No better than pedophiles
 
Letters From the Issue of Thursday, January 12, 2006
Phoenix New Times
 
I first noticed John Dougherty's latest article in his "Polygamy in Arizona" series on the New Times [national] Web site (www.newtimes.com), and as the opening statement introducing the story touts, this may be the "most shocking development yet" in Phoenix New Times' reporting on the abuses of the fundamentalist Mormons ("Forbidden Fruit," December 29).

Which is saying a lot -- since previous stories have uncovered widespread rape of young girls by older men who have forced them, with the church prophet's blessing, into sham marriages (some of these guys have 30 "wives"). These old men are no better than the pedophile priests in the Roman Catholic Church that we've been reading about for almost a decade now. In fact, they're worse, because they use religion to sanctify their sordid crimes.

But I digress from my central point, which is that the latest story on church-required inbreeding producing babies with monster deformities and severe mental retardation is almost unbelievable. That is, it would be unbelievable if it weren't going on in [Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah], where atrocities have been tolerated by state officials for decades.

And pardon me for saying it, but who's paying to care for these children? Well, taxpayers are! I'm no longer a resident of either state involved, but I can't believe there isn't a taxpayer revolt over Utah and Arizona's wasting precious public funds on this polygamy mess.

Now let's get this straight: The polygamists refuse to stop marrying their first cousins because their religion tells them they can't stop. That is, fugitive Prophet Warren Jeffs, who's on the FBI's most wanted list, tells them they can't. This alleged criminal tells them they won't go to heaven if they don't continue fornicating with their blood relatives. Unbelievable? Not when we're talking about these cult members.

Already, public money is being funneled into the towns to pay for things like children's education, and the polygamists use the money to fund church activities. Just read Dougherty's stories over the past few years if you don't believe it. The fact that the polygamists won't do something to stop the fumarase problem is piling costs on top of this.

Freedom of religion is a constitutional guarantee, but here it's being used to break not only the laws of the land but the laws of God -- in the name of God. There is no way that God [condones] what these fundamentalists are doing.

Jim George,
Reno, Nevada
 
phoenixnewtimes.com
Originally published January 12, 2006
 
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