700 Club / CBN News - Polygamy in the Media

This Interview is Available on TAPE.

700 Club
Kim Bonney
August 16, 2005
(Interview: June 28, 2005)
700 Club / CBN Interviews Founder for
First Report with Christian Polygamy

On June 28, 2005, Kim Bonney, CBN News Producer for the Christian television network, 700 Club / CBN News, interviewed the Founder of TruthBearer.org. He was flown in to Washington, D.C., for the day, specifically for the 35-minute interview, in which he provided information for a TV news report and its corresponding online article published at CBN.com. The entire interview (and post-interview) was recorded on audiocassette tape, and is available for order.

Kim Bonney, a professional and friendly Christian married woman, was seeking information for the television news report she was creating, titled, "Polygamy: The Next 'Right' to be Legalized?" To do so, she sought that information from the TruthBearer organization. The focus of the report was to be how "legalized same-sex marriage" could be a "slippery slope" to polygamy and beyond, to other forms of relationships such as polyamory and group marriage. While it was understood that the report would be intended for proving that advocates of "same sex marriage" are incorrect in denying that "polygamy" is "next," it turned out to be a good opportunity to explain why even conservative evangelical Christians would not really be wanting to support that mistaken idolatry. Ultimately, it also became the 700 Club's first reporting of the new social movement of Christian Polygamy.

The interview went very well, perhaps even to the surprise of Kim Bonney herself. And she was kind, thoughtful, and a true blessing in all the ways in which she conducted herself. The resulting report and article she thereby produced was also a blessing. To their Christian audience, it effectively announced this new growing movement involving evangelical Christians, called, Christian Polygamy.

Initially, the television report had been tentatively scheduled for July 7 or 8, 2005, but it was pushed back to July 21, 2005, instead. But breaking news of new terrorism in London, England, that day caused the scheduled report to be "bumped." However, the article appeared that day on the CBN.com web-site, and the television report aired later that evening on CBN's News Watch program (as was discovered by a number of TruthBearer Members). For the 700 Club show, though, it was then re-scheduled for August 10, 2005. However, it was again "bumped" five days earlier, as U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, promoting his new book, "It Takes a Family," was available for the August 10, 2005 show. Two days after that, it was re-scheduled once again for August 16, 2005, when it was actually broadcast on the 700 Club, with David Brody performing the reporting duties.

The initial "bumping" of the July 21, 2005, episode turned out to be a blessing. When the entire show had originally been put together, all of the segments were put together in total to discuss group marriage, polyamory, and even wife swapping issues. While the show did not call Christian Polygamy such things, if the actual news segment had not been "bumped" off of the show that day, then it would have left a false impression that polygamy was somehow connected to those other ideas. The "bumping" gave the Christian Polygamy community time to respond. For example, the front page of TruthBearer.org added the lines that Christian Polygamy is "NOT about group marriage or wife swapping." When the news segment later did appear on August 16, 2005, the overall show was about other issues altogether. As such, it was received as a blessing from God that the news segment was able to be aired without the connection to other issues such as group marriage and wife swapping.

As can be heard on the audiocassette recording of the interview itself (which includes the 20-minute post-interview discussion too), a number of excellent points were able to be successfully made. Mrs. Bonney was positively surprised to discover that this new movement truly involves serious Bible-studying evangelical Christians, who have no connection or history with Mormonism at all. Indeed, any conservative evangelical Christian who hears what occurred in that interview and post-interview will equally be convinced that Christian Polygamy is seriously Bible-based evangelical Christianity - as the Kim Bonney's produced report rightly and accurately identified.

No doubt, pro-polygamy activists will want to be sure to order the audiocassette recording of this interview. On that tape order-page, readers may also read many more of the powerful quotes that Mark the Founder provided in that taped interview. Even that mere sample of the many quotes further demonstrates, beyond doubt, that Christian Polygamy truly involves sincere, Bible-based, evangelical Christians - exactly as the CBN report correctly noted that fact.

What now follows is Kim Bonney's article, matching the television report as reported by David Brody, which first aired on CBN's News Watch on July 21, 2005, and then aired on the 700 Club program on August 16, 2005. The article is archived here, followed by a quick comment at the end.

Polygamy: The Next 'Right' to be Legalized?

By Kim Bonney
© 2005 CBN.com (article here)

CBN.com – WASHINGTON - Voters across the country have repeatedly rejected same-sex marriage. Yet the battle over same-sex marriage may be resolved by the courts.

The stakes are high because if same-sex marriage becomes legal, polygamy may be next.

The Massachusetts State Supreme Court made history in late 2003 when it ordered the state to legalize same-sex marriage.

In response, voters in 18 states have passed measures to protect traditional marriage, including Nebraska, where 70 percent of the voters approved a state constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman.

But after a lawsuit by homosexual and liberal groups, a federal judge struck down Nebraska's marriage amendment.

And now that case may wind up in the Supreme Court, which, according to well-known lecturer and outspoken combatant in the culture wars, Stanley Kurtz, "If this particular decision in Nebraska is upheld, it would force either full same-sex marriage, or at least Vermont-style civil unions, on the entire country."

What does all this mean to the future of the marriage institution? Opponents of homosexual unions argue that gay marriage is only the start. They say it will lead America down a slippery slope to legalized polygamy and beyond - to "polyamory," or group marriage.

Kurtz asked, "Where does it stop? If we allow same sex couples to marry, why wouldn't we allow groups to marry? Why wouldn't we allow classic Mormon old-fashioned style polygamy? There's really no limit."

Gay rights activists call these scare tactics. But traditional marriage advocates, such as Maggie Gallagher, president of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, say it is not about fear-mongering, it's about the abolition of marriage itself.

"If same-sex marriage is accepted as a real marriage, as a real form of marriage,” Gallagher said, “that's the point at which you fundamentally change the meaning of the word. So mother no longer points to father. Husband no longer points to wife."

Kurtz points out that the gay marriage debate is now being framed as a civil rights issue.

"Once the government gives benefits to everyone, it's as if it was giving special benefits to no one. And then marriage will be gone," Kurtz said.

He added, "The argument is that everyone has a right to have their intimate personal decisions recognized by the state. If we accept that argument for same-sex couples there is really no basis for saying to a group of people who want to get married, ‘No, you can't get married.'”

But supporters of group marriage say they have the right to marriage as they see fit.

Robyn Trask is managing editor of "Loving More" magazine, which she describes as a resource for people in alternative, non-monogamous relationships.

"There are a lot of people in the polyamorous community who do want that ability to marry more than one person, to be in some kind of legal partnership with more than one person…,” Trask asserted. “We've changed. We've grown as people. Marriage has changed. What we want in partnership has changed. It's no longer a survival mode, and it’s no longer arranged by parents. It's about love. And it's about commitment. It's about what's in our hearts. And so, if it's in our hearts to love, we should have that right to love whomever. I mean, to me, that's a fundamental basic right."

Trask said she has a "poly" disposition. She says monogamy just does not work for her. Polyamory is a way to be true to herself. She says to deny those feelings would be a way of denying herself.

"I would often fall in love with more than one person at once,” Trask explained. “I would feel torn. I would feel like I was having to choose. And how do you choose between your heart and your heart?"

Well, if you are polyamorous, you do not have to choose. At least not according to former University of Chicago Law School Professor Elizabeth Emens. Emens is a family law expert who pushes for legalized group marriage.

"We view this historical moment, when same-sex couples begin to enter the institution of marriage as a unique opportunity to question the mandate of compulsory monogamy," Emens said.

Gay marriage defenders have long dismissed the polygamy issue as irrational. They argue that there is no comparison between homosexual and plural marriage. But in the wake of the 2003 Supreme Court decision, which struck down laws against homosexuality, some say legalized polygamy may not be that far off.

David Frum, a scholar for the American Enterprise Institute, remarked, "Today, the people who are advocates of same-sex marriage are denying that polygamy is ever going to come up. But this is not a prediction. This is an observation. It is already coming up “

Even the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has weighed in. The president of the ACLU recently said that they support "the freedom of choice for mature, consenting individuals," and that polygamy is one of the "fundamental rights" they will defend.

"When people think in this country about polygamy,” Frum stated, “they think about the problems in the Mormon Church in the last century. And you know, they say to themselves, well, they're these primitive-looking guys out in the trailer parks, in distant rural areas…But once polygamy hooks up with multiculturalism…once it's well-spoken advocates,… are demanding this as a matter of religious liberty, I think you'll find that American institutions have as much trouble saying ‘no’ as British, Canadian, French, and Dutch institutions have had.”

Polygamy has a range of defenders, including evangelical Christians. Mark Henkel is founder of the Christian polygamy organization, TruthBearer.org. He says Christian polygamists believe husbands are called to love their wives, as Christ loved the churches, according to Scripture.

"We're talking about what consenting, un-coerced, non-abused adults choose to do, and the idea of what we call forced polygamy, that basically creates an obligation or enslaves woman,” Henkel said. “That is just horrendous."

"For a Christian polygamist, for instance,” Henkel added, “nobodies rights are being infringed, and government has no business in being involved in that…And certainly polygamy is not a sin according to the Bible. But it's illegal in the United States? It's illegal primarily because, first of all, individuals have thought it was a sin. That becomes a circular argument: Why is it a sin? Because it's against the law. Why is it against the law? Because it's a sin."

Sin or no sin, one thing is for sure - it is still illegal, at least for now. But because of concerns over what courts might do, marriage defenders say the time is ripe for the proposed Constitutional Marriage Amendment, which would define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This would ban same-sex marriage, and stop polygamy later.

Frum said, "Our defense of this model of marriage, it's the greatest joy that people can have in this life. It's the school of democracy…It's the institution where children learn to become self-commanding adults, ready to play their parts as citizens…They have learned all of this in the American family, built on egalitarian marriage between men and women, raising children with authority and with love. You change that model, you change everything."

[ END OF ARTICLE ]

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The audiocassette recording of the 35-minute interview and 20-minute post-interview with the Founder of TruthBearer.org, pertaining to the above report, has been mass produced and is now available for order. That tape order-page also allows readers to immediately read many more of the powerful quotes that Mark the Founder provided in that taped interview.

Final Comment:

While Christian Polygamy is clearly different from the other relationship forms mentioned in the report, that important difference was clearly spelled out. It was highly appropriate that the report/article segued at the end to make that differentiation. While, initially (due only to uncertainty), Mark the Founder had had some cautious apprehension as to how the report would eventually portray the movement and the TruthBearer.org organization, Kim Bonney was a true blessing. When the interview was conducted and the report was created, she treated everything fairly, honestly, and accurately - a true witness of Christ-like lovingkindness. The end result is that the 700 Club has effectively and honestly announced this new social movement of evangelical Christians to its mass Christian audience.

Plus, the creation of a powerfully persuasive interview tape resulted. That interview tape helps anyone who hears it to know beyond any question of a doubt that the movement of Christian Polygamy and the organization of TruthBearer.org definitely involve dedicated, Bible-based, evangelical Christians. For quick proof of that, readers may read many of the powerful quotes made in that interview and post-interview immediately, right on that tape order-page.

For all these blessings, therefore, the ministry of TruthBearer.org is truly and genuinely grateful to Kim Bonney at 700 Club / CBN. Glory to God!

And now YOU can get a copy of the audiocassette recording of this very positive media interview too. YOU can help further spread the word to others too! Order your copy TODAY!

Glory to God that that message gets out! Alleluia Hallelujah!

TruthBearer.org

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