Bigamy Beyond Theory

A recent post on bigamy attracted a lot of interest. This is an issue – one of several – that people tend to approach theoretically, where the pastoral aspects are big. Look on the Internet, and one finds long lists of bigamy’s various forms, the different laws which prohibit it or regulate it, and so on. When one meets it in reality, however, it is the cause of extreme distress. It is surely this which lies behind the definitions and prohibitions. Google "consequences of bigamy", and almost unbelievably one finds as the first result, 

"How Does Bigamy Affect the Bigamist's Spouse? In the event that a second marriage is bigamous, that marriage is invalid."