Category Archives: Polygamy

Jessie L. EmbryUtah History Encyclopedia, 1994

Brigham Young In Memoriam

When establishing the LDS church, Joseph Smith recorded numerous revelations he claimed to receive, often in answer to questions about the Bible, which are now included in the Doctrine and Covenants, part of the LDS canon. In answer to his question as to why many of the Old Testament leaders had more than one wife, Smith received what is now known as Section 132. Although the revelation was not recorded until 1843, Smith may have received it in the 1830s and married his first plural wife, Fanny Alger, in 1835. Polygamy was not openly practiced in the Mormon Church until 1852 when Orson Pratt, an apostle, made a public speech defending it as a tenet of the church. From 1852 until 1890, Mormon church leaders preached and encouraged members, especially those in leadership positions, to marry additional wives.

A majority of the Latter-day Saints never lived the principle. The number of families involved varied by community; for example, 30 percent in St. George in 1870 and 40 percent in 1880 practiced polygamy, while only 5 percent in South Weber practiced the principle in 1880. Rather than the harems often suggested in non-Mormon sources, most Mormon husbands married only two wives. The wives usually lived in separate homes and had direct responsibility for their children. Where the wives lived near each other, the husbands usually visited each wife on a daily or weekly basis. While there were the expected troubles between wives and families, polygamy was usually not the only cause, although it certainly could cause greater tension. Since polygamy was openly practiced for only a short time by Mormons, there were no established rules about how family members should relate to each other. Instead, each family adapted to their particular circumstances.

Reactions from outside the church to statements about polygamy were immediate and negative. In 1854 the Republican party termed polygamy and slavery the twin relics of barbarism. In 1862 the United States Congress passed the Morrill Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories, disincorporated the Mormon church, and restricted the churchs ownership of property. The nation was in the midst of the Civil War, however, and the law was not enforced. In 1867 the Utah Territorial Legislature asked Congress to repeal the Morrill Act. Instead of doing that, the House Judiciary Committee asked why the law was not being enforced, and the Cullom Bill, an attempt to strengthen the Morrill Act, was introduced. Although it did not pass, most of its provisions later became law. Out of a number of other bills introduced during the 1870s against polygamy, only the Poland Act passed, in 1874. It gave district courts all civil and criminal jurisdiction and limited the probate courts to matters of estate settlement, guardianship, and divorce.

The Mormons continued to practice polygamy despite these laws, since they believed that the practice was protected by the freedom of religion clause in the Bill of Rights. To test the constitutionality of the laws, George Reynolds, Brigham Youngs private secretary, agreed to be tried. In 1879 the case reached the Supreme Court, which upheld the Morrill Act: Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinion, they may with practices.

In 1882 Congress passed the Edmunds Act, which was actually a series of amendments to the Morrill Act. It restated that polygamy was a felony punishable by five years of imprisonment and a $500 fine. Unlawful cohabitation, which was easier to establish because the prosecution had to prove only that the couple had lived together rather than that a marriage ceremony had taken place, remained a misdemeanor punishable by six months imprisonment and a $300 fine. Convicted polygamists were disenfranchised and were ineligible to hold political office. Those who practiced polygamy were disqualified from jury service, and those who professed a belief in it could not serve in a polygamy case. All registration and election officers in Utah Territory were dismissed, and a board of five commissioners was appointed to direct elections.

Because the Edmunds Act was unsuccessful in controlling polygamy in Utah, in 1884 Congress debated legislation to plug the loopholes. Finally, in 1887, the hodge-podge Edmunds-Tucker Bill passed. It required plural wives to testify against their husbands, dissolved the Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company (a loan institution that helped members of the church come to Utah from Europe), abolished the Nauvoo Legion militia, and provided a mechanism for acquiring the property of the church, which already was disincorporated by the Morrill Act. The Cullom-Struble Bill with even stricter measures was debated in 1889, but the Mormon church helped to prevent its passage by promising to do away with polygamy.

All of these pressures had an impact on the church, even though they did not compel the Latter-day Saints to abolish polygamy. Church leaders as well as many of its members went into hidingon the underground as it was calledeither to avoid arrest or to avoid having to testify. Mormon church President John Taylor died while in hiding. His successor, Wilford Woodruff, initially supported the continued practice of polygamy; however, as pressure increased, he began to change the churchs policy. On 26 September 1890 he issued a press release, the Manifesto, which read, I publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriages forbidden by the law of the land. The Manifesto was approved at the churchs general conference on 6 October 1890.

Mormon polygamists in federal penitentiary

Rather than resolving the polygamy question, however, according to one historian: For both the hierarchy and the general membership of the LDS Church, the Manifesto inaugurated an ambiguous era in the practice of plural marriage rivaled only by the status of polygamy during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. Woodruffs public and private statements contradicted whether the Manifesto applied to existing marriages. As a result of the Manifesto, some men left plural wives; others interpreted it as applying only to new marriages. All polygamous general authorities (church leaders including the First Presidency, Council of the Twelve Apostles, church patriarch, First Council of Seventy, and Presiding Bishopric) continued to cohabit with their wives. Based on impressionistic evidence in family histories and genealogical records, it appears that most polygamists followed the general authorities example.

Neither did all new plural marriages end in 1890. Although technically against the law in Mexico and Canada, polygamous marriages were performed in both countries. Mormon plural families openly practiced polygamy in Mexico; the Canadian government allowed Mormon men to have only one wife in the country, so some men had a legal wife in the United States and one in Canada. In addition, a few plural marriages were performed in the United States.

During the Senate investigation in 1904 concerning the seating of Senator-elect Reed Smoot, a monogamist but a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Mormon Church President Joseph F. Smith presented what historians have called the Second Manifesto on 7 April 1904. It included provisions for the church to take action against those who continued to perform plural marriages and marry plural wives. Matthias Cowley and John W. Taylor, both apostles, continued to be involved in performing or advocating new plural marriages after 1904, and, as a result, Cowley was disfellowshipped and Taylor excommunicated from the church. In 1909 a committee of apostles met to investigate post-Manifesto polygamy, and by 1910 the church had a new policy. Those involved in plural marriages after 1904 were excommunicated; and those married between 1890 and 1904 were not to have church callings where other members would have to sustain them. Although the Mormon church officially prohibited new plural marriages after 1904, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.

Fundamentalist groups who believe that the church discontinued polygamy only because of government pressure continued the practice. As they were discovered by the LDS church, they were excommunicated. Some of these polygamists have appointed leaders and continue to live in groups, including those in Colorado City (formerly Short Creek), Arizona, and Hilldale, Utah. Others, such as Royston Potter, practice polygamy but have no affiliation with an organized group.

More reading onThe History of Polygamy is available.

The Wives of Brigham Young

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The History of Polygamy | History to Go

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie was born in 1977 in Nigeria. The esteemed writer and activist grew up during the Nigerian Civil War and, at 19-years-old moved to the United States to study. Among her books and essays is her critically acclaimed novel Americanah, which examines race and what it means to be Black in America, Nigeria, and Britain.

The book, which won the US National Book Critics Circle Award tells the story of Ifemelu, a brilliant and strong Nigerian woman whose experiences sometimes echo that of the author herself. Ifemelu migrates to the United States and struggles but never lets go of her high school boyfriend, Obinze, who also left Nigeria, but for London instead.

Though it is a love story, it also leans into politics and feminism. It is unscrupulously authentic in addressing the realities of where we still are today and how the color of ones skin is often used as a judgement vehicle. I came from a country where race was not an issue; I did not think of myself as Black and I only became Black when I came to America, says Ifemelu.

RELATED: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: A Literary Star Is Born

The harshness of that reality is digestible because of the graceful way in which the generic is replaced by beautiful and elegant descriptors used to tell the story of the characters complexions: caramel, sable, and gingerbread.

Adichie, who divides her time between Nigeria and the US, has had her work translated into more than 30 languages.

Alex Wheatle is an award-winning writer of Jamaican descent who grew up in South London. Wheatle began reading the works of authors Richard Wright and John Steinbeck while imprisoned for his participation in the Brixton riots of 1981. His young adult novel, Liccle Bit, delves into themes of love, family, loyalty, and having to make tough life choices through the experiences of 14-year old Lemar.

The teen, shares a home with his mother, his big sister, and her baby. As he struggles to find himself, and side-step gang activity, he navigates his way around those who wish to take advantage of him for their own gains. It is a poignant story served up with rich humor.

Aminatta Forna is an award-winning writer born in Scotland and raised in Sierra Leone and Great Britain. She also spent some of her formative years in Iran, Thailand, and Zambia. Although she has several novels, her memoir The Devil that Danced on the Water stands out as her captivating storytelling makes you feel like you are in the midst of what is happening.

It is a powerful and personal retelling of corruption, history, and how as a child, Forna lived through unstable post-colonial Africa, exile in Britain, and the fallout from her fathers Mohamed Fornastance against the tyranny in their homeland.

You will get to experience her relentless pursuit to uncover the truth about what happened to her father, as well as her pain and her sorrow.

If you have seen the movie The Sun Is Also a Star, then you are familiar with the work of New York Times bestselling author Nicola Yoon. The film, which is based on the young adult fiction book, stars actress and activist Yara Shahidi and actor Charles Melton. The story follows two teens Natasha and Danielwho meet and fall in love over the course of a single day in New York City.

RELATED: Yara Shahidi Honors Her Black Roots And Iranian Heritage With New Adidas Collaboration

Natasha and Daniels paths are drawn together as she tries to keep her family from being deported, and he is on his way to a college interview. The story addresses what it means to fall in love and also the beauty of possibilities. Yoon, who grew up in Jamaica, is also the author of Instructions for Dancing and Everything, Everything.

Being married can be beautiful, but it can also test your beliefs, and those themes are at the heart of the story of the two main characters from Nigerian writer Ayobami Adebayo's book Stay With Me. Yejide and Akin meet in college and fall in love knowing that polygamy wasnt something either wanted. But that gets tested as the couple struggled to have a child.

After years of drinking teas meant to help her get pregnant and consulting with fertility doctors, Yejide's in-laws visit and with them Akins second wife. Blinded by jealousy and hurt, Yejide believes that her only chance of saving her marriage is to get pregnant and she does but the cost of that decision is a tough price to pay.

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Five Black Authors With Global Roots To Read This Month - BET

SALT LAKE CITY Google Fiber announced on Monday it had mostly completed its build out of Salt Lake City, with plans to expand into seven other cities in northern Utah.

"Most residents in Salt Lake City should be able to get Google Fiber service now. Doesnt mean were going away. Well still fill in some neighborhoods we havent gotten to quite yet but the bulk of the city is done and were really, really excited about that," said Angie Welling, Google Fiber's director of communications.

Google announced it is currently building its fiber service in South Salt Lake, Millcreek, Taylorsville, and Holladay. It has also signed agreements to expand into North Salt Lake, Sandy and Woods Cross.

The internet giant first moved into Utah when it took over Provo's city-run internet service provider in 2013.

The completion of Google Fiber in Salt Lake City has been years in the making. In 2015, the company announced it would begin construction on its high-speed internet infrastructure, securing permission from the city council to build in the right of way on streets and connecting to homes. It now competes with XMission, XFinity, and CenturyLink.

"It took a little longer we anticipated for various reasons. Its a big construction project," Welling said.

The Utah State Legislature has advanced broadband internet infrastructure as a necessity, especially coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was forced to work from home and children had to pivot to remote learning. Governor Spencer Cox has pushed it as a rural Utah job creator.

"Its the future. Its not even the future. Its the now and we need that readily available," Hildale Mayor Donia Jessop told FOX 13 in an interview Monday.

Mayor Jessop has pushed for increased internet infrastructure in the Utah-Arizona border community. Hildale City spent some COVID-19 relief money to expand its internet access to lure companies to town and create jobs.

"We have huge production companies moving in, mortgage companies moving into Hildale. Number one thing do we have fiber available? Its the first question," she said.

Welling said it was an issue that Google Fiber and other internet companies do grapple with.

"Its a very fair question. The rural issue is a tricky issue to solve. Its the right thing for policy makers to be talking about and asking questions about and its the right thing for internet service providers to be exploring how we can improve internet access in rural areas," she said. "Its not an easy fix."

The mayor said right now, businesses do have access to the higher speed internet through local companies, but not all residences do.

"Right now at my house, I have to go around like, 'You have to turn that off, that off because I have to have my computer right now.' Thats how bad it is," she said. "So what I would like to see is enough ISPs [internet service providers] to make the price low enough because of the competitive nature that more companies bring, keep prices low enough so every citizen can afford good fiber connection in their home."

All new development in Hildale will have fiber access built in like they do with any other utility. But Mayor Jessop said it has not been easy. She recalled one company describing the internet access issue by saying "your community is unique."

"Im like, 'I know. Ive heard that a time or six,'" she joked, referencing the community's history with polygamy.

The Utah State Legislature has twice considered a bill to create a state office to focus on expanding internet access in under-served communities, including rural Utah. Rep. Jennifer Dailey-Provost, D-Salt Lake City, got it through the House of Representatives with bipartisan support, spurred by the collective experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. She had support from the governor's office.

But it failed in the Utah State Senate in the final days of the legislative session.

"I actually spoke to a senator after that and asked why it happened, why he voted no," Rep. Dailey-Provost told FOX 13. "The answer was very simple: it was he didnt like it had the word 'equity' in it. That was really frustrating. It just got caught up in politics and partisanship."

Rep. Dailey-Provost said she is not sure if she will try to run the bill again in 2022 or explore other ways to expand internet access across the state. But she said the state needed to address the problem.

"This needs to be something we need to lay the groundwork for and needs to be a top priority always," she said.

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Google Fiber says it's finishing SLC, plans to expand to 7 other cities - fox13now.com

France has adopted a bill titled "reinforcing respect for the principles of the Republic," criticized for marginalizing Muslims.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced Friday on Twitter that the parliament had adopted the bill.

"We give ourselves the means to fight against those who put forward religion to question the values of the Republic," Darmanin added.

The bill, rejected by the Senate in its session on Tuesday, was voted on in the French National Assembly, which has the last word on the validity of a law. The bill was passed by 49 votes in favor versus 19 against.

Meanwhile, right-wing parties announced that they would appeal against the law with the Constitutional Council, claiming it does not go after "Islamists" enough, while left-wing parties said they are preparing to do the same over its alleged violation of the Constitution.

Content of law

France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe, has been criticized for interfering with the lives of Muslims with the law.

It contains measures to ensure the religious neutrality of public officials while moving from a homeschooling system in which parents' declaration is sufficient to one that requires authorities' permission.

Besides, the text contains an array of articles, including on the fight against certificates of virginity, polygamy, and forced marriage, as well as others punishing online hate crimes, protecting public officials and teachers, and mandating greater "transparency" in funding management.

France criticized by international groups, civil society

France has been criticized by international organizations and non-governmental organizations, especially the UN, for targeting and marginalizing Muslims with this law.

Since being announced as a bill, attacks on mosques and masjids, including arson, have increased in the country.

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Criticized over marginalizing Muslims, French bill adopted - The Nation

The only constant in life is change, it has been said, and we are seeing that maxim exemplified by changes in the normative structure surrounding sexual behavior and marriage in American society. Gallup's latest update shows a continuing increase in the public's agreement on the moral acceptability of a series of behaviors relating to sex and marriage. Americans, in short, are becoming more tolerant in their views of what is and is not acceptable. The causes of these shifts are not precisely determinable, but to the degree they represent a shift in actual behavior, these changes could be harbingers of cultural transformations that affect the U.S. economy and population wellbeing.

Six behaviors that relate directly to sexual behavior and marriage are included in the list of issues in Gallup's May updates. Americans have become more likely to say that all six are morally acceptable compared with baseline measurements taken between eight and 20 years ago. Views that gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable have increased from 40% to 69%, having a baby outside of marriage from 45% to 67%, sex between an unmarried man and woman from 53% to 73%, divorce from 59% to 79%, polygamy from 7% to 20%, and sex between teenagers from 32% to 43%. (All but one of these issues were first rated between 2001-2003; the baseline for sex between teenagers is 2013).

Sociologists define norms as shared expectations of behavior in certain situations. It is difficult to measure norms precisely, but the Gallup questions about moral acceptability provide a good approximation. The increase in the percentage of the population saying the six behaviors are morally acceptable indicates a significant change in the normative proscription of sexual behavior outside of the traditional heterosexual marriage arrangement.

Views on "having a baby outside of marriage" provide a good example. Twenty years ago, 45% of Americans said this behavior was morally acceptable, suggesting a lack of normative consensus in either direction. Now, 67% of Americans say it is acceptable, a clear indication of a much-diminished norm "frowning" on what used to be considered stigmatized behavior. In other words, the social shame heaped on the act of having a baby outside of marriage today is significantly muted from what it was 20 years ago. In a similar fashion, Americans can engage in other behaviors relating to sexual relations with less concern about societal disapproval than in years gone by.

These measures of societal expectations provide valuable data for understanding collective thinking about sex and marriage. But as we know, norms about what is considered acceptable are a different matter than actual, real-world behavior. All six of the behaviors under discussion here -- gay and lesbian relations, sex between unmarried people, having a baby outside of marriage, sex between teenagers, divorce and, to some degree, polygamy -- have occurred with variable frequency in American society for centuries whatever the prevailing normative context. Norms can affect behavior but certainly do not control it. As archeologist Timothy Taylor has noted, "That's not to say that cultural norms keep people from exploring the taboo, but only what is admitted to openly."

Unfortunately, we don't always have a way of measuring the relationship between norms and related behaviors with precision, mainly because we don't always have reliable measures of their incidence. We do know, as an example, that despite the increasing numbers of Americans who say that divorce is morally acceptable, its actual incidence appears to be going down, not up. On the other hand, the increasing numbers of Americans who say that having a baby outside of marriage is morally acceptable have clearly been accompanied by an actual increase in that behavior, with about four in 10 babies in the U.S. now born to unmarried mothers.

But we don't have ways of accurately comparing attitudes and real-world behavior in relationship to sex between unmarried men and women, gay and lesbian relations, sex between teenagers, and polygamy. It is certainly possible that the occurrence of these behaviors has increased over time in lockstep with the normative shifts, but we can't demonstrate that empirically. For example, the perceived moral acceptability of gay and lesbian relations has jumped substantially over the past 20 years. But it is quite possible that the actual incidence of same-sex relations has been stable even as the public acceptability of such relations has shifted.

The bottom line here is that we cannot assume that shifts in the perceived moral acceptability of certain behaviors are directly related to their actual occurrence in the real world. It may be that changes in behavior drive normative shifts, or that normative shifts drive behavioral change, or that the two reflect different causal influences altogether.

Both marriage rates and birth rates have been in decline in the U.S. These developments are of general interest but also are consequential for society as a whole. Is it logical to hypothesize that these changes could in some ways be tied up with the loosening attitudes surrounding sex and marriage?

Evidence shows clearly that marriage is associated with a number of positive health and wellbeing outcomes for those involved and presumably for society as a whole. It is also clear that a drop in the birth rate can have serious economic consequences for society, ultimately limiting the pool of available workers, which in turn can limit economic growth and strain the income transfer programs put in place to support older citizens. (Declining birth rates may also, it should be noted, allow more women to be in the workforce, which could be a positive for the economy). If Americans increasingly do not feel they need the sanction of marriage to engage in sexual behavior, marriage rates may decline. And, the decline in marriage may be associated with fewer babies (even if it is increasingly acceptable to have a baby out of wedlock). As one economist and analyst for the Institute for Family Studies concluded after studying the marriage and fertility data in a paper aptly titled No Ring, No Baby, "One vital driver of birth rates is marriage."

All of these relationships are difficult to prove. Observed correlation between the increase in acceptance of certain formerly more taboo behaviors relating to sex and marriage and the decrease in the marriage and birth rates are just that -- correlations; we can't say for sure what is causing what. Attitudes can change to reflect reality, and reality can change as a result of changed attitudes. But the shift in norms does serve, at the least, as a valuable social indicator of significant shifts in sociological structures and demographic trends.

We are looking at a 20-year time span with our Gallup measures of attitudes, a blip in the centuries-long history of the country. We do not have attitudinal trend data going back for hundreds of years (I wish we did!), but it's reasonable to assume that attitudes and norms about sexual behavior and marriage have been in flux long before the turn of the most recent century.

Historians point out that America's morals became looser in the late 1800s in the midst of the industrial revolution. There were certainly changes in what was deemed morally acceptable in the Roaring '20s some 100 years ago. Aging baby boomers can remember the so-called sexual revolution of the 1960s when the age of "free love" was coupled with the advent of more widespread birth control, feminism and the general concept of protest against societal norms engendered by the Vietnam War. The shifts in norms over the past two decades are thus most properly viewed not as a unique occurrence but as another in a continuing-over-time series of shifts in cultural and societal expectations about sexual relations, marriage and the family.

This leads us to consideration of possible changes we might see in the years ahead. If current trends are projected out into the future, then we will ultimately see a situation in which there is little cultural disapprobation of any forms of sexual behavior. But the assumption of a continuing linear trend in these attitudes is not certain.

As I noted at the outset, change in society and culture is basically a constant. At the moment, there are many shifts in American economic, societal and cultural patterns that could affect norms surrounding sexual behavior and marriage. These include such things as the dramatic rise in the use of social media with online communities substituting for physical communities, changing demographics, changes in the role models provided by leaders and celebrities, declining religiosity and so forth. How all of these social trends manifest in shifts in societal norms certainly remains to be seen.

Over the past two decades, Gallup has documented a significant increase in the percentage of Americans who say that sexual behavior outside of marriage, divorce, polygamy, and gay and lesbian relations are morally acceptable. The reasons for these changes are not clear, and the consequences for society and America's future are also not fully determinable. Certain real-world changes such as the decline in marriage and birth rates are, however, clearly measurable, and it's reasonable to assume that shifts in normative expectations about sexual behavior and marriage are part of these shifts.

Link:

Continuing Change in US Views on Sex and Marriage - Gallup Poll

Practice of marrying more than one spouse(s)

Polygamy (from Late Greek , polygama, "state of marriage to many spouses"[1][2][3][4]) is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married to more than one husband at a time, it is called polyandry.

In contrast to polygamy, monogamy is marriage consisting of only two parties. Like "monogamy", the term "polygamy" is often used in a de facto sense, applied regardless of whether a state recognizes the relationship.[n 1] In sociobiology and zoology, researchers use polygamy in a broad sense to mean any form of multiple mating.

Worldwide, different societies variously encourage, accept or outlaw polygamy. In societies which allow or tolerate polygamy, in the vast majority of cases the form accepted is polygyny. According to the Ethnographic Atlas Codebook (1998), of 1,231 societies noted, 588 had frequent polygyny, 453 had occasional polygyny, 186 were monogamous and 4 had polyandry[5] although more recent research suggests that polyandry may occur more commonly than previously thought.[6] In cultures which practice polygamy, its prevalence among that population often correlates with class and socioeconomic status.[7]

From a legal point of view, in many countries, although the law only recognises monogamous marriages (a person can only have one spouse, and bigamy is illegal), adultery is not illegal, leading to a situation of de facto polygamy being allowed, although without legal recognition for non-official "spouses".

Scientific studies classify the human mating system as primarily monogamous, with the cultural practice of polygamy in the minority, based both on surveys of world populations,[8][9] and on characteristics of human reproductive physiology.[10][11][12]

Polygamy exists in three specific forms:

Polygyny, the practice wherein a man has more than one wife at the same time, is by far the most common form of polygamy. Many[quantify] Muslim-majority countries and some countries with sizable Muslim minorities accept polygyny to varying extents both legally and culturally; some secular countries like India also accept it to varying degrees. Islamic law or sharia is a religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition which allows polygyny.[13][14] It is derived from the religious precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran and the hadith. In Arabic, the term sharah refers to God's (Arabic: Allh) immutable divine law and is contrasted with fiqh, which refers to its human scholarly interpretations.[15]

Polygyny is more widespread in Africa than on any other continent,[18][19] especially in West Africa, and some scholars see the slave trade's impact on the male-to-female sex ratio as a key factor in the emergence and fortification of polygynous practices in regions of Africa.[20]

Anthropologist Jack Goody's comparative study of marriage around the world utilizing the Ethnographic Atlas demonstrated a historical correlation between the practice of extensive shifting horticulture and polygamy in the majority of sub-Saharan African societies.[21] Drawing on the work of Ester Boserup, Goody notes that the sexual division of labour varies between the male-dominated intensive plough-agriculture common in Eurasia and the extensive shifting horticulture found in sub-Saharan Africa. In some of the sparsely-populated regions where shifting cultivation takes place in Africa, women do much of the work. This favours polygamous marriages in which men seek to monopolize the production of women "who are valued both as workers and as child bearers". Goody however, observes that the correlation is imperfect and varied, and also discusses more traditionally male-dominated though relatively extensive farming systems such as those that exist in much of West Africa, especially in the West African savanna, where more agricultural work is done by men, and where polygyny is desired by men more for the generation of male offspring whose labor is valued.[22]

Anthropologists Douglas R. White and Michael L. Burton discuss and support Jack Goody's observation regarding African male farming systems in "Causes of Polygyny: Ecology, Economy, Kinship, and Warfare"[23]:884 where these authors note:

Goody (1973) argues against the female contributions hypothesis. He notes Dorjahn's (1959) comparison of East and West Africa, showing higher female agricultural contributions in East Africa and higher polygyny rates in West Africa, especially the West African savanna, where one finds especially high male agricultural contributions. Goody says, "The reasons behind polygyny are sexual and reproductive rather than economic and productive" (1973:189), arguing that men marry polygynously to maximize their fertility and to obtain large households containing many young dependent males.[23]:873

An analysis by James Fenske (2012) found that child mortality and ecologically-related economic shocks had a significant association with rates of polygamy in subsaharan Africa, rather than female agricultural contributions (which are typically relatively small in the West African savanna and sahel, where polygyny rates are higher), finding that polygyny rates decrease significantly with child mortality rates.[24]

Polygynous marriages fall into two types: sororal polygyny, in which the co-wives are sisters, and non-sororal, where the co-wives are not related. Polygyny offers husbands the benefit of allowing them to have more children, may provide them with a larger number of productive workers (where workers are family), and allows them to establish politically useful ties with a greater number of kin groups.[25] Senior wives can benefit as well when the addition of junior wives to the family lightens their workload. Wives', especially senior wives', status in a community can increase through the addition of other wives, who add to the family's prosperity or symbolize conspicuous consumption (much as a large house, domestic help, or expensive vacations operate in a western country). For such reasons, senior wives sometimes work hard or contribute from their own resources to enable their husbands to accumulate the bride price for an extra wife.[26]

Polygyny may also result from the practice of levirate marriage. In such cases, the deceased man's heir may inherit his assets and wife; or, more usually, his brothers may marry the widow. This provides support for the widow and her children (usually also members of the brothers' kin group) and maintains the tie between the husbands' and wives' kin groups. The sororate resembles the levirate, in that a widower must marry the sister of his dead wife. The family of the late wife, in other words, must provide a replacement for her, thus maintaining the marriage alliance. Both levirate and sororate may result in a man having multiple wives.[25]

In monogamous societies, wealthy and powerful men established enduring relationships with, and established separate household for, multiple female partners, aside from their legitimate wives; a practice accepted in Imperial China up until the Qing Dynasty of 16361912. This constitutes a form of defacto polygyny referred to as concubinage.[27]

Marriage is the moment at which a new household is formed, but different arrangements may occur depending upon the type of marriage and some polygamous marriages do not result in the formation of a single household. In many polygynous marriages the husband's wives may live in separate households.[28] They can thus be described as a "series of linked nuclear families with a 'father' in common".[29]

Polyandry, the practice of a woman having more than one husband at the one time, is much less prevalent than polygyny and is now illegal in virtually every country in the world. It takes place only in remote communities.[30]

Polyandry is believed to be more common in societies with scarce environmental resources, as it is believed to limit human population growth and enhance child survival.[31] It is a rare form of marriage that exists not only among poor families, but also the elite.[32] For example, in the Himalayan Mountains polyandry is related to the scarcity of land; the marriage of all brothers in a family to the same wife allows family land to remain intact and undivided.[33] If every brother married separately and had children, family land would be split into unsustainable small plots. In Europe, this outcome was avoided through the social practice of impartible inheritance, under which most siblings would be disinherited.[34]

Fraternal polyandry was traditionally practiced among nomadic Tibetans in Nepal, parts of China and part of northern India, in which two or more brothers would marry the same woman. It is most common in societies marked by high male mortality. It is associated with partible paternity, the cultural belief that a child can have more than one father.[35]

Non-fraternal polyandry occurs when the wives' husbands are unrelated, as among the Nayar tribe of India, where girls undergo a ritual marriage before puberty,[36] and the first husband is acknowledged as the father of all her children. However, the woman may never cohabit with that man, taking multiple lovers instead; these men must acknowledge the paternity of their children (and hence demonstrate that no caste prohibitions have been breached) by paying the midwife. The women remain in their maternal home, living with their brothers, and property is passed matrilineally.[37] A similar form of matrilineal, de facto polyandry can be found in the institution of walking marriage among the Mosuo tribe of China.

Serial monogamy refers to remarriage after divorce or death of a spouse from a monogamous marriage, i.e. multiple marriages but only one legal spouse at a time (a series of monogamous relationships).[38]

According to Danish scholar Miriam K. Zeitzen, anthropologists treat serial monogamy, in which divorce and remarriage occur, as a form of polygamy as it also can establish a series of households that may continue to be tied by shared paternity and shared income.[25] As such, they are similar to the household formations created through divorce and serial monogamy.[39]

Serial monogamy creates a new kind of relative, the "ex-".[40] The "ex-wife", for example, can remain an active part of her "ex-husband's" life, as they may be tied together by legally or informally mandated economic support, which can last for years, including by alimony, child support, and joint custody. Bob Simpson, the British social anthropologist, notes that it creates an "extended family" by tying together a number of households, including mobile children. He says that Britons may have exwives or exbrothersinlaw, but not an exchild. According to him, these "unclear families" do not fit the mold of the monogamous nuclear family.[41]

Group marriage is a non-monogamous marriage-like arrangement where three or more adults live together, all considering themselves partners, sharing finances, children, and household responsibilities. Polyamory is on a continuum of family-bonds that includes group marriage.[42] The term does not refer to bigamy as no claim to being married in formal legal terms is made.[43]

Buddhism does not regard marriage as a sacrament; it is purely a secular affair, and normally Buddhist monks do not participate in it (though in some sects priests and monks do marry). Hence marriage receives no religious sanction.[44] Forms of marriage, in consequence, vary from country to country. The Parabhava Sutta states that "a man who is not satisfied with one woman and seeks out other women is on the path to decline". Other fragments in the Buddhist scripture seem to treat polygamy unfavorably, leading some authors to conclude that Buddhism generally does not approve of it[45] or alternatively regards it as a tolerated, but subordinate, marital model.[46]

Thailand legally recognized polygamy until 1955. Myanmar outlawed polygyny from 2015. In Sri Lanka, polyandry was legal in the kingdom of Kandy, but outlawed by British after conquering the kingdom in 1815.[44] When the Buddhist texts were translated into Chinese, the concubines of others were added to the list of inappropriate partners. Polyandry in Tibet was common traditionally,[clarification needed] as was polygyny, and having several wives or husbands was never regarded[by whom?] as having sex with inappropriate partners.[47]Most typically, fraternal polyandry is practiced, but sometimes father and son have a common wife, which is a unique family structure in the world. Other forms of marriage are also present, like group marriage and monogamous marriage.[25] Polyandry (especially fraternal polyandry) is also common among Buddhists in Bhutan, Ladakh, and other parts of the Indian subcontinent.

Some pre-Christian Celtic pagans were known to practice polygamy, although the Celtic peoples wavered between it, monogamy and polyandry depending on the time period and area.[48] In some areas this continued even after Christianization began, for instance the Brehon Laws of Gaelic Ireland explicitly allowed for polygamy,[49][50] especially amongst the noble class.[51] Some modern Celtic pagan religions accept the practice of polygamy to varying degrees,[52] though how widespread the practice is within these religions is unknown.

Although the Old Testament describes numerous examples of polygamy among devotees to God, most Christian groups have historically rejected the practice of polygamy and have upheld monogamy alone as normative. Nevertheless, some Christians groups in different periods have practiced, or currently do practice, polygamy.[53][54] Some Christians actively debate whether the New Testament or Christian ethics allows or forbids polygamy.

Although the New Testament is largely silent on polygamy, some point to Jesus's repetition of the earlier scriptures, noting that a man and a wife "shall become one flesh".[55] However, some look to Paul's writings to the Corinthians: "Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, 'The two will become one flesh.'" Supporters of polygamy claim this indicates that the term refers to a physical, rather than spiritual,[clarification needed] union.[56]

Some Christian theologians[citation needed] argue that in Matthew 19:3-9 and referring to Genesis 2:24 Jesus explicitly states a man should have only one wife:

Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?

1 Timothy 3:2 states:

Now a bishop must be above reproach, married only once, temperate, sensible, respectable, hospitable, an apt teacher,

See verse 12 regarding deacons having only one wife. Similar counsel is repeated in the first chapter of the Epistle to Titus.[57]

Periodically, Christian reform movements that have aimed at rebuilding Christian doctrine based on the Bible alone (sola scriptura) have at least temporarily accepted polygyny as a Biblical practice. For example, during the Protestant Reformation, in a document referred to simply as "Der Beichtrat" (or "The Confessional Advice" ),[58] Martin Luther granted the Landgrave Philip of Hesse, who, for many years, had been living "constantly in a state of adultery and fornication",[59] a dispensation to take a second wife. The double marriage was to be done in secret, however, to avoid public scandal.[60] Some fifteen years earlier, in a letter to the Saxon Chancellor Gregor Brck, Luther stated that he could not "forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture." ("Ego sane fateor, me non posse prohibere, si quis plures velit uxores ducere, nec repugnat sacris literis.")[61]

In Sub-Saharan Africa, there has often been tension between the Christian insistence on monogamy and traditional polygamy. For instance, Mswati III, the Christian king of Swaziland, has 15 wives. In some instances in recent times there have been moves for accommodation; in other instances, churches have resisted such moves strongly. African Independent Churches have sometimes referred to those parts of the Old Testament that describe polygamy in defending the practice.

The Roman Catholic Church condemns polygamy; 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 husband and wife in mutual and unreserved affection. Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love which is undivided and exclusive."

Saint Augustine saw a conflict with Old Testament polygamy. He refrained from judging the patriarchs, but did not deduce from their practice the ongoing acceptability of polygyny. On the contrary, he argued that the polygamy of the Fathers, which was tolerated by the Creator because of fertility, was a diversion from His original plan for human marriage. Augustine wrote: "That the good purpose of marriage, however, is better promoted by one husband with one wife, than by a husband with several wives, is shown plainly enough by the very first union of a married pair, which was made by the Divine Being Himself."[62]

Augustine taught that the reason patriarchs had many wives was not because of fornication, but because they wanted more children. He supported his premise by showing that their marriages, in which husband was the head, were arranged according to the rules of good management: those who are in command (quae principantur) in their society were always singular, while subordinates (subiecta) were multiple. He gave two examples of such relationships: dominus-servus - master-servant (in older translation: slave) and God-soul. The Bible often equates worshiping multiple gods, i.e. idolatry to fornication.[63] Augustine relates to that: "On this account there is no True God of souls, save One: but one soul by means of many false gods may commit fornication, but not be made fruitful."[64]

As tribal populations grew, fertility was no longer a valid justification of polygamy: it "was lawful among the ancient fathers: whether it be lawful now also, I would not hastily pronounce (utrum et nunc fas sit, non temere dixerim). 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."[65]

Augustine saw marriage as a covenant between one man and one woman, which may not be broken. It was the Creator who established monogamy: "Therefore, the first natural bond of human society is man and wife."[66] Such marriage was confirmed by the Saviour in the Gospel of Matthew (Mat 19:9) and by His presence at the wedding in Cana (John 2:2).[67] In the Churchthe City of Godmarriage is a sacrament and may not and cannot be dissolved as long as the spouses live: "But a marriage once for all entered upon in the City of our God, where, even from the first union of the two, the man and the woman, marriage bears a certain sacramental character, can in no way be dissolved but by the death of one of them."[68] In chapter 7, Augustine pointed out that the Roman Empire forbad polygamy, even if the reason of fertility would support it: "For it is in a man's power to put away a wife that is barren, and marry one of whom to have children. And yet it is not allowed; and now indeed in our times, and after the usage of Rome (nostris quidem iam temporibus ac more Romano), neither to marry in addition, so as to have more than one wife living." Further on he notices that the Church's attitude goes much further than the secular law regarding monogamy: It forbids remarrying, considering such to be a form of fornication: "And yet, save in the City of our God, in His Holy Mount, the case is not such with the wife. But, that the laws of the Gentiles are otherwise, who is there that knows not."[69]

The Council of Trent condemns polygamy: "If any one saith, that it is lawful for Christians to have several wives at the same time, and that this is not prohibited by any divine law; let him be anathema.."[70]

In modern times a minority of Roman Catholic theologians have argued that polygamy, though not ideal, can be a legitimate form of Christian marriage in certain regions, in particular Africa.[71][72] The Roman Catholic Church teaches in its Catechism that

polygamy is not in accord with the moral law. [Conjugal] communion is radically contradicted by polygamy; this, in fact, directly negates the plan of God that was revealed from the beginning, because it is contrary to the equal personal dignity of men and women who in matrimony give themselves with a love that is total and therefore unique and exclusive.[73]

The illegality of polygamy in certain areas creates, according to certain Bible passages, additional arguments against it. Paul the Apostle 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) Pro-polygamists argue that, as long as polygamists currently do not obtain legal marriage licenses nor seek "common law marriage status" for additional spouses, no enforced laws are being broken any more than when monogamous couples similarly co-habitate without a marriage license.[74]

The Lutheran World Federation hosted a regional conference in Africa, in which the acceptance of polygamists into full membership by the Lutheran Church in Liberia was defended as being permissible.[75] The Lutheran Church in Liberia, however, does not permit polygamists who have become Christians to marry more wives after they have received the sacrament of Holy Baptism.[76] Evangelical Lutheran missionaries in Maasai also tolerate the practice of polygamy and in Southern Sudan, some polygamists are becoming Lutheran Christians.[77]

The 1988 Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion ruled that polygamy was permissible in certain circumstances:[78]

The Conference upholds monogamy as God's plan, as the idea of relationship of love between husband and wife; nevertheless recommends that a polygamist who responds to the Gospel and wishes to join the Anglican Church may be baptized and confirmed with his believing wives and children on the following conditions:

In accordance with what Joseph Smith indicated was a revelation, the practice of plural marriage, the marriage of one man to two or more women, was instituted among members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the early 1840s.[79] Despite Smith's revelation, the 1835 edition of the 101st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, written after the doctrine of plural marriage began to be practiced, publicly condemned polygamy. This scripture was used by John Taylor in 1850 to quash Mormon polygamy rumors in Liverpool, England.[80] Polygamy was made illegal in the state of Illinois[81] during the 183944 Nauvoo era when several top Mormon leaders, including Smith,[82][83] Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball took multiple wives. Mormon elders who publicly taught that all men were commanded to enter plural marriage were subject to harsh discipline.[84] On 7 June 1844 the Nauvoo Expositor criticized Smith for plural marriage.

After Joseph Smith was killed by a mob on 27 June 1844, the main body of Latter Day Saints left Nauvoo and followed Brigham Young to Utah where the practice of plural marriage continued.[85] In 1852, Brigham Young, the second president of the LDS Church, publicly acknowledged the practice of plural marriage through a sermon he gave. Additional sermons by top Mormon leaders on the virtues of polygamy followed.[86]:128 Controversy followed when polygamy became a social cause, writers began to publish works condemning polygamy. The key plank of the Republican Party's 1856 platform was "to prohibit in the territories those twin relics of barbarism, polygamy and slavery".[87] In 1862, Congress issued the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act which clarified that the practice of polygamy was illegal in all US territories. The LDS Church believed that their religiously based practice of plural marriage was protected by the United States Constitution,[88] however, the unanimous 1878 Supreme Court decision Reynolds v. United States declared that polygamy was not protected by the Constitution, based on the longstanding legal principle that "laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices."[89]

Increasingly harsh anti-polygamy legislation in the US led some Mormons to emigrate to Canada and Mexico. In 1890, LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff issued a public declaration (the Manifesto) announcing that the LDS Church had discontinued new plural marriages. Anti-Mormon sentiment waned, as did opposition to statehood for Utah. The Smoot Hearings in 1904, which documented that the LDS Church was still practicing polygamy spurred the LDS Church to issue a Second Manifesto again claiming that it had ceased performing new plural marriages. By 1910 the LDS Church excommunicated those who entered into, or performed, new plural marriages. Even so, many plural husbands and wives continued to cohabit until their deaths in the 1940s and 1950s.[90]

Enforcement of the 1890 Manifesto caused various splinter groups to leave the LDS Church in order to continue the practice of plural marriage.[91] Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah and neighboring states as well as in the spin-off colonies. Polygamist churches of Mormon origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist" even though they are not a part of the LDS Church. Such fundamentalists often use a purported 1886 revelation to John Taylor as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.[92] The Salt Lake Tribune stated in 2005 there were as many as 37,000 fundamentalists with less than half of them living in polygamous households.[93]

On 13 December 2013, US Federal Judge Clark Waddoups ruled in Brown v. Buhman that the portions of Utah's anti-polygamy laws which prohibit multiple cohabitation were unconstitutional, but also allowed Utah to maintain its ban on multiple marriage licenses.[94][unreliable source?][95][96][97] Unlawful cohabitation, where prosecutors did not need to prove that a marriage ceremony had taken place (only that a couple had lived together), had been the primary tool used to prosecute polygamy in Utah since the 1882 Edmunds Act.[90]

The Council of Friends (also known as the Woolley Group and the Priesthood Council)[98][99] was one of the original expressions of Mormon fundamentalism, having its origins in the teachings of Lorin C. Woolley, a dairy farmer excommunicated from the LDS Church in 1924. Several Mormon fundamentalist groups claim lineage through the Council of Friends, including but not limited to, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS Church), the Apostolic United Brethren, the Centennial Park group, the Latter Day Church of Christ, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Community of Christ, known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church) prior to 2001, has never sanctioned polygamy since its foundation in 1860. Joseph SmithIII, the first Prophet-President of the RLDS Church following the reorganization of the Church, was an ardent opponent of the practice of plural marriage throughout his life. For most of his career, Smith denied that his father had been involved in the practice and insisted that it had originated with Brigham Young. Smith served many missions to the western United States, where he met with and interviewed associates and women claiming to be widows of his father, who attempted to present him with evidence to the contrary. Smith typically responded to such accusations by saying that he was "not positive nor sure that [his father] was innocent",[100] and that if, indeed, the elder Smith had been involved, it was still a false practice. However, many members of the Community of Christ and some of the groups that were formerly associated with it are not convinced that Joseph Smith practiced plural marriage and feel that the evidence that he did is flawed.[101][102]

The Rig Veda mentions that during the Vedic period, a man could have more than one wife.[103] The practice is attested in epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata. The Dharmashastras permit a man to marry women provided that the first wife agree to marry him. Despite its existence, it was most usually practiced by men of higher status. Common people were only allowed a second marriage if the first wife could not bear a son or have some dispute because there is no law for divorce in Hinduism.[104]

According to Vishnu Smriti, the number of wives is linked to the knowledge system:

Now a Brhmaa may take many wives in the direct order of the (four) knowledge;A Kshatriya means warrior knowledge, three;A Vaishya means business knowledge, two;A Shudra means cleaning knowledge, one only[105]

This linkage of the number of permitted wives to the knowledge system is also supported by Baudhayana Dharmasutra and Paraskara Grihyasutra.[106][107]

The Apastamba Dharmasutra and Manusmriti allow a second wife if the first one is unable to discharge her religious duties or is unable to bear a child or have any dispute because in Hinduism there was no law for divorce.[106]

For a Brahmana, only one wife could rank as the chief consort who performed the religious rites (dharma-patni) along with the husband. The chief consort had to be of an equal knowledge. If a man married several women from the same knowledgeable, then eldest wife is the chief consort.[108] Hindu kings commonly had more than one wife and are regularly attributed four wives by the scriptures. They were: Mahisi who was the chief consort, Parivrkti who had no son, Vaivata who is considered the favorite wife and the Palagali who was the daughter of the last of the court officials.[103]

Traditional Hindu law allowed polygamy if the first wife could not bear a child.[109]

The Hindu Marriage Act was enacted in 1955 by the Indian Parliament and made polygamy illegal for everyone in India except for Muslims. Prior to 1955, polygamy was permitted for Hindus. Marriage laws in India are dependent upon the religion of the parties in question.[110]

In Islamic marital jurisprudence, under reasonable and warranted conditions, a Muslim man may have more than one wife at the same time, up to a total of four. Muslim women are not permitted to have more than one husband at the same time under any circumstances.

Based on verse 30:21 of Quran the ideal relationship is the comfort that a couple find in each other's embrace:

And among His Signs is this, that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect.

The polygyny that is allowed in the Quran is for special situations. There are strict requirements to marrying more than one woman, as the man must treat them fairly financially and in terms of support given to each wife, according to Islamic law. However, Islam advises monogamy for a man if he fears he can't deal justly with his wives. This is based on verse 4:3 of Quran which says:

If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans, Marry women of your choice, Two or three or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or one that your right hands possess, that will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.

Muslim women are not allowed to marry more than one husband at once. However, in the case of a divorce or their husbands' death they can remarry after the completion of Iddah, as divorce is legal in Islamic law. A non-Muslim woman who flees from her non-Muslim husband and accepts Islam has the option to remarry without divorce from her previous husband, as her marriage with non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved on her fleeing.[113] A non-Muslim woman captured during war by Muslims, can also remarry, as her marriage with her non-Muslim husband is Islamically dissolved at capture by Muslim soldiers.[114][115] This permission is given to such women in verse 4:24 of Quran. The verse also emphasizes on transparency, mutual agreement and financial compensation as prerequisites for matrimonial relationship as opposed to prostitution; it says:

Also (prohibited are) women already married, except those whom your right hands possess: Thus hath Allah ordained (Prohibitions) against you: Except for these, all others are lawful, provided ye seek (them in marriage) with gifts from your property,- desiring chastity, not lust, seeing that ye derive benefit from them, give them their dowers (at least) as prescribed; but if, after a dower is prescribed, agree Mutually (to vary it), there is no blame on you, and Allah is All-knowing, All-wise.

Muhammad was monogamously married to Khadija, his first wife, for 25 years, until she died. After her death, he married multiple women. Muhammad had a total of 11 wives at the same time, even though Muslim men were limited to 4 wives. He used to have sex with all 11 wives in one night.[117]

One reason cited for polygyny is that it allows a man to give financial protection to multiple women, who might otherwise not have any support (e.g. widows).[118] However, some Islamic scholars say the wife can set a condition, in the marriage contract, that the husband cannot marry another woman during their marriage. In such a case, the husband cannot marry another woman as long as he is married to his wife. However, other Islamic scholars state that this condition is not allowed.[119] According to traditional Islamic law, each of those wives keeps their property and assets separate; and are paid mahar separately by their husband. Usually the 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.

In most Muslim-majority countries, polygyny is legal with Kuwait being the only one where no restrictions are imposed on it. The practice is illegal in Muslim-majority Turkey, Tunisia, Albania, Kosovo and Central Asian countries.[120][121][122][123]

Countries that allow polygyny typically also require a man to obtain permission from his previous wives before marrying another, and require the man to prove that he can financially support multiple wives. In Malaysia and Morocco, a man must justify taking an additional wife at a court hearing before he is allowed to do so.[124] In Sudan, the government encouraged polygyny in 2001 to increase the population.[125]

The Torah contains a few specific regulations that apply to polygamy,[126] such as Exodus 21:10: "If he take another wife for himself; her food, her clothing, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish".[127] Deut 21:1517, states that a man must award the inheritance due to a first-born son to the son who was actually born first, even if he hates that son's mother and likes another wife more;[128] and Deut 17:17 states that the king shall not have too many wives.[129]

The Torah may distinguish concubines and "sub-standard" wives with the prefix "to" (e.g., lit. "took to wives").[130] Despite these nuances to the biblical perspective on polygamy, many important figures had more than one wife, such as in the instances of Esau (Gen 26:34; 28:6-9),[127] Jacob (Gen 29:15-28),[127] Elkanah (1 Samuel 1:1-8),[127] David (1 Samuel 25:39-44; 2 Samuel 3:2-5; 5:13-16),[127] and Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-3).[127]

Multiple marriage was considered a realistic alternative in the case of famine, widowhood, or female infertility[131] like in the practice of levirate marriage, wherein a man was required to marry and support his deceased brother's widow, as mandated by Deuteronomy 25:510. Despite its prevalence in the Hebrew Bible, scholars do not believe that polygyny was commonly practiced in the biblical era because it required a significant amount of wealth.[132] Michael Coogan, in contrast, states that "Polygyny continued to be practiced well into the biblical period, and it is attested among Jews as late as the second centuryCE".[133]

The monogamy of the Roman Empire was the cause of two explanatory notes in the writings of Josephus describing how the polygamous marriages of Herod the Great were permitted under Jewish custom.[134][135]

The rabbinical era that began with the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE saw a continuation of some degree of legal acceptance for polygamy. In the Babylonian Talmud (BT), Kiddushin 7a, its states, "Raba said: [If a man declares,] 'Be thou betrothed to half of me,' she is betrothed: 'half of thee be betrothed to me,' she is not betrothed."[136] The BT during a discussion of Levirate marriage in Yevamot 65a appears to repeat the precedent found in Exodus 21:10: "Raba said: a man may marry wives in addition to the first wife; provided only that he possesses the means to maintain them".[137] The Jewish Codices began a process of restricting polygamy in Judaism.

Maimonides, in his Mishneh Torah maintained that polygamous unions were permissible from a legal point of view, which was contrary to his personal opinion. The Mishneh Torah, while maintaining the right to multiple spouses, and the requirement to provide fully for each as indicated in previously cited sources, went further: "He may not, however, compel his wives to live in the same courtyard. Instead, each one is entitled to her own household".[138]

The Shulchan Aruch builds on all of the previous works by adding further nuances: "...but in any event, our sages have advised well not to marry more than four wives, in order that he can meet their conjugal needs at least once a month. And in a place where it is customary to marry only one wife, he is not permitted to take another wife on top of his present wife."[139] As can be seen, while the tradition of the rabbinic period began with providing legal definition for the practice of polygamy (although this does not indicate the frequency with which polygamy in fact occurred) that corresponded to precedents in the Tanakh, by the time of the Codices the rabbis had greatly reduced or eliminated sanction of the practice.

Most notable in the rabbinic period on the issue of polygamy, though more specifically for Ashkenazi Jews, was the synod of Rabbeinu Gershom. About 1000 CE he called a synod which decided the following particulars: (1) prohibition of polygamy; (2) necessity of obtaining the consent of both parties to a divorce; (3) modification of the rules concerning those who became apostates under compulsion; (4) prohibition against opening correspondence addressed to another.[140][141] Some Sephardic Jews such as Abraham David Taro, were known to have several wives.

In the modern day, polygamy is almost nonexistent in Rabbinic Judaism.[142] Ashkenazi Jews have continued to follow Rabbenu Gershom's ban since the 11th century.[143] Some Mizrahi Jewish communities (particularly Yemenite Jews and Persian Jews) discontinued polygyny more recently, after they immigrated to countries where it was forbidden or illegal. Israel prohibits polygamy by law.[144][145] In practice, however, the law is loosely enforced, primarily to avoid interference with Bedouin culture, where polygyny is practiced.[146] Pre-existing polygynous unions among Jews from Arab countries (or other countries where the practice was not prohibited by their tradition and was not illegal) are not subject to this Israeli law. But Mizrahi Jews are not permitted to enter into new polygamous marriages in Israel. However polygamy may still occur in non-European Jewish communities that exist in countries where it is not forbidden, such as Jewish communities in Iran and Morocco.

Among Karaite Jews, who do not adhere to rabbinic interpretations of the Torah, polygamy is almost non-existent today. Like other Jews, Karaites interpret Leviticus 18:18 to mean that a man can only take a second wife if his first wife gives her consent (Keter Torah on Leviticus, pp.9697) and Karaites interpret Exodus 21:10 to mean that a man can only take a second wife if he is capable of maintaining the same level of marital duties due to his first wife; the marital duties are 1) food, 2) clothing, and 3) sexual gratification. Because of these two biblical limitations and because most countries outlaw it, polygamy is considered highly impractical, and there are only a few known cases of it among Karaite Jews today.

Israel has made polygamy illegal.[147][148] Provisions were instituted to allow for existing polygamous families immigrating from countries where the practice was legal. Furthermore, former chief rabbi Ovadia Yosef[149] has come out in favor of legalizing polygamy and the practice of pilegesh (concubine) by the Israeli government.

Tzvi Zohar, a professor from the Bar-Ilan University, recently suggested that based on the opinions of leading halachic authorities, the concept of concubines may serve as a practical halachic justification for premarital or non-marital cohabitation.[150][151]

There is limited information about polygamy in Zoroastrian tradition. There is no passage in the Avesta that favors polygamy or monogamy.[152] However, tradition holds that Zoroaster had three wives.[153][154] Polygamy appears to have been a right of spiritual dignitaries and aristocrats.[155] It is mentioned in foreign writings, such as the letter of Tansar.[156]

For those who were the most virtuous and pious, he chose out princesses, that all might desire virtue and chastity. He was content with one or two wives for himself, and disapproved of having many children, saying: to have many children is fitting for the populace, but kings and nobles take pride in the smallness of their families

Tansar

It was also written about in the 4th century CE by the Roman soldier and historian Ammianus Marcellinus, writing about Zoroastrian communities.[157]

Each man according to his means contracts many or few marriages, whence their affection, divided as it is among various objects, grows cold.

Ammianus Marcellinus

Polygamy is legal only for Muslims

Polygamy is legal

Polygamy is legal in some regions (Indonesia)

Polygamy is illegal, but practice is not criminalised

Polygamy is illegal and practice criminalised

Legal status unknown

In 2000, the United Nations Human Rights Committee reported that polygamy violates the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), citing concerns that the lack of "equality of treatment with regard to the right to marry" meant that polygamy, restricted to polygyny in practice, violates the dignity of women and should be outlawed.[158] Specifically, reports to UN Committees have noted violations of ICCPR due to these inequalities[159] and reports to the UN General Assembly have recommended it be outlawed.[160][161]

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Polygamy - Wikipedia

1 : marriage in which a spouse of either sex may have more than one mate at the same time compare polyandry, polygyny Other Words from polygamy Examples of polygamy in a Sentence Recent Examples on the Web Early members of that faith, widely known as the Mormon Church, practiced polygamy in the 1800s at the instruction of its founder, Joseph Smith. New York Times, 5 Mar. 2021 By then, Latter-day Saints had long given up polygamy (though some had clung to it, even after President Wilford Woodruffs 1890 Manifesto) and were moving into the religious mainstream. The Salt Lake Tribune, 17 Apr. 2021 During the series' season 10 finale on Sunday evening, Christine discussed her desire to leave Flagstaff, Arizona, and move back to Utah after polygamy was decriminalized in the state an idea that her plural family wasn't on board with. Natalie Stone, PEOPLE.com, 19 Apr. 2021 But the church disavowed polygamy in 1890 and today condemns the practice. New York Times, 5 Mar. 2021 Closer to home, Latter-day Saints have their own history with a momentous manifesto, the 1890 edict that marked the beginning of the end of polygamy in the faith. The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Dec. 2020 The Browns visit their polygamist friends to discuss the possibility that polygamy will be decriminalized in Utah. Washington Post, 20 Feb. 2021 Nine years earlier, church President Wilford Woodruff had issued the 1890 Manifesto, marking the beginning of the end of Latter-day Saint polygamy. Becky Jacobs, The Salt Lake Tribune, 11 Oct. 2020 Barrett also faced another question related to religion on whether polygamy might again come before the court posed earlier Wednesday by Judiciary Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Lee Davidson, The Salt Lake Tribune, 14 Oct. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'polygamy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

1538, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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Polygamy. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polygamy. Accessed 23 Jun. 2021.

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Polygamy | Definition of Polygamy by Merriam-Webster

Yes, polygamy in the Bible existsbut what did Jesus think about it? Did he contradict it?

In this excerpt about polygamy in the Bible, adapted from Moral Questions of the Bible: Timeless Truth in a Changing World by David Instone-Brewer, youll learn little-known facts about polygamy in the Old and New Testaments, what Jesus says about it, and whether Jesus and Paul changed Gods commands.

***

When an African tribal chief converts to Christianity, what happens to all his wives? Should he divorce them and send them back to their parents home in shame and penury, or should he live away from them in a separate house, but continue to provide for them financially? This is a classic problem for missionaries in countries that practice polygamy, and one to which there is no easy answerjust the fervent hope that the next generation will marry only one wife! It must seem very strange for those polygamous families when their normal, socially acceptable lifestyle is suddenly regarded as immoral.

The Jews whom Jesus lived among had the same problem. Polygamy had been considered perfectly normal and proper until the Romans took over and said it was disgusting and immoral. The Romans allowed Jews to continue practicing polygamy in Palestine, but elsewhere in the empire monogamy was strictly enforced.

Many Jews living outside Palestine, therefore, got used to the principle of one wife, and it seemed natural to them. By Jesus time, many Jews had come to agree with the Roman view, and polygamy fell out of practice during subsequent generations, although the Jews did not actually outlaw polygamy until the eleventh century.

We dont know how frequent polygamy was among the Jews in Jesus day because we have the complete family records of only one family in the early second centurythey were preserved in a bag hidden in a desert cave. So it is significant that this family does include a second wife. The documents include the marriage certificate of a widow called Babatha when she married a man who already had a wife. Babatha owned her own land and business, so she didnt marry for financial supportperhaps it was for companionship, or even love!

The Old Testament allows polygamy but doesnt encourage it. Great men such as Abraham, Israel, Judah, Gideon, Samson, David, and Solomon had multiple wives, though the Old Testament records many problems that resulted. However, the law actually made it mandatory in one circumstance: if a married man died without leaving a male heir, his brother was required to marry his widow regardless of whether he already had a wife. This was so that she would have support during her old age (either from her new husband or from her son) and so that the family name and land would be passed on (Deut 25:56). Polygamy was also allowed in other circumstances, and the only restriction was that you shouldnt marry two sisters (Lev 18:18).

Polygamy was beneficial when the number of men was reduced by warfare. It not only helped women who would otherwise be on their own but also helped to replace the population more quickly. In peacetime, however, this practice meant that if rich men had more than one wife, then some poor men had to remain single.

Jesus took the side of the Romans against the Jewish establishment on this occasion. Most Jews outside Palestine and some in Palestine disagreed with polygamy. For example, the Qumran sect regarded polygamy as one of the three great sins of mainstream Judaism. They called these sins the nets of the devil by which the smooth-speaking Pharisees entrapped the people.

They couldnt actually find a verse in the Old Testament that spoke against polygamy, so they combined two different verses that both contained the phrase male and femaleGenesis 1:27 and 7:9. The first says, God created them; male and female, and the second says, two and two, male and female, went into the ark (ESV). Since male and female were called two in Genesis 7, the Qumran community inferred that it also meant two in Genesis 2 and concluded from this that only two people could marry. They referred to this doctrine as the foundation of creation. We may not be convinced by their logic, but as far as they were concerned it was case proven.

Jews outside Palestine used a different method to show that polygamy was wrongthey added a word to Genesis 2:24. This says a man is united to his wifewhich implies one man and one wife, so they emphasized this conclusion by adding the word two to the next phrase: and those two shall become one flesh. We find this additional word in all ancient translations of Genesisin Greek, Aramaic, Syriac, and even in Samaritanshowing that it had very widespread support. Presumably, it also had some support among Hebrew speakers, but no one in Jesus day would deliberately change the original text, so no Hebrew Bible has this word.

When the Pharisees were questioning Jesus about divorce, he took the opportunity to set them straight about polygamy, too. Jesus used both sets of arguments used by other Jews. He quoted the key verse used by Qumran Jews (Gen 1:27) and even said this was what happened at the beginning of creation (Mark 10:6, which presumably reminded his listeners that Qumran Jews called this the foundation of creation). Then he quoted the verse preferred by Jews outside PalestineGenesis 2:24including the additional word two (Mark 10:8; Matt 19:5). By deliberately using both arguments, Jesus emphasized that he agreed with those Jews who taught monogamy, contrary to the Pharisees.

Paul took the teaching against polygamy further by reversing the command that a man had to marry his dead brothers wife. This had always been a difficult rule, though it made sense in the world of the early Old Testament. In Hittite law (and probably other ancient Near Eastern laws), a widow could be married against her will to any male relativeeven to her husbands elderly grandfather or infant nephew. But Moses law restricted her marriage to someone of roughly her agethat is, she should only marry a brother of her husbandand she was allowed to refuse. Paul later decided that this law was outmoded. He said that a widow could marry whomever she wanted (1 Cor 7:39)though he added that she should marry a fellow believer.

Enforcing monogamy may have cleared away a scandal, but it created a new problem for the church. Suddenly there were more widows without husbands and without support because they couldnt become anyones second wife. To try to help these widows, the church created a new type of social club for thema widows association.

This spread outside Palestine as a good solution to a problem they shared because no polygamy was allowed outside Palestine. It was one of the first things the fledgling church did, and right from the start it was problematicGreek-speaking widows complained that the Aramaic speakers were being given more food, for one thing (Acts 6:1)! Young Timothy, leading the church in Ephesus, had other problems with his widows, and Paul had to write a whole chapter to help him cope (1 Tim 5). Nevertheless, this association was a good solution to their needs, and it was far better than expecting these women to each find a new husband.

Why did Jesus and Paul change Gods commands? Had God always been in favor of monogamy so that they were now returning to his original wishes? Although Jesus said that this was how things were at the beginning, this doesnt mean that God had subsequently given the wrong commands to Moses. It was the purpose of these commands, rather than the commands themselves, that was important. It was Gods purpose that Jesus and Paul were upholding.

Gods purpose for marriage was to help individuals find mutual support in families. When there were too few men due to warfare, this purpose was accomplished by allowing polygamy to ensure male heirs. In more stable times, polygamy resulted in many men remaining single because wealthy men could have many wives. In order to maintain Gods purposes at times like these, the rule about polygamy had to change. Gods purposes are eternal, but his commands change in order to carry out those purposes in different situations. We might summarize Gods purpose in the words of Psalm 68:6: God sets the lonely in families.

We can feel smug that our society doesnt allow polygamy, but in some ways, we are like the Romans, whose law was based on a morality that most didnt follow. Despite their official condemnation of polygamy, many respectable Romans had multiple marriages because divorce was easily obtained and mistresses were openly accepted. Eurydice, a newlywed Roman wife in the first century, was given advice about a happy marriage by Plutarch: If your husband commits some peccadillo with a paramour or a maidservant, you ought not to be indignant or angry, because it is respect for you which leads him to share his debauchery, licentiousness, and wantonness with another woman. In other words, extramarital sex was so normal that she shouldnt take offense.

In modern Western societies, various surveys have revealed that 13 percent of women and 20 percent of men commit adulteryand this is likely to be underreported by those who are questioned. Perhaps soap operas represent our society more accurately than wed like to believe.

Jesus criticized polygamy as a warped version of the lifelong committed relationship of a one-plus-one marriage. Our society recognizes that this is a very special relationship, and we strive toward it, but in many cases, we fail. So much time and money are often spent on the wedding and an almost equal amount on a subsequent divorce, but often we spend little time, care, and attention on the marriage itself.

***

This post about polygamy in the Bible is adapted from Moral Questions of the Bible: Timeless Truth in a Changing World by David Instone-Brewer (Lexham Press, 2019).

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Polygamy in the Bible (and What Jesus Said about It)

One thing I look forward to each May is the "moral acceptability" section of Gallup's Values and Beliefs poll -- the section that provides a list of behaviors and asks Americans to say whether each is morally acceptable or morally wrong. As my colleague Megan Brennan recently reviewed, there is a great deal of variation in the responses. For example, 90% of Americans say birth control is morally acceptable, putting it at the top of the list, while just 9% say that married men and women having an affair is morally acceptable, putting that behavior at the bottom.

The survey has been asking about most of the behaviors on the list since the early 2000s, giving us excellent trend lines for gauging how the public's views on morality have morphed in one direction or the other over time. Megan's review pointed out that the proportion of Americans who find the death penalty morally acceptable, now 54%, is the lowest in our history of asking that question. Another important trend has been the increase in the moral acceptability of gay and lesbian relations, now 66%, up from as low as 38% (in 2002). And it's important to note that "married men and women having an affair" has essentially held its positioning as a lasting taboo in American society; the 9% who today say having an affair is morally acceptable is just a few points higher than when we first asked about it almost 20 years ago.

But what fascinates me as much as anything else is the trend on polygamy. When Gallup first included polygamy on the list in 2003, 7% of Americans said it was morally acceptable, and that fell to 5% in 2006. But over the past decade, this percentage has gradually increased -- moving into double digits in 2011, reaching 16% in 2015, and this year, at 20%, the highest in our history. In short, there has been a fourfold increase in the American public's acceptance of polygamy in about a decade and a half.

Line graph. Trend from 2003 on the moral acceptability of polygamy. 7% said polygamy was morally acceptable in 2003, a percentage that has gradually increased to 20% morally acceptable in 2020.

The key question, of course, is why? What's behind this upswing in the moral acceptability of polygamy?

This question is not new. My Gallup colleague Andrew Dugan, noting the same upward trend in the acceptability of polygamy a few years ago, wrote an analysis outlining possible explanations. Now that polygamy's acceptance has reached a new high, I think it's worthwhile to revisit this cultural phenomenon.

First, it is important to locate polygamy in the context of the broad list of 21 moral issues tested in the May survey. Although the acceptability of polygamy has risen significantly, its relative position near the bottom of the list of moral behaviors hasn't changed a great deal. Polygamy is now fourth from the bottom on the list of 21 behaviors, above married men and women having an affair, cloning humans, and suicide. In 2003, when we first included it, polygamy was second from the bottom of the list of 16 behaviors tested, by one percentage point seen as more acceptable than married men and women having an affair, and one point lower than cloning humans.

Polygamy has basically been part of a rising tide of Americans' acceptance of a number of moral behaviors. This means one explanation for the increased acceptability of polygamy -- and perhaps the most plausible one -- lies with the fact that it is part of a general trend of increased liberalism on moral issues.

To check this out, I compared the acceptability of a list of behaviors in an aggregate of our 2003-2006 surveys with an aggregate from the past three years (2018-2020). Between these periods, the acceptability of polygamy jumped from 6% to 19%, a 13-point gain. But other moral issues have also become more acceptable, underscoring the conclusion that views of polygamy are not changing in a vacuum. Americans' acceptance of gay or lesbian relations has risen 22 points, while having a baby outside of marriage, sex between an unmarried man and woman, and divorce gained about the same as polygamy. Most other issues have become at least somewhat more acceptable over time, with the exceptions of medical testing of animals, the death penalty and wearing animal fur -- the only issues seen as less acceptable now than they were a decade and a half ago.

Another quite interesting explanation for Americans' increased acceptance of polygamy is a more frequent portrayal of polygamous households in the mass media. I don't have an accurate count of the representation of polygamous relationships in popular culture (that is, books, movies, television, and so on) over time, so I'm making some assumptions here. But it's undeniable that we have seen a number of representations of polygamy in popular television series and documentaries in recent years -- including Sister Wives, Big Love, My Five Wives and, most recently Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness -- something we did not see in decades past. The presence of these shows in the popular culture may have the impact of legitimizing polygamy by making it appear to be a more routine and less deviant family arrangement.

(There has been little legal change in the status of polygamy. It is still illegal in all 50 states of the union, although Utah recently reduced the penalty for polygamy from a felony to a misdemeanor, as long as no force or coercion is involved.)

Another possible explanation for the increased acceptance of polygamy lies with changes in traditional marriage in American society. Our Gallup data show that married people are significantly less likely than unmarried people to find polygamy morally acceptable. This "marriage gap" in views of polygamy has been getting larger over time, from a three-point difference between those married and those unmarried in the 2003-2006 aggregate to a 10-point difference in the 2018-2020 aggregate. Additionally, the percentage of married people in the U.S. adult population has been declining, from 53% married in our Gallup Values and Beliefs aggregate from 2003-2006 to 49% in the 2018-2020 aggregate.

Thus, two things relating to marriage have affected the overall percentage of the population who find polygamy acceptable: more unmarried people in the population, and the fact that these unmarried people are increasingly likely to find polygamy acceptable.

Most attitudes about moral issues differ among subgroups of the population, and polygamy is no exception. The defining variables on which views of polygamy pivot are age (young people are much more accepting), religiosity (with the less religious much more accepting), marital status (not married much more accepting), and political identity (Democrats more accepting).

Some of these demographic gaps have widened over time. The percentage of young people who find polygamy morally acceptable has risen from 9% to 34% from 2003-2006 to 2018-2020, significantly more than the increase among older Americans. Similarly, unmarried Americans increased their acceptance of polygamy more than married Americans, as have Democrats compared with Republicans, and those who are less religious compared with those who are very religious.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is historically identified with polygamy, although the church formally renounced polygamy in 1890 and does not consider polygamous individuals to be members. Our data show that Mormons appear to adhere to their church's official position. The Gallup aggregate of all Values and Beliefs surveys since 2003 includes interviews with 367 Americans who identify their religion as Mormon, and this group is slightly less likely than the sample average to say polygamy is morally acceptable.

There is also the matter of the wording change Gallup instituted in 2011. In surveys conducted before 2011, the item read, "Polygamy, when one husband has more than one wife at the same time." In 2011, the item was changed to read, "Polygamy, when a married person has more than one spouse at the same time." That wording change was coincident with a rise from 7% of Americans who found polygamy acceptable in 2010 to 11% in 2011. But the moral acceptability of polygamy has continued rising over the past nine years, using the new wording, to today's 20%, suggesting that something more than a wording change is responsible for the increase.

Americans' views of polygamy have shifted along with their views of a number of other behaviors and societal arrangements relating to family structure and procreation. All societies develop normative constraints governing marriage, sex and childbearing, although the nature of these constraints varies widely across cultures and across time. In the U.S., the evident trend is a general loosening of normative expectations about marriage and sexual relations. Americans have become more tolerant of official marriages between individuals of the same sex and are more accepting of the idea that individuals can have sexual relations and children outside of traditional heterosexual marriage (the one exception being the continuing taboo against married men and women having an affair).

Views of polygamy have followed this same pattern, and although the significant majority of Americans continue to disapprove of polygamous relationships, the one in five who find such behavior morally acceptable is much higher on a relative basis than it was just a decade and a half ago.

Just why norms relating to marriage, sex and procreation are changing in American society is, of course, the broader question of interest, but one whose answer goes beyond the current descriptive analysis of key trends.

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Understanding the Increase in Moral Acceptability of Polygamy

Practice of polygamy in North America

Polygamy is the practice of having more than one spouse. Specifically, polygyny is the practice of one man taking more than one wife while polyandry is the practice of one woman taking more than one husband. Polygamy is a common marriage pattern in some parts of the world. In North America, polygamy has not been a culturally normative or legally recognized institution since the continent's colonization by Europeans.

Polygamy became a significant social and political issue in the United States in 1852, when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) made it known that a form of the practice, called plural marriage, was part of its doctrine. Opposition to the practice by the United States government resulted in an intense legal conflict, and culminated in LDS Church president Wilford Woodruff announcing the church's official abandonment of the practice on September 25, 1890.[1] However, breakaway Mormon fundamentalist groups living mostly in the western United States, Canada, and Mexico still practice plural marriage.

Polygamy is defined as the practice or condition of one male, having more than one female spouse at the same time, conventionally referring to a situation where all spouses know about each other, in contrast to bigamy, where two or more spouses are usually unaware of each other.[2] Polyandry is the name of the practice or condition when one female, having more than one male spouse at the same time.

Polygamy is the act or condition of a person marrying another person while still being lawfully married to another spouse. It is illegal in the United States. The crime is punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both, according to the law of the individual state and the circumstances of the offense.[3] Polygamy was outlawed in federal territories by the Edmunds Act, and there are laws against the practice in all 50 states, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam,[4] and Puerto Rico.[5] Because state laws exist, polygamy is not actively prosecuted at the federal level,[6] but the practice is considered "against public policy" and, accordingly, the U.S. government does not recognize bigamous marriages for immigration purposes (that is, would not allow one of the spouses to petition for immigration benefits for the other), even if they are legal in the country where the bigamous marriage was celebrated.[7] Any immigrant who is coming to the United States to practice polygamy is inadmissible.[8]

Many US courts (e.g. Turner v. S., 212 Miss. 590, 55 So.2d 228) treat bigamy as a strict liability crime: in some jurisdictions, a person can be convicted of a felony even if he reasonably believed he had only one legal spouse. For example, if a person has the mistaken belief that their previous spouse is dead or that their divorce is final, they can still be convicted of bigamy if they marry a new person.[9]

Utah reduced polygamy from a third-degree felony to a minor infraction on May 13, 2020.[10]

In Canada the federal Criminal Code applies throughout the country. It extends the normal definition of polygamy to having any kind of conjugal union with more than one person at the same time. Also anyone who assists, celebrates, or is a part to a rite, ceremony, or contract that sanctions a polygamist relationship is guilty of polygamy. Polygamy is an offence punishable by up to five years in prison.

Scots-Irish settlers, and some Welsh emigrants, carried long-standing multiple partner traditions from Europe to the Americas.[11][pageneeded] Utopian and communal groups which were established during the mid-19th century had varying marriage systems, including group marriage and polygyny.[12] There is also some evidence for the existence of multiple marriage partners in the American South, particularly after the Civil War.[11][pageneeded]

Polygamy has also been practiced, discreetly, by some Muslims who are living in America.[13] However, these polygamous marriages are not recognized by American law.

Because polygamy has been illegal throughout the United States since the mid-19th century, and because it was illegal in many individual states before that period of time, sources on alternative marriage practices are limited. Consequently, it is difficult to get a clear picture of the extent of the practice both in the past and the present.

The Mormon practice of plural marriage was officially introduced by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, on July 12, 1843. Because polygamy was illegal in the state of Illinois,[14] it was practiced in secret during Smith's lifetime. During the 18391844 Nauvoo era, while several Mormon leaders (including Smith, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball) took plural wives, any Mormon leaders who publicly taught the polygamous doctrine were disciplined. For example, Hyram Brown was excommunicated on February 1, 1844.[15] In May 1844 Smith declared, "What a thing it is for a man to be accused of committing adultery, and having seven wives, when I can only find one."[16]

After the death of Joseph Smith, the practice of polygamy continued to exist in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), which was then led by Brigham Young. In the territory that became Utah, and some surrounding areas, plural marriage was openly practiced by LDS Church adherents. In 1852, Young felt the LDS Church in Utah was secure enough to publicly announce their practice of polygamy. However opposition from the U.S. government threatened the legal standing of the LDS Church. President Wilford Woodruff announced the LDS Church's official abandonment of the practice on September 25, 1890. Woodruff's declaration was formally accepted in an LDS Church general conference on October 6, 1890. The LDS Church's position on the practice of polygamy was reinforced by another formal statement in 1904 called the Second Manifesto, which again renounced polygamy.[17]

Although the Second Manifesto ended the official practice of new plural marriages, existing plural marriages were not automatically dissolved. Many Mormons, including prominent LDS Church leaders, maintained existing plural marriages well into the 20th century. A small percentage of adherents rejected the change, identifying as Mormon fundamentalists and leaving the mainstream LDS Church to continue practicing plural marriage.

Some sects that practice or at least sanction polygamy are the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the Latter-day Church of Christ and the Apostolic United Brethren. Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Canada, and some neighboring states, as well as up to 15,000 isolated individuals with no organized church affiliation.[18] Polygamist churches of Latter Day Saint origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist"; however, the main LDS Church has rejected polygamy since the early 20th century. Mormon fundamentalists often use an ambiguous September 27, 1886 revelation to John Taylor as the basis for continuing the practice of plural marriage.[19][unreliable source?]

The Salt Lake Tribune estimates there may be as many as 37,000 Mormon fundamentalists, with less than half living in polygamous households.[20] Most polygamous groups are composed of about a dozen extended Mormon fundamentalist organizations.[21][22][23][24] The LDS Church asserts it is improper to call any of these splinter polygamous groups "Mormon."[25][26]

Members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) practice polygamy in arranged marriages that often, but not always, place young girls with older men. Most FLDS members live in Hildale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona, about 350 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, with other communities in Canada, Texas and other areas of the North American west. The FLDS leader is currently Warren Jeffs.[27]

In 1998, about 40,000 people living in Utah were part of a polygamist family, or about 1.4 percent of the population.[28] Polygamists have been difficult to prosecute because many only seek marriage licenses for their first marriage, while the other marriages are secretly conducted in private ceremonies. Thereafter, secondary wives attempt to be seen in public as single women with children.[28]

Some polygamous families use a system of multiple divorce and legal marriage as a loophole in order to avoid committing a criminal act. 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 last name. This practice is repeated until he has married and divorced all of his wives, with the possible exception of his last one. This way the wives feel justified in calling themselves Mrs [husband's last name] and, while they are legally divorced from the husband, they act as if they are still married to him and expect those around them to acknowledge and respect this arrangement.

Since only one wife is officially 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 its 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 only made possible by his own public statements.

Mormon fundamentalist sects tend to aggregate in individual communities of their own specific sect and basis for polygamy. These small groups range from a few hundred up to 10,000, and are located across Western North America,[29] including:

The practice of informal polygamy among fundamentalist groups presents several legal issues. It has been considered difficult to prosecute polygamists for bigamy, in large part because they are rarely formally married under state laws. Without evidence that suspected offenders have multiple formal or common-law marriages, these groups are merely subject to the laws against adultery or unlawful cohabitation laws which are not commonly enforced because they also criminalize other behavior that is otherwise socially sanctioned. However, some "Fundamentalist" polygamists marry girls prior to the age of consent, or commit fraud to obtain welfare and other public assistance.

In 1953, the state of Arizona investigated and raided a group of 385 people in the polygamist-practicing colony of Hildale and Colorado City, straddling the Utah-Arizona border. All the men were arrested and the children were placed with foster families. A judge eventually ruled this action illegal, and everyone returned to the community, which now contains about 10,000 people.[31]

In 2001, in the state of Utah in the United States, Juab County Attorney David O. Leavitt successfully prosecuted Thomas Green, who was convicted of criminal non-support and four counts of bigamy for having five 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.[32]

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.[33] It was subsequently updated four times, the latest in 2011.[29][34][30][35] Enforcement of crimes such as child abuse, domestic violence, and fraud were emphasized over the enforcement of anti-polygamy and bigamy laws. The priorities of local prosecutors are not covered by this statement.

In 2008, starting on April 4, Texas State officials took 436 women and children into temporary legal custody after Rozita Swinton, a 33-year-old woman living in Colorado Springs, Colorado, called both Texas Social Services and a local shelter claiming to be a 16-year-old girl. She made a series of phone calls to authorities in late March, claiming she had been beaten and forced to become a "spiritual" wife to an adult man. Acting on her calls, authorities raided the ranch in Eldorado, about 40 miles south of San Angelo. The YFZ Ranch is owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a Mormon offshoot that practices polygamy. Two men were arrested for obstructing the raid but were later released. Several men were found guilty and convicted of sexual assault, rape, and bigamy involving underage girls.[36][37][38]

The stars of the TLC show Sister Wives challenged the state of Utah's bigamy laws,[39] though also acknowledging that the state's constitutional ban of plural marriage licenses would remain regardless of the lawsuit's outcome.[39] On December 13, 2013, US Federal Judge Clark Waddoups ruled in Brown v. Buhman[40] that the portions of Utah's anti-polygamy laws which prohibit multiple cohabitation were unconstitutional, but also allowed Utah to maintain its ban on multiple marriage licenses.[41][42][43] Unlawful cohabitation, where prosecutors did not need to prove that a marriage ceremony had taken place (only that a couple had lived together), had been a major tool used to prosecute polygamy in Utah since the 1882 Edmunds Act.[44] The United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit reversed the decision on April 11, 2016 [45] On January 23, 2017, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear arguments from the husband and four wives who star in the television show Sister Wives, letting stand a lower court ruling that kept polygamy a crime in Utah.[46]

In Canada, polygamy is a criminal offence under section 293 of the Criminal Code, which provides for a penalty of up to five years imprisonment,[47] but prosecutions are rare. As of January 2009, no person had been prosecuted for polygamy in Canada in over sixty years.[48] This changed in 2014, when polygamy charges were brought against Winston Blackmore and James Oler.[49]

Edith Barlow, a mother of five in the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C., was denied permanent residence and was asked to leave the country after ten years in Canada.[50]

A 2005 report by the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre recommended that Canada decriminalize polygamy, stating: "Criminalization is not the most effective way of dealing with gender inequality in polygamous and plural union relationships. Furthermore, it may violate the constitutional rights of the parties involved."[51]

In 2007, the Attorney General of British Columbia expressed concerns over whether this prohibition is constitutional, and an independent prosecutor in British Columbia recommended that Canadian courts be asked to rule on the constitutionality of laws against polygamy.[52] The Supreme Court of British Columbia upheld Canada's anti-polygamy section 293 of the Criminal Code and other ancillary legislation in a 2011 reference case.[53][54] On March 9, 2018, the Supreme Court of British Columbia upheld the constitutionality of Canada's anti-polygamy laws again.[55]

In the United States, 20% of people believe that polygamy is morally acceptable, according to a 2020 Gallup poll.[56]

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Polygamy in North America - Wikipedia