Lesson video

Hello there, my young scholars of religion.

My name is Miss.

Marks and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today.

So we're going to be doing about contemporary family issues and thinking about polygamy and thinking about the different reasons why people might agree or not agree with this practise, as well as understanding how this relates to UK law.

We'll be using quite a bit of social science when we're doing this and thinking about some of the factors that influence people's views.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of this lesson you're about to explain how polygamy is viewed around the world and religious teachings and views on it.

So let's start with our key terms. Monogamy, the practise of having one spouse, husband or wife.

Polygamy, the practise of having multiple spouses, wives and or husbands, spouse, a marriage partner, husband or wife.

So watch out for those in today's lesson.

So our lesson today, we'll have two sections, polygamy and religious teachings and views on polygamy.

So let's start with our first section, polygamy.

So what words do you already know with the prefixes mono and poly? We've just seen polygamy and monogamy.

What other words might you know that have got those prefixes? Have a think, you can pause the video and talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we use these a lot, don't we, in English.

Mono something, poly something.

We could have Monopoly, we could have monorail.

We've got polyester and polygon and polystyrene.

So mono here, the monorail is a good example, it means it only has one rail.

A polygon has many sides.

So we can see this might be to do with one and many.

What do the prefix mono and poly mean? Pause the video and have another think.

And you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

You might even know the word monotheist as something that some religious people are when they believe there's only one God.

Well the words monogamy and polygamy come from Greek, and that's how we can understand what they mean.

We've got mono and gamy here with monogamy.

Mono meaning one, gamy meaning marriage.

So therefore monogamy means being married to one spouse.

Polygamy however, poly means many.

So can you figure out what that must mean then? Well polygamy means being married to more than one spouse, and there are two main types of polygamy.

Polygyny, a man with many wives and polyandry, a woman with many husbands.

So polygyny where a man has many women, if you've heard of a gynaecologist who's to do with women's health.

And then polyandry is when a woman has many husbands.

So let's do a quick check.

What is the definition of polygamy then? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see you to come up with in a moment.

Well done, it's being married to more than one spouse, so that could be more than one husband or more than one wife.

Polygamy is where one person has got more than one spouse.

So there are some countries in the world that do allow polygamous marriages.

So this can be where a woman marries more than one husband or a husband marries more than one wife or a combination.

So this is allowed in the countries that are green on the map at the moment.

So you can see it's quite a spread of different countries, different parts of the world where polygamous marriages are allowed.

What do you notice about the countries which allow polygamy? Is there anything in particular that you could notice about where most of those countries are located then? So whilst it does stretch across different parts of the world, is there anything you could notice about the particular areas of the world where this is allowed by law? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well many of those countries have a high Muslim population or a high percentage of Muslim population, for example, we've got North Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia.

So it's not only Muslim countries that allow polygamy to happen, but there are majority there of those countries would have high proportions of Muslims living in those countries.

So how could that connect to polygamy then? Pause the video and have another think.

And you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well it could show us that polygamy, polygyny is accepted in Islamic teachings.

So there are places in the world where people might practise polyandry.

So where a woman marries more than one husband, but the vast majority of the countries here that have polygamy accepted in law is to do with polygyny where a man has more than one wife and it is accepted within Islamic teachings.

So even though polygamy may be legal in some countries, it is rarely practised.

So it might be in the law that it's legal, but actually, there aren't that many households that practise this.

This map shows the sort of approximate percentage of people in polygamous households.

So we can see here that around the world and even the areas where it's legal, it's a very low percentage of people.

So that map doesn't match exactly to where it's legal.

So it shows us that it's not necessarily practised as much as just because it's in the law, it's allowed.

Estimates on the numbers of polygamous marriages in the UK range from 1000 to 20,000.

There's no official statistics as they're not recognised under UK law.

So it's not gathered in the census.

They're not recorded in legal documents as a civil marriage is.

So we don't actually know how many people in the UK are in polygamous marriages.

So that case would be the same for these statistics too.

So you can't always necessarily say this is a true representation of the exact numbers of people in those marriages.

In the UK there are two types of marriage.

We've got civil marriage, which could take place anywhere that has a licence.

Sometimes that might be a church, it could be other buildings.

These are always recognised under law.

It's a legal document when it's a civil marriage between those two people.

And there's different rights, different expectations, different things that can happen because that couple are married and only monogamous marriages are legal in the UK, you can only have one of those marriages at any time with one person.

You can divorce and remarry legally, but you can't have two marriages at the same time.

That marriage is between two people and then they're married.

But also in the UK some people might have religious marriages which would take place in a religious place.

It could be legal if that building has a licence.

Monogamous marriages only.

So for example, a church, someone might get married in a church, it has the licence to hold the wedding and to do the legal document.

So they might have the religious part of the ceremony and then go to one side and sign the documents for the civil part of the ceremony.

So that can happen at the same time.

But there are these two separate sort of things going on in a marriage like that.

Other religious marriages could take place in other religious buildings but not necessarily have that civil legal aspect to it.

So polygamous marriages may be allowed if the religion allows it.

So a religious group might allow and say, we recognise this in our religion that you're married, but it's not gonna be recognised under UK law.

So there's certain protections and rights that that couple will not have, that they would have if it was a legal civil marriage.

So this means that if someone has a polygamous marriage in the UK, it's not recognised by law.

So this means that polygamous marriages performed in the UK are not recognised under the law.

That's slightly different to saying it's illegal to have one.

It's not breaking a law to have a polygamous religious marriage, but what it does mean is it's not seen as a marriage at all.

So those rights and expectations that might come with the civil marriage are not there for that polygamous marriage because it's not recognised as a marriage 'cause you can only have a marriage between one person and a spouse under law in the UK.

Let's do a quick check.

Is it against the law to be in a polygamous marriage in the UK? Is that true or false? Pause the video and have the go, we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, it's false, isn't it? It's a bit of a trick one, because you can't legally be in a polygamous marriage, but it's not against the law to do one.

It's not against the law to be in a polygamous marriage.

However, you cannot legally marry more than once in the UK at the same time, if your spouse dies or you get divorced, then you can marry again, but you can't have two consecutive marriages at the same time in the UK.

So we can often use philosophy and social science to help us when we're investigating these different issues within religious studies.

And Sam, Jun, Jacob and Laura have come up with some philosophical and social science questions linking to polygamy.

Here's what they say, Sam says, "Well, why do people practise polygamy?" And Jun says, "Is it morally acceptable to practise polygamy?" And Jacob says, "What are the possible positives and negatives of polygamy?" And Laura says, "What factors might influence someone's views on polygamy?" So what do you think about these questions? How would you start to answer them? Pause video and have a think and you can talk about them to the person next to you or to me.

Well, how could Sam, Jun, Jacob and Laura actually find out some of the answers then? Again, pause the video and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, let's explore them together now, there are different reasons why polygamy has been practised around the world.

Let's have a think about some of these reasons.

Tribal benefits, in communities it can create large family groups that are more advantageous for power.

So if you've got a bigger group that's connected through marriage and through children and through that big family, then it could have more power in that society, couldn't it? Religious teachings, some religious teachings do support its practise, so it benefits members spiritually if they're following the teachings of their religion, they're gonna feel that they're getting that spiritual benefit.

Economic benefits, it can save money and make more money with earners contributed to a household.

If you've got more adults connected to and feeding into that household together, then it can have that economic benefit, can't it? And also it can provide support for widows and orphans.

So in some societies perhaps there's been a war and many young men have been killed in the war and there's women who have been made widows and their children are orphans.

This can then mean that they can be welcomed in and they get a chance of that marriage and that protection if that's what's needed within that society.

So they may get a better life because of that situation.

Well, let's see what people in the UK thought about this then.

In a UK survey, participants were asked, do you think polygamy is morally acceptable or morally wrong? And what do you think they're going to say? Have a think about this.

We can say, what would all of the people said? And do you think there'd be a difference between how men and women answered this question? Pause a video and have a think and we'll see what the results say in a moment.

So we can see here that 18%, so almost 1/5 said it was morally acceptable for polygamy in the UK, whereas 66, so that's 2/3 said it was morally wrong.

16% said they didn't know.

So yes, the majority think it's morally wrong, but there is quite a sizable minority there of people saying that it is morally acceptable.

Let's see how it might be different for men and women.

So before we look at the results for men and women, do you think they'll have similar views or different views and why? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, we've got men here slightly higher than everyone saying that it is morally acceptable.

So 24, almost 1/4 of the men saying that it was morally acceptable whereas only 13% of the women did.

So we've got a difference there.

And then the flip side to that, we've got a difference between the men.

62% saying it's morally wrong, but 70% of the women saying it's morally wrong.

So we can see from this that more men seem to accept polygamy than women in the UK.

So what factors then could influence someone's opinion on this then? Why might there be the difference between men and women? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

We can explore that a little bit further in a moment.

Let's do a quick check.

Aisha says, "This data suggests that men are more accepting of polygamy than women." Is she correct? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Aisha is correct, yes, because 24% of men felt it was morally acceptable, which was more than 13% of women.

Thank you, Aisha.

Well, there's different factors that could influence a person's view on polygamy like we've just seen there how some men may be more accepting than women of polygamy.

It could be the law in the place that they live also influences their view.

It could be their religious beliefs influencing their view, could be cultural norms. So cultural norms is the way that people behave and think is like normal or usual for them to do in their society.

It could be their beliefs on the purpose of marriage, like what is marriage there for? Maybe that would then allow there to be multiple spouses for one person.

Can you think of any other factors that might influence a person's view? Is there anything else that might mean that there's a difference in their view on polygamy? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Do you think the age of a person might have an influence on their view on polygamy? Do you think where they live in the United Kingdom might have an influence? Do you have an opinion on whether polygamy is morally acceptable or not and what might have influenced you to have that view? Pause a video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, there are possible positives and negatives Of polygamous, polygynous marriages.

So we're talking about polygamous is to do with having more than one spouse.

So it can happen that it's polyandry.

It can be that there's one person who's married many husbands.

This is a practise that used to be part of Tibetan society where a woman would marry several men because they were often off working in the fields.

And then one could work while the other was at home with the woman.

Or we could be thinking about polygamous marriages where a man has more than one wife.

There can be positives and negatives of this.

So let's have a think about them.

We could say that it provides protection and stability for women, particularly polygamous here, because then they can have that chance of a marriage that they may not have been able to before.

It supports population growth because one man is then able to have children with several wives and have many more children.

So if you want the population to grow in numbers, then it can help with that.

We said earlier that you could have kind of a power balance if your family is greater and you have these closer ties with more people, it could lead to social and political gains.

It could be someone is fulfilling their religious or cultural expectations if that's just what's done in their religion or in their culture or it's part of the teachings for them to do.

There are some negatives to polygamy and polygyny in particular.

Sometimes the women are not treated so well.

If you've got one husband with several wives, then sometimes they're not treated as well as one wife would be on her own.

Sometimes there could be tension or jealousy between the wife.

Sometimes they might get on and see each other almost as like sisters or as part of the same family.

Sometimes there could be that tension, jealousy, rivalry between the different wives and the different children in the family.

There can be legal complications over rights.

So to do with financial matters, to do with care of the children, to do with what happens when the husband passes away if the wives outlive him, who gets the money and how is it sort of divided up if there's any money or an estate.

And there could be tension or jealousy between the children depending on which wife they've been born to.

In communities that do practise polygamy, could it be that the positives outweigh the negatives? Why, what might lead to that? Is there different circumstances, which would mean that the positives outweigh those negatives? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learned.

Sofia is explaining polygamy to her friends, but she's got some information wrong.

So you're going to change her explanation to make it all correct.

Okay, so this is what Sofia says.

"Polygamy is when a person has one spouse, polygamy is legal in some countries, for example, France, even though it's legal, it's rare for people to live in polygamous households.

It's more common in Christian countries.

In the UK it's possible to have polygamous civil marriages.

Data suggests that most people in the UK believe that polygamy is morally wrong." What mistakes has Sofia made, change them so it's all correct.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you done in a moment.

Well done, some good thinking.

Did you spot all of Sofia's mistakes? Your answer should include, polygamy is when a person has more than one spouse.

Polygamy is legal in some countries, for example, Indonesia.

Even though it's legal, it's rare people to live in polygamous households.

It's more common in Muslim countries.

In the UK it's possible to have polygamous religious marriages.

Data suggests that most people in the UK believe that polygamy is morally wrong.

Thank you Sofia.

So onto our second section then, religious teachings and views on polygamy.

There are examples of polygamy mentioned in the Old Testament of the Bible.

So for Christians within the Bible, which is the holy book of Christianity, there are examples where different prophets and leaders had multiple spouses.

And this is polygyny examples in the Bible where a male had more than one female spouse.

So for example in Genesis, in the Torah it says "Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah." So here we've got someone in Genesis who has more than one wife.

In Deuteronomy it says "The rules of the Right of the firstborn starts with if a man has two wives." So even in the law that's been set out, it's been a kind of a seems to be allowed for there to be a man to have more than one wife.

And in Genesis it also says that "Abraham has two wives, Sarah and Hagar." So Abraham, and there's lots of stories about Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and their children, Ishmael and Isaac.

So we can see that Abraham as a key prophet there have more than one wife.

So this shows at the time of the Old Testament, polygamy was practised.

However, most Christians argue this doesn't mean it should be practised today.

Just because it was practised then doesn't mean that it should be practised today.

There are New Testament teachings.

So that was the Old Testament examples we were just looking at being the New Testament teachings that seem to support monogamy over polygamy.

Let's have a look at some.

In Matthew 19, Jesus says, "For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife and the two will become one flesh.

So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." So this is often used to do with marriage and divorce as a very key text here of Jesus speaking about this.

But how could this connect to the idea of monogamy then? Pause the video and have a think and you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well, the use of singular terms for man and wife and the number two indicate a monogamous marriage.

A man will leave his father and be reunited with his wife.

So it's one man and one wife being together.

The two will become one flesh.

Let's do a quick check.

Complete the missing word in the Bible quotation.

So they're no longer something but one flesh.

What word is missing? Pause the video and have a go.

We'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done, they're no longer two but one flesh.

Well done.

So now Jason is going to explain to us the teachings of the Catholic church around this.

So Jason says, "The Catholic catechism says polygamy is contrary to the conjugal love, which is undivided and exclusive, which means a person's love for their spouse should be for one person only.

We believe that a monogamous marriage is where a couple become one flesh and it's a special union that can only be done between two people." Thank you Jason.

And Fergus is an Anglican Christian.

So he's a Church of England Christian.

And he says, "There are some small Christian splinter groups that do permit polygamy.

However, mainstream Christian teachings support monogamy only.

The Church of England has said it upholds monogamy as God's plan as the idol relationship of love between a husband and wife.

And this is supported by the teaching of Jesus and Paul in the New Testament." Thank you Fergus.

But we saw that in some Muslim majority countries, polygamy is permitted.

However, there are conditions set out in Muslim teachings around this.

So in different sources of authority within Islam, polygamy is permitted, but there are conditions for this.

So in the Quran, which is the ultimate source of authority for Muslims, it says, "Marry the women you like two, three, or four.

But if you fear you'll not be fair then one or what you already have, that makes it more likely that you avoid bias." What type of polygamy does this refer to and how many spouses does it suggest are allowed? Pause the video and have a think and reread it.

And you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well we have here marry the women you like.

So it is polygyny, so it's a man with many wives and it says you can marry two, three or four.

So up to four wives.

So many Muslim traditions state that before this there were people with many, many, many, many wives and this was limiting it down to four.

So it was an action of limiting it down to try and make it more equal perhaps, limiting it to four wives.

But what condition for this polygamy does the quotation the Quran give? It gives a condition and what is the condition? Pause the video and have another reread.

And you can talk to the person next to you or talk to me.

Well done, we've got this idea of being fair and avoiding bias.

Let's do a quick check, up to how many wives does the Quran permit? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done, it was up to four wives.

while Ilham is a Muslim and she's going to explain what this Quran teaching means.

And she says, "Whilst the Quran permits polygamy, polygyny, it makes clear the wives must be treated fairly.

The prophet Muhammad also said, when a man has two wives and he's inclined to one of them, he will come on the day of resurrection with a side hanging down, which suggests that unfair treatment may have consequences in the afterlife." So they must be treated fairly and equally.

And Alex is asking Hassan, "Hassan, please, could you explain more about the context of polygamy in the Quran?" And Hassan says, "At the time the Prophet Muhammad, women and girls were not always treated well.

Girls that were orphaned would not have good prospects.

Some men had many wives polygamy but treated them badly.

Muhammad taught that a man should have up to four wives and they should be treated fairly.

Marrying orphans meant these women could have a safer life.

Restricting numbers also helped to protect women." And Alex is asking Zainab.

"Zainab, can you please explain how Muslims in the UK can practise polygamy?" And Zainab says, "Whilst you can only have one wife, according to the law, it is possible for Muslim men to marry more than one wife polygamy at the mosque, it means they'll be married according to Islam, but only the wife that has the legal marriage has legal rights in the UK.

In countries where polygamy is allowed, then all the wives are considered legal." Thank you, Zainab.

Let's do a quick check.

What type of polygamy does Islam allow? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you come up with in a moment.

Well done, polygyny.

So when a man has married more than one wife.

Let's do a practise task to see what we've learned.

Here's a full evaluation question using a statement about polygamy.

And the statement is, a man should only have one wife.

In a full answer you would evaluate this giving recent arguments in support, recent arguments in support of a different view, referring to religious arguments.

You may refer to non-religious arguments and you would reach a justified conclusion.

We're just going to do one section of this.

Jacob has started his answer that he needs help with using source of authority to support his points.

We are going to help him by completing his points.

And Jacob's points are, most Christians agree the statement because the Bible says, Catholics agree with the statement because the catechism says, Muslim teachings disagree with the statement as the Quran says, Mohammed also supported polygamy as the Hadith says.

So what source of authority could Jacob use with each of his points? Pause the video and have a go and we'll see you've done in a moment.

Well done, some good thinking there.

So I asked you to find a source of authority that could support each of Jacob's points.

And you might have included, most Christians agree with the statement 'cause the Bible says "A man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife.

The two will become one flesh." Catholics agree with the statement because the catechism says "Polygamy is contrary to conjugal love, which is undivided and exclusive." Muslim teachings disagree with the statement as the Quran says, "Marry women you like two, three or four." And Mohamed also supported polygamy as in the Hadith it says, "When a man has two wives." Well done.

So let's summarise everything we've learned today.

Contemporary family issues, polygamy.

Polygamy is the practise of having more than one spouse.

Polygamy is legal in some countries, particularly those with large Muslim communities.

Polygamous marriage is not recognised by law in the UK, however, it is recognised by some religions.

There are different factors that influence people's views on polygamy.

Christian teachings support monogamy.

Muslim teachings support polygamy, polygyny if it meets certain requirements.

So well done for your hard work today and I hope to see you again soon, bye-bye.