A couple of years ago someone who said that allowing same sex marriage would lead to allowing polygamy would have been accused of fear mongering or using the “slippery slope” argument. Personally I was never persuaded by this argument as the argument does not positively present why marriage is between one man and one woman. Nevertheless, I tip my hat to all who made the argument. In 2005 Canada made same sex marriage legal. Today the Supreme Court of British Columbia is hearing closing arguments on a polygamy case. One of the husbands involved has 19 wives. The other has only two. Apparently the defense is basing its argument on the changes made to the Canadian law allowing gay marriage. (Hat tip Anglican Mainstream). Here is an article from the Christian Institute.
Supposing for a moment that the defendants in this case win, and polygamy becomes legal in Canada, what will be the impact on the cultural understanding of marriage? Will polyamory marriage be far behind? If it too is allowed, what does “Marriage” mean in such a context? The social consequences are clear and well known. In the European Union for example the number of children born outside of marriage has doubled over the last ten years. Why? The reason is quite simple. It is the same reason why the divorce rate in California is middle of the pack in the USA. People aren’t getting married. When the definition of marriage is so blurry why bother? It will be interesting to see what happens in Canada.
I suspect that the pressure on the churches to support same sex marriage will diminish over time as “marriage” itself becomes a religious statement instead of a social statement.