Citizens must be serially monogamous - but visitors would not be charged with bigamy/polygamy.
There is a LOT of "don't ask, don't tell" look the other way, unless you try to collect government benefits of some sort. davew On Sat, Oct 6, 2012, at 11:54 AM, Sarbajit Roy wrote: > From what I can make out, the Mormons in Utah agreed to > give up polygamy so that Utah could become a State of the > Union. > > However, your Constitution apparently guarantees the First > Amendment Right to freely practice any religion. With religions > like Islam specifically permitting polygamy, how are your courts > dealing with it. > > http://www.law.emory.edu/ifl/cases/USA.htm > > On 10/6/12, Prof David West <[email protected]> wrote: > > Small nit --- > > > > On Sat, Oct 6, 2012, at 12:29 AM, Sarbajit Roy wrote: > > > >> Apparently the LDS / Mormons use the same method. > > > > You are correct only in the case of "fundamentalist" offshoots - like > > Warren Jeffs and his FLDS church where plural marriage was used as a > > kind of social control and propagation of the leader's genes. All of > > these groups have been excommunicated from the mainstream church. > > > > With the individual exceptions (including perhaps the founder of the > > church) the practice of polygamy in Utah - before it was outlawed - was > > centered around social welfare - a very large surplus of elderly women, > > past child bearing years, with no means of supporting themselves. > > > > I received a grant about fifteen years ago and did an ethnography of > > contemporary plural marriages in the Western U.S. - about a third of > > them had no association/affiliation with Mormonism. With the exception > > of the fundamentalist breakaways - plural marriage seems to have very > > little to do with either religion or sex - it is first and foremost and > > economic institution - and a source of significant wealth. This is > > probably not true in cultures where women are sequestered and > > restricted, i.e. cannot be engines of economic gain. > > > > davew > > > > > >> ============================================================ > >> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > >> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > >> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
