By and large, people look at marriage as a public event and not as a condition to be able participate in the perpetuation of the human race. Thus when we talk about marriage the major things that are put into consideration are the legal, cultural and religious aspects of the procedure. Hence, monogamous and polygamous have been relegated just to name certain types of marriages in the interest of complying with societal and religious norms.

It was the Christian religion that greatly opposed polygamy. Their detractors often challenge them with the paradox presented in the Bible, the basis of Christian religion, of the marriage of some of the greatest characters of the Old Testament to several women, such as Moses (Numbers 12:1) and Abraham (Genesis 16:1, Genesis 16:3 and Genesis 25:1). St. Augustine staunchly defended this practice in one of his writings 'The Good of Marriage' as it was needed to populate the world. Obviously, as this need no longer true, the Church has abolished polygamy rendering it as illegal. The Protestants were divided in their pronouncements as some continued with the practice but eventually was constrained to give it up due to the growing public condemnation of the system.

The Mormons of the Church of the Latter Day Saints on the other hand held fast to their polygamous practice and even preached it to their congregation. The founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, Jr. based his arguments in the same biblical accounts on polygamy. The Mormons practiced it for more than four decades starting in 1852. Towards the end of the century, the church finally bowed down to political and legal constraints and prohibited the practice of multiple marriages. Despite the Mormon Church's declaration and the threat of excommunication to those who defy it, there were members who rebelled against the change in their church's stand and migrated to neighboring countries such as Canada to put up their own fundamentalist church and continue their polygamous practice.

Presently the State and the legal system believe that polygamy has no place in an orderly and moral society. The Christian Church and pragmatism play major roles for the establishment of this belief. We cannot begin to imagine the mess it would cause if every divorce or death of one spouse will necessitate the settlement of the properties among a number of spouses and their children. Additionally, the inequity of the division will greatly affect the social standing of the spouse and her children who have been left with the least inheritance who will be forced to live with a lifetime of stigma and insecurity. The Church's active and incessant campaign against polygamy has caused its reduction to obsolescence.