Why is polygamy prohibited by Christianity?

Answer 1

Several places in The Bible God says that one man is to marry one woman. The first place is in Genesis, around the third chapter I believe. To do anything else is to invite trouble like jealousy etc. You can see some of the problems inherent in polygamy in the relationship Jacob had with Rachel and Leah among others.

Answer 2

A:

Christianity prohibits polygamy on historical and ethical grounds.

The historical reason is no doubt the less important. Whereas the Jews still permitted polygamy in the first century, when Christianity arose, the dominant pagans saw polygamy as immoral, and Rome itself regarded it as a crime. Christianity spread through the gentile regions of the empire and was therefore influenced by the moral standards of the empire.

The ethical and moral reasons can be more nuanced. Polygamy almost always creates women as second-class, with men dominating their harems , no matter how publicly they claim to treat their women well. If women were equally permitted to have multiple husbands (polyandry), this would be some evidence of equality, but they almost never are.

Another ethical reason is that nature creates equal numbers of boys and girls (actually slightly more boys than girls). Every man who is able to take more than one wife must mean another man who remains unmarried. Of course, women can be rationed by a bride-price or dowry, so that only the wealthy can afford wives: this is yet another ethical concern.

It is not a defence of polygamy to say that polygamy allows a man to take a widow or destitute woman as a second wife, since monogamous societies solve this very well by treating women as equals. Widows and potentially destitute women can marry single or widowed men.

Since polygamy means that some men must remain unmarried, these unfortunate men face pressure to become homosexual, even when that is not their natural inclination - yet religions that espouse polygamy are loudest in condemning homosexuality. Another potential outcome is sexual assault of women, by young men with little chance of fulfilling their urges through marriage.