Showing posts with label polygamy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label polygamy. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Carolyn Jessop on her Escape from FLDS
I found this link to a video clip of Carolyn Jessop describing FLDS lifestyle and her experiences with that culture/lifestyle.
I think it's something to keep in mind when one thinks about the 400+ children in Texas custody right now.
I think it's something to keep in mind when one thinks about the 400+ children in Texas custody right now.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
More Eldorado Compound News
Facts about the Polygamous Sect FLDS
Authorities Find Bed in Compound Temple
Officials Say Bed in Polygamous Compound Used for Child Sex
State Organizing Resources To Aid Children, Women Who Left Eldorado Compound
I remember seeing polygamists at Wal-Mart when I visit my parents . . . sometimes my dad would go up to them and say something nasty about abusing the welfare system (although I've never personally seen him do this). They would always give me dirty looks. The women and young girls would wander around together with a shopping cart, and the men and boys would roam around together in the automotive or sporting goods section. They would all drive off in brand new Suburbans and pick up trucks.
There is so much going on there that is wrong, and I hope Texas has the resources to straighten it out, at least in their state. I hope the women and children get the counseling they so desperately need, and I hope their transition to a better life isn't too painful for them.
I hope this is a wake-up call for Utah and Arizona, but I don't think anything is going to happen with Hildale/Colorado City anytime soon.
Authorities Find Bed in Compound Temple
Officials Say Bed in Polygamous Compound Used for Child Sex
State Organizing Resources To Aid Children, Women Who Left Eldorado Compound
I remember seeing polygamists at Wal-Mart when I visit my parents . . . sometimes my dad would go up to them and say something nasty about abusing the welfare system (although I've never personally seen him do this). They would always give me dirty looks. The women and young girls would wander around together with a shopping cart, and the men and boys would roam around together in the automotive or sporting goods section. They would all drive off in brand new Suburbans and pick up trucks.
There is so much going on there that is wrong, and I hope Texas has the resources to straighten it out, at least in their state. I hope the women and children get the counseling they so desperately need, and I hope their transition to a better life isn't too painful for them.
I hope this is a wake-up call for Utah and Arizona, but I don't think anything is going to happen with Hildale/Colorado City anytime soon.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Trouble in Yearning for Zion
Abuse Probed at Polygamist Compound
Polygamy Grows Despite Shocking Arrests
If you are an adult and you want to do something way out of the mainstream with other consenting adults, that's cool by me as long as what you're doing isn't physically, mentally, emotionally, or sexually harming other people (or animals).
I don't think all is fine in Texas, or anywhere else FLDS compounds are located. These people are raised to blindly obey what their church leaders tell them to do, and the women (some of them are barely adolescent girls) are traded around among the older men.
I've read some opinions where people are upset that children are being taken away from their parents. If you don't think those children are abused in some way, there's something wrong with you. They don't have any formal education and have been taught to fear modern society.
If you think it's OK to force a woman to marry someone against her will there's something wrong with you. If you think it's OK to force a woman to marry another man because her current husband broke some religious law there's something wrong with you.
I hope they find the girl who called the authorities, and I hope they send a lot of people to jail over this one.
Polygamy Grows Despite Shocking Arrests
If you are an adult and you want to do something way out of the mainstream with other consenting adults, that's cool by me as long as what you're doing isn't physically, mentally, emotionally, or sexually harming other people (or animals).
I don't think all is fine in Texas, or anywhere else FLDS compounds are located. These people are raised to blindly obey what their church leaders tell them to do, and the women (some of them are barely adolescent girls) are traded around among the older men.
I've read some opinions where people are upset that children are being taken away from their parents. If you don't think those children are abused in some way, there's something wrong with you. They don't have any formal education and have been taught to fear modern society.
If you think it's OK to force a woman to marry someone against her will there's something wrong with you. If you think it's OK to force a woman to marry another man because her current husband broke some religious law there's something wrong with you.
I hope they find the girl who called the authorities, and I hope they send a lot of people to jail over this one.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Book Signing: His Favorite Wife
Today at Barnes & Noble (I should own stock in the store) there was a book signing for His Favorite Wife: Trapped In Polygamy, by Susan Ray Schmidt. Susan was warm, open, and very gracious. We started talking a little bit about polygamy, and I mentioned I was an ex-mormon. She seemed surprised and really opened up about the emotional abuses that face women who are LDS or live in mormon-related splinter groups.
Weirdly enough, she's lived in Cedar City, Utah (where I used to live) and part of her book takes place there.
I've skimmed through her book, and she isn't throwing a pity party or begging for attention. She told me that many people asked her why she wrote the book, which surprised me because you'd think it's a story that needs to be told.
I definitely don't try to focus on mormon issues here, but I do point them out when I feel compelled to. Polygamy, as mormon fundamentalist groups define it, is based on the core doctrines of the LDS religion. I don't care what any mainstream mormon says; "we don't practice it anymore", "they don't practice it the way Joe Smith would have", etc. That's all pure bull shit in the most concentrated form. Spritually practicing polygamy, as mainstream mormons do (just take a look at their rules concerning men and women regarding temple marriage) is just as screwed up as actual polygamy. If you don't practice something anymore, take it off the books. And Joseph Smith was a horny old goat. If you don't think polygamy back then was the same as polygamy now, you're deluding yourself.
As long as polygamy is around, women are going to be physically and emotionally abused. I pray that Utah will wake up to that someday and do something about it.
Weirdly enough, she's lived in Cedar City, Utah (where I used to live) and part of her book takes place there.
I've skimmed through her book, and she isn't throwing a pity party or begging for attention. She told me that many people asked her why she wrote the book, which surprised me because you'd think it's a story that needs to be told.
I definitely don't try to focus on mormon issues here, but I do point them out when I feel compelled to. Polygamy, as mormon fundamentalist groups define it, is based on the core doctrines of the LDS religion. I don't care what any mainstream mormon says; "we don't practice it anymore", "they don't practice it the way Joe Smith would have", etc. That's all pure bull shit in the most concentrated form. Spritually practicing polygamy, as mainstream mormons do (just take a look at their rules concerning men and women regarding temple marriage) is just as screwed up as actual polygamy. If you don't practice something anymore, take it off the books. And Joseph Smith was a horny old goat. If you don't think polygamy back then was the same as polygamy now, you're deluding yourself.
As long as polygamy is around, women are going to be physically and emotionally abused. I pray that Utah will wake up to that someday and do something about it.
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