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Polygamy is one form of a polyamorous relationship that usually denotes a marriage involving three or more people.

The term encompasses polygyny (the practice of one husband having multiple wives); polyandry (the practice of one woman having multiple husbands); and group marriage (the practice of two or more men and two or more women sharing husbands and wives, also known by the slang term swinging). It can also involve three or more people of the same sex in such an arrangement such as in an "open marriage".







The Qur'an permitted polygyny.[9] The practice was also known among European tribes in pre-Christian Europe and in both China and Japan .[10]

In the modern world polygyny is practiced to some extent in China,[11] among certain sects of Mormons[12] [13](the mainstream Mormon Church outlawed the practice in 1890[14]) and in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.[15]

Polyandry is and has been less common around the world, but it has been practiced. Polyandry is part of traditional Tibetan culture[16] and is practiced by some Native American tribes.[17]


The Bible clearly states that marriage, as recognized by God, involves only one man and only one woman;[19] therefore, any other type of "marriage" (whether or not formally legalized) is prohibited, notwithstanding some liberal denominations holding to the contrary.


  1. Beyond Gay Marriage, Stanley Kurtz
  2. Deuteronomy 21:15-17
  3. I Kings 11:1-3
  4. Genesis 30:4
  5. Genesis 35:22
  6. I Timothy 3:2
  7. Titus 1:6
  8. Judaism 101: Marriage
  10. Polygyny in Europe and China
  12. News story on Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints
  13. As polygamy is officially illegal everywhere in the United States, a person (usually the man) will legally only marry one spouse, but "marry" the others in a "religious ceremony" that has no legal standing. The show Sister Wives features such an arrangement involving the Brown family, consisting of Kody (the male), his "legal" wife Robyn, and his "spiritual" wives Meri (who was his previous legal wife; he divorced her to legally marry Robyn so he could officially adopt her children), Janelle and Christine (the latter two have never been legally married to Kody).
  14. LDS official position
  16. List of references
  17. Polyandry among the Inuit [3]
  19. |book=ICorinthians|chap=7|verses=2|version=KJV