polygamy

monogamy

trivia

is [as determined unanimously by the supreme court decision in 'reynolds v United States'] unconstitutional because it challenges the traditional construct of marriage by threatening to reduce society to a 'stationary despotism' in which the husband is given the power to marry as many wives as he pleases, despite the first wife's opinion.

These acts were particularly harmful to society, in the Court's opinion, because they challenged the traditional construct of marriage. This belief held that polygamy threatened to reduce society to a 'stationary despotism' since the husband was given the power to marry as many wives as he pleased, despite the first wife's opinion (Oleske, 1997, 755).

is [as unanimously determined by the supreme court decision in 'reynolds v United States'] unconstitutional because a religious exception to this practice (as was being demanded) would make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself.

Reynolds v. United States established a direction of polygamy legislation that persist to this day. The defendant opened the debate by claiming that the Free Exercise Clause was applicable to the case of polygamy practiced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints since polygamy is a religious practice. Reynolds claimed that there should be a religious exemption for Mormons because members of the church believed the practice of polygamy was directly enjoined upon the male members by the Almighty God in a revelation to Joseph Smith, and failing or refusing to practice polygamy by such male members of the church would be punished by damnation in the life to come (Linder, 2012). Reynolds claimed that a law banning bigamy without a religious exemption was unfairly discriminating and oppressing members of the Mormon Church. The Court did not find Reynolds's argument convincing... in fact, the Court unanimously rejected this argument, stating that such an exception would 'make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself' (Oleske, 1997, 755). To the court, maintaining the integrity and superiority of the laws was tantamount, and the justices did not want this case to become a precedent for breaking laws and claiming religious exemption. Using Jeffersonian Belief-Act doctrine, the Court outlined how religious beliefs are the prerogative of the individual, but the actions that stem from those beliefs are not. Thus, the Free Exercise clause did not apply to Reynolds's practice of bigamy as man, according to Thomas Jefferson, has 'no natural right in opposition to his social duties' (Lipscomb, 1903).

Historically, as women's opinions have been ignored in the inclusion of multiple wives, polygamy is often painted as a form of bondage with man as master (Song, 2008, 92). As a result, feminist are often called upon by scholars to discuss whether this religious practice is theoretically justifiable, and women align on both sides of the issue.

is, for the feminist, to be opposed on account that the practice accords with male self-interest, and is readily admitted by its practitioners to be a means of controlling women.

Okin further notes that in polygamous cultures many men readily acknowledge that the practice accords with their self-interest, and they see it as a means of controlling women. As a French immigrant from Mali said in a recent interview, 'When my wife is sick and I don't have another, who will care for me'' (Okin, 1999, 15).

is, for many liberals, a system that results in the subjugation of women to men's desires for more wives and restrains individual rights.

Liberalism, in contrast, argues that polygamy results in the subjugation of women to men's desires for more wives and restrains individual rights. An array of feminist supports the liberal position as well. Even though the arguments for a multicultural acceptance of polygamy have been gaining recognition, the practice of polygamy is justly outlawed in the United States due to its suppression of individual rights from a liberal perspective.

is harmful to the individuals who are participating therein. Multiculturalism notwithstanding, it perpetuates a dangerous structure of oppression that systematically threatens individual liberties.

After a thorough analysis of both sides' positions, it is clear that polygamy is harmful to the individuals participating and perpetuates a dangerous structure of oppression. Multiculturalism is important to consider when respecting practices that seem curious to an inexperienced observer, but when individual liberties are systematically threatened it is clear that the concepts of freedom inherent in liberalism must be preferred. In the United States, where it took so long to affirm the rights of both genders and then all races, the legislative and judicial branches must stand against practices that threaten to impinge on the rights of citizens.

is, in Islam, contrary to popular thought, neither a religious rite nor an islamic value... it is rather a pre-islamic practice which, rather than being mandated by the quaran, is regulated therein in order to prevent injustice to powerless orphans.

From Kartini 's era until the present, this belief that polygamy is a religious rule has persisted, as if the claim that 'polygamy is permitted in Islam is the only truth... as if this belief has to be taken for granted... as if this belief is divine and therefore cannot be challenged or changed... and as if challenging polygamy is equivalent lo challenging Islam. In contrast, this book argues that polygamy is not a religious rite or an Islamic value. Polygamy is a pre-Islamic practice which has been regulated by Islam in order to prevent injustice to powerless orphans. That is, what is Islamic in the Qur'anic verses 4: 2-3 is not 'the practice of polygamy itself, but ' the importance of being just to the powerless'. As this research suggests, polygamy can lead to unjust treatment of women and their children. This book takes the view that to prevent such injustice (and given that preventing injustice is an Islamic value accepted by all schools of Islamic thought), the Indonesian Marriage Law should be modified to abolish the practice of polygamy.

is not in the state's interest insofar as monogamous marriage results in significant improvements in child welfare, including lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death, homicide and intra-household conflict.

The study found that monogamous marriage 'results in significant improvements in child welfare, including lower rates of child neglect, abuse, accidental death, homicide and intra-household conflict.' And: 'by shifting male efforts from seeking wives to paternal investment, institutionalized monogamy increases long-term planning, economic productivity, savings and child investment.' There's more, but you get the idea.

polygamy, n.All

polygamy