Posted on 01/25/2005 9:49:36 AM PST by missyme
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A Republican state lawmaker countered a Senate colleague's dispersal of an anti-polygamy book by passing out folders defending the practice as natural and not necessarily harmful.
Sen. Carlene Walker, of Cottonwood Heights, said she was offended by the title of the book "God's Brothel" that Senate Minority Whip Ron Allen distributed, and she wanted to balance its views.
"Polygamy is a frequent, and arguably, from a historical perspective, a most normal, human sexual relationship throughout most of human history in a majority of societies around the world," reads one of the passages in the folder.
It came from the Centennial Park Action Committee, a group of women near the Utah-Arizona state line who say it's unfair to characterize polygamists as "oppressed," "abused" or "brainwashed."
Walker said she has known polygamists who are "fine, honest, educated, wonderful people."
"To characterize the whole polygamy community as abusive to children and the welfare system is inaccurate," Walker said.
Allen says people are misunderstanding his point of demonstrating abuses in polygamous relationships, and he passed out 104 copies of the book to legislators because he wanted them to understand polygamy isn't harmless.
"It's not fair to say we should ignore it," he said.
Allen helped enact a child bigamy law in 2003 that made forced marriages of minors a second-degree felony punishable by one to 15 years in prison.
Before, the offense carried only 30 days in jail, and was rarely enforced, Allen said. He said the marrying of teenage girls was a common practice among some of Utah's isolated polygamist communities until the state served notice it was cracking down.
The book, written by Salt Lake City author Andrea Moore-Emmett, tells the stories of 18 women who claim they suffered rape, incest and violence in polygamous communities.
Copies of the book were donated by publisher Pince-Nez Press, of San Francisco.
Polygamy is among the teachings of Mormon church founder Joseph Smith. But the practice was abandoned by the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints more than a century ago as the Utah territory sought statehood.
The Utah Constitution bans polygamy and the mainstream Mormon church now excommunicates those who advocate it. But it's believed that tens of thousands in Utah and more than 30,000 across the West continue to practice
Is this any worse than gay marriages?
Bump & Ping
Discussions about plural marriage are always interesting, especially since there's ample support for the practise in the Bible.
We reject plural marriage in the United States, not because it is prohibited in the Bible, but because we have a moral sense that is more all-encompassing.
Nowhere in the Bible is there a demand that a man have only one wife, except in describing what a church leader should have.
It's a quandary.
The Book:
GOD'S BROTHEL
If someone wrote a book about 18 victims of monogamous wife-beaters, would that then "prove" that all monogamous marriage should be banned?
The new book, "God's Brothel," uses 18 anecdotal bad examples, while ignoring the reality of all the good normal polygamous families, to hysterically suggest that "all" polygamy is represented by those bad examples.
If someone wrote a book about a cruel man who claimed to be a "Christian," even though true Christians stand against his ungodly behavior and even say that he is not a Christian at all, would that then "prove" that that man's claim supposedly defines the meaning of being Christian?
"God's Brothel" falsely purports to identify "Christian Polygamy" among its bad exmaples, while ignoring the reality of True Christian Polygamy as actually-defined at TruthBearer.org. (For even more specific details, also see LoveNotForce.com and History of the Christian Polygamy "Movement.")
While most of the book, "God's Brothel," presents its "examples" from another religious belief system (namely, Mormonism), some Mormon Polygamous wives completely disagree with how the book portrays their religious beliefs as well.
Using the same illogic as in these above examples, the new book, "God's Brothel," perpetrates a grave injustice against normal, caring polygamous families. It absurdly tries to implicate "all" polygamists as abusive and other horribles, all by "reporting" a tiny handful of anecdotal examples. Despite such obvious slander, the fact is that normal polygamists have always opposed abuse and their hearts have always wanted to reach out to those who have been abused.
The book's title offensively insults "all" polygamous women by calling them prostitutes. Polygamy has never been a "brothel" of prostitutes under any circumstances.
The facts therefore prove that "God's Brothel" is not an accurate portrayal of what the masses of normal polygamists believe or do, even though their hearts do go out to all victims. In the end, the book itself "pimps" off the hurting abuse-victims, prostituting their painful stories to make a buck for the author. So it harms everyone as the profiteering author whips up false hysteria.
If you want to join the Anti-Polygamy Debate, surf to Anti-Polygamy.com.
As long as the mariage is between two consenting adults, I don't have a problem with it. Worry about your own lives before you start worrying about others...la
Why not 10 consenting adults?
I can't figure out from your post whether you support or reject plural marriage.
ABSOLOUTELY NOT!
I am just reporting on the latest views in Polygamy.
You might want to add a source, then, to your quote in the message above. It looks like you wrote it. I know it comes from a web site, but others may not.
Isn't one spouse enough of a headache?
I am opposed to polygamy. We should restrict multiple wives to serial monogamy.
From the article:
"Allen helped enact a child bigamy law in 2003 that made forced marriages of minors a second-degree felony punishable by one to 15 years in prison. Before, the offense carried only 30 days in jail, and was rarely enforced, Allen said. He said the marrying of teenage girls was a common practice among some of Utah's isolated polygamist communities until the state served notice it was cracking down. The book, written by Salt Lake City author Andrea Moore-Emmett, tells the stories of 18 women who claim they suffered rape, incest and violence in polygamous communities."
Yeah, that's worse.
Personally, I couldn't be married to more than one woman, but if someone else chooses to marry 10 different women, let them. As long as this doesn't require that they live off the welfare system, this type of marriage doesn't affect you. I have similar feelings on gay marriage, but then again, I'll keep my mouth shut on that issue since it would probably mean the end to my posting here...la
Marrying a child and polygamy are two seperate issues though they seem to go together alot of the time.
Whoaaaa missy.
Guess your sharing and have an unbiased opinion?
good luck populating your next planet.
"Personally, I couldn't be married to more than one woman, but if someone else chooses to marry 10 different women, let them."
Well, I'm not fundamentally opposed to plural marriage, as long as all participants are adults and wish to be married. It's certainly not for me, but I can't really find any firm reason to oppose it.
In reality, the plural marriages that exist in Utah, Arizona, etc., aren't actually illegal, since only one is recorded as a legal marriage. The rest of the wives are not legally married to the man.
When it gets into young women under the age of consent, then I have a real problem with it. Otherwise, I don't much care.
The reality is that there's lots of it going on already. It's not legal marriage, but there's basically no law against a man living with several women, or vice versa. Only if they apply for a marriage license is it illegal. So, lots of folks are in plural marriages, apparently, and cannot be touched by the law.
Whenever I have seen an actual polygamist on TV, it seems as though a lot of the polygamous wives were very young when they married, many much younger than 18. It seems to me that it's one thing if two 17-year olds get married (not that I'd advise it), but it's quite another when the wife is 17 and the husband is 50.
This was predicted and expected. The argument for polygamy has strong genetic foundation, as opposed to that for homosexuality. This is accepted by many as a strong inborn drive for males. Gee, how will NOW and female power brokers respond to this particular sexual diversity? Oh, well, we'll have to watch Canada, eh?
"It seems to me that it's one thing if two 17-year olds get married (not that I'd advise it), but it's quite another when the wife is 17 and the husband is 50."
How about if she's 18 and he's 50? Is it OK then? In many states, women can marry at 17 (or even 16) with nobody's permission. If it's legal, it's legal, despite what we might think of it.
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