Spirit marriages are practiced in the Chinese cultural and consist of a marriage of two deceased persons, arranged by their families to provide continuity. .
Marriage is believed that it's divinely instituted; or even a civil institution involving the state. The belief in the divine institution of marriage, I think is common ground for many religions, such as Islam, Christianity and Judaism. In researching for this paper, I discovered that in the middle ages, Christians didn't have to have the priest blessings in their marriage. However, as the church increased their power, it extended control over marriages and soon after the ceremony was required to take place in a church and performed by a priest. (Strong, 2001).
Today it seems like religion and governments go still argue and debate their rights when it comes to marriage. As states compete with organized religion for power, governments began to regulate marriage. As an example, in the United States, in order for marriages to be legal, no matter what religion, they must be validated through government issued marriage licenses. Another example of how Government is trying to control marriage, it allows each state to set laws regulating marriage. A prime example is in some states; such as Virginia, first cousins may marry; other states prohibit such marriages as incestuous. .
In Western cultures, such as the United States, the only legal form of marriage is monogamy, in which there are only two spouses, the husband and wife. But monogamy is a minority preference among world cultures, exhibited by only 24 percent of the known cultures. The preferred martial arrangement worldwide is polygamy, the practice of having more than one wife or husband. Polygyny is the most widely practiced. This is the practice of having two or more wives. Polyandry, is the practice of having two or more husbands, and is quite rare. .
Because of our cultures traditional roots in Christianity, polygamy is illegal in the United States.