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 | Monogamy in which two people are married to each other, hopefully "till death do us part," and |
| Serial monogamy in which a person has more than one spouse during their lifetime, although they are married to only one at a given time. |
Polygamous marriages are not legal in North America in the sense that none can be formally registered with the government. However, thousands of polygamous families exist and are largely ignored by their state and provincial governments, mainly in the states of Utah and Colorado in the U.S. and the province of British Columbia, Canada.
Most polygamous families in North America fall into one of two types:
| Some involve coupling a plural marriage structure with a religion -- generally Christianity --that is strutured as an authoritarian dictatorship and which advocates an authoritarian, male dominated, family structure. One husband typically has a married wife in a marriage registered with the government. Additional women are married informally and not registered. The latter "wives" are often expected to apply for government welfare as single mothers. Sexual and physical abuse of children and youths is common. Teen males are often driven from their towns in order to artificially generate a surplus of women. These families are often affiliated with relatively small religious groups that are part of the Mormon movement, although such groups have all been excommunicated from the main Mormon denomination: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. |
| Others are single polygamous families scattered across the U.S. and Canada whose members freely decide to come together. They form families based on the equality of all members. They exist follow a wide range of Christian denominations, other religions, or no religions. Their structure takes many forms: one man and multiple women; one woman and multiple men; multiple women and multiple men. |
Topics covered in this section:
| Introduction to polygamy.
< We strongly recommend reading this
essay first | ||||
| Definition of terms used in polygamy and similar
arrangements. | ||||
| The practice of and reasons for Polygamy. | ||||
| Laws concerning polygamy:
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| Christian Polygamy -- an Evangelical
Christian movement promoting polygyny. | ||||
| Polygyny within the U.S. Mormon movement | ||||
| Polygyny in Canada:
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| Will same-sex marriage lead inevitably to polygamy? |
Reference used:
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"Polygamy," WordIQ, at: http://www.wordiq.com/
Amazon.com supplies the following books on polygamy:
Sponsored links:
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Home page > "Hot" topics > Marriage > here |
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or Home > Religious info > Basic religious info > Religious practices > Marriage > here |
Copyright © 2004 to 2006 by Ontario Consultants on Religious
Tolerance
Originally written: 2004-SEP-04
Latest update: 2006-AUG-20
Author: B.A. Robinson
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