamy is illegal.

It's anti-liberal democratic and anti-capitalist. Being the vast majority of the English speaking world feels that democracy, the rule of law, the preservation of rights, and the ideals of theoretical capitalism are the way to go, polygamy is illegal. Let me explain.

No matter what modern bent western society wants to put on it, the family/marriage is first and foremost an economic institution. It's a social construct we use to make feeding, clothing, and sheltering ourselves easier and makes having children all that more economically feasible. In turn this leads to more resources being created, more consumers being out there, more wealth etc etc. Now multiply this by every family you have out there and the better things get.

Now insert polygamy and see how this model gets screwed right up. Say there's three guys that run their own farms but guy number one has three wives, and guys two and three don't have one at all. Guy number one is out in the field all day while his three wives are at home sowing and washing his pants, canning preserves and baking bread, and bringing him a nice big lunch mid day. Farmers two and three in the meantime are out in their fields in dirty, ripped clothes and are going hungry. Because they're dirty and hungry, they have to quit working early that day because they're worn out, hungry, and need to go to town to see the laundress and the dry goods grocer. Come the end of the day, guy number one has not only earned more money for himself than his neighbours, but he's saved a bunch of it too by having his wives contributing support work for him and maybe even some more money in themselves by sowing farmer number two's pants or cooking for farmer number three. What it leads to is a fiscal imbalance between each of these economic units. Before you know it, the polygamous farmer will have all sorts of money and the other two will be busting *** just to survive.

Then there's the more social implications. When all three men are done their day of work, polygamous farmer is at home eating a good dinner, putting his kids to bed, humping his wives, and then falling asleep. When he wakes up he'll be refreshed and ready to go back to work. In the meantime, farmer number two is in town getting drunk in the bar, starting a fight, and getting dragged home by the constable while farmer number three got drunk too, but ended up at the whorehouse where he blew his mortgage payment and caught syphillis. You see where I'm going with this? Polygamy creates a social and economic imbalance that is no damn good in a society where everyone should be earning their keep and keeping the peace. It's for that reason that it's illegal and immoral.

Answer 7

It's unsustainable in any community.

Man aged 21 gets married to woman aged 20. If he wants another wife, all the 20yr olds are taken so he has to go for 18/19 year olds.

If he then wants a third wife, all the women more or less his own age are taken by himself, his contemporaries and those slightly younger than himself. So he ends up with the 12 years olds. Even Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormon polygamy ended up with one wife Helen Marr Kimball who was 14.

Since the sexes are more or less balanced in numbers, if Polygamy is practiced, a large proportion of the male population cannot marry at all. This leads to the phenomenon of the "Lost Boys" adolescents excluded from the community for some imagined offence in order to preserve young girls for the men who already hold power and who want them for themselves.

Since Polygamy is inherently unattractive to women with education and choices, preserving girls in ignorance and seclusion is important. Keeping your community enclosed and secretive leads to incest and in-breeding, which leads to the prevalence of inherited disease.

Answer 8

I'm not really sure. It probably has legal issues (like names, social security etc...) Marriage affects the couple in a lot of different ways, your credit score is even affected. I would assume that there is no system of doing this for multiple people in one marriage.

Answer 9

Some laws are made for cultural or moral reasons.

That's what this laws is based on.

People are free to engage in "unregistered" polygamy - that is, living in a state of polygamy, without the certificate from the state.

Answer 10

How can you answer the question without bringing morality into the discussion? Polygamy immoral or wrong, because our society says it is. Right now our society has drawn a line in the sand and says that having more than one spouse is illegal. As we continue to blur or stretch the line of decency, we will see even more disturbing behavior. Men marrying 8 yo boys or girls? People marrying a dog or horse? People marrying animals and people? Once you start to redefine right and wrong you start to slide.

Answer 11

I dont know why its illegal. Why is illegal to kill your children. They are yours right or how about slit your dogs throat. You own it. Just because immoral and illegal overlap really doent make a difference. Laws in the past were all basically based on morality. Its an old law. Same sex marriage used to be illegal now its not. Maybe this will change too.

My thinking is however i got one wife i sure as hell dont want 2 or more OMG no way... all the great sex wouldnt be worth the constant bitching.