Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Polite Political Discussion- is it Possible? An Experiment. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: epicure who wrote (1051)	8/20/2006 12:04:18 PM
From: Ron	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1695

Teens defend polygamy at Utah rally By JENNIFER DOBNER, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 20 Calling their lives blessed, more than a dozen children and young adults from polygamist families in Utah spoke at a rally Saturday, calling for a change in state laws and the right to live the life and religion they choose. "Because of our beliefs, many of our people have been incarcerated and had their basic human rights stripped of them, namely life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," said a 19-year-old identified only as Tyler. "I didn't come here today to ask for your permission to live my beliefs. I shouldn't have to." Polygamy is banned in the Utah Constitution and is a felony offense. The rally was unusual because those who practice polygamy typically try to live under the radar. It drew about 250 supporters to City Hall, said Mary Batchelor, co-founder of Principle Voices of Polygamy, which helped organize the event. The youths, ages 10 to 20, belong to various religious sects, as well as families that practice polygamy independent of religious affiliation. They said they spoke voluntarily. They gave only their first names, saying they were protecting the privacy of their parents. Dressed in flip-flops and blue jeans, bangs drooping over their eyes, the teens at Saturday's rally talked on cell phones and played rock music, singing lyrics written to defend their family life. All of the speakers praised their parents and families and said their lives were absent of the abuse, neglect, forced marriages and other "horror stories" sometimes associated with polygamist communities. Speakers said that with "dozens of siblings" and multiple "moms" they are well supported, encouraged to be educated, and can make their own choices about marriage. "We are not brainwashed, mistreated, neglected, malnourished, illiterate, defective or dysfunctional," 17-year-old Jessica said. "My brothers and sisters are freethinking, independent people; some who have chosen this lifestyle, while others have branched out to a diversity of religions." First brought to Utah by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1846, polygamy was abandoned by Mormons as a condition of statehood in 1890. The church now excommunicates members found to be practicing plural marriage. It also disavows those who call themselves "fundamentalist Mormons," although most Utah-based polygamists identify themselves with those terms. Fundamentalists split with the Mormon church in the 19th century and continue to believe plural marriage is the key to eternal salvation. ___ news.yahoo.com On the Net: Principle Voices of Polygamy: principlevoices.org

To: epicure who wrote (1051)	8/20/2006 3:36:14 PM
From: J. C. Dithers	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1695

Marriage cannot become more debased than it already is. The heterosexuals have killed it- with their serial monogamy. Your argument is hopelessly flawed. To begin with, gay couples would not be seeking marriage so desperately if the institution were so "debased." In truth, it is amazing that the institution of marriage has held up as nobly as it has. Young people do not have to marry any longer for security and survival, as they did in earlier times (in our agrarian days, children were a necessity as farm workers and eventually to support parents, in a continuous family cycle from generation to generation). In modern society no one has to get married. Men AND women of any ambition can look forward to lucrative careers and financial security for life. Sex is all-too available without marriage. The single life is an attractive alternative of pleasure without responsibility. Singles can have children if they wish without social opprobrium. Dating services up-the-gazoo provide easy access to as much companionship as anyone might want. Why should ANYONE want to "tie the knot" and take on a "ball and chain"? And yet the wedding sections of the Sunday newspaper are bigger than ever, thank you. Yes, a lot of these marriages will end in divorce. Why? Because the "no-fault" idea was invented in the 1980's as a result of the gender equality movement. Divorce became all too easy, convenient, and cost-free. If 50 percent of new marriages will fail, that does tell you something about marriage. But what it tells you is that marriage is an amazingly strong institution if 50 percent of these couples will remain wed for life in the face of easy divorce laws and all of the societal temptations that surround them and seductively invite dissolution, especially when children are gone from the nest. Ane the topper is this: what do most of these divorced people do? They turn right around and marry again. Don't worry so much about the institution of marriage. It is doing just fine. And it doesn't need to be changed.