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Christianity Today, May (Web-only), 2008 |

SPEAKING OUT

Can America Still Bar Polygamy?

Much has changed since the late 1800s, and many arguments for keeping the ban aren't very compelling.

John Witte Jr. | posted 5/23/2008 08:38AM

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John Witte Jr. is Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He is also the author of From Sacrament to Contract: Marriage, Religion and Law in the Western Tradition.

Related elsewhere:

Coverage of the rulings from Texas's Third Court of Appeals is available from The Salt Lake Tribune, Associated Press, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Dallas Morning News, and Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News.

Andrea Useem of ReligionWriter.com interviewed Witte about polygamy's legal future.

Witte also wrote about future fights between state laws and religious laws on marriage for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has also written about reformer John Calvin's views on polygamy.

Stephanie Forbes considered "'Why Just Have One?': An Evaluation of the Anti-Polygamy Laws Under the Establishment Clause" in the Spring 2003 issue of the Houston Law Review. The journal also published Michael G. Myers's "Polygamist Eye for the Monogamist Guy: Homosexual Sodomy … Gay Marriage … Is Polygamy Next?" in its Spring 2006 issue.

Joseph Bozzuti discussed "The Constitutionality Of Polygamy Prohibitions After Lawrence V. Texas" in the Fall 2004 issue of The Catholic Lawyer.

FindLaw's Marci Hamilton, Slate's Steve Chapman and William Saletan, and others have discussed legal defenses for polygamy in a more popular context.

Today's Christian Woman , a Christianity Today sister publication, published an article by a former FLDS member on growing up in a polygamist family.

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Arek	Posted: May 29, 2008 1:40 PM

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Amendment I of the Constitution The 1st Amendment says that "Congress shall make no law," that is, the federal government cannot infringe on religious freedom among the States, but it does not address whether the individual states have the power to allow or disallow religious practices, or restrict free speech. I just learned this recently myself, its a shame we Americans are not taught sufficiently about our rights and system of government.

Terry L. Brown

Posted: May 29, 2008 12:35 PM

As some other posters have stated the reasons given to keep polygamy illegal are no longer valid. Every argument mentioned has been countered and overcome by the homosexual agenda. Given recent court rulings and judicial activism, every form of sexual deviancy will - sooner rather than later - become legal. While teaching a Sunday school class I commented that the only thing that would keep bestiality from becoming legal would be the animal rights activists. Within a week of that World magazine (27 March 2004) reported a Dutch man was caught violating a pony. He was set free, however, because there was no law against such activity. This caused an uproar among some in the Dutch government. But their concern wasn't the immorality of the act, but the animal's inability to consent to it. It was considered animal abuse. Such is the twisted thinking of fallen man. The success of the homosexual agenda reveals the desire within the human heart to be as god - just like Satan promised Eve.

Ralph Gallini

Posted: May 29, 2008 12:04 PM

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Not the Mormon Church. Mr. Witte states that "most Mormons" renounced polygamy after 1890. I can't speak for the "Mormons" but the Latter-Day Saints members did not practice polygamy after the issuance of the Manifesto by President Wilford Woodruff. If they did, they were excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and that is the case today. Practicing polygamy is no different than practicing adultry. Both are an offense to God. The FLDS people are not members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They are not a split-off. They have never been a part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A person can call a jackass a racehorse. However, it is still a jackass. Please ask Mr. Witte to be a responsible journalist and make sure he has his facts correct.

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