More the Marry in Bountiful, BC

Quote: Originally Posted by Tyr

Blackmore, the one-time bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the rural community in B.C.'s Southern Interior, is rumoured to have fathered about 80 children by his 26 wives."


um... er... EWWWWWWWWWW!!!

(I'm speechless!!!)

Quote: Originally Posted by earth_as_one

The issue here as karrie pointed out is polygamy, not child marriages or forced marriages. We already have laws regarding those issues. So let's not confuse what we are talking about.
Consenting adults who chose of their own free will to enter a polygamous or polyandrous relationship should have that right. This type of relationship is preferable, more just and honest than married men and women who have longterm affairs on the side. If everyone involved is cool with what's going on, then its no one else's business and certainly not the state's.
In some religions multiple wives are the norm if you can afford it. I would argue that a women is far better off in a loving caring polygamous relationship with a wealthy man she loves than in a abusive love/hate relationship with an unemployed deadbeat husband. Not all men deserve a women in their life.
I saw an interview, where not only was the first wife cool with her husband taking a second and third wife, she helped him pick out the third wife. Wife #1 and 3 work. Wife #2 loves children and stays at home. She takes care of all the children and runs the house. Its very efficient. The family is very wealthy and successful. Everyone seems happy. Why should the state interfere?
Polyandry is less common, but it also exists. Its possible it might work out in specific situations. Fraternal polyandry is a practical solution to the problem of inheritance and over-population...

Quote has been trimmed, See full post:

Quote: Originally Posted by earth_as_one

What are you talking about? Polygamy between consulting adults or child marriage? They are different issues. Polygamy is the issue here, try to stay on topic.

If a 50 year old man marries two 50 year old women, that would be polygamy. Do you have a problem this and why?

If a 50 year old man marries a 14 year old girl that would be child marriage and that's already illegal in Canada.

If the 50 year old man marries two 50 year old woman and a 14 year old girl, your problem appears to to be with the child marriage issue, not polygamy.

Quote: Originally Posted by Spade

According to a CBC report, two leaders from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Bountiful, BC, were charged with bigamy.

Quote:
"Two rival leaders of a religious community in Bountiful, B.C., have been charged with practising polygamy.

The CBC has confirmed that Winston Blackmore and James Oler were charged on Tuesday for alleged offences that took place in May 2005 and November 2004.

More details are expected to be released Wednesday at a news conference scheduled for noon PT.

Blackmore, the one-time bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the rural community in B.C.'s Southern Interior, is rumoured to have fathered about 80 children by his 26 wives."

It's about time!

Quote: Originally Posted by karrie

Why on earth does our government keep trying to prosecute on something that should be the rights of consenting adults, rather than prosecuting on the real root of the problem, which is child marriage in these sorts of sects? They muddy the waters and confuse the issue. They needs to stop chasing 'polygamists' and start chasing 'sex offenders'.

Quote: Originally Posted by earth_as_one

I expect the polygamists will win their case. The law has no place in the bedrooms of consenting adults. These people have a right to decide how they want to live and the rest of us have no right to impose our version of morality on them. Also in this particualr case these people can claim charter protection related to Freedom of Religion.

We already have laws to protect children and adults from sexual exploitation or forced marriages. Those issues should not be a factor in this case, especially when the women are demanding the right to enter polygamous marriages. The current law is the infringement on a person's right to choose who they want to love.

Once the polygamists win their case, Canada will have to write new laws regarding marriage, divorce and child custody related to polygamous/polyandrous relationships.

If you find polygamous or polyandrous relationships unpalatable, then don't enter into one. That's free choice.

The current law prevents these people's free choice and that's a problem.

Quote: Originally Posted by JLM

I think they should be doing both, Karrie. Polygamy is definitely contrary to the law and there should be no problem prosecuting. I guess the real problem is what is defined as "children". In some jurisdictions marriage at age 14 is perfectly legal (we all know this guy is a child molester), but the way the law stands now the only practical way of getting the A-hole is by convicting him on the polygamy and then to handle the molestation, give him the maximum sentence allowed for polygamy.

Quote: Originally Posted by earth_as_one

Then your problem is with forced marriages and child marriages, not polygamy.

The problems you describe are not unique to polygamy and can happen in monogomous marriages just as easily.

You are confusing different issues.

Polygamy which involves consenting adults of free will should be legal.

Forced marriages or child marriages which can happen in monogomous or polygamous marriages are already illegal in Canada.

Polly stands outside the Merry Wives Cafe, a prearranged rendezvous point, nervously watching vehicles pull up. She is middle-aged, clear-eyed and maternal, with an easy smile.
She apologizes to a reporter for withholding her last name but says she cannot risk getting arrested. "I have children," she explains later, her eyes moist.

Polly leads the way to a nearby office. Three others are waiting there: her adult kids, each dressed in fashionable business attire.

The introductions begin:

• Lorine, 30, is not a birth daughter but insists that Polly is her mom. She has degrees in business management and English literature. She traveled the West on business before entering a polygamous marriage four years ago.

• Bethany, 21, a birth daughter, also is in a plural marriage. She has a community-college degree, works as an administrative assistant and runs a graphic-design business out of her home.

• Joseph, 19, who is Polly's birth son, graduated from high school two years ago and spent a year as a community volunteer before starting college. He is unmarried and not dating.

They decline to divulge details about their families, fearful that specific admissions may be used against them in a future purge of polygamists. But they are eager to challenge the popular notion that polygamous spouses are brainwashed, and they assail the history of anti-bigamy laws.

At a public forum days earlier, Polly says, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff made it clear he would prosecute polygamists if he had enough money, manpower and jail space.

"This is targeted persecution based on a religious belief," Lorine says angrily. "We're fighting for the right to decriminalize our lifestyle and legalize it."

Polly and her children belong to The Work of Jesus Christ, a group that rejects child marriages and embraces the modern world.
At 41, Polly has nine birth children and is a teacher at the local school, with a bachelor's degree in business and a master's degree in education.

She shakes her head at the depictions of her as a dupe or cultist. "I have these beautiful children and this wonderful family, and I try to figure out what I'm doing wrong," she says. "I'm completely baffled that someone would look at me and say, 'You know what? You're ignorant.'

"With the help of my spiritual leaders, I chose the man I was going to marry," she says. "I hate to call myself a women's libber because it has so many negative connotations. But in a lot of aspects the way we live is a woman's dream. . . . It's about being the woman that you know you can be." As an example, she said while working toward her degree and in a career, other mothers in her household helped look after her children and take care of housekeeping.

The dream comes with complications. To maintain secrecy, wives must be careful how they identify themselves. They avoid shopping together or socializing with the husband's business associates. Children learn not to refer to their father as Dad or their step-siblings as brother and sister.

Lorine says she was so fearful of prejudice while attending the University of Southern Utah that she never disclosed her background to friends or classmates, and she turned down all dates.
After graduation, she got into business, traveling throughout the West and continued that career after marriage. This year, she settled into domestic life with birth children and the rest of her family.

"I'm a plural wife. I chose this lifestyle with my eyes open," she says. "And I would fight for the right of my daughter to choose it. . . . I was raised in a culture of love."

While plural marriage is a tenet of her faith, Polly insists it also creates a stable family structure. She waves off questions about what happens to men who cannot find wives and rejects the idea that anti-bigamy laws were adopted for the public good.

Rather, Polly says, legislation outlawing polygamy constitutes an attack on one religious practice by a "moral majority" from other faiths.

The family members complain of bigotry and hypocrisy in a nation that treats adultery and divorce as routine yet is repulsed by plural marriages.

"America is about polygamy," Polly says. "It's just that they want to do it one person at a time - serial polygamists. We see marriage differently . . . something that will last forever."

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Quote: Originally Posted by earth_as_one

Yes I have a problem with the above. These people are persecuted by bigots who want to impose their version of morality on them, when they are intelligent consenting adults who voluntarily choose this lifestyle by their own free will. These people are being discriminated against and I defend the right of consenting adults to freely define themselves and live their life the way they want without fear of persecution from ignorant intolerant people.