Polygamy, You Say?
Solving fatherlessness.

May 17, 2001 8:00 a.m.

an it be true that Divine Messages are being transmitted to us through the newspapers? This is the suggestion of an associate who, because of his minor muscatel fascination, cannot always be trusted. But he does make the entertaining point that this very week, Americans were presented with two front-page stories whose simultaneous presence “cannot be considered coincidental.”

Because idleness is our co-pilot, let us take a closer look at his argument.

The first story concerned the alarming increase in the number of households led by single mothers. This story, based on census figures, was hardly surprising — astute and highly reviled social scientists have been talking about this for years. Nonetheless, the news is grim because of its personal and societal implications, both for the mothers, who will have a hard time scratching out a living, and their children, who will have an increased chance of growing up poor, illiterate, vicious, and routinely stoned.

The other story was about a professed Utah Mormon who is now on trial for polygamy. This is a rare prosecution, especially in light of suspicions that a respectable rump of Mormons continue to walk the trail blazed by founder Joseph Smith, who may have had as many as 52 wives. In any event, my associate sees a Divine Hand at work here. By unleashing these two events simultaneously, he argues, the Almighty is telling us that polygamy is at least part of the solution to our larger social problem.

This is a provocative theory, to say the least. The Western tradition, for one thing, has determined that polygamy is contrary to sound social policy and sound theology as well. Why would the good Lord, who is thought to be very pro-Western in His views, advocate such a policy — and be reduced to using the public press to advance the cause?

Such questions of course have no answers. As it happens, however, there is a small but vocal lobby that insists the Lord is indeed on the side of the polygamists, including a fellow named Pastor Steve, who heads the appropriately named Broken Shackle Ministries. The organization’s organizing Verse is Galatians 5:13: “You, my brothers, were called to be free.” His web address is bfree.org, where a visitor finds Pastor Steve pictured with four women, all of whom are smiling.

The pastor explains his position this way: “Biblical Patriarchy is a family chain of loving authority proceeding from Father God as Head of Christ, through Christ as Head of man and man as head of woman. It is evident that through this order God’s Headship and its blessings are extended outward in a flow of His loving family government to all who willingly choose to be so governed. Biblical Patriarchy is not thus narrow and exclusive but is broad and expansive — meant to provide a place in God’s order for all his sons and daughters. This is the true principle behind Biblical polygamy.”

While some will call him a radical, Pastor Steve reminds us that his views are quite ancient. Solomon, a fellow with his own book in the Bible, had 700 wives--plus 300 concubines. Holy bedsores, one might observe. In a more serious vein, the pastor writes, “It is known that many of God’s faithful patriarchs had plural wives and large families. Examples are Abraham, Jacob and David, to name a few.” This all came to an end when the “traditional Church adopted Roman forced monogamy early on, along with many other Roman ideas and practices, and is still under the influence of this unbiblical skewed view of marriage and morality today. However, there is nothing in Jesus’ teachings or in the teachings of the apostles that has reversed Biblical polygamy as being allowable according to the Scriptures. It is not required of everyone. However, it is allowed to anyone who is called to it.”

One senses that with the right management, Pastor Steve could go places in this world. Meanwhile, another pro-polygamy site tells us that “Among the 849 human societies examined by the anthropologist Murdock (1967), the vast majority (83%) practiced polygamy, men having more than one wife; monogamy was characteristic of only 16% of the societies." Anthropologists, of course, can be vicious liars, but cool-headed observers, including the New York Times, report that polygamy indeed is quite popular in some parts of the world, especially Africa.

All of which returns us to the larger question: Can polygamy be a partial solution to the plague of fatherlessness sweeping the land? To answer this question, vast powers of theorizing must be brought to bear. While many women are single parents for understandable reasons, some would no doubt marry if a suitable man could be found. Many times, of course, that is not possible, while in other cases various “issues” may spook possible suitors: a thick waistline, a thin salary, or a couple of malevolent and heavily armed children. By forming a small cartel, however, a group of like-minded women could offer an attractive and perhaps irresistible signing package — perhaps including a Barcolounger and satellite television — in exchange for which the male would make his own contributions, including duty as a father figure.

Well, maybe. As for myself, polygamy seems a hellish choice. My view of the appropriate number of wives echoes what the Unitarians say regarding the likely number of Gods: One at most. Yet such specialization is a sign of advancement, and we are clearly in serious decline. To return to my friend’s theological theme: Perhaps the Almighty is out to lure humanity back down the ladder it earlier ascended, and when a predetermined low point is reached, will reach over, click off the sun, and proclaim “Good Riddance, turkeys!”

Of course, that may simply be the muscatel talking.