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
Why Polygamy will not work:
1.)Tom is married to Betty is married to Bill is married to Debbie is married to Dave is married to Sally is married to John is married to Martha is......
2.)If a man has 2 wives and each of his wives has 2 husbands and each of their husbands has 2 wives and each of their wives has 2 husbands....
But I keep forgetting that younger generations no longer consider men to be the breadwinner.
While I don't see polygamy as a good practice, unlike homosexual marriage, it does have significant historical, social and religious president. Gay marriage has none.
Only a true politician could make it work!
And let's stop wasting time having sex because we can now make babies in test tubes.
What does invitro fertilization have to do with polygamy?
What about State Senator Ford from Tennessee who has children by 3 different women?? Don't know if he is/has been married to any of them. He was b!tching and moaning about the amount of child support he was having to pay. Not a polygamist, but he sure is spreading himself around and not wanting to support the outcome!
That Tennessean looks like a Big Fairy!
Are you kidding? you could have the ladies keep each other entertained so you could get some real stuff done. And when they want to "talk" during the final 50 seconds of the superbowl when it's fourth and goal, you can direct them to one of the others.
You had said that the reason for the double standard is that at least women know when they get pregnant that the baby is theirs. That argument is irrevelant in view of today's DNA testing. What does any of that have to do with invitro fertilization?
No. Women are not allowed more than one husband. The reasons should be obvious.
No, they are not obvious. In fact, I've never heard of a reason.
hey sign me up as long as i dont have to live with all of them - win win ;)
Knowing who is the father of a child is only one reason.
I've already refuted the one about knowing who is the father of the child. In your link, there is a bunch of Muslim beliefs. I am not Muslim, and I reject Muslim teachings. The only reason I saw listed was in order to provide husbands for women. This assumes there are not enough men to marry the women. This is false, since up until about the age of 70, there are more men than women. The only reason there are more women on earth than men at any given time is that women live longer. If that logic is to be applied, then women should be the ones to be able to have multiple husbands, not men. For the record, I believe both to be immoral.
It's legal, but I think it's messed up. Looks like these guys are just looking to add a new young'un to their stable.
And continues to be here in the United States ... not only approved, but subsidized.
Ever heard the term "my babies momma"?
This type of relation ship has become the norm in a very large segment of society.
Men with multiple wives , after all it's not the slip of paper that makes a wife .. is it?
So the point is moot ...
Interesting. I have a question. Given that there are more men born than women, even accounting for deaths the presence of men with multiple wives must perforce lead to a significant number of men with no wives that would perhaps like to have one. How does that work out?
I have in my personal experiences seen very little bad things from it.
No, the point is not moot, because those women are also doing the same with other men. Polygamy sees it as "normal" for men to behave like rabbits, but women must remain absolutely pure. In my opinion, those who advocate polygamy are sick men who want to feel their power, both physically and mentally, over women. If this were not the case, then the women would also be able to have more than one husband. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
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