There's another Mormon fundamentalist who believes in what they like to call "plural marriage" in the news, for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry some old fart. Sorry, dude, that's child abuse, not religion. I have no quarrel with any individual Mormon. Most of the ones I've met have been perfectly nice people. Although I'll admit I could never believe in a religion that decrees you have to be married to get to heaven, and that promotes overpopulation.
On one hand, it'd be nice to have a second wife to handle all the housecleaning and cooking while I attend my career. The main problem I have with "plural marriage" is that it seems inevitably to lead to sexual abuse of young girls. If you believe the only purpose a female has on earth is to service men sexually and incubate babies, then what's the point of sending them to school, and what's wrong with shoving them into their life's purpose the moment they hit puberty? This seems to be how the reasoning goes. And that's what all these "plural marriage" colonies seem to wind up doing. As the girls are raised from birth to believe this, they're pretty much brainwashed into believing they have no choice. Arranged marriage is a world-wide custom, after all, with the women/girls rarely having any say in the matter.
But this is America, not Iraq. Women here have a say, and girls have the right to grow up and choose their own mate without any religious coercion. And so, every time we catch these abusers, we are going to try them. May they all be found guilty and have the book thrown at them. They deserve every single bit of abuse they'll find in jail.
And by the way, the term "plural marriage" is a crock. There is a word for that practice, and it isn't marriage. It is HAREM. Practitioners are only a veil away from becoming the thing we're fighting overseas.
Today's quote: Trying to build a marriage without respect is like trying to build a home on quicksand.
~~ Kerry and Wayne Horton
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