Legalize polygamy?

[ummmm........]

So, lying is immoral, should it be illegal in the United States?

 

[Japanrocks12]

Aw geez, the last thing we need in this thread is a Biblical attachment/factor to this debate. Still, I do not like the theory of polygamy.

 

[GenMarshall]

So, lying is immoral, should it be illegal in the United States?

Im not talking about lying, I am talking about Polygamy. Lets stick to the subject .

 

[ummmm........]

My mistake. I thought you were justifying the second clause in your post with the first.

 

[Mise]

What is the current point for marriage, if there is one at all (part from tax breaks - which are not universal)?

Tax breaks, legal benefits, etc. And affirming one's undying love for someone in front of your friends and families. If someone married two people, or a mop, the government-granted benefits of marriage would (or should) disappear.

If you want to affirm your undying love for a mop, or for two women, then go ahead, no-one's stopping you. But to call that "marriage" is plain stupid, IMO. It's not marriage, because marriage is between two people.

It's a question of definitions, and a couple of three should be called something other than marriage... something French, perhaps.........

Polygamous marriages are an affront to Christians everywhere. I am just thankful that the Church of England's founder, Henry VIII, and his wife Catherine of Aragon, and his wife Anne Boleyn, and his wife Jane Seymour, and his wife Anne of Cleves, and his wife Katherine Howard, and his wife Catherine Parr are no longer here to suffer through this assault on traditional Christian marriages.

Just one thing to get my post into perspective: I'm not Christian.

 

[King Alexander]

Maybe it's my conservative nature, but I'm surprised at the support and responses in here.

It has nothing to do with conservatism but with mature, IMHO.

Then again, you're probably talking to teenage males who think it would be a good idea.

Bingo(at least, most of them)

1 - Jealousy.

From both sexes, obviously. Jealousy can lead into even murders(passion crimes), and NO MATTER WHAT, jealousy will appear sooner or later.

2 - Intermarriage. Having kids with say, 50 wives depletes the gene pool (same guy). So, when these descendants meet other descendants from a polygamic family, and have kids, that might be a few thousand "family". If this population gets large enough, they have no choice to intermarry (whether by choice or by accident). Such a thing could lead to disease across a broad area of the population. (i.e., the origanal male had a genetic disease).

Correct.

3. Moral - You knew I was gonna mention this one sooner or later. Or rather, this would lead to a slippery slope of a decline of morals. (granted, other cultures do it, but it doesn't mean it's always right). Marriage should be a union for life between 1 man and 1 woman. (don't go off topic in off topic on this one. ).

Society's moral, for me. But moral, comes from certain issues/situations, like the one you've already mentioned above.

4. Living conditions - How will such a family (and a large one at that) live? If they're a family, then they'll need a house to live in together. A typical house (2-3 bedrooms, 1-2 bathrooms, livingroom, kitchen, basement) just isn't going to cut it, unless you want one huge slumber party in the basement. Just imagine getting ready in the morning. Even if they had a huge house, or mansion, you'll need to pool together resources, and even that can lead to problems (i.e., one saying they paid more than the rest, so they deserve more), which leads to the next point.

And don't forget 'practical' problems, like that all would see the other naked or seeing some performing sexual acts(this would be very bad for the kids).

5. Legal - What happens if the man decides to devorce 1 or more of his wives? Or, what if he dies? You're gonna have multiple people fighting over who gets what.

That could be solved in some way, but some 'members' would get an 'unfair' cut of the property, IMHO.

 

[Uiler]

My grandmother grew up in a society where polygamy was legal and common. She's not against it (a feminist she's not), but her comment on polygamous marriages - "If a man actually wants a *peaceful* homelife he doesn't take more than one wife." Just for those who think it's some sort of paradise on earth. The polygamous marriages she speaks of, I've never heard of a single one that would be considered good in today's morality - that is a marriage where everyone is equal and happy. Either the wives descend into a heap of *****y fighting and jealousy (with the children caught in the crossfire) or you have one very clear favourite who basically tramples all over the others e.g. one of my great-uncle's marriage. In my opinion, jealousy tends to be the big killer in these relationships. And children do tend to become pawns in the machinations between wives. In fact there's this one famous story where one of the Emperor's wives killed her own baby daughter so that she could blame it on her rival. Of course most of the time it doesn't get that bad. The children of a less favoured wife have less status and when wives are duking it out obviously you can't be close to your half-siblings because they are your enemies (or so your mother tells you) and you must be loyal to your mother. Children become part of the way for wives to earn brownie points with their husband as they all fight for being favourites. It all becomes a big game of conflicting loyalties and shifting alliances. And if you don't play the "game" you just get low status and are abused by everyone. Chinese historical accounts of polygamous marriages tend to bear this pattern out as well. Even Mohammad in the Koran said that polygamy was immoral if you can't treat your wives with equal fairness and not play favourites (I guess most Muslims tend to ignore this little passage...). Though I guess it's not really enough reason to make it illegal.

 

[GenMarshall]

Hmm, I guess thats why I see it as immoral since there are two sides of the coin here. The first side of the coin is not treating each of your wives in equal fairness (Even in today's society, who has enough energy to treat more than one spouse in equal fairness). The second side of the coin is where I draw my moral reasoning against polygamy is that the most sucsessful male will get most of the women while the unsucsessful male would have less or even none (which I call the Jelousy factor in polygamy).

 

[Knowze Gungk]

It doesn't matter whether it is legal or not, you don't have to marry at all if you want multiple sexual partners. Which is, let's face it, the only reason anyone would want pologamy.

As for the morality issue, it would only be immoral if one sexual partner was unknown to the next.

 

[classical_hero]

Polygamy is immoral and should be illegal in the United States.

Did I read that right? Did CivGeneral say something conservative? I have to agree with you. It should be illegal in all countries.

 

[Goober]

First, an extremely small % of the population is going to actually be in a polygamous relationship.

Second, I would not want to be in such a relationship. I do, however, think that the State has no right to say what marriage and cannot be. That is, the State should not be allowed to say that Marriage cannot be with more then 2 people involved.

Third, if we did legalize it, then we would need to include a statement which says that sure, you can have a polygamous relationship, but no church shall be forced to conduct the ceremony, and, for legal and taxation purposes, only 2 of the spouses shall receive benefits.

Then, I believe, it could be legalized.

But, is this a huge issue? I don't see more then 1% of the population actually wanting this, I don't see people protesting for it. I mean, only some of the LDS (Mormon() religion, and some Muslims, I think, actually believe in this. So why is this such a big issue? Or is it?

 

[FearlessLeader2]

First option. If a man or woman can afford to support more than one spouse, and convince them to share with the others, then why not? It happened in the Bible all the time.

Think of it this way: if a multi-billionaire takes advantage of this law to have fifteen wives, they and all their kids get a share of his net worth at his death, and it gets divided and spent (returning it to the economy), instead of hoarded over the centuries by one little clan of bluebloods.

 

[Aphex_Twin]

Polygamy is immoral and should be illegal in the United States.

I have yet to see a reasonable argument for that. Care to give it a try?

Tax breaks, legal benefits, etc. And affirming one's undying love for someone in front of your friends and families. If someone married two people, or a mop, the government-granted benefits of marriage would (or should) disappear.

One can affirm their love in public without a need for government aproval. If you take tax benefits away there really is no need for the first part.

If you want to affirm your undying love for a mop, or for two women, then go ahead, no-one's stopping you. But to call that "marriage" is plain stupid, IMO. It's not marriage, because marriage is between two people.

That's picking on semantics. Marriage was polygamic in the beginning if you want precedence of definitions it is you who should find a new word.

 

[A'AbarachAmadan]

Poligamy as an institution should not be legal. However, if people want to live together in a poligamy style or be swingers there should not be laws against it.