dirk elzinga scripsit:
> This large British substratum gave rise to particular features
> of Utah English which are not shared by other USians.
Do you have details of this handy? Sounds fascinating.
> It is of no little interest (and of some consternation among
> many Mormons) that in neither the Manifesto issued by Woodruff
> nor the restatement by President Smith was plural marriage as a
> doctrine repudiated or rejected. This is taken by many to mean
> that it is still doctrinal. There is much speculation (among
> those who indulge themselves) that polygamy will someday be
> reinstituted as a practice among Church members, but I'm not
> holding my breath.
Ah. A very interesting distinction.
> I should also say that I am not aware of any effort on the part
> of the Utah chapter of the ACLU to legalize polygamy.
A press release dated 1999-07-16 is online at
http://www.aclu.org/news/1999/w071699b.html .
> An incident a
> couple of years ago brought this issue to the forefront again. A
> teenage girl was severely beaten by her father for refusing to
> enter into a polygamous (and incestuous) relationship with her
> uncle. This spurred the creation of a group called Tapestry of
> Polygamy which consists of former polygamous wives who have
> repeatedly testified of their mistreatment and abuse at the
> hands of their husbands.
Doubtless such things go on; monogamy does not prevent them either.
> I don't recall what the ACLU's response
> (if any) to this whole mess has been, but it would have been
> very imprudent for them to have spoken out in favor of polygamy
> at the time.
The ACLU is notorious for its lack of prudence in this sense, as
shown by its defense of the rights of neo-Nazis to march through
a predominantly Jewish suburb of Chicago in 1978. (They didn't march there
in the end despite success in court; see
http://www.centerstage.net/chicago/literature/books/strum.html
for a brief summary. Over 1/4 of the ACLU's members either
resigned, reduced their contributions, or protested the ACLU's
defense of civil rights in this case.
--
John Cowan cowan@ccil.org
I am a member of a civilization. --David Brin