[weegee]

This isn't the "practice" of an illegal activity. The courts (and Amazon.com) have defended the publication of books that detail how to make drugs and how to seduce children.

His instructing his daughter in the ways of polygamy is "education". If there is sexual assault going on, that is unrelated to the "education".

If he were shacking up with one, two, or six unmarried honeys he'd be okay is today's America. If he were shacking up with male lover he'd be okay in today's America. If he and his next wife were engaging in wife swapping orgies, that would be okay in today's America (remember the backlash that the press got for revealing that the parents of an abducted daughter were "swinging" the night of her abduction).

Letting this be controlled by the courts does help to set precedent that adults can't teach their children about a different religion (it is all indoctrination, as are the parents that haul their kids to political protests and get them to hold political placards).

[Mr. Bird]

Insert "tax evasion" where "polygamy" is mentioned, and the issue appears to be absurd. Unless you are actually evading taxes, there is nothing illegal about speaking of it, or even saying that one day you hope to do it. Let's just set aside the religion component, which I think is the weakest leg of the case. Why would the illegal act of polygamy be subject to broader enforcement a la "thought crime"?