CBS had a very good special just on called Polygamy: A World Apart. It was a fascinating yet sad. It mainly focused on the FLDS Cult that has been in the news lately.
First I got to commend CBS. They really went out of their way not to call these people Mormons. This was not happening for quite a while as this saga was covered by the media
It is not only offensive to Mormons but is incorrect. Imagine if the looney Pope Michael had some loony Cult /Compound at his Vatican in Exile with 40,000 followers and the Press was calling them Catholics. I would be livid.
Needless to say the Mormon Church has excommunicated these people for various reasons including the fact they practice Polygamy. How serious Mormons take this was sort of seen in an interesting segment on the sort of Cool hip Polygamy wives in the Salt lake City Burbs they profiled. They talked about how their children were really picked on by other kids in Public Schools in Utah because of their family lifestyle.
Anyway what struck me was a element of the story we don't here much about. That is the teenage boys. Often we just hear about the girls. The segment on the teenage boys at the compound that had been driven out, cut off from families, etc was powerful. and sad. The numbers are huge out of this group. The main reasons are obvious why many are driven out. Also it appears being boys they were a tad more rebels and started questioning things.
They leave and have no family and hit a society that they have never encountered. Predictable result- Crime Drugs etc follow. One Lady, who now for all practical purposes is their mom, took in ten boys at a group home. There are not enough places for them. Also some never knew their fathers because they had been" reassigned" out elsewhere when they were young.
Anyway as a guy , I was hit by their stories alot. Lots of victims here and needless to say this is not harmless.
There were aspects of the show I wished they had gone into. For instance what does the Mormon Church do, maybe nothing or perhaps alot, to help these kids and Spouses that flee sort of reincorporate into normal society. NO doubt many of its members do a ton of stuff. However It did strike me that many of these kids and others were going to areas of heavy Mormon Concentration after leaving the Compound or the FDLS towns. That would have been interesting to see. For instance is there some sort of deprogramming etc etc.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Just Watched the CBS Special On Polygamy
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I have been doing some reading on polygyny (many wives) recently and I plan to post about it today. There is a case to be made that polygyny does not violate natural law (I disagree with that assertion which is the gist of what I will post later today) ... It definitely violates divine revelation.
That will be interesting to read. I hve never really thought of the issue till recently
I personally don't agree with polygyny, yet it exists. I've posted a bit on the topic as I've witnessed it very closely.
Quite frankly, I've never seen any happy endings in this practice.
I do believe it should be de-criminalized, though not legal.
I was in the LDS church for 20 years. They do nothing as a church to help these boys or girls trying to escape this lifestyle. It is individuals who help them. The Utah church is too busy distancing themselves from these groups; despite the fact that they share the same doctrinal philosophy on plural marriage although they do not practice it.
The LDS Church tries to distance themselves from the FLDS because it is exactly what they were at one time. They do not want to be associated with them as it would put a serious dent in their conversion rate, which is drips as it is. They convert 10, loose 9 and one gets lost in the woods. :)
Mormons DO practice polygamy. It is done in the next life, and not here. They kinda hide that from others.
They will let the FLDS die on the vine for political reasons.
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