Polygamy, the Bible’s Ultimate Family Value

[cbayer]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/22/polygamy-the-bible-s-ultimate-family-value.html



By Joel Baden
December 22nd 20136:45 AM

When a court ruled this week that polygamy won’t be prosecuted in Utah, conservatives said it was a sign we’re losing our “Judeo-Christian” family values. They must not read the Bible much.

In the wake of the Sister Wives lawsuit, and the ruling that cohabitation may not be criminally prosecuted in Utah, it is no surprise to once again hear cries from the religious right that we have fallen ever further down the slippery slope toward utter immorality. It would seem that the words of the prophet Santorum from ten years ago are coming true: “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery”—a list which he elsewhere expanded to include bestiality.

Our bedrock Judeo-Christian values are being undermined by secular modernity, it would seem. Though it might not seem that way if we actually bothered to examine the bedrock of those Judeo-Christian values: the Bible.

At this point it’s been all too frequently repeated, usually via this meme, that the Bible presents lots of different models for marriage and sexual relationships, including monogamy (Adam—though what choice did he have, really); bigamy (Abraham); and polygamy (Jacob, David, Solomon). Since, however, our contemporary issues are legal ones, we might profitably look at the biblical laws regarding marriage and sex. And when we do, what we find is that our view of what can and should be legislated overlaps only very infrequently with the view attributed to God.

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[dimbear]

1. It's a bit complex, really. Once you believe people should be able to do whatever hurts nobody,

it's hard to say no.

The solution should be to make the minimum age for a polygamous marriage about 25. The whole entire problem is the degenerate old lecherous elders who crave the young ladies. Anyone skeptical need only read the history of the church.

Problem solved.

Dimbear-- always helpful.

[cbayer]

2. It really is complex, I agree.

The issue of whether someone is hurt is really important and polygamy has a history of subjugating young women to conditions that are harmful.

[dimbear]

3. There really is something to the old saying current in Utah: half a man is better than none.

(Dimbear's collection of high-school humor.)

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. It's rather simple, actually

It is worth noting polygamy encompasses polygyny and polyandry.

While women are certainly known to have suffered under polygynous marriages, so are they known to have suffered under monogamous marriages. I can't think of anything that would make polygyny inherently worse.