Polygamy is widely blamed for social ills ranging from school absenteeism to street violence.
In 1890 the church banned the polygamy for which it used to be notorious.
While polygamy was customary, husbands protected and provided for their wives no matter how many they had.
The affair has exposed both the reality of polygamy and the difficulty of doing anything about it.
The FLDS split from the Mormon Church more than a century ago after the latter renounced polygamy.
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Most are of African origin, particularly from Muslim parts of the Maghreb and Sahel, where polygamy is accepted.
When studying culturally independent societies, anthropologists have found that over 80% permit polygamy.
Perhaps then my husband and I can discuss what polygamy is all about.
Many religious practices (such as polygamy, once practised by Mormons) are clearly illegal.
The combination of generous inheritance laws and the practice of polygamy meant that wealth was dispersed among numerous claimants.
He is also outspoken against patriarchy and has criticized polygamy as a practice that increases the risk of spreading HIV.
Bountiful was set up in 1946 after half-a-dozen men were excommunicated from the mainstream Mormon church, which banned polygamy in 1890.
Numerous other social issues can stem from polygamy, including higher crime rates.
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He suggested family patterns, including polygamy and absent fathers, were a factor.
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Polygamy is legal in South Africa, and acceptable in his Zulu culture, but that doesn't let him off the hook in the comedy clubs.
While legal in South Africa, polygamy is losing popularity with the younger generation in the continent, where it is still practiced in some cultures.
Polygamy is very prevalent here so we are trying to talk to the men and get them to change their behaviour of having several wives.
The issue of polygamy encapsulates the debate over whether minorities have the right to follow their own customs or conform to established Judaeo Christian values.
Why did her mother need to suffer the humiliation of polygamy?
Polygamy is understood to often be harmful to women and children: Women, for example, are in many cases treated unequally, and children suffer from distant fathers.
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In those cases the women and children are likely to be worse off than in polygamy, as the bond between the mother and father is weaker.
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This despite the fact that the Mormon Church renounced polygamy more than a century ago and that Romney has only ever had one wife (Ann, married since 1969).
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There are four A7 cores married to a quartet of A15s, an interesting bit of digital polygamy that could result in a very efficient CPU. We shall see.
Its greatest breaks with mainstream society, such as polygamy, are in the past, but the church still stumbles into the occasional controversy, most recently over its opposition to gay marriage.
Rakhshan Bani Etemad has established herself as the elder stateswoman of Iranian cinema with documentaries and films dealing with poverty, crime, divorce and polygamy such as Nargess and Lady In May.
Indeed, polygamy can sometimes be a matter of survival.
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In a way, many thousands of them were simply practicing polygamy in reverse, minus the traditional protection and assistance of husbands and without the sense of family that had once been the strength of the tribe.
"I don't think that polygamy should be enshrined in law because it will affect the mutual love and companionship that a marriage needs and it will also affect the stability of the family, " says Dr Ali.
What of another traditionally controversial matter: polygamy.
In both cases, this involved polygamy among Mormons, first when Lincoln banned bigamy in 1862 (the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act) and again in 1890 when the federal government insisted Utah outlaw polygamy as a condition of becoming a state.
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