Ok I hate to get into this, coz frankly I don't care what some people worship coz I think respect for humanity is the only important thing...but what you just said is simply not true algren, just an urban legend...lingam means symbol, to tell you the truth I didn't have too much info, but I did research it after the topic came up :
http://www.shaivam.org/shplinga.htm
http://www.templenet.com/beliefs/shivling.htm
And the topic isn't undiscussed in India coz of a Hindu majority, its undiscussed because its just a vicious rumor! True there are exceptions and tensions, but the bottom line is India is secular
I'm guessin the whole rubbish about the lingam was set off coz some of them do look phallic in shape, but that doesn't mean that's what it represents...not sayin there aren't weird practices in the remote areas that people have come up with out of superstition and ignorance, but it is not a tenet of the basic Hindu religion for sure
In ancient times, there were many religions that centered on fertility rites, perhaps some aspects of Hinduism might have started off from something like that I dunno, but whatever the case, religion does update itself with the times (Modern Hinduism is practically monotheistic, with various aspects of the creator, but one central creative force) and what really matters is how people incorporate it into their lives...like the example Liban gave about 5 wives in Islam, it was introduced at a time when harems were common; obviously in the modern context, it isn't practised as much as then, since the needs of society are different...Evolution is a great thing! Anyways I'm done with this topic, the last thing I want to spend my time on is arguing religious semantics