Are Anti-Polygamy Laws Unconstitutional?

Actually polygamy is practiced in the US in some states when it comes to the male. As long as the man only marry one of the wives is ok, the rest of the women are the ones that share the man voluntarily.

Now the man will not get in trouble unless the wife complains, once she accused him then the law will apply.


The ruling against polygamy in 1878 by the higher court opinion in Reynolds vs. United States, the court used Religious bases for the ruling.

They declared polygamy to be a blot on our civilization and compared to Barbarism and then included religion as its basis of Contrary to the spirit of Christianity and the civilization which Christianity has produced in the Western World

So yes religion was used to make it illegal as an opinion.

But the truth is that the bible is full of polygamy marriages as Abraham, David, Jacob and Solomon and they were Good in the eyes of God .

Even Mohammed had a polygamous relationship. Even Martin Luther saw polygamy as a necessity.

In Israel is still part of the Jewish traditions and in other countries in the Middle East.

Now in some cultures like Nepal and Tibet Polygynist is practiced, one woman and many husbands.

US have his shared of modern polygamist that are very good at going around laws to do what they do.

In many cultures is even part of religious believes.

One of the main reasons In the US to make it illegal is for the reasons that many has claimed already . . . because child abuse and under age marriages become a problem in society.




[edit on 21-8-2006 by marg6043]

To the original question, I say no. Anti-Polygamy laws are not unconstitutional. Marriage is a state sanctioned institution. The state says whether or not you can get married, and you are afforded certain privileges when you are married. The state gets to say what criteria you must meet to be married. And one of those criteria is that you must not already be married. One at a time, folks.

If someone wants to exercise their religious freedom and 'marry' more than one person, they can. It's just not LEGAL. It's the religious form of marriage, not the legal form. Which are 2 very different things. This represents the height of separation of church and state. You can (religiously) marry as many people as you want. But don't expect the state to sanction it. Because the state is separate from your religion.

The state is not required to pander to your religion. And vice versa.

[edit on 1-9-2006 by Benevolent Heretic]