In a surprising move last week, GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum advanced arguments that require polygamy in the United States. He argued that acts of individual conscience are absolutely protected by the 1st amendment. Under his argument, exceptions to monogamy laws must be granted to members of religious faiths that require polygamy. More below the multiple wedding bands...
Calling for the President to end his war on religion, Rick Santorum called for the removal of onerous restrictions on American Churches. Forcing a Church to perform only monogamous weddings is a restriction on, and waste of, the time and moral resources of any Church that requires polygamy. Rick Santorum is clearly against such secular interference
This has to do with the right of a church not to spend their moral resources in a way that's inconsistent with their faith and this is not a casually held position, this is something that is serious.
This is a constitutional issue of national importance, as the arguable GOP front-runner pointed out on MSNBC's
Morning Joe
“The First Amendment is sort of important in this country,” the former Pennsylvania senator said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “And while not everybody necessarily agrees on how you exercise that First Amendment, people do believe you have the right to exercise it. And they don’t believe the government should be . . . forcing you to do things that you find deeply, morally wrong.”
This is consistent with Santorum's previous statements that the federal government exists to enforce
Religious Freedom
“When you say ‘faith has nothing to do with it’– faith has everything to do with it,” Santorum went on to say over applause. “If our President believes that rights come to us from the state, everything government gives you, it can take away.
“The role of the government is to protect rights that cannot be taken away.”
While
some might argue that polygamy has historically often led to the objectification, degradation and death of women, Candidate Santorum is
clear that there are over-riding factors to consider, like whether the Church will be paid for the service.
Speaking to CNN’s John King, the former Pennsylvania senator said: “That’s the Church’s money, and forcing them to do something that they think is a grievous moral wrong. How can that be a right of a woman? That has nothing to do with the right of a woman.”
Inevitably, other interpretations of Mr. Santorum's statements will arise, since he was not specifically speaking about polygamy, but about payment of insurance for contraceptive coverage. However, since Mr. Santourm has
signed the Pledge for Religious Freedom and thereby
promised:
The right of religious freedom must be applied equally to all religious communities in America, including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. At the same time, religious freedom does not mandate belief, but protects the right not to believe.
We must take him at his word and assume that he will apply his argument in support of
fundamentalist mormons as strongly as as he has for Catholics. As a man of integrity, Mr. Santorum would do no less.