When the Defense of Marriage Act, a law duly passed by both houses of Congress and signed by then-President Bill Clinton, was overturned in a 5-4 ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court, it was just same-sex marriage that was affirmed.
That ruling opened the door for any new definition of marriage to be applied.
Remember what DOMA said. Here is the very unusually simple, straightforward and concise language of the law: “In determining the meaning of any Act of Congress, or of any ruling, regulation, or interpretation of the various administrative bureaus and agencies of the United States, the word ‘marriage’ means only a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife, and the word ‘spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.”
The entire law was overturned by the Supreme Court.
That opens the door for any new definition of marriage anywhere in the U.S.
One can hardly make the legal case against group marriage, or polygamy, following this ruling. (Well, of course we can, because this wasn’t a legal ruling at all. It was a political ruling cloaked in black robes and pomp and circumstance as all Supreme Court rulings are. But nevertheless, bad political rulings have consequences when they come from “on high.”)
The only argument that can be made against polygamy is a moral or religious argument – and that one was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court when it rejected same-sex marriage.
So what is happening on that front today?
Is there a demand for polygamy?
Will it grow?
- As a condition of Utah becoming a state, it had to outlaw polygamy. And a recent poll shows 57 percent of Utahans believe such laws should stay. But 43 percent are either unsure or oppose such laws. Does the U.S. government now owe Utah an apology for forcing it to outlaw polygamy?
- Some of the most “progressive” websites in America are now asking the question: “If polygamy were legalized, would you practice it?”
- Polygamy is on the upswing in Great Britain, as the Muslim population increases dramatically and Shariah law is more widely accepted. It’s worth pointing out that 80 percent of the mosques in the U.S. have been built since Sept. 11, 2001. That suggests a similar dramatic rise of the Islamic population in the U.S. as well.
- Polygamy is already here in the U.S. and being championed by “gay-rights” activists and “progressive” publications like the Huffington Post.
- Kent Greenfield, a liberal Boston College law school professor, admits there is a slippery slope leading to polygamy created by the Supreme Court decisions: “As a matter of constitutional rationale, there is indeed a slippery slope between recognizing same-sex marriages and allowing marriages among more than two people and between consenting adults who are related.”
- Organized polygamy activists have already filed suits to decriminalize or legalize the practice based on the same-sex marriage precedents.
I recall with bemusement now debates I participated in just a few short years ago with homosexual activists who claimed there just wasn’t any “demand” for polygamy, as there was for same-sex marriage.
I scoffed back then because the demand for polygamy has always been there – since the beginning of time. The second largest faith in the world condones polygamy for its 1.2 billion practitioners. Polygamy was widespread through the world before Islam was birthed 1,300 years ago.
Polygamy is a practice that is going to have to be dealt with by lawmakers and judges in the U.S. – not 10 years from now, but very, very soon.
A country like the U.S., which is rapidly becoming post-Christian, will find itself without any intellectual or spiritual justification for fighting it. In fact, there is far more biblical justification for polygamy than for same-sex marriage.
I don’t know if this is an unintended consequence of the push for same-sex marriage or one that was perfectly understood from the beginning by its activists. It doesn’t even matter at this point. It’s here and it seems no force on earth can contain it or deny it.
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