State senator passes out pro-polygamy material

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.

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.

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

Eyewitnesses are usually more reliable than the rantings of cult-seduced self-professed Hell-bound Luciferians, so here goes!

Mrs. Sarah Pratt (Wife of Orson Pratt): "A good deal of whiskey was consumed in Nauvoo. Joe himself was often drunk. I have seen him in this state at different times. One evening one of the brethren brought Joseph to my home. He could not walk and had to be led by a helpful brother. The prophet asked me to make some strong coffee, which I did. He drank five cups, and when he felt that he could walk a little better, he went home. He dared not come before Emma in this state. Joseph was no habitual drunkard, but he used to get on sprees. When drunk he used to be 'awfully funny.' He sometimes went to bed with his boots on."

Henry Harris (Affidavit before Jonathan Lapham, Justice of the Peace): "The character of Joseph Smith for truth and veracity was such that I would not believe him under oath. I was once on a jury to a Justice's Court, and the jury could not and did not believe his testimony to be true. Ibid. p. 20

Mrs. Abigail Harris: ". . . . Martin Harris and Lucy Harris, his wife, were at my house [early part of winter, 1828]. In conversation with the Mormonites, she [Lucy Harris] observed that she wished her husband would quit them, as she believed it all false and a delusion. To which I heard Mr. Harris reply: 'What if it is a lie; if you will let me alone I will make money out of it!' I was both an eye- and ear-witness of what has been above stated, which is now fresh in my memory, and I speak the truth and lie not, God being my witness." Cake, Lu B., Peepstone Joe and the Peck Manuscript, p. 34

Lucy Harris (Affidavit Palmyra, N.Y., November 29, 1833): "Whether the Mormon religion be true or false, I leave the world to judge; for its effects on Martin Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent and abusive to me. His whole object was to make money out of it. I will give a proof of this. One day at Peter Harris' house (Abigail Harris' husband) I told him he had better leave the company of the Smiths, as their religion was false. To this he replied, 'If you would let me alone, I could make money out of it.' It is in vain for the Mormons to deny these facts, as they are well known to most of his former neighbors." Ibid. p. 35.

Joseph Capron: "The whole family of Smiths were notorious for indolence, foolery and falsehood. Joseph at length pretended to find his plates. This scheme, he believed, would relieve his family from all pecuniary embarrassment. He gave me no intimation at that time that the book was to be of a religious character, or that it had anything to do with revelation. He declared it to be a speculation, and said: 'When it is competed, my family will be placed on a level above the generality of mankind!'" Ibid. p. 34.

Peter Ingersoll (Affidavit dated Palmyra, December 2, 1833.): I was once ploughing near the house of old Joseph Smith. When about noon, he requested me to walk with him a short distance from his house, for the purpose of seeing whether a mineral rod would work in my hand, saying at the same time he was confident it would. When we arrived near that place at which he thought there was money, he cut a small witch-hazel bush and gave me direction how to hold it. He then went off some rods, and told me to say to the rod, "Work to the money," which I did in an audible voice. He rebuked me severely for speaking it loud, and said it must be said in a whisper. While the old man was standing off some rods, throwing himself into various shapes, I told him the rod did not work. He seemed much surprised at this, and said he thought he saw it move in my hand . . . . Another time he told me the best time for digging money was in the heat of summer, when the heat of the sun caused the chests of money to rise near the top of the ground. "You notice," said he, "the large stones on the top of the ground -- we call them rocks, and they truly appear so, but they are, in fact, most of them, chests of money raised by the heat of the sun."

Jesus Christ is NOT related to Lucifer. He created him.

My prayer if for all Mormons to be delivered from the bondage of their false and fake faith.

P.S. You should still buy read "God's Brothel" before you defend polygamists.

Eyewitnesses are usually more reliable than the rantings of cult-seduced self-professed Hell-bound Luciferians, so here goes!

The whole of your "eyewitnesses" are not worth a tinker's dam.

First, because no reliability can be given to the report of one claiming said person said "such and such", because 110 times out of 100 that "interviewer" is proven to be completely biased, as well as a total and complete liar and fraud themselves.

Mormon history is replete with examples of the person allegedly quoted in such "shocking expose's" later giving a statement that they said no such thing.

Secondly, what you provided is typical of the anti-Mormon ravings I have studied for over 40 years, and I have yet to see anything new. Consequently, I can comfortably dismiss 99.99999% of anything you can throw up (regurgitate if you prefer) with no thought whatsoever.

And please don't say that I am blindly relying on my "faith" to reach that conclusion. When I said I had studied such anti-Mormon drivel for 40 years, I mean I researched the claims and methods of those claiming the claims, and found ALL of them to be nothing but hot air, animus, bad science, circular logic, bigoted stupidity, hateful, and outright dishonest.

Don't you find it just a little bit odd that most of these "witnesses" you cited found Joseph Smith to be at best an ignorant clod? Yet other critics say he was a genius for writing (actually translating) the Book of Mormon. You can't have it both ways (although I'm sure you'll try), either Joseph was a stupid drunkard or he was a genius. So much for the infallability of "witnesses".

Oh, and if Jesus created Satan, that would make Him Satan's father--still related.

Let us review. From this thread we have learned that God created the Devil. We know there is but one God. We know that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one and the same yet distinct. We know that Jesus is the Son of God born to mankind to save mankind. We know from the Bible that God created angels. We know Lucifer was an archangel before becoming the Devil.

We know there are subsets of God, archangels, angels, and humans so we must be at least third or fourth on God’s list of favorite creations based on ability and closeness to God. The creations above us including the Devil can see and talk to God. We must believe only on faith.

We know God creates sexual deviants throughout the animal and plant kingdoms. Some animals start out as one sex and change sex as nature decrees. Some animals are both male and female. Some animals reverse the roles of male and female. We know some females eat their mates after copulating.

We know God gave most males the instinct to copulate with as many females as possible to pass on the best of the gene pool. We know God also gave most males the instinct to protect that harem from other inferior male's genes or other animals wishing to eat the females and their offspring.

We learned that the devil, homosexuals, and promiscuous males are vile to God. I have to ask why God created things that are vile.

Only humans and angels have the choice between good and evil. God’s love is unconditional and equal among all living things including the sparrow that falls from the air. God will send humans to an eternal burning lake of fire if they follow the instincts provided by God. Humans and angels are judged vile for following instinct, while lower animals get a pass on the same behavior. Do lower animals automatically go to Heaven or is there just nothing after they die? Are there snakes, flies, and mosquitoes in Heaven? If not, then is God’s love equal for all living things including the sparrow that falls from the air?

Is there life on other planets? If not, why create the elaborate universe? If God created life, then why not on other planets? Will we meet the other life forms in Heaven or is it like there is a Catholic Heaven and a Baptist Heaven? Are God’s rules the same for life on other planets? Was Jesus born to the other planets to save them or are we just special? Are we arrogant enough to believe that God only created life on one small insignificant planet in the entire universe?

Where is the logic and proof in any of this? Oh right! Just believe in my version of this bible! We can’t explain the reason for the universe. It is a matter of faith. Trust me, my Bible supports my views, but not those other religious sect’s views. The other sects are all going to that eternal burning lake of fire. If you don’t do it our way, we will burn you after you die. </Sarcasm>

Society has evolved with rules for mutual protection to keep humans from acting like the animals. One man/one woman is an artificial rule of society. Religion was invented to help enforce society’s rules. The Judeo-Christian religion has evolved into laws to protect Western society. The Constitution of the United States of America is the greatest document ever written to support the greatest freedoms for people while protecting society.

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