Polygamy and Warren Jeffs
 
By Ahmet Kurucan
Commentary
Zeman Daily Newspaper - Istanbul, Turkey
 
Warren Jeffs, who was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted List, was arrested in Nevada in late August and charged with violating traffic regulations. The reason he was wanted was because of homosexuality charges that had been filed against him. However, there was a new twist in this case: Polygamy. That is the reason why after Jeffs was arrested, he was the hottest topic in America for weeks.

A top-level representative of a major religious group in the United States pulled me aside and said: "If you invite us to your gatherings again, please don’t invite that particular group. If you prefer to invite them, then don’t invite us. We do not want to share the same space with them because they are not real Christians; they are a group of people who call their leaders ‘prophets.’"

This is not the only group which refers to its leaders as prophets; there are so many leaders and prophets! One of them is Warren Jeffs, the leader and "prophet" of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

Jeffs, who was born in San Francisco in 1955, became the leader of FLDS in 2002 after his father, Rulon, died. Before his death, Rulon Jeffs was considered the prophet of the FLDS, which embraced polygamy even though it had been denounced by the Mormons in 1890. At the time of his death, the 92-year-old elder Jeffs had 75 wives.

A very short speech Warren Jeffs made right after his father’s funeral ceremony will allow you to understand this group better: "I am not going to make a very long speech. Hands off my father’s widowed wives. You, widowed women; you will stay in your rooms next to mine as you did when my father was alive." That was all Jeffs said. He did not encounter any objections, except from two of the women, and got married with all of them within one week. If you ask me why they did not object, I would say that the FLDS believes a prophet does not speak wrongly or commit sin because they are sent by God.

Marginal Tendencies on the rise in West...

This group, which has about 10,000 followers in Utah and Colorado, and 50,000 followers across the United States, possesses incredible movable and immovable wealth. Officials say the assessed value of the properties owned by the group in Colorado alone is worth $100 million. Jeffs had $54,000 in his car when he was nabbed with two of his wives in August.

According to Jeff’s teachings, a man must have at least three wives in order to go to heaven and the more wives a man has, the closer he is to heaven. Widows must remarry immediately and women are invited into heaven by their satisfied husbands. Wives are considered to "belong" to their husbands for eternity. Those who violate the religious community’s rules are excommunicated. The prophet has the right to punish followers by reassigning their wives, children and homes to other men. At this point, one cannot help wondering why a group of 50,000 people, most of them with no financial or social status problems, who live in one of the richest countries in the world, believe in this kind of teaching which defy all reason and logic.

As is known by almost ever researcher on religious communities in the West, these kinds of structures are seen in societies where rapid social changes occur. Such movements mostly start in time when traditional values are no longer implemented, causing major changes in family and social relationships, thus leading to social isolation and the accompanying feeling of loneliness. Some other reasons for the emergence of such structures are as follows: Change in the social structure as a result of migrations; partial malfunctioning of the “nation-state” or the concept of land inhabited by a predominantly homogeneous people; and problems in underdeveloped countries, such as poverty, unemployment, unequal distribution of income and moral collapse. Other factors that must be taken into consideration by researchers interested in the reasons for the existence of these religious groups are: Greed, the desire to rise above others, the desire to gain recognition and endless sexual indulgence.

Emerging as marginal and reactionary movements and having problems integrating with the rest of the society, these groups developed and grew after getting political support and finding all kinds of legal loopholes to implement their doctrines. These groups, which seek to benefit economically, have always been in search of legitimacy. A religion such as this generally comes to the forefront at this point. A leader who expresses his views through religious discourse can find enough people who are not satisfied with their current situation and are searching for an alternative and attract them to himself. The number of supporters and the level of satisfaction increase as new principles or interpretations replace religious convictions that can only be expressed in a sophisticated manner, whereas these new principles are declared in a simple way that is easily understood by all. People suffering moral distress are trying to find a new identity and satisfaction through these simple interpretations.

The Warren Jeffs movement is based on one or more of these factors I have tried to enumerate briefly, and many other Warren Jeffs will emerge unless these factors are removed completely. Hence, no one should ever be surprised about the emergence of either Jeffs, the tip of the iceberg, or communities led by people like him.

What should surprise us is that all assessments on religions and their structures, as well as their teachings, are accepted by followers, and these communities that are natural outcomes of their social backgrounds are totally accepted by researchers in Turkey. This approach, which does not take the differences among religions and societies into consideration, is definitely wrong. However, this is not the only mistake. The mistake grows as the administrative units in Turkey take these assessments into account and assume discriminatory attitudes toward individuals. And this can be harmful to this nation, both now and in the future.
 
zaman.com
Originally published October 20, 2006
 
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