OVO

Amanda Townsend: Child bride wanted to preserve 'eternal salvation,' court told [LINK-ZUM]

A reluctant child bride told a Utah jury Friday that she was trying to preserve her "eternal salvation" when she obeyed a command by polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs to marry her cousin at age 14. Referred to in court as Jane Doe, the young woman was married in a 2001 religious ceremony officiated by Jeffs to the cousin, then 19. She said she disliked him because he once had sprayed her with a water hose on a freezing day." I preferred to stay away from him," she said.

Later, miserable in her marriage, she testified she sought a meeting with Jeffs, and she told him she couldn't see herself having a family with her husband and "could not do what they expected me to do." She begged to be released from the marriage, she said. But Jeffs told her she needed to repent and to "go home and give myself to [my husband]," she testified, and he gave her a book of teachings.

[Article continues at link. Utah Code Section 76-5-401.2. relieves Warren Jeffs and Mr. Doe of statutory rape charges, as the age of consent laws in Utah state 16 years old is old enough to legally have sex. But marriage between first cousins is only legal if both are 65 or older, or if both are 55 or older and one is unable to reproduce. The courts have reason to question the actions of Jeff and the Does. In addition to all of that, it is sad that anyone does anything for their "eternal salvation." There is no such thing, and any effort to that end is wasted. Be kind to one other now because now is all we have and because kindness is pleasant. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, mormon

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