Charlie Wolf, TalkSPORT Radio - Polygamy in the Media

This Interview is Available on TAPE.

Charlie Wolf, TalkSPORT Radio
May 20, 2001
10:00 p.m. EST (3:00 a.m. London Time)
Great Britain
Charlie Wolf
on TalkSPORT
Topic for the Evening:
Polygamy and the Tom Green case

Soon after "fundamentalist mormon", Tom Green, had been found "guilty" on May 18, 2001, of all four counts of "bigamy" and of the one count of "criminal non-support" in his trial in Utah, requests for interviews began to come in to this organization of TruthBearer.org.

Mark, the Founder of this ministry, gladly accepted, being glad to have the equal opportunity to clarify many of the issues which otherwise would be accruing to those of us who support the advance of adult, consentual, non-abusive polygamy according to the principles of love-not-force.

The first such opportunity was a radio interview on a radio talk show in the country of England, the "Charlie Wolf" show on TalkSPORT (and no, the topic had nothing to do with "sports".)

The show was centered around a personal friend, "fundamentalist Mormon", and defender of Tom Green as a guest on the show, with the Founder of TruthBearer.org being there for providing clarification about CHRISTIAN Polygamy and other differing views pertaining to the Tom Green case.

An audiocassette recording is NOW available.

Quotes from the Interview

When asked directly for his thoughts on the Tom Green trial, Mark the Founder said:

...Well,... There are ...a number of us that are quite concerned about this particular situation. ...It would seem that the anti-polygamists would not have had much ability to raise up political furor, as it were, against polygamists, were it not for a combination of the agitation that Tom Green himself was doing of going on "trash TV" shows over and over and over and making a circus act out of the situation, from Jerry Springer Show to Sally Jesse Raphael. And that that kind of required ---at least to look into it--- that the State of Utah would do so. Then, as they [[ i.e., the State of Utah ]] do so, they come across, AHA! They [[ i.e., Tom Green's family ]] have some additional, extra "baggage"; such as, the "criminal non-support" for which he was just found guilty, as well as another court trial that he will be having, pending, where the "first wife" in the situation, they're accusing him of actually rape of her as his 13-year-old step-daughter at the time of the supposed "first marriage" with her, that she was 13-years-old and she had been his step-DAUGHTER at the time. So, you've got the whole father-daughter dynamic that has gone on there. That whole extra "baggage" was understood by the anti-polygamists as just the extra "food for fodder" they needed to raise up such hostility to try to associate that "baggage" --- which most of us polygamists, actually, that's not anything we have anything to do with.

Explaining how the Tom Green case has brought a "chill factor" to regular polygamous families who otherwise have had and would have had not that serious a level of potential problems from governments, Mark the Founder said:

...Many of the [[ polygamous ]] families that are out there, that they wouldn't even really be all that concerned. We're in such a society that keeps promoting this "tolerance, tolerance, tolerance" idea... ...many of these families have indeed been able to not be as concerned. But NOW, with this kind of hostility...

Explaining that Tom Green's "baggage" will be used to to empower anti-polygamy propaganda, Mark the Founder said:

...The problem is that, with this situation with the Tom Green case is that, it allows the propaganda to come out to associate and train the masses, as it were, to believe that "polygamy" equals all this extra "baggage". And it doesn't.

In a different sub-topic, the other guest on the show, understandably being a defender of his personal friend, Tom Green, proclaimed the following direct admissions,

Here's this 13-year-old girl, this girl who was 13 when she married Tom... ...She MARRIED Tom.... ...She MARRIED him.

The show's host replied:

From the outside, with the best of respect, it does sound a bit weird, when you're hearing the guy is, you know, hey, it's like Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13-year-old cousin. You know, a lot of eyebrows went up.

Mark the Founder then added,

In all actuality, I would go one step further. The problem with this is the "daddy-daughter dynamic", that this girl had been into his family AS a step-daughter of ANOTHER woman that Tom Green had been married to. So here he is, married to another woman, who is no longer with him [[ now ]], who has this girl. This girl is living under Tom Green AS her step-father. And THEN at 13, he has this, so you've got the whole "daddy-daughter dynamic".

Explaining how the Tom Green case, with it's "baggage", is going to understandably appear to the masses, Mark the Founder said,

Regardless of it, this isn't even about "me". It's not about "my thought process". You go to the masses, and there's no way you're going to persuade the masses that the "daddy-daughter dynamic" is acceptable. And to associate "polygamy", to create a "poster boy" that associates "polygamy" with that "daddy-daughter dynamic" is destructive.

It's much like the situation of Tim McVeigh, back in 1995, bombing the Federal Building in the Oklahoma City Bombing [[ on April 19, 1995 ]] thinking he's being this "good guy" for the (at that time there was a thing called the) "militia movement", and instead, he ends up destroying it. And THAT's the same situation that this poses for us. ...And now it's going to become more destructive to us than we actually would have been... without it.

Explaining more, Mark the Founder stated clearly:

People have to know that when they hear this [[ Tom Green ]] case, that ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, the word, "polygamy",
does not mean p * d * p h i l e,
does not mean marrying your own daughter in your household,
does not mean a 13-year-old girl.
"Polygamy" means "polygamy".

Throughout the discussion, there had been a number of mentions made which left listeners with the impression that "polygamy" is somehow only related to "mormonism" and nothing else. To clarify that incorrect impression, Mark the Founder clarified:

While it's acceptable to talk about various things, such as the Mormon Polygamy, it is also important to make it absolutely clear that that's not what CHRISTIAN Polygamy is, and that
"polygamy" itself does not mean "Mormon theology".
"Polygamy" does not mean "Mormon history".
"Polygamy" does not mean Joseph Smith, Brigham Young.
They were merely individuals of a religion called, "Mormonism", or "LDS", that had a theology that INCLUDED polygamy with this [[ Mormon-only ]] idea of pre-existence of souls.

Explaining that "polygamy" is only a word about relationship, Mark the Founder said:

..."Polygamy", ...only is a word that establishes the idea of relationship, meaning --- polygyny, for example --- one man with many wives, that's just a relationship issue. People may abuse the WAY they apply that, but the word itself, "polygamy", only means what it means. It's the relationship aspect...

And these were only just some of the good quotes from this interview.

Mark the Founder also

Spelled out exactly what "Mormon Polygamy" is based upon, and how that theology has nothing to do with what is known as "CHRISTIAN Polygamy".
Spelled out the meanings of polygamy, polygyny, polyandry, bigamy, and CHRISTIAN Polygamy (i.e, being polygyny in the CHRISTIAN paradigm).
Spelled out the actual meaning of the Hebrew word, "na`aph", which is the word from which "adultery" is translated in the Scriptures, and gave the precise exegesis.
Spelled out the 1st and also the 10th Amendment issues (in the U.S. Constitution) pertaining to de-criminalizing polygamy issues in the United States.
Spelled out how marriage is a God-given matter, not a governmment-granted matter.
Spelled out how this organization (of TruthBearer.org) is working to de-criminalize polygamy.
Spelled out how "love-not-force" is the means by which we may effectively de-criminalize polygamy while simultaneously having protections in place to protect women from abusive, chest-pounder, FORCE-type men who would do cruel and hurtful things toward women in polygamy.
And more!

To hear all these things, you'll want to be sure to get a copy of the audiocassette recording of this interview.

No doubt, it is important to get the message from this radio interview out to as many people as we can, so that, when they hear about the Tom Green case, they can know just what is the truth about polygamy and what is just hostile anti-propaganda.

So, be sure to obtain a copy of the tape for yourself.

TruthBearer.org

Media [Directory] Polygamy in the Media

Mark Henkel Interview Example - Important Questions & Media Credibility

Newsweek