HILDALE, UT - SEPTEMBER 6: Two girls walk down a street September 6, 2006 in Hildale, Utah. Warren Jeffs, of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the leader of the polygamist Mormon sect living in Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale. Jeffs, who will face sex charges involving an underage girl in an arranged marriage with an older man, will have his first court hearing September 6 in St. George, Utah. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Illegal Sects

May 02, 2008

The story of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has been irresistible to the news media for weeks, with images of FLDS women living as though in another century. But now the sister wives are fighting back in a very 21st century way. Salt Lake Tribune’s polygamy reporter Brooke Adams reviews the narrative.


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[1]
Posted by: John Wolfe
May 03, 2008 - 04:38PM
Moab, UTAH

Boy were you suckered by that SL Tribune / Mormon Church spokes person -- 1) the SL Trib. is OWNED by the Mormon Church; 2) anyone who wants to keep their job and not be harassed for years by neighbours, by both city and state authorities, and by phony court actions better "tow the Mormon line" .............or else!

PLEASE email me and I will send you details, including a short list of very accessable books -- I am disabled, unimployed, and very poor or I would leave -- been stuck here since 1989 -- jdmw@frontiernet.net --

[2]
Posted by: NoCoolName_Tom
May 06, 2008 - 07:01PM
Provo, UT

Re: Mr. Wolfe,

I am curious as to what you are implying in your comment. Is it that because the Salt Lake Tribune is part of a Utah media conglomerate that has a sizable stock ownership by the Mormon Church (but not anywhere near total, mind you) we should expect that an employee of the SLT would give a favorable opinion regarding a break-off group that has caused a PR nightmare for the Mormon Church for the last number of decades? Because that seems odd, unless my understanding of the embarrassment the Mormon Church feels about its public opinion association with the FLDS is wrong.

I myself was very surprised to find out that some women in the FLDS attend college and receive scholastic training, and even more surprised at their web presence. In my own opinion, education such as this and further association with the world outside of compounds will help to fix problems that may be inherent in the FLDS culture. This was an interesting report on a subject that interests and worries me greatly.

[3]
Posted by: Chris Gray
May 07, 2008 - 11:36PM
New Haven, CT

As another disabled, unemployed, and very poor commenter and, though an easterner, a visitor to your state and former resident of southeast Idaho, I have to say there are currents in the culture and politics of areas with largely Mormon populations that seem foreign and forbidding to outsiders.

I remember an Idaho State Senator saying vehemently on a local PBS talk show, where farmers were complaining of stock losses, that anyone implying that state agricultural products were being contaminated from leaching from the nuclear waste dumps would be jailed! He just did not get the point of the 1st Amendment, though I'm sure he was a staunch supporter of the 2nd.

I immediately made such a public access television program, pointing out McDonald's then had all their potatoes processed there and claiming I was reading my article in the next year's New Yorker magazine anniversary issue. (It has the same cover every year.) I remained free until I left the state.

I also remember a Wyoming State Highway officer who, while he held a handgun and his partner a shotgun on me, asked me, "Son, do you believe in God?" I said, "I believe the Sky is my Father, the Earth is my Mother, and that the Two are One, the Great Spirit!" "I am familiar with those beliefs," he replied.

I firmly believe that there are people of good will of all faiths. Seek out some near you, Mr. Wolfe.

[4]
Posted by: Chris Gray
May 07, 2008 - 11:52PM
New Haven, CT

By the way, when the same public access program aired in New Haven (during which time I was literally working in an area McDonald's doing a traffic survey for them), it took no more than two weeks for huge banners advertising Maine Russet potatoes to go up. By then, I had finished the job.

I’ll just let you imagine the trouble I got into the same day Dan Quayle did.

[5]
Posted by: superF
May 09, 2008 - 10:11PM

NPR presented an "objective" participant in this drama to attest to just how damaged these children really are by this cult.

One example given by Denise Babb, from the school district, is that children were not allowed to use the color red because they were taught it represents Christ's blood.

I can only imagine what will be going through the minds of these confused youths when it is explained why there are no 13th floors in nearby Dallas high rises. Judas being the 13th Apostle.

[6]
Posted by: thesimpsonsasdf
May 10, 2008 - 08:32PM

No! "Underaged Sects"!

(Sorry I just couldn't stand the headline as it stood!)

[7]
Posted by: Jon Du Pre
May 11, 2008 - 06:59PM
Phoenix, Arizona

Mr. Wolfe cries wolf!

The Salt Lake Tribune is NOT owned by the Mormon Church, Mr. Wolfe.

The Trib is owned by Media News Group of Denver, Colorado.

The Deseret News is owned by the Deseret News Publishing Company, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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