Tom Hanks Apologizes to Mormons but How Can He Promote Polygamy in Big Love

Tom Hanks publicly apologized for his comments about the role of Mormons in California's Proposition 8 on gay marriage rights as being un-American. If you have not heard about Tom Hanks' uncharacteristic attack on Mormons, visit Aly Adair's op/ed article: Is Tom Hanks Holier Than Thou Calling Mormons Un-American for Role in Proposition 8?

The right to state your opinion in America is truly valued as one of our democratic constitutional freedoms in this country. Calling U.S. citizens un-American for campaigning and voting on an issue calls for a more serious debate. Tom Hanks is one of the most respected filmmaking celebrities and U.S. citizens in America. I applaud and appreciate Mr. Hanks for issuing this apology as reported by FOX News:

Last week, I labeled members of the Mormon church who supported California's Proposition 8 as 'un-American. I believe Proposition 8 is counter to the promise of our Constitution; it is codified discrimination. But everyone has a right to vote their conscience; nothing could be more American. To say members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who contributed to Proposition 8 are 'un-American' creates more division when the time calls for respectful disagreement. No one should use 'un- American' lightly or in haste. I did. I should not have.

While I will continue to respect Tom Hanks as one of the greatest actors of our times, I must (to borrow his phrase) respectfully disagree and express disappointment with his decision to executive produce the HBO television series, Big Love. Perhaps Tom Hanks feels that polygamy is also codified discrimination, but the fact of the matter is, polygamy is against all federal and state laws in America. An excellent presentation of the debate between polygamy and the Constitution can be found in excerpts from the 25th Annual Jefferson B. Fordham Debate at the University of Utah's College of Law, which examined whether Utah should prosecute polygamous parents and remove children from their homes. The University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law has a video of the polygamy vs. constitution debate posted on their web site. (click here to view)

What is more disturbing to me about Tom Hanks' professional involvement with polygamy, is that the social practices of some polygamist organizations have been proven in courts to be harmful to children and spouses. This seems to go against all the moral and high quality values as a faithful husband and devoted father that Tom Hanks represents. The HBO television show, Big Love, does not present the constitutional injustices that are realities in some polygamist organizations. (Click here to read: The Reality of Polygamy: Very Different From What's Depicted on HBO's "Big Love" by Law Professor Marci A. Hamilton)

When members of religious organizations engage in harmful conduct to others and seek freedom from prosecution under the First Amendment to the Constitution, is this not also "counter to the promise of our Constitution?" I remain confused by the messages that Tom Hanks sends in matters of the Constitution and discrimination. I would have expected Tom Hanks, in his movies and films, to defend the rights of children and spouses against harmful discrimination masked by religion, rather than promoting those in unlawful religious organizations who commit the child and spousal abuse.

More information about religious organizations, their child and spousal abuse court cases, and the Constitution can be found in two books written by Marci A. Hamilton:Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children and God vs. the Gavel. Marci A. Hamilton is recognized as an international expert on church and state matters. She is also considered a national expert on First Amendment litigation for both clergy abuse on behalf of victims and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

Ms. Hamilton is a former clerk for Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, a retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Ms. Hamilton is considered a constitutional expert on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act that she challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court and won. Professor Marci A. Hamilton holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, where she is the founding Director of the Intellectual Property Law Program. She has been a visiting scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary, the Center of Theological Inquiry, and Emory University School of Law.

Once again, our American democratic constitutional freedoms are cherished in that Tom Hanks can freely produce a television show about unlawful polygamists and I can state my opinion about that. My moral and humane hope is that one day Tom Hanks will recognize, acknowledge and promote through his talented filmmaking, the discriminating and harmful injustices of children and spouses that are unlawfully being protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. I believe Tom Hanks' equally respected wife and loving mother, Rita Wilson, would be excellent in the role of Law Professor Marci A. Hamilton.

As Professor Hamilton painfully reminds us in Why the Law Must Govern Religious Entities, it is not just an American constitutional injustice; it is a global constitutional injustice.

Sources:

Is Tom Hanks Holier Than Thou Calling Mormons Un-American for Role in Proposition 8?

Aly Adair, Associated Content

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1401523/is_tom_hanks_holier_than_thou_calling.html?cat=9

Tom Hanks Apologizes for Calling Mormon Supporters of Proposition 8 'Un-American'

FOX News

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,482266,00.html

The Reality of Polygamy: Very Different From What's Depicted on HBO's "Big Love"

Marci A. Hamilton

Reported at FindLaw

http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/20060323.html

God vs. the Gavel

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521853040

Why the Law Must Govern Religious Entities

Excerpt from God vs. the Gavel

Marci A. Hamilton, Cambridge University Press, 2005

http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521853040&ss=exc

Justice Denied: What America Must Do to Protect its Children

http://www.pfcf.com.tw:82/gate/gb/www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/052188621X/findlaw-20

Debaters argue over Utah's approach to addressing polygamy

25th Annual Jefferson B. Fordham Debate at the University of Utah's College of Law

Reported at CrimProf Blog, October 2008

http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/crimprof_blog/2008/10/debaters-argue.html