Nowadays, polygamy is not widely practiced in most Christian world. It seems that there is a consensus in these countries it is not the universal norm. As a result, practices of polygamy have almost disappeared. The notion of monogamy has become this universal norm. It may be due to the increased sophistications in society and legal system.

Although more countries are supporting monogamy, there are still some cultures which advocate the notion of polygamy. One of these cultures is the teaching of Mormon Church. In fact, the Mormon Church encourages polygamy openly. Besides, the Church of the Latter Day Saints was also one of the advocates. And they encouraged this until 1890.

Apart from the above, the Jewish community is also an advocate of polygamy. This is mainly because a major part of Jewish community is in fact Muslim societies, which practice polygamy. Of course Muslims are cultures which have this practice. However, the men should treat all the wives fairly. Considering Muslims in India, men are also allowed to have more than one wife while the Hinduism is now practicing monogamy. As a matter of fact teachings of Hinduism would allow men to have more than a wife.

There are still many people who are practicing polygamy in some African cultures. But there are more countries in Africa start reconsider if they should practice this due to the fact that HIV is spreading quickly presently. So why was this practiced in Africa in the past? In fact there are a lot of different reasons for that. In the past, the infant mortality rate was very high and as a result polygamy was encouraged. Besides, since people were heavily relying on agriculture and manpower became something very important. To this end polygamy can be a solution since it can help to breed more children to work for the family.

The last reason, which may probably the most important one, is about the social status of men in Africa. The social status of men in African society, was measured by their wealth, as well as the number of wives. Of course the number of children is also one of the factor that counts. As a consequence men would tend to have more than one wife.

In ancient times, polygamy was practices in various cultures and societies. However, more societies are not practicing monogamy nowadays. This is mainly because in the situation presently, the economic and social situations are more complex and it will be quite impossible for a man to marry a few wives and take care a few families. It is likely that monogamy will become the practice which rules the society in the future.