If she's old enough to sit at the table, she's old enough to marry in the USA

Religious freedom sucks sometimes, doesn't it?

 

I took him literally but not seriously.

 

Offering anecdotal evidence here, but I know/knew about 30 people of moderately fundamental Christian denominations who were teen brides married to men in their 20s. Most of them ended up in divorce. These were people who got married in the 199os...not some forgotten era of time.

 

I think you need to be a bit more precise with your definitions there. A 15YO marrying a 29YO is what you seem to be getting at, but you could just as easily be talking about a 19YO marrying a 20YO. Hell, my parents -- decidedly NOT fundamental/evangelical types -- married when my father was 22 and my mother was a month past her 18th.

 

Would be curious to know the denominations we're talking about too.

 

Girls being forced to marry men who raped them is the most egregious issue.

I didn't say only DQ could spot it. I'm saying you were so quick to jump into Media BAD! mode that you didn't bother.

By the way, do you understand the difference between a column and straight news? Apparently not, since you seem to think Kristof was out of line taking a side while writing a column.

 

A. Yes. Being forced to marry your rapist is the worst case. It's the case when a young girl is forced to marry a much older man. Teens marrying teens isn't the issue, even if it's not a great idea.

B. I did spot, and was composing my reply -- in which I provided the answer -- when DQ posted.

C. I'm familiar with the guidelines of column and with Kristof's work. He's sincere on these issues. He writes about similar issues frequently. But, he chose his example(s) carefully. He didn't want this to be a partisan column that would provide red meat to the anti-immigrant crowd, so he wrote about a Christian girl and lumped Christianity, Judaism, and Islam in together when discussing the issue.

 

His example was a good one. You seem to be criticizing the guy for choosing examples that fit the point of view he was expressing in his column. Part of the point was that it isn't just Muslims who mistreat young women in this way and he made it well.

Regarding your claim that you were going to write about the time frame before DQ pointed it out, we only have your word on that. Based on your posting history, I see no reason to take your word for anything.

 

Good point, @outofplace ... neither @YankeeFan nor @LongTimeListener (both of whom posted details within 3 to 5 minutes of mine) could get through the day without my leading the way. Really one could say that about dozens of well-respected posters here.

 

That isn't what I said, but I'm happy to let it stand.

 

Thank goodness we're "Under the Banner of Heaven."

 

One of the best books I've ever read. True crime classic.