Court's Ruling on Polygamy Another Step to Take Away Religious Freedoms

The May 17, 2006 issue of The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Utah Supreme Court had ruled against Rodney Holm, a polygamist from Hilldale, Utah. Holm, a police officer in the small town of Hilldale, Utah which shares the state border with Colorado City, Arizona, both towns well known for their polygamous citizenry, was charged in 1998 with one count of bigamy and two counts of unlawful sexual relations with a 16 or 17 year old, all third degree felonies.

Utah's Attorney General has increased his prosecutions of polygamy cases and his office has stated that they are planning on many more prosecutions. Most Americans have been taught that polygamy is evil. Even the Mormon Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, gave up the practice of polygamy in the late 1800's. Members of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Church (FLDS), who believe that in order for them to ascend to the highest level of heaven, must practice polygamy, seem to be the victims of most of these prosecutions. The fact is, our society is one of the few in the history of mankind that does not practice polygamy as a whole. The Bible does not condemn multiple marriages. In fact, many of the main characters in the Bible were practicing polygamists.

Polygamy is the practice of taking two or more wives. The polygamists being charged with crimes normally have one wife that they are legally married to and then, one or more wives that they are "spiritually" married to. My first question in this matter is, "Who gave the state the right to govern marriages?" Marriage is traditionally a bond of a man and a woman that is sanctified by God not the state. My second question is, "If a man and a woman have not been legally married, how can the state charge them with being married to more than one person?"

Utah's Attorney General uses the position that the members of polygamist groups such as the FLDS are marrying young girls, below the legal age allowed for marriage, to older men. While this has been the case in some examples and should be duly prosecuted, it is not the case in the majority of polygamist marriages. Tom Green, a Utah polygamist was prosecuted and convicted of having married a fourteen year old girl, a sister of one of his other wives. At the time, the legal age for marriage began at fourteen, as long as there was parental consent. The State of Utah also convicted Green for having sexual relations with his new fourteen year old bride on their honeymoon in Mexico. Since when does any state prosecute its citizens for crimes they have committed in another country? The State of Utah charged Green with marrying the fourteen year old girl and prosecuted him for having sexual relations with her. If Green would have married her legally, obtaining a marriage license and paying the taxes that go along with it, would he have been charged with having unlawful sexual relations with her (his wife)? The State of Utah cannot have it both ways but that is what they have been able to obtain. The fact is, Utah is on a witchhunt, not unlike the Salem Witch Trials.

Four out of five of Utah's Supreme Court justices ruled against Holm. The one dissenting judge, Chief Justice Christine M. Durham wrote, "Any two people can make private pledges to each other, with or without the assistance of a religious official, but these private commitments are not equivalent to marriage absent a license or an adjudication of marriage." If the State of Utah insists on prosecuting men who sleep with more than one woman, let them prosecute those that do not provide a home for their partner or the children that result from that union! Prosecuting these men, and notice that the State of Utah is not prosecuting the women involved in polygamy, can only result in more sorrow for the man's wife and children when he is sentenced to time in prison and he is taken away from his family.

Utah's attack on members of the FLDS Church is without warrant and stands in sharp contrast to the constitution of the United States that declares that the citizens of this country should have freedom of religion. Whether you agree with polygamy or not, you should realize that this is an attack on your and my freedoms of religion! Our country is slowly whittling away at all of our rights, especially our religious rights. It is time we stand up and make it known that we will not stand for it any longer.

Jay Mc