The Gallup organization released a new poll on May 16, 2005, titled, "Society's Moral Boundaries Expand Somewhat This Year." The question of polygamy was included among a number of different "moral issues" presented in the poll. While some moral issues were reported to have rising "moral acceptance" from previous years, polygamy was reported as having a steady disapproval rate of 92 percent. To pro-polygamists, including (non-Mormon) Christian polygamists, such results are no surprise - simply reflecting Catholic-initiated and Protestant-continued moral relativism and a mostly biased media that perpetuates it. 
 
The term, "moral relativism," usually refers to the belief that moral truth is "relative." It involves a perception that absolute truth - as in the Bible - is somehow not truth whenever individuals or modernity choose to believe otherwise. Typically, conservatives use the term to describe how liberals view doctrines of the Bible. Even so, anti-polygamy doctrine reveals that even most conservatives employ moral relativism, too - ignoring what the Bible actually says about the issue. (This has nothing to do with Mormonism.) 
 
Indeed, when one seriously studies both history and the Bible, it becomes quickly evident that anti-polygamy doctrine is a visible example of such moral relativism. Polygamy can be found repeatedly throughout the Bible. Not only is polygamy never called a sin in the Bible, but there are actually verses specifically regulating it. And there are numerous important Biblical heroes who were God-blessed polygamists - including Abraham, Israel, Moses, and David. Accordingly, for Christians who sincerely believe that the Bible is, in fact, the absolute truth, then accepting anti-polygamy doctrine is, by definition, an example of true moral relativism. 
 
Actual anti-polygamy doctrine only originates from the purported-to-be "infallible" popes of the Catholic institution - it never came from the Bible itself. Protestants, bringing on the Reformation by declaring that "sola Scriptura" (i.e., "only Scripture") must be the foundation for understanding the absolute truth of doctrine, nevertheless decided to continue the unbiblical Catholic anti-polygamy dogma anyway. So, by embracing and choosing such Catholic tradition over the Bible on the polygamy issue, many early Protestants ultimately decided against believing in the absolute truth of the Scriptures after all. 
 
In direct contradiction with the Reformation battle cry for "sola Scriptura," Protestant moral relativism simply embraced such Catholic moral relativism. 
 
When many of those Reformation-era Protestants ultimately fled to America to escape the persecution of the Catholic institution (and ultimately forming the United States), they unfortunately transported that Catholic-initiated moral relativism with them. 
 
Consequently, many of today's American Protestants actually still reject the absolute truth of the Bible in favor of their own moral relativism of unbiblical anti-polygamy dogma. Thereby rejecting the actual Reformation's battle cry of "sola Scriptura" (as did their historical forebears before them), such blatant Protestant moral relativism is still - all these centuries later - demonstrating a continued obedience to papal authority and Catholic moral relativism.  
 
So much for being Protestant. 
 
So much for the Reformation. 
 
Refusing to let go of such unbiblical tradition, many Protestants continued the Catholic moral relativism forward. Anti-polygamy mostly escaped the original Reformation, advancing as Protestant moral relativism. 
 
So a Gallup poll in May 2005 arrives, indicating that 92 percent of the population think that somehow polygamy is immoral. With such rampant moral relativism, that is no surprise there! 
 
Moreover, that Gallup poll revealed even more hypocrisy and further moral relativism. According to the poll, 66 percent found divorce "morally acceptable," 58 percent accepted unmarried sexual activity, and 54 percent had no moral issue with births without married parents. The dichotomy of those results, in combination with the results about polygamy, could not be more humorous - so upside-down. 
 
What a juxtaposition! Unbiblical non-marriage situations are easily viewed as "morally acceptable" while the intensity, maturity, and profound responsibility of the "super-marriage" matter of biblical polygamy are simultaneously viewed as immoral. Go figure. 
 
Talk about moral relativism! 
 
And much of the media plays right into that moral relativism with an unapologetic bias. Indeed, with the exception of the rare, genuinely-principled news media sources, most of the media appear only interested in misrepresenting polygamy. 
 
Notwithstanding the few good exceptions, when it comes to reporting about polygamy, a vast majority of the media employ one or two of the standard irresponsible journalism tactics - unrestrained sensationalism and story-framing. Either they will only report sensationalistic "horror stories" which might have some anecdotal "polygamy-related" connection to terrify people about polygamy, or they will "frame" a story into their own misinformed, pre-determined, yet manufactured story-line. 
 
But such irresponsible media will do nothing else. No matter how loudly normal pro-polygamy activists try to "shout out their genuine perspectives from the rooftops," biased media purposely refuse to let the truth of their actual story be told.  
 
Consequently, most people never even get to learn the real truth about normal pro-polygamists. And without such knowledge, many simply continue on blindly in their own moral relativism. 
 
So the poll results bring no surprise. It is a matter of course that uninformed people view unbiblical things as morally acceptable while simultaneously perceiving that biblical polygamy is somehow immoral. 
 
Aided by media bias, it's all just moral relativism. 


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Bibliographic URLs:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050516-103328-3590r.htm 
 
http://www.gallup.com/content/?ci=16318 
 
http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com 
 
http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com/exegesis/if-he-take-another-wife/ 
 
http://www.biblicalpolygamy.com/exegesis/if-a-man-have-two-wives/ 
 
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/nation/11471410.htm