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• Polygamy is the practice of simultaneously maintaining a marriage to more than one spouse. Polygyny describes a man with multiple wives, while polyandry describes a woman with multiple husbands.

• Fast Facts

  1. Polygyny: One man with multiple wives
  2. Polyandry: One woman with multiple husbands
  3. Group marriage: Polygyny and polyandry combination
  4. Polygamous practices followed by many groups throughout history, including some Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities USA Today: Polygamy laws expose our own hypocrisy (October 3, 2004)
  5. About 20,000 American Muslims practice polygamy (2007)Slate.com: What to Expect When You're Expecting a Co-Wife (July 24, 2007)
  6. About 37,500 fundamentalist Mormon polygamists in the U.S., Canada and Mexico (2007)Slate.com: What to Expect When You're Expecting a Co-Wife (July 24, 2007)

• Polygamy and Mormonism

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned polygamy in 1890, though some members continued the practice for years after the ban.NPR: Polygamist Raid is PR Nightmare for Mormons (June 30, 2008) However, according to the Mormon church, fundamentalist sects that practice polygamy, like the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, are not Mormons.LDS Newsroom: Polygamist Sects Are Not "Mormons," Church Says (October 25, 2006)

• 2008 Polygamous Sect Raid

  On April 8, 2008, more than 400 children were taken from a ranch maintained by a polygamous group in Texas, following reports that they had been forced into marriage and abused.Los Angeles Times: Court rules against removal of polygamists' children (May 23, 2008)

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