38 ICSA TODAY
Bauman was asked to declare whether Canada’s longstanding
but seldom-used antipolygamy law is consistent with the
freedoms guaranteed by the Charter. He heard from dozens of
expert witnesses and former sect members over 5 months, and
then described in his report what really goes on at Bountiful. He
dismissed claims that the divided community is free of abuse and
harm. Instead, harm is what the Bountiful question is all about,
Chief Justice Bauman concluded. “Harm to women, to children, to
society and to the institution of monogamous marriage.”
Specifically, he found that women in polygamous relationships
“are at an elevated risk of physical and psychological harm. They
face higher rates of domestic violence and abuse, including sexual
abuse.” And children in polygamous families “face higher infant
mortality. … They tend to suffer more emotional, behavioural and
physical problems, and … lower educational achievement than
children in monogamous families.” He wrote that early marriage
for girls, frequently to older men, is common.
Chief Justice Bauman listened, reflected, and then determined
that any Charter breaches caused by Canada’s antipolygamy
law are “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,”
and that the prohibition on polygamy “is consistent with, …
further, Canada’s international human rights obligations. … In
my view, the salutary effects of the prohibition far outweigh the
deleterious.”
With this document in hand, BC’s CJB are proceeding with the
criminal prosecution of Blackmore and Oler. The two men are
scheduled to appear in a provincial courtroom in Creston, BC
in October. When the trial begins, prosecutors might point to
evidence that Mr. Blackmore gave at an unrelated civil trial in
Salt Lake City earlier this year. There, he acknowledged to having
wedded on different occasions three 15-year-old girls. “I never
touched anyone before they were 16,” he testified. (National Post,
8/14/14)
Seized Children Returning to Manitoba Mennonite
Community
Twenty-three of the children taken from the Manitoba, Quebec
Old Order Mennonite Community by welfare officials last year
are now home, according to Jay Rodgers, CEO of the General Child
and Family Services Authority in Manitoba, and he expects almost
all will be back in the community by the end of summer.
A number of adults were charged with multiple counts of assault,
including assault with a weapon, between July 2011 and the end
of January 2013. The charges stemmed from how the children
were disciplined. The youngest of the alleged victims at the time
was less than a year old, and the oldest was 17.
The province’s child and family services authority removed all
children but one while the matter was investigated. “It’s been a
process of working with these families around parenting capacity,
parenting techniques, learning about child development, learning
about appropriate discipline approaches,” said Rodgers.
Many of the charges have now been stayed, but a community
member told CBC News that seven people still face charges.
Nobody from the community, or its location, can be named to
protect the identity of the children who were apprehended.
“We desperately want to do things differently,” a man from the
community told CBC. “We are very committed to trying to stay
here, build here and put our community back together again,” the
man said. (CBC News, 6/19/14)
“…an embassy to welcome the Elohim back to Earth!”
The Raëlians recently have thrown open their doors to the
cameras for the first time, after presenter Darren McMullen
travelled to Croatia to meet the sect members living there. And as
Glenn Carter, the man responsible for the UK’s Raëlian population
reveals, there’s more to Raëlian life than alien ancestors. Like
Scientology, Raëlianism is considered a “UFO religion” with similar
theories on intelligent design and extraterrestrial life. Unlike the
Scientologists, however, Raëlians are famous for espousing sexual
freedom and scientific development, and they even claimed in
2002 to have produced the world’s first cloned human baby.
According to Raëlian Glenn Carter, “The main goal of Raëlians
at this stage is to create an embassy in order to facilitate and
welcome the return [to Earth] of the Elohim,” who they believe
record every human memory and DNA on an advanced
supercomputer. In preparation for that day, the Raëlians are in the
process of creating an extraterrestrial embassy, which they hope
to build in Jerusalem, to welcome the Elohim back to Earth. (Daily
Mail, 5/9/14)
Harvard Students Cancel Satanic Black Mass After
Outcry
Harvard University extension-school students planning a satanic
black mass canceled the event after an outcry by administration,
students, faculty, and community religious leaders. The Harvard
Extension Cultural Studies Club had decided to move the event
off campus after widespread objections but found no other
location willing to host it.
The university had decided not to block the event, even though
President Drew Faust said she opposed it. “Vigorous and open
discussion and debate are essential to the pursuit of knowledge,
and we must uphold these values even in the face of controversy,”
Faust said. “Freedom of expression, as Justice Holmes famously
said long ago, protects not only free thought for those who agree
with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”
Harvard students, faculty, and alumni signatures were among
those on about sixty thousand online petitions protesting the
black mass. The Archdiocese of Boston and a group of Harvard
chaplains also opposed the ritual. Francis Clooney, a Roman
Catholic priest and Harvard Divinity School professor, said that
while Harvard is committed to freedom of expression, it’s clear
that there are limits to its latitude. “If this had been a reenactment
of a Nazi rally or a lynching, the university would have stepped
in quickly and stopped it,” he said. “I’d be concerned that the
university is saying we just allow student groups to do what they
want.”
In an earlier statement, Robert Neugeboren, the extension
school’s Dean of Students and Alumni Affairs, said the club was
hosting the black mass as part of a series of events to explore
Bauman was asked to declare whether Canada’s longstanding
but seldom-used antipolygamy law is consistent with the
freedoms guaranteed by the Charter. He heard from dozens of
expert witnesses and former sect members over 5 months, and
then described in his report what really goes on at Bountiful. He
dismissed claims that the divided community is free of abuse and
harm. Instead, harm is what the Bountiful question is all about,
Chief Justice Bauman concluded. “Harm to women, to children, to
society and to the institution of monogamous marriage.”
Specifically, he found that women in polygamous relationships
“are at an elevated risk of physical and psychological harm. They
face higher rates of domestic violence and abuse, including sexual
abuse.” And children in polygamous families “face higher infant
mortality. … They tend to suffer more emotional, behavioural and
physical problems, and … lower educational achievement than
children in monogamous families.” He wrote that early marriage
for girls, frequently to older men, is common.
Chief Justice Bauman listened, reflected, and then determined
that any Charter breaches caused by Canada’s antipolygamy
law are “demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society,”
and that the prohibition on polygamy “is consistent with, …
further, Canada’s international human rights obligations. … In
my view, the salutary effects of the prohibition far outweigh the
deleterious.”
With this document in hand, BC’s CJB are proceeding with the
criminal prosecution of Blackmore and Oler. The two men are
scheduled to appear in a provincial courtroom in Creston, BC
in October. When the trial begins, prosecutors might point to
evidence that Mr. Blackmore gave at an unrelated civil trial in
Salt Lake City earlier this year. There, he acknowledged to having
wedded on different occasions three 15-year-old girls. “I never
touched anyone before they were 16,” he testified. (National Post,
8/14/14)
Seized Children Returning to Manitoba Mennonite
Community
Twenty-three of the children taken from the Manitoba, Quebec
Old Order Mennonite Community by welfare officials last year
are now home, according to Jay Rodgers, CEO of the General Child
and Family Services Authority in Manitoba, and he expects almost
all will be back in the community by the end of summer.
A number of adults were charged with multiple counts of assault,
including assault with a weapon, between July 2011 and the end
of January 2013. The charges stemmed from how the children
were disciplined. The youngest of the alleged victims at the time
was less than a year old, and the oldest was 17.
The province’s child and family services authority removed all
children but one while the matter was investigated. “It’s been a
process of working with these families around parenting capacity,
parenting techniques, learning about child development, learning
about appropriate discipline approaches,” said Rodgers.
Many of the charges have now been stayed, but a community
member told CBC News that seven people still face charges.
Nobody from the community, or its location, can be named to
protect the identity of the children who were apprehended.
“We desperately want to do things differently,” a man from the
community told CBC. “We are very committed to trying to stay
here, build here and put our community back together again,” the
man said. (CBC News, 6/19/14)
“…an embassy to welcome the Elohim back to Earth!”
The Raëlians recently have thrown open their doors to the
cameras for the first time, after presenter Darren McMullen
travelled to Croatia to meet the sect members living there. And as
Glenn Carter, the man responsible for the UK’s Raëlian population
reveals, there’s more to Raëlian life than alien ancestors. Like
Scientology, Raëlianism is considered a “UFO religion” with similar
theories on intelligent design and extraterrestrial life. Unlike the
Scientologists, however, Raëlians are famous for espousing sexual
freedom and scientific development, and they even claimed in
2002 to have produced the world’s first cloned human baby.
According to Raëlian Glenn Carter, “The main goal of Raëlians
at this stage is to create an embassy in order to facilitate and
welcome the return [to Earth] of the Elohim,” who they believe
record every human memory and DNA on an advanced
supercomputer. In preparation for that day, the Raëlians are in the
process of creating an extraterrestrial embassy, which they hope
to build in Jerusalem, to welcome the Elohim back to Earth. (Daily
Mail, 5/9/14)
Harvard Students Cancel Satanic Black Mass After
Outcry
Harvard University extension-school students planning a satanic
black mass canceled the event after an outcry by administration,
students, faculty, and community religious leaders. The Harvard
Extension Cultural Studies Club had decided to move the event
off campus after widespread objections but found no other
location willing to host it.
The university had decided not to block the event, even though
President Drew Faust said she opposed it. “Vigorous and open
discussion and debate are essential to the pursuit of knowledge,
and we must uphold these values even in the face of controversy,”
Faust said. “Freedom of expression, as Justice Holmes famously
said long ago, protects not only free thought for those who agree
with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”
Harvard students, faculty, and alumni signatures were among
those on about sixty thousand online petitions protesting the
black mass. The Archdiocese of Boston and a group of Harvard
chaplains also opposed the ritual. Francis Clooney, a Roman
Catholic priest and Harvard Divinity School professor, said that
while Harvard is committed to freedom of expression, it’s clear
that there are limits to its latitude. “If this had been a reenactment
of a Nazi rally or a lynching, the university would have stepped
in quickly and stopped it,” he said. “I’d be concerned that the
university is saying we just allow student groups to do what they
want.”
In an earlier statement, Robert Neugeboren, the extension
school’s Dean of Students and Alumni Affairs, said the club was
hosting the black mass as part of a series of events to explore
