Polygamy & Freedom Of Religion.

A polygamous Mormon off shoot, in Canada is currently being investigated for child abuse. The allegations against the leaders of the group in Bountiful, British Columbia include the sexual exploitation of women and girls, something which seems to occur whenever polygamy is instituted. In theory it might seem straight forward to prosecute those responsible but that is without considering the baleful effect of Canada's 'fundamental rights', including the right to religious freedom. The fundamental point about 'rights' is that they are legal trump cards which if produced supercede all other considerations, so if the leaders of the sect in Bountiful are prosecuted the authorities fear that they might win their case because freedom of religion would trump the other issues involved, this would effectively legalise polygamy.

This sort of conflict is inevitable when something is made a 'right' because the concept of rights removes the need to account for the conflicting interests of other parties. Incidentally no one literally believes in complete freedom of religion, at least not the freedom of religious expression, otherwise you'd have to accept the right to practise human sacrifice if the adherents of a religion really believed it.