[csmusaret]

while homosexuality has almost always been viewed as a disgusting perversion of nature.

Well the Supreme Court changed all that. Now they have no legal basis to deny marriage between queers. Next up: a bi sexuual will be allowed to marry his girlfriend and his boyfriend. I am afraid that horse has already left the gate.

[Gluteus Maximus]

You know, I was raised a Catholic, but left the Church about 10 years ago due to the priestly sex abuse scandal. I remain very influenced in terms of catechetics by my Catholic upbringing, for which I am very grateful. Now, my good Protestant friends often impugn Catholic theology with the notion of acculturation - that is, taking on un-biblical ideas from the surrounding culture and giving them some sort of biblical justification, or perhaps none at all.

I find almost all such instances unconvincing - purgatory, Marian devotion, you name it.

But in regard to polygamy, I think that it must be admitted that here we find such a case. St. Augustine himself said that polygamy was biblical, but that the Church should accept monogamy as preferable in the context of his day (it was Roman law and he didn't want problems with Roman civil authorities).

No, we need to deal with the fact that polygamy is tolerated in the Bible.

Rushdoony, my favorite Protestant theologian, I think summed it up best when he said (I'm paraphrasing) that polygamy as a family form is no doubt inferior to lifelong monogamy, but that it is nevertheless "family" and that it should have a place among Christians. This is in his "Institutes of Biblical Law." A wonderful book, by the way.