Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Polygamists erred when they messed with Texas
Reuters ^ | May 1, 2008 | Ed Stoddard

Posted on 05/02/2008 5:13:31 AM PDT by Zakeet

When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs, it made a Texas-sized mistake when it picked this state to move to.

Texas responded by raising the age at which children can legally get married with parental consent, and law enforcement agencies immediately put the sect in its crosshairs.

The result was raids this month that left 463 minors in state hands or foster care. With judges saying they will hear abuse cases individually, the sect's practices are sure of thorough legal scrutiny.

"They made a big mistake when they came here," said Harvey Hilderbran, who represents this part of Texas in the state legislature. "We didn't invite those folks to Texas but by God we expect them to obey our law."

[Snip]

Authorities in Arizona and Utah have accused it of coercing young girls into marrying much older men. Its leader, Warren Jeffs, was convicted in Utah last year as an accomplice to rape for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin.

"With action being taken in Arizona and Utah, it seems like they decided to branch out," said Benjamin Bistline, a historian who has written about the sect in Arizona. "They didn't realize they were making a mistake going to Texas."

(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: cult; dontmesswithtexas; flds; govtabuse; mormon; mormonbashing; mormonism; pedophile; polygamy; rape; rapepedophelia
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Anti-polygamist activists have lauded Texas.

"They have done what we have been trying to get Utah and Arizona do for a
100 years and that is protect children
," said Flora Jessop, who was raised in an
FLDS community from which she fled when she was a teenager. "I say God bless
Texas
."

1 posted on 05/02/2008 5:13:31 AM PDT by Zakeet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs, it made a Texas-sized mistake when it picked this state to move to.

Good.

2 posted on 05/02/2008 5:15:52 AM PDT by ukie55
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Well, the Mormons tried it with the entire US at the very start, and they lost that round, too. This resulted in their official abandonment of polygamy and some of the more violent, cultic aspects of their religion, with the result that only splinter groups like the FLDS continue these practices.

Polygamy is really a form of slavery and these people have essentially been released from slavery and from the mentality of a slave-culture. They’re still going to be very damaged, because this should actually have happened years ago, but at least they have a chance now.


3 posted on 05/02/2008 5:24:23 AM PDT by livius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet

Utah is still looking the other way when it comes to enforcing laws that the polygamist sects continue to break.

Come on Utah, show us what you really believe!

(oh, I guess you already have)


4 posted on 05/02/2008 5:24:44 AM PDT by colorcountry (To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: colorcountry
Come on Utah, show us what you really believe!

(oh, I guess you already have)

By the comments from the apologists on these threads they have. Not that they are all from Utah but that's where their religion is centered.

5 posted on 05/02/2008 5:29:30 AM PDT by Graybeard58
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
"We didn't invite those folks to Texas but by God we expect them to obey our law."

Now when are we going to apply this to the illegal aliens, and the gangs, etc.?

6 posted on 05/02/2008 5:48:30 AM PDT by YellowRoseofTx
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: colorcountry; Pan_Yans Wife; MHGinTN; Colofornian; Elsie; FastCoyote; Osage Orange; Greg F; ...
Flying Inman Ping

Don't forget, for all kinds of source links and info, check out the FLDS Daily Thread.

HERE

7 posted on 05/02/2008 5:56:15 AM PDT by greyfoxx39 (FLDS.... making babies with children because their God wants earthly bodies for spirit babies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Zakeet
When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs...

This is not entirely true. FLDS has a history of taking over the towns they infiltrate through sheer numbers of votes and the sect's collective wealth. Eldorado was chosen for a reason, and I'm sure that the intent was to turn it into another Colorado City or Hildale. With these guys, it is all about power and control, not only within their polygamist families, but the environment in which they live.

8 posted on 05/02/2008 6:02:50 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("We must not forget that there is a war on and our troops are in the thick of it!"--Duncan Hunter)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: livius
Big Love's Bill Henrickson, "Warren should have stayed away from the under age girls."


9 posted on 05/02/2008 6:04:47 AM PDT by TheDon
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Graybeard58; colorcountry
By the comments from the apologists on these threads they have.

The mLDS members look at polygamy with longing in their hearts. The only reason they can condemn the practice is because the United States made it illegal. If they were to condemn the practice as being morally wrong or evil (as this episode has shown that it is) then they would have to condemn the very foundation of their religion along with its founders.

The the mLDS members, the practice of polygmay was officially ended with the 1890 and 1904 Manifestos, but there is always hope that one day God will once again change his mind and that the manifesto will be lifted and the mLDS stick will be joined with the fLDS stick and togther they will be one in God's hand.

10 posted on 05/02/2008 6:11:10 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: YellowRoseofTx
Now when are we going to apply this to the illegal aliens, and the gangs, etc.?

Well, if we could just get 'em all to move to a compound in the desert, it'd make the job a little easier...

11 posted on 05/02/2008 6:20:36 AM PDT by green iguana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

Comment #12 Removed by Moderator

To: P-Marlowe

Are you naturally this ignorant or do you have to really work hard at it?

What a load of tripe.


13 posted on 05/02/2008 7:19:52 AM PDT by Choose Ye This Day (Save a life: BOYCOTT ETHANOL. Pass it on.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Choose Ye This Day
Are you naturally this ignorant or do you have to really work hard at it?

Educate me.

Is polygamy an immoral practice?

Is Doctrine and Covenants section 132 still considered scripture by the mLDS Church?

Are Joseph Smith and Brigham Young currently practicing polygamy in the afterlife?

Does the mLDS Church agree with Brigham Young and the oLDS Church that the the Heavenly Father, like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young has many wives?

Does the mLDS Church still teach that Jesus was a polygamist?

14 posted on 05/02/2008 7:44:28 AM PDT by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: P-Marlowe; Choose Ye This Day; SENTINEL
Hypothetical: A temple-worthy Mormon man "dies" for several minutes on the operating table. He reports that before he was resuscitated, that his 3 wives that he serially was married to "on earth" but had already died were there waiting for him and that he acted in a "husbandly" way to each of them during his brief "celestial visit."

Given the 100% unique position of Mormonism (fundie or otherwise) that "marriage is forever," is this man fundamentally a polygamist in the eyes of average "Joe Mormon" or is he "single?"

And since the...
...Mormon church performs [present tense] polygamous "for eternity" ritual ceremonies with the 2nd & 3rd earthly serial "wives" to their same-said husband...
...in its church-owned temple...
...paid for by LDS tithing dollars...
...And polygamy is expressly regarded in our lifetime by LDS apostles as a "holy practice" (Bruce McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 1966 ed.)...
...I guess if you're going to continue to deny these things then you might as well rip off the "families are forever" bumper stickers in your ward parking lots.

As Sentinel has said on a few of his posts, as least the fLDS are more forward about what they believe than mLDS. (I happen to think they're not that much more forward for legal reasons; but he's right...it's quite a statement to say that fLDS are more forward & forthright on this issue than mLDS who...
...spiritually hem & haw...
...& parse time frames & parse locations...
...& conveniently "forget" these current temple rituals...
...& qualify & cut out parts of the Book of Mormon to describe its past polygamy...
...& now claims that monogamy is its "default" standard when D&C 132:4,21,27,32,37 (oh, except when the Mormon god says otherwise)...
...is frankly like downtown Vegas blinking, "If you want celestial kingdomhood, walk down the temple aisle multiple times...Follow in the footsteps of what..."
...D&C says...
...70 general authorities' earthly lives said...
...7 LDS "prophets'" lives said...
...these general authorities alleged eternal lives say...
...mLDS apostles said in our generation...
...mLDS leaders still sanction & embody in LDS temples...

15 posted on 05/02/2008 8:36:32 AM PDT by Colofornian (What's a planetary compound w/a local god ruling polygamous wives? LDS celestial kingdom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: P-Marlowe

Please ping me if you get any answers on these excellent questions.


16 posted on 05/02/2008 10:16:38 AM PDT by fishtank (Fenced BORDERS, English LANGUAGE, Patriotic CULTURE: A good plan.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: P-Marlowe; Choose Ye This Day
"Are you naturally this ignorant or do you have to really work hard at it?"

Educate me.

Is polygamy an immoral practice?

Is Doctrine and Covenants section 132 still considered scripture by the mLDS Church?

Are Joseph Smith and Brigham Young currently practicing polygamy in the afterlife?

Does the mLDS Church agree with Brigham Young and the oLDS Church that the the Heavenly Father, like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young has many wives?

Does the mLDS Church still teach that Jesus was a polygamist?

============================================================ Please ping me when it gets answered, thanks

17 posted on 05/02/2008 11:09:17 AM PDT by ansel12
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Graybeard58

“By the comments from the apologists on these threads they have. Not that they are all from Utah but that’s where their religion is centered.”

I have been reading these threads from the start, and I do NOT think mainstream LDS Mormons make up much if any of the “apologists.”


18 posted on 05/02/2008 3:56:23 PM PDT by truth_seeker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: P-Marlowe

The first dead giveaway that something is really out of whack is when a religion keeps changing what it thinks is moral.


19 posted on 05/02/2008 5:53:39 PM PDT by festus (Fred Thompson '08)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: greyfoxx39

BTTT


20 posted on 05/02/2008 6:27:56 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-48 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson