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250 supporters of polygamy showed up at the Salt Lake City City Hall to protest the fact that they cannot practice their religion as they please— to allow the men in their religion to marry multiple women.
“Because of our beliefs, many of our people have been incarcerated and had their basic human rights stripped of them, namely life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” said a 19-year-old identified only as Tyler. “I didn’t come here today to ask for your permission to live my beliefs. I shouldn’t have to.”
Polygamy is banned in the Utah Constitution and is a felony offense. The rally was unusual because those who practice polygamy typically try to live under the radar.
In a recent wave of support for polygamy, this is an understandable development. I believe it was Dateline NBC that went into Utah on a couple of different segements. One followed a woman that escaped an arranged marriage to a man who took another wife. She eventually went back to him, even though he did not say he would never take another wife.
The other part of the interview focused on a house– looked more like a college– where one man had what appeared to be 20 wives. They were all over the place as far as age, looks, professions. I believe he had 75 children! They all sang the praises of polygamy such as:
- Some of the women that did not feel right at home could have a profession
- There was no divorce
- Each person’s needs were met– physically and otherwise
- There were people around them that were tied together with a common bond and with a common interest in their one man
- Their kids had multiple playmates
I find it hard to believe that they are never jealous, that they never wish they were the only wife, and that they each are cared for the same by the man. The man, on the other hand, is in a unique situation that I’m sure a lot of men dream about but probably never would realize the responsibility and the sin that’s woven into that whole relationship.
Vox Day has had some previous posts supporting polygamy based on Old Testament practices and the fact that he cannot find it condemned in Scripture outright. I think he’s wrong. I don’t believe his wife lets him practice it. 🙂
In any case, God created one woman for Adam– not three. He stated the two would become one flesh– He never said that that one flesh could be joined like the blob to make an even bigger flesh. He gave rules about being faithful to one wife and said that wives could bring you to sin (ie. Solomon). So I think it’s pretty clear.
I have one word and it may not be thought provoking or profound, but this sums it up for me, “YECK!”
I guess I can’t see why a man would want more than one wife. I think he must be a glutton for punishment, not that one wife is bad, but have you ever worked with more than one woman at a time? They often really have issues with getting along, imagine adding a man and several children to the mix! OH MY!
It certainly would take a lot of different training to get people to live together in groups like that, Shelli. And even looking at the Old Testament examples you can see how the dynamics didn’t work even when you were in a more patriarchal society.
Just look at Jacob/Israel and his two wives. He liked one best, but the other was giving him children. So, the younger gave him her handmaiden to have children. Then the oldest got jealous and gave him her handmaiden. Then the youngest pleaded for children (I’ve heard at least one preacher say that the younger could not have children because of a punishment for Jacob having multiple wives) and finally got two.
There was constant comparisons– it seems the only “innocent” wives were the handmaids!
I watched a special on Mormons once, and the husband said his first wife would always have the most of his love, because she was his first love. But he had young wives…and they had a schedule to make sure they all got “equal” time with him.
I can’t imagine a man’s stress at having to support a huge family–physically, mentally, and financially.
What I found appealing, was the room full of washing machines. And chore-sharing.
Nothing else.
It certainly doesn’t seem the women would get the good end of the deal. However, I’m not sure all the women in their society are with the kids– some have to be professional women that would bring more income to the family. That would relieve some of the stress.
I’m sure some make it work– but it’s something that I believe is (1) sin and (2) something that you’d have to be conditioned to do and forced into at an early age because it is not natural.