What exactly Is Wrong with Polygamy anyway?

[dastardly stem]

I’m also enjoying how, in a Mormon context, this question keeps getting framed in a man and two women or a woman and two men context. Mormonism was a man marrying as many females as he could, with his stationing and power, get his hands on. The men who watched their wives marry higher power men might include a woman and two men scenario, except the woman had a dozen sister wives, quite often.

[KevinSim]

arithmetic?

A group with 100 men and 100 women and 40 men had two wives leaves 20 women for the 60 men.

Huckleberry, how many of those 100 men will be willing to commit to a marriage relationship in their lifetimes? How many women? There will be some who won't for either gender, but the results are not even. The actor Benedict Cumberbatch recently stated his opinion that there's something seriously wrong with the male gender, and I think he had a point. Men, generally speaking, are jerks. As I previously stated, the Gospel Topics essay on polygamy on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints points out that when that church was actively practicing polygamy, virtually everyone who wanted to be married (of both genders) was married. That isn't true today. Shirlee Cook, an older woman in our ward, died a few years ago. At her funeral I found out that she had always wanted children of her own that she could raise. If she had lived in the mid 1800s, she would have had her wish. But in modern times she died without marrying anybody, as do many other Latter-day Saint women these days. Is it such an evil thing, to want children to raise? The alternative to polygamy is not monogamy; the alternative is monogamy for the lucky, and celibacy for the unlucky. And that's an improvement?

[dastardly stem]

arithmetic?

A group with 100 men and 100 women and 40 men had two wives leaves 20 women for the 60 men.

Huckleberry, how many of those 100 men will be willing to commit to a marriage relationship in their lifetimes? How many women? There will be some who won't for either gender, but the results are not even. The actor Benedict Cumberbatch recently stated his opinion that there's something seriously wrong with the male gender, and I think he had a point. Men, generally speaking, are jerks. As I previously stated, the Gospel Topics essay on polygamy on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints points out that when that church was actively practicing polygamy, virtually everyone who wanted to be married (of both genders) was married. That isn't true today. Shirlee Cook, an older woman in our ward, died a few years ago. At her funeral I found out that she had always wanted children of her own that she could raise. If she had lived in the mid 1800s, she would have had her wish. But in modern times she died without marrying anybody, as do many other Latter-day Saint women these days. Is it such an evil thing, to want children to raise? The alternative to polygamy is not monogamy; the alternative is monogamy for the lucky, and celibacy for the unlucky. And that's an improvement?

She could have had children without marrying a seriously wrong man. Her options only expand if she but gave up her belief in god, or her religion at the very least.

[huckelberry]

arithmetic?

A group with 100 men and 100 women and 40 men had two wives leaves 20 women for the 60 men.

Huckleberry, how many of those 100 men will be willing to commit to a marriage relationship in their lifetimes? How many women? There will be some who won't for either gender, but the results are not even. The actor Benedict Cumberbatch recently stated his opinion that there's something seriously wrong with the male gender, and I think he had a point. Men, generally speaking, are jerks. As I previously stated, the Gospel Topics essay on polygamy on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints points out that when that church was actively practicing polygamy, virtually everyone who wanted to be married (of both genders) was married. That isn't true today. Shirlee Cook, an older woman in our ward, died a few years ago. At her funeral I found out that she had always wanted children of her own that she could raise. If she had lived in the mid 1800s, she would have had her wish. But in modern times she died without marrying anybody, as do many other Latter-day Saint women these days. Is it such an evil thing, to want children to raise? The alternative to polygamy is not monogamy; the alternative is monogamy for the lucky, and celibacy for the unlucky. And that's an improvement?

Kevin, my numbers are clearly a simplification. You could be justified in saying oversimplified. Physics guy noted how combining women marring much younger than men combined with expanding population can be more workable. In Utah polygamy was not quite a majority arrangement and with 19th century childbirth rates a workable balance was at least proximate.

I cannot help but wonder how someone now would know that every male wishing marriage married. The statement sounds speculative. It would be true that males could go to California or perhaps Ohio.

I do not see any absolute rule against polygamy though I would not recommend it. If the LDS church continues to be unable to hold male membership and the US culture grows more accepting of marriage variation it might just come back into practice. I would certainly stay away from it.

[Dr. Shades]

[T]he Gospel Topics essay on polygamy on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints points out that when that church was actively practicing polygamy, virtually everyone who wanted to be married (of both genders) was married.

The Gospel Topics essay is flat wrong. Look at the FLDS church today, which is actively practicing polygamy. Are "the lost boys" who want to be married, married?

[Informant]

[T]he Gospel Topics essay on polygamy on the website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints points out that when that church was actively practicing polygamy, virtually everyone who wanted to be married (of both genders) was married.

The Gospel Topics essay is flat wrong. Look at the FLDS church today, which is actively practicing polygamy. Are "the lost boys" who want to be married, married?

You know they’re different than the mainstream church, right?

[Dr. Shades]

How is its practice of polygamy any different from the LDS church's former practice of it?

[Informant]

How is its practice of polygamy any different from the LDS church's former practice of it?

I dunno, I wasn’t there.

[Dr. Shades]

How is its practice of polygamy any different from the LDS church's former practice of it?

I dunno, I wasn’t there.

Lots of people who were there left written records describing it. Guess what? It was practiced exactly the same way the FLDS practice it.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

How is its practice of polygamy any different from the LDS church's former practice of it?

I dunno, I wasn’t there.

That’s such a cop out answer. If you’re going to snipe the topic at least get familiar with the history of it. Demonstrate some curiosity, use Google, and get smart on it. It takes anywhere from a few minutes if you’re a skimmer to a few days if you’re a read-for-understanding type of person.

- Doc