Originally Posted by WillyPete

pinkie, the main problem with your arguments is that you're assigning specific connotations to words that are a lot more global.

Ploygamy is not just people in Utah that have broken from the Mormons and force their daughters on one another, nor is 'cult' really meant to define groups that separate people from family/friends and brainwash them.

Polygamy is purely a union between on person and multiples between many of the opposite sex.
A cult is a collective of people of similar beliefs. In that regard, the entirity of christianity is a cult, so are any other religion. I think the pope and imams would beg to differ though.

If you claim ALL polygamy to be bad and just point at rebel mormons, then you may as well say that all Catholics are terrorists because of the primarily catholic-biased IRA.
Using that type of view, your argument holds no water. Particularly as your second quoted reason for it being bad was a man suing the LDS for child abuse by a church leader. What aspect of polygamy was that? May as well cite the Boston catholic child abuse cases as a reason against polygamy whilst you are at it.

Many parts of the world use polygamy for many reasons. Here's some:
-They don't have pensions, large families are necessary to support the adults in old age, hence many wives = many children. I refer to 1man many women here because 1 woman many men wouldn't acheive the same family size.

-Women may historically have less rights and outnumber men.
If a rich man only has daughters and the only other men are all married and women may not posess land and the associated rights in tribal life accompanying such owership, what is she to do if her father dies? she marries another man and still gets to keep control of her father's lands and dictate the proper use of his assets. (If her husband is wise and not greedy)

-Protection:
Marrying a more powerful man in a more backward tribal society lends protection by association to women who marry him. In return, he has a large family and enough people are generated in the family/tribe to protect its interests.


To say polygamy is inherently evil is wrong.
To say that some people advocate it to further their own interst if reasons like I've shown don't apply to them would be more acceptable.


And whilst you're at it, don't confuse the mormon church with those breakaways. It's one of my mormon buddies' biggest bug bears. The mormon church actively denounce its practise.