Lorraine and I have been watching the television show Big Love lately . . . so-far it isn’t living up to the critical raves but is just starting to pick up . . . so the piece by Sanjiv Bhattacharya about real life polygamist prophet Warren Jeffs is timely . . . The Hunt for Warren Jeffs. The piece attempts to be fair but can’t help but become outraged regarding a few things. Jeffs is not the poster boy for plural marriage (with over eighty wives and a whole slew of molestation and child assisted rape charges hanging over him – assisted rape means he helped arrange marriages for underage girls with older men). It is interesting that it was only recently that the pursuit for Jeffs kicked up, despite being wanted in several states for some time . . . this is in part as the government has been reluctant to jump into another PR debacle like the last time they kicked down doors in Short Creek . . .

It has been a while since the authorities clamped down on the polygamists of Short Creek. The last time was in 1953 when Governor Pyle of Arizona raided the community, arresting the 33 fathers and taking the 300 women and children into custody. And it was a dismal failure, a PR disaster – press stories of the state tearing God-fearing families apart played so badly with the public that the Governor wasn’t re-elected and the authorities have shied away from confronting polygamy ever since.

Recently, there’s been a lot of paranoia in the religious right as they begin thumping that the homosexual marriage folks will only lead to making polygamy legal which is just another threat to marriage and values and God-fearing Christianity (they are right, the gay marriage movement has begun exploring just such a posture as have the polyamorists). The problem is that the plural marriage folks are predominately more God-fearing and religious than the conservative religious right could ever hope to be, they are the real deal, folks who live by their principles instead of merely preaching them so when they go in and break up God-fearing families in the name of protecting the family, they kind of come off as beyond doofus.

I don’t think the issue should be married to religion. Plenty of folks on either side of that fence are not religious and certainly constitutionally US laws should not be governed by one religious view. Unfortunately for the anti-poly folks, there are very few reasons to ban polygamy outside of religion. Certainly for the abuse and coercion issues that Jeffs and cronies are accused of, there are already laws in place to protect the rights of women and children. Polygamists aren’t the only ones who commit those crimes so there are already non-polygamy laws in place to prohibit that behavior.

Speaking of families . . . teenagers in Utah are holding a pro-polygamy rally in support of their familes and their lifestyle . . . see here . . .

Teenagers from Utah’s polygamous communities plan to stage a rally next week to stand up for their families. The pro-polygamy group Principle Voices is organizing the Aug. 19 rally at the Salt Lake City-County building, but it will feature mostly youth speakers. "Our teenagers really did want to defend their lifestyle," rally organizer Anne Wilde told the Deseret Morning News on Wednesday. "Often they’re perceived as the victims. They want to say no, they don’t consider themselves the victims, they feel like this should be a free choice." Members of the Apostolic United Brethren, Centennial Park, Davis Co-operative Society and independent fundamentalist communities are expected to be in attendance. Wilde said the rally is also in response to the heat put on Fundamentalist LDS Church leader Warren Jeffs. "Maybe that’s exactly why," she said. "So that people will know that in other communities there isn’t control in marriages." The fugitive polygamist leader is on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list. He is charged in Utah and Arizona with sex crimes accusing him of forcing teenage girls into polygamous marriages with older men. Federal prosecutors have charged Jeffs with unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. A $100,000 bounty is being offered for information leading to his arrest.

When young people – teenagers – say they love and support their families, it becomes problematic for opponents. However, a simple dismissal of brainwashing and not being able to think for themselves is usually used at this juncture. When they turn eighteen, then they are usually dismissed with the term cultist (see the first article linked above – note that the word cult is always used in reference to the FLDS but church is used for other religions or congregations, the defining difference is not given).

The religious debate on the issue can’t be won on either side.