Polygamist sect clarifies marriage policy

[brooklynite]

Source: CNN

SAN ANGELO, Texas (CNN) -- A polygamist sect under fire over allegations of underage marriage will now allow women to wed only when they are old enough to give consent under state law, a spokesman said Monday.

In Austin, Texas, last week, Martha Emack seemed optimistic about a reunion with her children.

The legal age in Texas to marry without parental consent is 18.

"The church is clarifying its policy on marriage," said Willie Jessop, a spokesman for the Fundamental Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

He told reporters the church would advise FLDS families "neither request nor consent" to the marriage of underage girls, though he stopped short of saying the church ever violated the law.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/06/02/texas.polygamists/index.html

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Ain't it amazing when Divine Inspiration strikes?

[uppityperson]

1. Thanks for posting in LBN.

http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700231225,00.html

Perhaps bowing to the pressure at the center of the FLDS custody case, a spokesman for the church today released a prepared statement saying members will be counseled to not allow or participate in marriages below the age of consent.

FLDS member Willy Jessop released the statement this afternoon and said it would apply to all members of the church.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g8-DEMtAE9q4i4ySQ0eV_qZefmRQD9127NI00

ELDORADO, Texas (AP) — An elder in a Texas polygamist group says church policy going forward will to be to forbid any girl to marry who is not old enough to legally consent in the state where she lives. Willie Jessop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints said Monday the church has been widely misunderstood. But he says the church will not sanction marriages of underage girls and will counsel members against such unions.

"The church commits it will not preside over the marriage of any woman under the age of legal consent in the jurisdiction in which the marriage takes place," Jessop said.

[keep_it_real]

2. As long as the woman marry at the age of consent

They should be free to do what they please without government interference and they are not living on welfare. And they enter these relationships with out cult brainwashing but with free conscious choice and will.

[grytpype]

3. Here are the new FLDS Marriage Guidelines...

1. If they're old enough to pee, they're old enough for me.

2. If there's grass on the pitch, let's play cricket.

3. Incest is best, put your sister to the test.

[RantinRavin]

4. you forgot one

If they are old enough to crawl, they are in the right position.

[Canuckistanian]

5. That's mighty white of them

So they've agreed to abide by FEDERAL AND STATE LAWS concerning stautory rape.

Bravo.

Another coup for law and order.

[Igel]

6. Part of the weirdness with the sect, if I understand it right,

is the lack of a marriage license. Since you can't collect more than one that's valid at a time, that's understandable.

But that means statutory rape laws apply.

They consider themselves married, but in the absence of the piece of paper we don't. Call it a clash of cultures.

If the girl's (and boy's) parent(s) are in the sect and consent, and, of course, if the kids consent--and they get a license--then marriage is allowed down to age 16. So having a 16-year-old girl who's pregnant wouldn't be a problem *if* they had the piece of paper. No restriction on the difference in the two people's ages. Forcing the girls to get married is illegal. But the difference between "voluntary, but brainwashed" and "forced" is a difficult one.

Marriage down to age 14 is possible with a court order, and I've seen web pages still saying (inaccurately) that it's legal with just parental consent. But I've also seen that the law upping age of marriage with parental consent recently went into effect in Texas, I think in something like 2005. I think that such groups was one of the reasons for the law.

But doing more than just "advising" against underage marriage is unwarranted. It's legal--with the piece of paper. Marriage at that age is usually a bad idea, but I saw a 25 year old and 17 year old do it successfully (until he died at age 28 or so).

[katerinasmommy]

7. I don't think many are talking about that kind of thing

I think it's more the fifty year olds with the 14 year old thing that bothers them. I'm pretty opened minded but that's just going too far. Rulon Jeffs was married to several young girls and Warren is a chip off the old block. Let's not even mention the young boys they throw out onto the street because they might be competition for the "women".

I don't think that Texas acted correctly but something had to be and still needs to be done.

[leftynyc]

8. I'll believe this when they

clearly state they're speaking of those "celestial marriages" as well as the legal ones. I think they're parsing the language. Perverts aren't going to give up this easily.

[Dogtown]

10. absolutely, leftynyc

Forced into the light, the pervs will sanctimoniously pretend to comply with the law, but will still make sex slaves of their own girl-children.

And drive out young male competitors.

Strange how the most "spiritual" are the least evolved members of our species; and they often end up in a chimpanzee-style social structure, where the dominant male(s) control access to the females and reduce competition by running off adolescent males before they're strong enough to take over the clan.

If we'd evolved from felines instead of primates, these "dads" would dine on their sons.

[Blaq Dem]

9. How can that be when they don't really know their true age?

Or they're in denial about it. They have no paper trail.