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Friday October 23, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Canada says will not appeal Bountiful polygamy case

Canada will not appeal a court ruling tossing out criminal charges against two men in polygamous religious sects, authorities in British Columbia said Thursday.

Provincial Attorney General Michael de Jong said that westernmost British Columbia will instead ask its provincial Supreme Court whether Canada’s law against polygamy is constitutional.
» Full Story

Saturday September 26, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Women in polygamous community have more power than you think: researcher

Criminal polygamy charges against B.C., Canada religious leaders Winston Blackmore and Jim Oler were thrown out last Thursday — which, Canada’s National Post writes, means they can continue to practise what they preach: Accept multiple wives, including teenage girls.

But McGill University law professor Angela Campbell isn’t too worried. While she does not endorse polygamy, her research into the religious groups suggests Bountiful is neither a community of horrors nor a utopia.
» Full Story

Thursday September 24, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy • Winston Blackmore:

Polygamy charges thrown out against B.C. religious leaders

Criminal polygamy charges against B.C. religious leaders Winston Blackmore and Jim Oler have been thrown out.

Former attorney-general Wally Oppal did not have authority to appoint a second special prosecutor to the decades-long case after the first one declined to proceed, Justice Sunni Stromberg-Stein ruled.
» Full Story

Friday September 11, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy • Winston Blackmore:

Polygamy charges have no bearing on moral advice, cult leader says

Winston Blackmore says charges of polygamy against him have not undermined his authority to offer advice on moral issues.

The Globe and Mail earlier this week reported that Mr. Blackmore was offering online advice to women in abusive relationships.

Nancy Mereska, who has campaigned against polygamy, was startled by Mr. Blackmore offering moral advice. All polygamous relationships are abusive, she said in an interview with The Globe and Mail
» Full Story

Friday April 24, 2009

Aum Shinrikyo • FLDS • Falun Gong • Polygamy • RNB Roundup • Scientology • Witchcraft:

Religion News Roundup: Aum Shinrikyo, Scientology, Pareidolia, FLDS, and more

The RNB Religion News Roundup for Friday, Apr. 24, 2009 includes items about Scientology, Aum Shinrikyo, Korean cult leader Jeong Myeong-Seok, the continuing popularity of Aum Shrinrikyo’s jailed cult leader, and China’s on-going ban on Falun Gong.

Also: • A US state must pay benefits to the wife of a Jehovah’s Witness who died after refusing a blood transfusion • A killer turned pastor upsets his victim’s son • Nigerian preacher speaks out against witch hunts • Vampire story gets demoted…

Plus: what do you see? Pareidolia?
» Full Story

Wednesday March 25, 2009

FLDS • Polygamy:

Polygamy ‘clear challenge’ to Canadian values: Federal document

In January, the RCMP charged two prominent members of a fundamentalist Mormon sect in Bountiful, B.C., with practising polygamy.

The lawyer for one of them has vowed to cite his client’s religious freedom as a defence, leading some legal and constitutional experts to speculate the case could go all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
» Full Story

Friday February 27, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Accused polygamist looking for legal aid from B.C.

Winston Blackmore has yet to enter his plea to the criminal charge of practising polygamy, but he’s already on his third lawyer, has filed for legal aid and asked Utah’s attorney-general for help in having his bail conditions amended.

Blackmore’s new lawyer is Joe Arvay, a well-known human rights and constitutional lawyer, whose firm successfully argued before the Supreme Court of Canada that the Constitution protects gays and lesbians from discrimination.
» Full Story

Tuesday February 17, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Liberties watchdog wants Canada to drop polygamy charges against sect leaders

Winston Blackmore and James Oler, leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Bountiful, B.C., were charged last month with practising polygamy.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association is urging that the constitutionality of the anti-polygamy law be tested by a reference to the Supreme Court of Canada —a recommendation made in earlier legal opinions prepared for the B.C. attorney general.
» Full Story

Monday February 16, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Polygamist sect on Idaho-B.C. border drawing new scrutiny

The arrests in Canada last month of two fundamentalist Mormon leaders are bringing renewed interest to their polygamous communities near Creston, B.C., and loyal followers living just across the border in Idaho’s Boundary County.

Winston Blackmore, 52, and James Oler, 44, who now head factions of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Canada, face prison terms if convicted of violating that country’s polygamy laws.
» Full Story

Thursday January 22, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Behind the court appearance of two Bountiful leaders lie tales of discord

The practice of polygamy sets neighbour against neighbour, parent against child, politician against politician and even some husbands against wives in this southeastern B.C. town.

It’s not that townsfolk here are polygamists. But Creston’s proximity to the fundamentalist Mormon community of Bountiful, where some men unabashedly have more than one wife, makes it a more frequent topic than most would like.
» Full Story

Wednesday January 21, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Polygamist sect leader Winston Blackmore to appear in court

The lawyer for a B.C. polygamous sect leader plans to defend his client’s right to marry more than one woman by citing gay marriage and cohabitation arrangements.

Blair Suffredine, who is representing Winston Blackmore in court Wednesday, will challenge the legitimacy of the Criminal Code’s ban on polygamy, arguing it contravenes religious protections under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
» Full Story

Tuesday January 13, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Polygamists Winston Blackmore and Jim Oler may get separate trials

The bitter rivalry between two religious leaders in B.C. charged last week with polygamy could lead to two separate trials, increasing costs and prolonging a process that is already expected to stretch over a number of years.

Mr. Robertson would prefer to have both men on trial at the same time. But Mr. Blackmore and Mr. Oler have the option to ask for separate trials, Mr. Robertson said in an interview.
» Full Story

Saturday January 10, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Analysis: Why Bountiful charges relate to polygamy, not sexual exploitation or abuse

The simple answer is that despite having interviewed more than 90 people in B.C., Idaho, Utah, Arizona and Nevada, RCMP were unable to find anyone willing to testify to any of those offenses. And without witnesses or victims, the likelihood of getting a conviction is very low and one of the thresholds for laying charges in British Columbia is crown prosecutors must be convinced that conviction is not only possible, but likely.

The problem with the charge of polygamy against Blackmore and Oler is that there are those in the legal community — including many in the attorney general’s ministry — who believe that the polygamy offense is invalid because of the constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.
» Full Story

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Winston Blackmore condemns polygamy charges as religious persecution

The leader of a fundamentalist Mormon community in Creston condemned polygamy charges laid against him this week, saying they amount to religious persecution tied to politics.

Blackmore’s statement, made at a news conference where he did not take reporters’ questions, point to the legal arguments expected to unfold in the coming court case — the protection of religious rights under the Charter of Rights versus a section of the Criminal Code prohibiting polygamy.
» Full Story

Thursday January 8, 2009

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Canadian polygamist leaders charged; reaction mixed

After decades of controversy and allegations, RCMP swept into the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C., on Wednesday and arrested two sect leaders, including one who had bragged of multiple wives and dozens of children and all but dared police to stop him.

Some anti-polygamists were jubilant at the charges laid yesterday but others were bitterly disappointed that B.C. officials chose not to proceed with sexual exploitation charges against Bountiful leaders.
» Full Story

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Canada: two top leaders of polygamous sect arrested

Two top leaders of the controversial polygamous sect in Bountiful, B.C., have been arrested and charged with practising polygamy.

Oppal said Blackmore is alleged to be married to 20 women, while Oler is accused of committing polygamy by being married to two women.

“This has been a very complex issue,” he told The Canadian Press. “It’s been with us for well over 20 years. The problem has always been the defence of religion has always been raised.”
» Full Story

Tuesday August 5, 2008

FLDS • Polygamy:

U.S. official vies for control of polygamist private school

Bruce Wisan said he launched the lawsuit to force an equitable distribution of FLDS assets in Canada.

He has asked the court to remove the FLDS members as directors of the society that runs the school and to appoint him as the trustee to regulate its affairs.

He has also asked the court to designate him as the beneficial owner of the school properties.
» Full Story

Thursday July 3, 2008

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy • Winston Blackmore:

Canadian polygamist may receive more than $10,000 from the government

The B.C., Canada, government is sending $100 to every man, woman and child in the province as part of a climate-change program.

As a result, prominent polygamist Winston Blackmore and his family could receive more than $10,000 this month from the B.C. government in so-called dividend cheques.
» Full Story

Monday June 23, 2008

FLDS • Polygamy:

FLDS: features at cult-studies meeting; appears leaderless, but fights back

FLDS news roundup, includes: cult studies organization will discuss the raid on the FLDS ranch. FLDS leaders appear to have gone underground. Meanwhile, the cult fights back against media reports and information provided by authorities. And more…
» Full Story

Monday June 9, 2008

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy • Winston Blackmore:

B.C. polygamist leader decries child sex abuse

Winston Blackmore, who openly admits to having numerous wives and dozens of children, said parents at Bountiful protect their children from abuse.

But he declined to discuss allegations that older men in his community marry teenaged girls – a violation of statutory rape laws – while other girls are sent to sister polygamous groups in the United States to marry older men there.
» Full Story

Tuesday June 3, 2008

Bountiful • FLDS • Polygamy:

Canada: B.C. launches probe into polygamous community

The community has come under focus in recent months because of a high profile raid of a polygamous compound in Texas.
» Full Story

Thursday May 15, 2008

FLDS • Polygamy:

Canadian polygamist sect under pressure

British Columbia’s Attorney General Wally Oppal told The Associated Press he plans to arrest someone on a polygamy charge or ask the courts to weigh in on Bountiful’s legal standing within the month.
» Full Story

Monday April 28, 2008

FLDS • Polygamy:

Polygamist Bountiful, B.C. thrives, despite the law

Tucked away in the shadow of fortress-like mountains of southeast British Columbia, the town of Bountiful has managed to somehow avoid the wrath of Canadian law for over 50 years despite openly practising polygamy.
» Full Story

Saturday April 26, 2008

FLDS • Polygamy:

Divided polygamous community in BC a study in contradictions

Outside scrutiny of what was already one of Canada’s most controversial communities has intensified since authorities in Texas raided a sister sect of polygamists in that state.
» Full Story

FLDS • Polygamy:

British Columbia pressed to crack down on polygamists

For years, Bountiful, the polygamous community on the outskirts of the town of Creston, has escaped prosecution even though polygamy is illegal. The head of one of the polygamous communes believes religious rights protect them.
» Full Story

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Religion News Blog (RNB), published by Apologetics Index, highlights news items and other resources on world religions, cults, religious sects, new religious movements, alternative religions, abusive churches and - to a lesser extent - related issues (e.g. ethics, human rights).

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