Posted on 08/25/2014 9:33:52 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The last time a Canadian court was asked to consider whether the act of polygamy should be protected as a religious freedom, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association argued that “individuals should be free to make the life choices they wish,” so long as those choices didn’t harm other people.
The argument against polygamy was it did just that – placing women, some troublingly young, and children at the behest of powerful patriarchs.
Just three years ago, the B.C. Supreme Court seemed to put the debate to bed, ruling that Canadian laws that banned polygamy were constitutional and important. But now the question is raising its head again, with a possible legal challenge coming on the heels of that ruling against multiple marriages.
The Canadian Press reports that two Bountiful, B.C., men were charged last week with practicing polygamy in the religious community.
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
Bountiful sect leader Winston Blackmore is charged with having 24 marriages, while James Oler is accused of having four. In 2009, Blackmore and Oler were arrested but the charges were stayed. It took until this year for the investigation to reach that point again.
Bountiful is a small B.C. community whose residents adhere to a form of fundamentalist Mormonism. It has a long history of run-ins with authorities regarding the treatment of women and child members and investigations by police agencies related to its stance on "plural relationships."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at ca.news.yahoo.com ...
Yet Canada refuses to prosecute the multitude of moslems among them who openly practice both child marriage and polygamy.
” so long as those choices didn’t harm other people.”
Gee, implicit argument against behaviors that spread AIDS and Islam.
They will never see it though.
Mormons are sorta Christian-like, so we gotta stop ‘em, but Sharia keeps us from interfering in Muslim life.
If Homosexual marriage is legal, then there is simply no logical reason not to allow polygamy.
Indeed. Polygamy has an historical basis and is still allowed in many religions. Gay marriage has no such bona fides.
Polygamists tend to rely on the welfare system to support their (sometimes very) large families. In that way, polygamy hurts every taxpayer.
AFAIK, even Islam (and “orthodox” Mormonism) requires that a man be able to support his family, before being allowed to take multiple wives.
The rules against polygamy might have worked, back when extra-marital sex was illegal. How can we punish a man for polygamous marriage, when we wouldn’t punish him for adultery? It’s a tangled web, indeed.
How is a guy with 10 baby mammas in 10 different houses receiving welfare better than a guy with 3 wives, one of which might get food stamps?
Once the definition of marriage is expanded beyond one man and one woman, there’s no stopping ANY definitions of marriage from becoming legal.
I’ll bite. How is he better?
One food stamp account takes a lot less than 10 EBT/SNAP/TANF/WIC/Head Start/Section 8 accounts. And there’s a chance that wife will go back to work and almost no chance with the 10 baby mamas.
More likely the Mormons won’t blow things up and behead people so they’re easier targets for ‘feel good’ acts of government theatre. But the Canadians don’t have the stones to apply the same rules to the moslems who WILL blow things up and behead people if they don’t get their way.
Are you talking about urban and promiscuous ethnic folks or are you referring to secretive and insular FLDS types? Because the FLDS adamantly refuse social services and the social workers that come with accepting the King's Coin.
The polygamists in Bountiful BC are heavily dependent on the Queen’s coin.
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