fatherphil

wrong
right
neither

keyser_soze

I responded wrong, but not from a religious sense, but more from a moral sense. And experience. I think most atheists will answer that it is wrong, probably skewing the hoped for "atheists have no morals without god" graph....

dangin

We didn't evolve to be monogamous.


Multiple sex partners are normal, guilt about one's natural propensity to seek sex is wrong. Feeling bad that someone you have sex with is also having sex with another is insecurity, and culturally taught.

Alonzo Fyfe

My answer would be, "it depends."

Marriage is a contract, a set of promises, exchanged among willing parties. The rightness or wrongness depends on the terms of the contract, and the reasonable expectations of each party.

I believe that, if nothing has been said about the issue, adultery would count as a violation of the 'reasonable expectations' of a marriage. Thus, appropriately identified as 'infidelity'.

However, I do not think there are grounds for requiring that individuals enter into this form of contract and no other. As long as the arrangement is voluntary and participants are parties enter into the agreement with both eyes open, no objection can be raised against it.

Treacle Worshipper

I think adultery is wrong. It involves deceiving your spouse, and causing them pain when they find out.

I also think that open/poly relationships don't constitute adultery.

I guess I equate adultery with infidelity.

TW

Monkeybot

What Treacle Worshipper said.

I don't have a problem with the concept of open relationships -- I have a problem with lying to your partner, though. So I voted "wrong," although if adultery is merely sleeping with someone other than your spouse I guess it could be neutral.

Psycho Economist

I said neither.

Unlike Trecale, I take adultery (since it seems to refer to the sexual "purity" of a marriage) to mean extra-marital sex generally and not necessarily the same as infidelity, with its components of deception and other hurtful stuff.

It would help, Fatherphil if you'd clarify what you mean by "adultery".

SULPHUR

Man and woman have the the right to choose how their genes are passed on.Mating with several partners ensures the survival of the fittest.

tribalbeeyatch

Insofar as "adultery" means a violation of the mutually-agreed upon boundaries of a marriage, then it is wrong. That's not to say that I have any problem with non-traditional sorts of marriages that allow for polyamory. Far from it All that matters to me is that the interested parties are honest with one another. At any rate, that's what I meant when I voted "wrong".

Godless Dave

Generally wrong, with some exceptions, in my opinion. If I ever get married, and end up with Alzheimer's-like dementia, I wouldn't want my spouse to feel she has to forsake all others for the sake of a man who doesn't remember who she is.

But preventing your partner from mating with anyone else gives your genes a better chance of passing on. I don't base my morality on biological motivations (although it is informed by them, and I don't pretend they're not real).