Polygamy in America Today :: Marriage Mormon

Polygamy is a common, well-buried secret that is often hard to leave and still existsthroughout the country today. The Encyclopedia Americana defines polygamy as the formof marriage that permits a person to have more than one husband or wife (EncyclopediaAmericana). It has been known to exist at various times in certain societies. Polygamy is more common that most people realize. In the Paper Polygamy andSame Sex Marriage, David Chambers states that in the history of the country, by far themost significant and widespread practice of polygamy occurred among the Mormonsduring the later one-half of the 19th century. the Mormons believe that plural marriage isbiblical and approved of by God. In the New Testament, it was never deemed to be shocking or even inferior in any way to monogamous onions. More Americans are practicing polygamy than one might think. Even moreinte lieing, more than half of nonindustrialized societies still permits it. For both marriedmen and women, sexual relationships outside of the marriage are regarded as deeply sinful. Polygamy is a way around this. It is not a sin to sleep with your wife. It is understoodthat any Christian should not have more than one marriage registered with the state. Suchactions would surely violate tax codes and many other legal situations. Many do believe,however, that all United States laws, which make registered plural marriage illegal, areunconstitutional and should be repealed. Carmen Thompson, former polygamist and author of Memories of a Plural wife,wrote that because plural marriage is against the law, those that still embrace it have, fordecades, kept their practice well hidden. According to Andrew Murr in his article,Secrets in the desert, Utah banned polygamy as a precondition of statehood in 1890,but the practice of taking multiple wives has never disappeared (1). Thompson wrote that there is an estimated 30,000 polygamists living in the states of Utah, and an equalnumber scattered ar ound the rest of the United states (118). With so many involved inthis lucid crime it is only a matter of time before those who are trying to retain hidden are