There was a brief moment this morning when I thought Huffington Post was worth slightly more than 3/4 of a dollar bill, 1/4 of which had been masticated by an opportunistic dog destined for viral dog photo shaming. In their article "Grown Men are Exploiting Loopholes in State Laws to Marry Children," I thought HuffPo might actually shine a light on the travesties of child marriage, as seen globally at the hands of Islam. Like this 80-Year-Old Muslim Marries 12-Year-Old Girl.

Drumroll please:

More than 200,000 children under 18 were married from 2000 to 2015 in the U.S., according to a report released Wednesday by the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit organization working to end gender-based violence. The vast majority were underage girls who married adult men.

So Muslims, right Huffington Post? I base this not on blanket "Islamophobia" but actual evidence. Not to beat this point like an Islamic husband beats his underage wife, but there have been recent stories aplenty of child brides being a problem in Islam. Here, a sampling:

• Paging All 'Feminists': Germany Uncovers 1,500 Child Brides in Refugee Camps
• Bill Banning Child Marriage Gets Struck Down in Pakistan. Guess Why
• CHILLING INTERVIEW: American Woman Leaves Islam. Forced Into Hiding
• Anni Cyrus, Former Muslim Child Bride, Reveals Chilling Details on Islam
• CANADA: Ex-Muslim Woman Protests Against Sharia. Police Silence Her!

Okay, so with that, seems obvious where the problem lies, right? Let's check back in with HuffPo.

In some cases, children may be pressured into it because of traditional or religious beliefs about premarital sex and pregnancy. In others, parents may not be able to provide for their child, and want to offload them to someone else. They could be motivated by a dowry, or want to control a child’s behavior or sexuality. They could be covering up a rape that ended in pregnancy.

Um, wait. Which religion? Which tradition? Both HuffPo and the group they're sourcing, the Tahirih Justice Center, fail to mention which religion and which traditions practice child marriage. Now, in Tahirih's defense, their full report is an examination of marriage laws in the United States, and how those marriage laws should change to protect children from being forced into marriages. After some brief research into the organization, many of the people they help are from Central and South America. "Tahirih" was a Persian woman excecuted for her belief that woman should be, and would be emancipated. Her last recorded words were “You can kill me as soon as you like, but you will never stop the emancipation of women.” So the organization has named itself after a woman raised in Islam who rebuked its mistreatment of women. Okay? Okay.

That being said, if we're going to address problems with child marriage, addressing American law is just one avenue. What about addressing the reason children are marrying adults? The existing marriage law loopholes are but the tools exploited by horrendous parents and abusive spouses. But why are parents marrying off they're children?

Which gets back to the problems of Islam and an inherent disrespect for women and girls. This is the religion which is still, in 2017, slicing girls' genitals to control their sexuality. Read DEPRAVED: Virginia Imam Calls for Genital Mutilation of Girls. To'Tame Their Sexuality' and Another Detroit Muslim Doctor Busted for Female Genital Mutilations. Gotta stop those horny pre-teen girls from kissing their Justin Bieber posters. Little harlots.

Who wants to bet if this problem of child marriage was predominantly Christian or Mormon, Huffington Post would've cracked out their best bigoted anti-Christian researchers to sniff out any case where a Christian dared look at child with nothing but innocence? The headline would've been "Grown CHRISTIAN Adult Men are Exploring Marriage Laws to Marry Children" instead, yeah? Or am I just paranoid?

Child marriage is a problem. Addressing laws is one battlefront. Addressing the cultural norms which allow and encourage child marriage, as seen in Islam, is another.

Below is a time-stamped video with Anni Cyrus, a former child bride who escaped Islam.

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