Polygamists

I just saw piece on CNN about the all the people practicing polygamy in Arizona and Utah and this guy Warren Jeffs. From what I understand he was a leader of the later day saint church and founded some towns in Arizona that are based on polygamy! I guess he now wanted by the FBI.

I wanted to know what ATS users know about these groups. Personally I think the practice of polygamy is not a good thing, and very wierd too. I think the people that practice it are a bit odd too, like why do they make the woman dress like they are in the 1800's????

There is already a thread started on this isue, it can be found by clicking on the link below.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Thanks, sorry I didnt search first

I think its fair to have a thread focusing on the secret society aspect, that other thread is looking at the issue of whether or not its all a NWO facade to provoke a civil war.



As far as the organization, its not the Later Day Saints proper, which is the regular Mormon church, its a seperate organization, a splinter group from mormonism, called the FLDS or some such.


The clothing, its an intersting thing. The amish require their people to wear certain clothes, BUT there are actually a lotof christian groups that do this. I beleive that they call them "plainclothes". There are even at home shopping catalogs that cater to it. Some mormon groups do it, and lots of protestant fundamentalist groups do it.

Mormonism, in breif, was started by Joseph Smith in NY, he received divine knowledge by reading golden tablets. His organization wasn't liked very much, so they left the east and settled in what was then Utah (I think it was an unorganized territory at that point, ie not even incorporated into the US structure). That 'trek' was, I beleive, led Bringham Young, who was basically the church leader for a while.

The mormons used to be mostly polygamist, but the LDS gave that up a long time ago. Splinter groups still keep to that aspect of their faith.

Polygamy is common in the world. Consider the use of Harems by Turk sultans, or the use of multiple wives amoung the arabs. I think that the Mormon's justify it biblically, noting that the ancient hebrews seem to have practiced it, for example.

Its also interesting to note that, amoung the mormons, it occured in association with their being on the frontier. This system of marriage and family is a cultural strategy to deal with living in those harsh conditions where collectivitism and community are important. Similar, in a sense, to how the Amish live, purposefully, in primitive conditions, it re-enforces the worth of their families, etc.

The Mormons were forced to give up polygamy by the U.S. government, as a condition of them joining the U.S. (So much for freedom of religion).

What many people don't realize, is that the first wife was declared to be the legal wife and all the rest of the women and children were declared to be not part of the family, meaning that these women and children who had been considered family, became outcasts and had no means of support. Very sad, and this in a part of the country that is very difficult to survive in, which is one very big reason why they were polygamous to start with.

Nowadays, if Mormons practice polygamy, they are not considered Mormons by the Mormon Church. I've seen some of these women in polygamous marriages when I was visiting the outer reaches of Utah - they did not dress in 1800's style at all but they were modestly dressed. Some women say that they like it because it makes for alot less work for them, they can get a college degree for example, while the other wife takes care of the children.

Who is the U.S. government to tell us who we can marry, anyway?

Originally posted by forestlady

Who is the U.S. government to tell us who we can marry, anyway?

I think the major problem was (and is) abuse. Among these so-called Mormon fundamentalist polygamists, it is not uncommon for a 45 year old man to have 12 and 13 year old wives. In a news journal program I saw on TV a while back, a 60 something year old guy was married to one wife his age, as well as her daughter in her 40's, and her daughter in her teens.

Often, the "wives" have little or no choice in the matter. When the Mormon status quo saw they were coming into conflict with the law, the First President of the Church had a "divine revelation" that polygamy was to be ended. Apparently, the modern polygamists pick and choose which "divine revelations" they want to follow.