Recently, one of my insightful friends wrote, "I got thinking about polygamy and how interesting it was that the saints were commanded to live that principle over a hundred years ago and not today. Honestly, I think it would really go over well today, since more and more marriages are seen as ‘open' and fidelity is optional." She mentioned that the early Latter-day Saints considered polygamy a hardship, while people today struggle with monogamy.
My friend points up the polygamous character of our culture, although people in the mainstream don't generally commit to polygamous relationships as fundamentalists claim to do. According to recent polls, women in America are almost as likely as men to engage in extramarital relationships-over sixty percent of them. Roughly two out of three marriages are headed for divorce and thus, serial polygamy. And many people will remain uncommitted and unmarried, finding sexual and romantic partners in a ‘catch as catch can' style. The question hovers: which way of life breeds a stronger nest for shoring up the character of the relationship and the children born into the relationship? The time for a responsible, penetrating, and authentic study of polygamy by choice versus "accidental" polygamy is upon us.
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