Show JUD JUDGE GE ZANES fallacious FALi LACIOUS DISCOURSE IN a beligio judicial discourse from the bench of the third district court on tuesday judge zane repeated the sophistical pretext for the suppression of plural marriage which was started many years a ago go and has teen been used in ev evely y shallow argument on his side of the subject ever since it Is this if plural marriage can be practised practiced as a religious system then murder human sacrifice robbery and other crimes may be perpetrated in the name of religion ligion and if laws may not be passed and executed against plural marriage because it is a feature of a religion then the afen ofen ses see named may not be proceeded against it if perpetrated as religious the fallacy of such reasoning has been pointed out almost as often as it has been advanced by prominent persons there is no 0 parallel between the custom and the omes crimes thus coupled murder personal violence theft etc are crimes in and of themselves they would be criminal if no human enactment had ever been wabe made against them the are mala in se they are infringements upon natural rights anything that deprives an individual of life liberty or property without due process of law is essential came rne society tor for its own protection lias 19 the right to punish persons guilty of such crimes there is no sulley dispute impute as to that right every for form m of human gohei government eminent recognizes this all nations and organized communities provide for the I 1 of their citizens in this way but marriage is another matter altogether if the parties are free to make tile the matrimonial contract there is no invasion ot of human rights in its consummation aon in plural marriage if each individual immediately concerned ce ned agrees to the transaction no natural rightie right is trespassed upon he who cannot ahot perceive the difference between this and the of fences ide described must be blind indeed and he who seeks to jumble them together and make them appear alike is a sophist and a deceiver and in trying to palm off his imposition on the public descends to the level of the juggler and the thimble rigger if a roan man forces a woman to become his wife or submit to his assaults upon her in any way he violates her personal liberty if he takes anything belonging to another without the owners consent he violates the right of property he is then a criminal law or no law religion or no religion society protecting its members rightly provides for the punishment of the criminal but if a man having a wife marries another the first consenting and the second voluntarily taking part in the union neither life liberty nor property is infringed upon and no right is violated when a public teacher tends to class marriage whether abu i or polygamous with murder an and d robbery he manifests singular stupidity or shameless mendacity and when such arguments are used by a chief justice in in open court the situation becomes so much worse that lan guage falls fails to describe its folly or dis aage chesty brackstone says the bible is the basis of human law and civilization all modern jurisprudence is founded on the principles and precepts in that divine record murder and robbery are denounced as crimes therein and marriage both monogamous and polygamous is exalted as a virtue there is id not a passage in the volume that forbids plural marriage marri aye but it teems with repetitions of ef thel the divine decrees thou do no murder and thou not steal taking another mans wife is a double crime intercourse outside of marriage is strenuously prohibited but the marriage of a man to more that than one woman is countenanced provided for and in some cases commanded in tile the book from froin which the nations of today have derived their guidance and inspiration what can caa be thought of a judge who can gravely attempt to identify that which destroys life with that which promotes and increases life and to argue that because murder may be punished by law marriage can also be punished by lawi law does it follow because crimes against life liberty and property may not be practised practiced under the plea of religion that a mony domestic relation that interferes with neither life liberty nor property may not be practised practiced under religious direction and influences the mental calibre of a judge who officially utters such puerilities must be extraordinarily light judge zane said now this sect claims claim s the right to overthrow the marriage by substituting marriage in arriage 11 using the judges own language we have to say that Tha tisa is a false statement mormonism claims to do nothing of the kind there is nothing in it which warrants the assertion it is ds untrue in both letter and spirit mormonism neither claims nor attempts to do this or anything like it under given conditions qualified persons are permitted to contract plural marriages sanctioned and solemnized by religious ordinances but mormonism also maintains directs enjoins and sol moh marriages and the two conditi conditions mono and exist side by side harmon ious and mutually supporting the former being the ru lethe rafter atter the exception it was so in olden elden times when marriage as among the latter day saints was regarded asa as a divine ordinance and the institution of marriage was regulated by divine law the attempt of judge zane to misrepresent the facts is unworthy of his high calling and suitable only defamers def amers and pa malign ers of the cormons mormons Mor mons who from press and pulpit seek to deceive the public and being unable to 8 assau 1 our system with truth set up an effigy of error of their own manufacture pretend it 13 s mormonism and proceed proceed to belabor it to their own hearts content such discourses as those delivered by judge zane have one good effect however they tend to confirm the convictions of his victims and of their co relt g 0 arts it is clear to them thatis that if valid arguments could be advanced against their religion and their religious rights a judicial officer would not stoop to such sophistries sophis tries and f fallacies a and erroneous assertions as aye and have been set forth from the b bench el h of the third district court A an lf that is being doneald done and all that is being said against the divine and eternal order of plural marriage which has become interwoven ter woven with the lives and liberties and destiny of the latter day saints ony only serves to strengthen their faith deepen their devotion and intensity their conviction and make them more than ever determined to serve god and keep his commandments in spite of all that shortsighted short sighted cruel or heaven defying men may attempt or accomplish |