The united states views on the polygamy

Current legislation[ edit ] In most countries, a person who marries a person while still being lawfully married to another commits bigamy. In all such cases, the second marriage is considered legally null and void. Besides the second and subsequent marriages being void, the bigamist is also liable to other penalties, which vary between jurisdictions. The United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand permit some benefits for spouses of polygamous marriages performed in other countries.

No matter what you have seen on television or what you've heard about "Mormons," it's not true that the mainstream LDS church promotes the practice of polygamy as part of its religion. In fact, any member of the LDS church who is found by church leaders to be practicing polygamy will be immediately excommunicated.

Which groups practice polygamy? | Apologetics Index

The LDS church is so eager to make it clear that it does not practice polygamy, that even children of polygamists cannot be baptized into the mainstream church unless and until they are adults and they disavow the practice of polygamy. That said, the long answer to the question above is: The LDS church has recently admitted that polygamy was first practiced secretly by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, before Brigham Young and the pioneers came to Utah, where "the Principle" was practiced widely and openly for some years.

Why did Mormons stop practicing polygamy? Inafter the United States government had made it increasingly difficult for polygamous members of the church and finally with the Edmunds-Tucker Act allowed the confiscation of all church property, President Wilford Woodruff issued a revelation from God called " The Manifesto " that said that it was time to stop practicing polygamy.

Yes, they claim to have over 14, participants worldwide and many of them are moving to the western United States, particularly Utah. Their main purpose in coming to Utah and surrounding areas is to convert the Mormon polygamists to Christian polygamy (since they don’t believe Mormon fundamentalists to be Christians). In the United States, polygamy exists at a curious intersection of social libertarianism, religious fundamentalism, and radical polyamory—strange bedfellows in every sense of the term. of Polygamy] (stating that “Mormon polygamy is both a religious and instrumental practice”). Polygamy in the United States is not limited to Utah, Mormons, or Muslims, however. Alexandre.

This was difficult, of course, for those Mormons who were already in polygamous marriages, and there is certainly evidence that not everyone even in the higher echelons of the LDS church followed the Manifesto's edict. Some Mormons who wished to continue to practice polygamy fled to Mexico or Canada.

Others divorced or separated, but continued to financially support formerly polygamous wives and children. Some men continued to cohabit with multiple wives and to father children until the second Manifesto in by Joseph F.

Smith, when polygamy was banned even in Mexico for the LDS. Wilford Woodruff himself had been known to say that polygamy would become legal again in the future.

Other LDS church members believed for some time that polygamy was a "celestial law" that would be practiced in heaven, and was a law that God Himself practiced.

It is difficult to imagine the mainstream LDS church today sanctioning the practice of polygamy once more among its members.

As for the offshoots of the Mormon church which continue to practice polygamy, it is important to make distinctions between them. Some call these groups "fundamentalist Mormons," because they think of themselves as practicing an older and truer form of Mormonism, but none of them practice polygamy as it was taught by Joseph Smith or Brigham Young.

While the mainstream LDS church has over 16 million members and is one of the fastest growing churches in the world, with large groups outside of the United States, in Latin America in particular, the polygamous and fundamentalist off-shoots of Mormonism seem to grow only by a prodigious birthrate and do not proselytize throughout the world -- indeed seem to have no interest in doing so.

It is important to note that the practices of marrying closely related family members, which has led to widespread problems of incestuous birth defects is not part of the original Mormon practice of polygamy as promoted by Brigham Young.

Nor is the marriage of 12 year-old girls who have barely had a chance to have an education part of historical Mormon polygamy. Underage marriages may have happened, but they were a rarity. These other groups largely do not practice under-age marriage and seem to have less cult-like tendencies in allowing people to move in and out of plural marriages depending on their own choices, rather than threats and monetary lures.Many laws in the history of the United States have addressed marriage and the rights of married people.

Common themes addressed by these laws include polygamy, interracial marriage, divorce, and same-sex marriage. of Polygamy] (stating that “Mormon polygamy is both a religious and instrumental practice”). Polygamy in the United States is not limited to Utah, Mormons, or Muslims, however.

Alexandre. Polygamy In United States Of America Admin September, 30th Comments Views The polygamy represents a very common marriage pattern that you can find in many parts of the world, but especially the polygyny where a man is going to have more than one wife at the same time.

In the United States, polygamy exists at a curious intersection of social libertarianism, religious fundamentalism, and radical polyamory—strange bedfellows in every sense of the term. U.S. laws concerning polygamy: Gregory Brower, the Arizona U.S. Attorney, said during a Senate hearing in JUL that there is no federal law against polygamy.

He commented that the federal government has a number of traditional resources at its disposal to investigate polygamists, including FBI, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, IRS, and other inspectors. The United States Congress passed the Edmunds-Tucker Act () authorizing the seizure of LDS Church assets and making polygamy a federal offense.

Entire families went “underground” to avoid.