B.C. seeks ruling on polygamy vs. charter

And if it does violate the charter, boy do we have a can of worms. And not BC's problem. It'll be up to Harper et al to sort out.

This is an example why church and state should not no co-exist. Religion as an excuse for pedophilia is still pedophilia.

What about polygamy between of age consenting adults?

That would be my point too, Derby.
Polygamy between consenting adults should not even be a crime.

Can they arrest you if 3 or more people can live together as a "married" group, but without actually being married?

Well we have common law marriage which gives legal rights to unmarried couples who live together in a conjugal relationship.

Agreed it shouldn't be a crime but civil laws governing such things as legal rights over children, power of attorney, etc is what I'm wondering about.

Pedophillia is not the question before the court. Polygamy is.

It's the prevailing Christian value of monogamy that restricts marriage to one man and one woman. With gay marriage accepted and legalized in Canada as a Charter freedom there is no justification to restrict polygamous marriages.

Hate to point this out to you, but for there to be consistency in 'separation of church and state' then polygamy must be legalized as a secular state should not be restricting marriage because of a Christian value that calls for monogamy.

Not for nothin' but it's funny that the reverse arguement was ignored and scoffed at when it was relevant.

Pedophillia is not the question before the court. Polygamy is.

It's the prevailing Christian value of monogamy that restricts marriage to one man and one woman. With gay marriage accepted and legalized in Canada as a Charter freedom there is no justification to restrict polygamous marriages.

Hate to point this out to you, but for there to be consistency in 'separation of church and state' then polygamy must be legalized as a secular state should not be restricting marriage because of a Christian value that calls for monogamy.

Let me know where to send flowers if you bring home intended wife #2 to meet Mrs Bart.

yup..

live by the sword, die by the sword.

I dont have a problem with the principle of multiple spouses and consenting adults, Id be interested, however to see how they will address some of the practical problems, such as filing taxes and providing govt benefits, as well as divorce and custody issues. Also, there is a social issue surrounding the opression of women who might allow themselves to be voluntarily 'kept' by some guy who controls all his wives like hes running a harem or something.

I think a middle-of-the road solution would be to decriminalize it, but not to recognize it. This would prevent people from abusing it for tax or immigration purposes.

Oppal tried a brute force attack and failed. Not only that he has made it much harder for this issue to resolve. As long as polygamy has sex with 14 year olds as a mainstay then it should be expunged from the land as per the charter. If they want to start up a whole new sect with it only having sex with consenting adults they will be as authentic as any other religious cult in the eyes of the law but I will not hold my breath. Frankly, polygamy lends itself to sex with minors and should be banned outright on those grounds alone.

Pre-crime ?

Thought we lived in a fairly free society, Scape.

Comparing polygamy with gay marriage is bullshit. The vast majority of gay people are BORN that way. Polygamists have made it a chosen life-style. Denying gay people the right to "marry" is a denial of basic human rights. Denying polygamy is not.

I do like BF's suggestion though, don't make it illegal anymore, but don't legitimize it either.

That might only be because the groups that practise polygamy also practice arranged marriages and do most of their business behind closed doors. If polygamy were a legal practise, there would be more daylight shone on those who practise it, for example having to get a marriage license, etc would bring the attention of authorities to the marrying parties and prevent the marriage of minors. Right now, this all happens underground in closed communities like the mormon colonies in BC and the US southwest.

There doesnt seem to be anything inherrent about allowing more than 1 spouse in and of itself that would require or encourage the inclusion of minors.