I guess this guy didn’t have many other hobbies
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/07/25/canada-sect-leader-had-24-wives-146-kids
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Ah, yes. Bountiful, BC. Where teenage boys are shipped out of town and the girls are kept to be married off at the age of 13. All in the name of religion. It’s what God wants them to do.
24 wives? No thanks, 1 is plenty…
I was raised a Mormon and these breakaway parts always creeped me out. The actual church is weird enough why make it weirder?
By definition wouldn’t you have to be legally married to more than 1 woman to be guilty of polygamy? Since the article put quotes around the word “wives”, that implies that those weren’t legal marriages, and he was just living with that many women. How is that any of the government’s business?
By definition wouldn’t you have to be legally married to more than 1 woman to be guilty of polygamy? Since the article put quotes around the word “wives”, that implies that those weren’t legal marriages, and he was just living with that many women. How is that any of the government’s business?
I don’t know Canadian law nor the details of this case beyond what the article says. Whatever the legal ramifications though, 24 wives and 146 kids can’t be healthy for any of the parties involved.
That said, I totally agree that if a bunch of people decide to live together it’s none of the government’s business as long as they don’t pretend to all be legally married (with the possible exception of child care services in extreme cases like this).
By definition wouldn’t you have to be legally married to more than 1 woman to be guilty of polygamy? Since the article put quotes around the word “wives”, that implies that those weren’t legal marriages, and he was just living with that many women. How is that any of the government’s business?
I don’t know Canadian law nor the details of this case beyond what the article says. Whatever the legal ramifications though, 24 wives and 146 kids can’t be healthy for any of the parties involved.
That said, I totally agree that if a bunch of people decide to live together it’s none of the government’s business as long as they don’t pretend to all be legally married (with the possible exception of child care services in extreme cases like this).
It becomes the business of the government when these fuckers start banging 13 year old girls and calling them their “wives” because God told them to.
Otherwise, I don’t give a shit and agree that we shouldn’t care.
I was raised a Mormon and these breakaway parts always creeped me out. The actual church is weird enough why make it weirder?
Uh, old guys who make the rules getting to marry a bevy of young girls?
The reason seems fairly obvious.
24 wives? No thanks, 1 is plenty…
Yep. Who’s got the time or energy to deal with that many women?
By definition wouldn’t you have to be legally married to more than 1 woman to be guilty of polygamy? Since the article put quotes around the word “wives”, that implies that those weren’t legal marriages, and he was just living with that many women. How is that any of the government’s business?
I don’t know Canadian law nor the details of this case beyond what the article says. Whatever the legal ramifications though, 24 wives and 146 kids can’t be healthy for any of the parties involved.
That said, I totally agree that if a bunch of people decide to live together it’s none of the government’s business as long as they don’t pretend to all be legally married (with the possible exception of child care services in extreme cases like this).
It becomes the business of the government when these fuckers start banging 13 year old girls and calling them their “wives” because God told them to.
Otherwise, I don’t give a shit and agree that we shouldn’t care.
Sure but then he would be guilty of statutory rape not polygamy. The article is atrocious it explains almost nothing.
This is just an excuse for the old farts to have sex with lots of young girls. Yeah, religion, rights and freedoms…one can justify anything
Yes, I know historically a lot of other things (abuse and such) have come up in these cases, but I’m amazed that the government pursued and got a conviction on a straight-up polygamy charge. I definitely expect it will continue further up to the supreme court, but I’m not sure that a “religious freedom” defense is the way to go. I imagine the “wives” are not legally his wives, and the laws are unlikely to change to allow for multiple legal partners in support of religious freedom. The better approach I would have thought would be, “what business of yours is it how many people I choose to call ‘wife/husband’?”
Yes, I know historically a lot of other things (abuse and such) have come up in these cases, but I’m amazed that the government pursued and got a conviction on a straight-up polygamy charge. I definitely expect it will continue further up to the supreme court, but I’m not sure that a “religious freedom” defense is the way to go. I imagine the “wives” are not legally his wives, and the laws are unlikely to change to allow for multiple legal partners in support of religious freedom. The better approach I would have thought would be, “what business of yours is it how many people I choose to call ‘wife/husband’?”
The details of the case would probably be really interesting, if we had them.
By definition wouldn’t you have to be legally married to more than 1 woman to be guilty of polygamy? Since the article put quotes around the word “wives”, that implies that those weren’t legal marriages, and he was just living with that many women. How is that any of the government’s business?
I don’t know Canadian law nor the details of this case beyond what the article says. Whatever the legal ramifications though, 24 wives and 146 kids can’t be healthy for any of the parties involved.
That said, I totally agree that if a bunch of people decide to live together it’s none of the government’s business as long as they don’t pretend to all be legally married (with the possible exception of child care services in extreme cases like this).
It becomes the business of the government when these fuckers start banging 13 year old girls and calling them their “wives” because God told them to.
Otherwise, I don’t give a shit and agree that we shouldn’t care.
Sure but then he would be guilty of statutory rape not polygamy. The article is atrocious it explains almost nothing.
And it includes some quite loving pictures. Very odd article.
As to why polygamy and not something else? It might have been the easiest thing to convict him on. If he is defending statutory rape by being married to her then you go the easier route.
When my son was 5 he learned that King Solomon had something like 700 wives. He said, “Dad how can one guy keep so many women happy?” It was a funny moment.
Here this has a bit more information
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-polygamy-trial-1.4218735
Basically from a religious stand point the marriages were registered it seems.
For me I care because the whole group is just a group of leeches, think of the welfare for 23 single women and 120 or so kids that that is how this group funds themself. Jon krakaur (sp) wrote a book on this sect called “under the banner of god” it was pretty good and a little shocking.
Ben
Sorry in advance for the wall of text. This community is in the valley that I live in. I was previously part of investigations involving this group, currently provide fire protection for them, and have several friends from there. Members of that community were involved in delivering two of my kids. I have had some very personal conversations with both current and former members of the church and community.
There is WAY more to the entire situation than any article, TV show, or book can cover. There are some massive issues that have gone on there in the past, but I think for the most part, things have really been cleaned up. The majority of the younger generations are not in polygamous relationships, and don’t seem interested in following that lifestyle. Many have left the community and church. I think there are a number of reasons for this.
First, the infighting within the FLDS. With Warren Jeffs in jail for the rest of his life (not long enough, he is twisted beyond belief) but still controlling part of the group, he has become more and more extreme in what he declares the church rules to be. For example, a few years ago he decided that only he could approve any marriages, so only those who proved loyal to his side of the church could get married. The more loyal, the more wives you could have. He then decided that even less were allowed to father children. If you had a kid without his permission, you would be kicked out of the church. I think that extremism has pushed many away. Winston Blackmore’s side has been a lot less extreme since he branched off from the main church, and have done quite a bit to become more socially accepted. I think he has changed the views of his part of the church to make polygamy less important.
Second, the legal battles. This current conviction is just one of many attempts to push Winston and other leaders through the courts. A few years ago, Winston lost a pretty huge case in tax court, to the amount of several million dollars being owed. The repeated attempts at getting the polygamy charge, along with some recently being convicted of taking young girls over the border to be married to Jeffs, have lead to a fear amongst some of the others that has made them realize the benefits of polygamy aren’t worth the legal fight.
Third, and likely biggest factor, is the internet. Kids in Bountiful have pretty much always been schooled within the community. This allowed them to teach what they wanted them to learn. Boys took different classes than the girls. The girls were taught that they existed to serve the men, to be subservient, etc. With it being such a closed community, in the past this was the kids only source of education. With the internet and smart phones, the kids became a lot more exposed to the outside world, and expanded their knowledge and world view.
While a huge part of that community are products of polygamy, a lot less practice it and many don’t support it. There are some great people from there, and it is unfortunate that they are all being painted with the same brush (like saying all Catholics are pedophiles because of the actions of some priests).
As for the polygamy law itself, it doesn’t make sense to me. They aren’t convicted of having underage wives, only for having multiple wives. Does anyone here not know someone who has had kids with more than one partner? Is what happens here with the men remaining a part of all their kids lives (and the kids being raised by a dad and several moms) really worse than the people who parent kids and abandon them to be raised by a single parent? Is the one that one worse than the other that it deserves a criminal conviction and possibly jail time, while the other goes unpunished completely?