MORMON PLURAL MARRIAGE ON TRIAL IN TEXAS

            During Warren Jeffs’ trial the judge, prosecution and even witnesses against Jeffs said the prosecution was not about religion but about abuse of young women.  I thought then, “who are they trying to fertilize, of course it’s about religion.  Mormon fundamentalism is on trial every bit as much as Warren Jeffs.” 

            In Texas there doesn’t seem to be an attempt by the courts to separate the two – that is religion and sexual assault of a child.  Nor does the Texas media seen interested in defending the religion of the inhabitants of Yeaning for Zion as discerned from the recent conviction of Keith Dutson Jr., the sixth and youngest of seven defendants charged and convicted of assault on a child. 

            Conviction of “Sexual Assault of a Child” in the case of the Yeaning for Zion defendants is somewhat misleading.  The Defendants are not accused of grabbing some little girl off the street and dragging her into an alley like a pervert.  What they did is marry an underage girl in a “sacred” marriage ceremony indigenous to Mormons.  From the Mormon point of view it is presumed the little girls consent to the marriage and on the surface, that is the Mormon veneer, I suppose she does.  But the substance behind the mask, that is the false front, is that these little girls almost from the time of birth until they are physically able to bear children are programmed to be obedient to priesthood.  In the FLDS, the priesthood, which controls the exaltation of its members, has established a tradition that pubescent girls should present themselves before the priesthood to be placed in a family as a plural wife.  There have been a few impertinent young ladies loath to conform to this tradition, putting the priesthood in the duty bound position of placing the hesitant young ladies in a family against her will.  In Mormonism, it is not the will of the young ladies that is paramount, but the will of God, who conveniently inspires the priesthood.  In other words, it is the FLDS god who determines what lucky Mormon guy gets an underage virgin as a plural wife.  It is no coincidence that the men picked to receive these young tender things are the most affluent, the most loyal and most connected to the priesthood oligarchy. 

            The following is a quote from the Texas, Abilene Reporter News. 

            “Keith believed he was a part of a lawful wedding,” FLDS spokesman Willie Jessop said of the union between Dutson when he was 20 and the victim when she was 15.  (Eric) Nichols, who has prosecuted all seven cases for the state said Duston’s trial revealed more about how girls are groomed through cultural forces to be married while they are underage.  

              This sounds to me like the anomalous religious culture of the FLDS is culpable.  And if that is not convincing enough, read what else spokesman Willie Jessop had to say:

            “We’re watching a tragedy of the Constitution,” Jessop said.  “They did not like a religion, and they cherry-picked who they would prosecute.  People don’t care, until they realize that it’s their religion next.”

            Brother Jessop obviously would like you to accept that coercing pubescent girls into a polygamist marriage is judicial religious conduct.  But the people of Texas are not stupid. Furthermore, Texas is not dominated by Mormons who like in Utah and Arizona have been indoctrinated to believe Section 132 is an authentic religions tenet.  It doesn’t matter how bright and fancy the ribbon, glossy the wrappings, or lofty the rhetoric, a rational thinking American is not going to buy the farce. 

            The FLDS pretends to be the proprietor of Section 132 and God’s sole plenipotentiary agent on Earth.  But the FLDS and all the other Mormon fundamentalists are usurpers; proprietorship rests with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, colloquially known as the LDS Church.  The LDS Church ostensibly suspended the practice of plural marriage in 1890 and excommunicates members who are caught practicing “celestial marriage.” 

            If the LDS Church is the proper proprietor of Section 132, which is still a religious tenet of the LDS Church, and the FLDS uses Section 132 as their justification and authority to coerce underage girls into plural marriages, and Section 132 condones such conduct, and the LDS Church does not speak out against this practice, then is the LDS Church complicit?  An interesting question.

            On Nov. 12, 2010, The Salt Lake Tribune printed an article entitled, “LDS don’t get theological respect because they seek and shun mainstream acceptance, prof says.” 

            The article was a report of a recent meeting of the Mormon Media Studies Symposium at the BYU - the LDS Church owned, Brigham Young University.   According to Terryl Givens, the keynote speaker, a 2007 survey “ranked Mormons alongside Buddhists and Muslims as the Nation’s least liked faiths.”

            One reason the Mormons, or the LDS Church does not receive respect, according to the report, is that “in the 19^th Century … Mormons were dismissed as subhuman because of the practice of plural marriage….”

            How could this be?  The LDS Mormons are among the most patriotic, family orientated American is the good old USA.  I have friends and family who are Mormons and you couldn’t find a more Americanized socially self-actualized people in the Country.  My wife is a devote member of the LDS Church, a Temple worker no less.  But me, I’m a heathen, a humanistic Bohemian-type, muckraker and iconoclast, which goes to show you Mormons can be tolerant.

            The general public does not know the Mormons as I do, because I was once one of them.   I repudiated their doctrines, but respect the resolve and integrity of their members.   Of course there are always exceptions but the run-of-the-mill Mormon is as decent American as you will find. Yet, their religion is one of the least respected. Why? 

            Polygamy has to be high on the list.  The Mormon fundamentalists at Yearning for Zion aren’t helping either.  I suspect that the average Christian is distrustful of any religion that believes Jesus Christ wants all women to become plural wives.