Whoa! Polygamist solution is frightening...

[The Mrs]

Originally Posted by Newman

Ok. So do you think it was justified to take ALL the children away (half of them being quite young) over what may prove to be a very small number of 16 year olds who considered themselves married according to the dictates of their religion?

Yes. They teach them it's okay to break the laws of the land to live out their religious convictions. From an early age they are groomed to be child brides, and boys are groomed to take child 'wives'. This is still child abuse we're talking about.

Originally Posted by Newman

Arguably if you shelter a child all of her life behind ranch fences; reaching adulthood is not suddenly going to grant her any more freedom to chose a life different than she was raised with, is it?

Of course it does. She will be an ADULT, with ADULT abilities to choose. A child is deemed unable to make those choices. That's why they don't get to choose.

Maybe this is the real problem behind the child brides. They were losing too many as 'adults' and had to catch them when they were younger?

Originally Posted by Newman

Umm... They tried that and it didn't work. After they bought property in Texas, lawmakers changed the marriage age of fourteen with parental consent to sixteen with parental consent. Furthermore, they did it specifically and unequivicably because of their new neighbors. That smacks of discrimination.

According to the Marriageable Ages at Wikipedia, it looks like Texas just joined the standard by raising the age. The majority of marriagable ages around the world is 18, 16 with parental consent.

Originally Posted by Newman

Btw- It matters because legal analysts aren's so sure that a ban on polygamy can withstand Constitutional challenge today given the Supreme Court's new stance on homosexuality; and society's changing mores regarding adultery, fornication, divorce, etc.

It's never been about polygamy for me. Society does not frown on 'shacking up' like it used to. That's all I see them as doing. Throw in a religious conviction and surely it must be okay.