Re: murderers.... Such people might be genuine xians - but mentally ill. Does that make them not xian? Catholics believe that if they confess to a priest and then do the appropriate penance, in the eyes of god they are sinless again (an extreme example would be IRA terrorists in the past, planting a bomb that killed loads of people then going straight to the priest to confess). Again, they would still be 'xians', because of their beliefs. So I thought the murder argument was spurious.
Also a bit offensive and judgemental, to bracket polygamists in with murderers! Or is it just me spotted that?
Personally the only problem I have with polygamy as professed by xians like Mormons is the fact it's all one way - men with mdidle age crises getting swathes of successively younger and younger women.
Not xian, but I have chatted to someone who was the second wife of a polygamous marriage. A few years back one of my neighbours was a muslim lady whos 'husband' was already married elsewhere and largely lived with the first wife (The three didn't all live together but there were 2 households. Wife # 2, the one I knew, had a council (project) house ie: provided by the state, so presumably her upkeep cost him minimal and as far as the state was concerned, she lived as a single mother with her little son, so she got full benefits (welfare) as well. This man didn't even support her financially. She told me she was lonely and unhappy and felt second class because husband was usually with the first wife - but she was the one with the son, which is what kept him coming back. I felt she was being used. She was a lovely lady - but very unhappy.
So my impression of polygamy within a religious context is, that it is a way of using women sexually or in a Henry VIII kind of way to get a son. I'd have thought for a community of people crossing the Rockies, in the 19thC, polygamy was probably a practical solution - the usual thing of bums on seats ie: the more women of childbearing age married off, the more kids, so the future of the sect is guaranteed. Although of course it wouldn't be presented like that.
I have no problem with anyone having multiple partners - but it should cut both ways. In some native American cultures (not all), polygamy was also practiced, and extra wives were seen as status symbols implying the man could support them! But from what I saw of 20thC polygamy, the woman was being supported by the taxpayer, so this man could have more than one partner. I've seen TV documentaries about Mormons and must admit the impression I got wasn't too flattering for them - just creepy men getting younger and younger women, and fooling them into thinking they were there for any other reason than sex. But as I say, you can no doubt use scriptural passages to justify anything.
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