Polygamy, here we come!

So good ol' Winston Blackmore is experiencing some religious persecution. He claims that because he is a Mormon--a Fundamentalist Mormon, no less--he was recently arrested and charged with, according to the Globe and Mail, "'practising a form of polygamy or practising a kind of conjugal union' with 19 women." These charges have been 20 years in the making, however, and it was only recently that the RCMP felt they had enough evidence to actually enforce Canada's polygamy laws. Nonetheless, despite having put "vulnerable children at risk" of sexual and emotional abuse, Mr. Blackmore is claiming that, his arrest is "not about polygamy," but an affront to both Mormonism, specifically Fundamentalist Mormonism, and Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In fact, he goes further and, in an appeal to our emotions, claims that the RCMP, and Canadians in general, ought to be ashamed of the lack of "sensitivity when it comes to dealing with our children." Further still, he tugs at our hardened hearts by emphasizing that his children "hated the police all day long" because of his arrest. Remember, he uses this appeal, despite having put his children at risk of abuse by himself and other husbands whose love is too big for one bride.

Before we all get blinded by Blackmore's fallacious appeal to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, let's recall some of this abuse that the police are concerned about, and that Blackmore seems to want us to easily forget.

Tapestry Against Polygamy is a Utah-based web site run by women and children who were once involved in polygamous relationships. They remind us that some of the forms of abuse rampant in these relationships include the following: "incest, statutory rape, underage marriage ... lack of education, trafficking of minors across borders for the purpose of sex, medical neglect, and extreme forms of domestic abuse & mental torture." Despite the attempts by shows like Big Love to normalize polygamy, and despite Blackmore's appeal to his "right" to religious freedom, we cannot become desensitized to the plight of the women and children who are sexually, psychologically, and emotionally devastated by all of the "loving" going on in their bedrooms and homes.

So that we could get an idea of what goes on, here's a list of warning signs that Tapestry published on their site:

Danger Signs of Abuse within a Polygamous Relationship

- Control over private lives: telling people where they should work; expecting attendance at multiple church services and activities, dictating decisions that should be made by the entire family.
- Manipulation of marriages: arranging for people to get married; telling women to stay in abusive home situations and accept the abuse as "correction from the Lord".
- Sexual demands: pressures to perform sexual acts through coercion.
- Threats or intimidation: threats to "take away" the husband’s attention for "wrong behavior."
- The group seems perfect: everyone agrees and follows orders cheerfully.
- The group claims to have "all the answers" to your problems.
- You begin to feel guilty and ashamed, unworthy as a person.
- The group speaks in a derogatory way about those outside the religious affiliation.
- Outsiders are defined as unable to understand and help you with religious matters.
- Males are believed to have more rights and abilities than females.
- Leadership is never shared.
- Someone frequently prefaces his or her remarks with things like "The Lord has told me."
- An authoritarian leadership that claims exclusive access to God’s will.
- Total control over members' daily lives.
- Exclusivity and isolation.
- Development of unhealthy emotional dependence.
- Prohibition of critical analysis and independent thinking.
- Practices methods of ego destruction and mind control.
- Discouragement of free and independent pursuit of education.



Postscript:

You know, the guy's pretty smart. By claiming that polygamy is enshrined by the Canadian Charter's list of Fundamental Freedoms, he is almost guaranteed success in court, or at least in Canada's official Kangaroo Court. If not resulting from his court proceedings, then certainly a few years down the road--and you can be assured that we will hear this plea to freedom within the next couple of years--polygamy will be legalized in Canada, much the same as same-sex marriage was. Sure, you can claim that same-sex marriage is different, but what both of them have in common is that they contribute to the erosion of the value and contribution that marriage adds to our society--or at least our awareness of its contribution. Furthermore, and you don't hear that much of this since same-sex marriage was rammed down our throats, but both same-sex marriage and polygamy have a detrimental affect on our children and, correspondingly, on our society. Here's a quote from a book titled, Marriage on Trial by Stanton and Maier:

While "Nathanson and Young don't believe there is anything inherently wrong with gay relationships ... they contend that same-sex marriage will harm society because 'marriage between men and women must be publicly fostered by culture and supported by law.' Nathanson and Young contend that the advocates of same-sex marriage ignore all of the societal loads natural marriage must carry ... because, for the most part, gay activists are radical individualists who show little concern for the greater culture."