Oh hey, I remember reading this article in Rolling Stones some time ago. Agreed, I thought (if true) that the way that town appears to be run is incredibly ludicrous.

Abuse of power, my friend. It ain't pretty. Seeing as they abhor strangers in their town, I'd like to see a vast migration of outsiders descend onto them. They may be able to intimidate one or two passerbys and reporters, but two hundred? Thousand? With lots of cameras... **cackles incoherently**

Seeing as how my mission was in Utah and how I actually dealt with polygamists and ex-polygamists, I coulda told you this first hand. Doesn't help that all of these different groups are mere offshoots and corruptions of my own religion, which makes it more complicated.

See, when people think of "Mormons" nowadays, one of the common misconceptions is that in the early days, almost everyone in the religion practiced polygamy. Fact was, only about 5% practiced polygamy, it was under strict controls and in fact was not evil and promiscuous unlike what the media might often portray, and then the revelation was received to discontinue the practice. The faithful ones stopped the practice of polygamy, while there were those who apostatized (or fell away) from the church and continued the practice on their own, starting their own churches essentially. The doctrine of polygamy became corrupted, and in these groups more often than not the women are treated as little more than property, and are often married off at young ages to men who are getting older and older.

Ironic side note there, many of these groups, called "fundamentalists" to avoid the more negative-sounding polygamist title, still believe that our temples are the ones ordained of God, and they often try to pretend to join our church so that they can go through the temple, then leave and go back to their communities.

That's where my personal experience comes in. I taught one lady who had been badly abused in one of the polygamist groups, and she had such bad experiences that she literally could not enter one of our own church buildings, psychological scarring was so bad. She managed to escape with all of her kids though, so that gives some hope to the others in that particular clan, as one of the ways they controlled the women was through the threat that even if they escaped, they couldn't leave with their children and they certainly couldn't escape without their children. So you understand why one woman escaping with her kids could shake that threat and that control.

We did end up baptizing a member of a polygamist family, another gal who had been befriended by members of our church. Sweet young lady who was just as innocent as anything, and her family had not been as bad as some of the groups out there. She did have to have an interview with one of our highest church officers, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, to ensure that she wasn't trying to fake us out for the reasons I stated earlier, but she got baptized and in fact has been so for nearly half a year now.

And finally, near the very end of my mission, I met one of those very boys who got thrown out of a polygamist colony. He was clearly a rebel, having gone to the extreme end of things in terms of body piercings and clothes, but he had been originally tossed out by his group because he had watched a movie. I can't remember which one it was, but it was a popular one at the time.

Understand this: the polygamist or fundamentalist groups are much stricter in their definition of modesty than most groups of religion. I heard of a girl in a fundamentalist meeting "bearing her testimony" that she felt bad about wearing a short-sleeve shirt because it made her look like a prostitute. They have these misconceptions which are perpetuated by their leaders, who take practices and morals that are in the LDS church and have made them so extreme that naturally, a lot of teenage boys are going to rebel and get themselves thrown out.

But the sad thing is, they don't throw out the women. I don't think they let them live if they end up doing the same thing as the boys.

But as for why these groups haven't been cleared out, I honestly don't know. Last I checked it was still illegal to be married to more than one person. They're very secretive, y'know, they don't openly go about. They also have communities hidden in the mountains and in other places that just aren't easily accessible. And though it's relatively easy to see their women because they often dress in old-style pioneer clothing, sometimes they blend in so well that nobody can tell they're polygamists.

So, that's what I've gotta say on the subject, hopefully that puts a little perspective on things. As a member of the LDS church and since I served in Utah and dealt with ez-polygamists, it gave me a unique look on that whole thing. And I'm just glad that their groups are actually destroying themselves from the inside, they simply can't maintain a religion if they keep throwing out all the boys and keeping all the girls, eventually something's gonna happen.

I believe this is where freedom of religion ends. When it breaks a federal law.

~Rico

I've never been more horrified at anything since that whole Tranquility Bay article 2 years back

I really really hope those kids can find a life for themselves. Reading how some turned to drugs/alcohol, it's a lost hope, but it's just an awful, terrible thing.

I seriously hope those who have taken legal action win. I don't see much defence beyond "How am I supposed to live under the same roof as a child who watches that there Cameran Diaz shaking her toshie on the screen!?"

Parents make me sick.

I'm desensitized to it. The parents out here only have kids to make their income tax refund huge. Then use it on paint and booze. Kids wander around here shoeless and stumble into the offices begging for something to eat. Child custody isn't about who wants the kid, its about who wants the tax windfall FOR the kid. It's pretty disgusting.

And you wonder why RP Rico is the way he is about kids.

~Rico

Thats way I don't want to be a parent. I have two younger baby siblings and they just drive me nuts. My anger always gets to me. I'm barely able to refrain myself from "physical activites". I probably would be very crappy dad. I don't want to be a hypocrite since I hate people that do that to kids.