Ken Chin
On polygamy, some Old Testament patriarchs come to mind; also in Biblical times, Leverite marriages wherein a (possibly already married) man was obligated to marry his brother’s wife, and produce an heir, if his brother died prematurely. In an egalitarian society like ours, where men and women are not so unequal in status that an ordinary man can easily monopolize the long-term attentions of several free women, polygamy is a much harder sell. Most people recognize that some discrimination is rational and that some is not. It is invalid to argue that removing one restriction (sexual orientation, not preference) must be extended to removing all other restrictions (e.g. age). Similarly, permitting a minority religious group – say, pacifist Buddhist motorcylist nuns – does not mean we put out the welcome mat for human sacrificers. What’s needed is not a coarse, blunt lack of rational discernment, but finer, keener distinctions.