Afterwards, it is necessary for the Court to decide the issue of the right of Petitioner Bridges to receive reimbursement from the state-sponsored insurance company, Bacchanal Affordable Care ("BAC"). According to testimony, Petitioner Bridges is a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). The ancient texts of the FLDS Church support polygamy and allow males to marry multiple wives, as long as the wife is over the age of thirteen. Bridges resides in the state of Nevada, which refuses to recognize any plural union, like all other states. Nevada also prohibits the issuance of a marriage licenses to anyone under the age of eighteen, and consequently a state marriage license must be issued in order for a marriage to be legally recognized. Bridges married Stefani Germanotta in a FLDS religious ceremony when she was sixteen years old. They did not apply for a state marriage license/certificate. Shortly after, Bridges married Onika Tanya Maraj, a twenty-five year old woman, also in a FLDS religious ceremony. Bridges and Maraj elected to have their marriage recognized by the state. Because the state had no reason to …show more content…
The RFRA prohibits the government from substantially burdening religious free exercise unless it must do so to further a compelling government interest. Hobby Lobby vs. Burwell referenced RFRA, as the corporation believed that the health-insurance coverage they were mandated to provide to their employers violated “their sincerely held religious beliefs.” (Hobby Lobby, 1). Hobby Lobby is a family-owned corporation that believes that providing contraception is morally wrong. Similarly, Bridges, the sole owner of the Paradise Found corporation, subscribes to a religion of which a primary tenet is that polygynous marriage, specifically marriage of one man to multiple women, is a mechanism of expressing strongly held religious convictions. Therefore, Bridges is attempting to align his argument with that of the Hobby Lobby