Letters to the Editor
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I just finished reading
Under the Banner of Heaven by John Krackauer, and what a revelation. I had lived in OR, and met three women who were from the main LDS church. Two were divorced and had unhappy stories to tell, one about being forced to have sex with other men by her husband so she left him. She had four children and was living in abject poverty, but she said she had been when she was married so it was no different, just without the forced sex. Another had divorced and signed her children over to the church to take care of until she got back on to her feet. She never saw them again. The third was married to a nice clean-cut Mormon man who sold cocaine to help ends meet. They did not drink coffee or alcohol, however (no coffee in Oregon, for God's sake). The LDS church and the FLDS church are similar in that LDS members do expect revelations from God, which is why there are so many offshoots and excommunications from the main church. There are so many men claiming to be the "one mighty and strong" and decide to do whatever God (the voice in their head) tells them. Another way the LDS and FLDS are similar is in that they both stress obedience mainly in women. This article was good as I have always wondered how the Mormons and FLDS have gotten away with so much for so long. Although the mainstream church pubicly decries the FLDS, they make allowances for them as you would a crazy uncle. Elizabeth Smart was returned to her home, but there are many girls in smaller sects that go missing who are never looked for. Yes, GW and his ilk are similar to the FLDS in that they use God to steal all they can get their hands on. Fundamentalism in any religion is a scary thing. The funniest thing of all is how most Christian fundamentalists view the mainstream Mormons and FLDS as devils. There's no greater outlet for hatred than religion, apparently. And lastly, I would like to add this to anyone who wants to equate polygamy with homosexual marriage. In a marriage between two men or two women, you are talking about consenting adults. In a polygamous marriage you are almost always talking about coercion from a young age. Also, according to JK's book, jealousy and abuse run rampant as you would expect in a family with more than one wife and mother. If you've ever had difficulty with a mother-in-law or stepmother, not to mention a distant uncaring father, imagine the turmoil of a plural marriage family. The show Big Love is pretty accurate concerning the UEB, I think, in a TV sort of way, but not the marriage of Bill Paxton and his bright, lovely wives. Like war and prison, polygamy in real life is way worse than it is in the movies. The sad fact is that there are polygamists in Missouri, Oregon, Arizona, so many places. So scary.