Polygamy is the practice or custom of having more than one wife or husband at the same time. This practice can be traced back thousands of years. This manner of marriage has been conducted by many of the ancient Israelites in Biblical times. It was not uncommon to have hundreds of wives. Monogamy, which is the practice of having only one wife at a time, was introduced when Paul was making many modifications to the idea of Christianity. Mormons or "Church of Jesus Christ of The Latter Day Saints", have permitted and practiced polygamy in the United States within the 17th Century. When offering reasons to justify the minorities act they bring up the accounts of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob Moses, David and Solomon in Biblical times. They believe that at times the Lord commanded men to have what they call "plural marriages", meaning they would have more than one wife. The founder of the Religion, Prophet Joseph Smith, also claimed to be challenged by this command from the Lord however he obeyed anyway. They did put stipulations on joining this way of life for the culture because church leaders regulated the practice, not just anyone could practice polygamy. Men entering this practice had to be given permission to do so and the marriages were only to be performed through the sealing power of the priesthood. So they validated the practice of polygamy with the argument that at times certain people could be commanded by the Lord to enter into polygamy. They conclude their assertion that the Lord's law of marriage is monogamy unless some is commanded otherwise by the Lord. Mormons believe that the possible necessity of polygamy is to help establish the House of Israel. .
Many arguments from the majority culture leak over into the argument of same sex marriages and other ways of sexual lifestyle. The majority feel that laws that define marriage will violate equal protection laws. A recent article considers the majority's opinion in that if we considered constitutionalizing polygamy then we would have to consider all laws in place regarding many sexual issues such as sodomy or homosexuality.
