Piper Post Archives - Evangelicals

Abuse stories emerge from polygamist sect. www.piperpost.net - 20.4.08.

As investigations continue into the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints in Texas more stories of physical, mental and emotional abuse are emerging.

The cult over the years has become increasingly secretive and has erected many barriers to protect members from contact with the outside world. In this hothouse atmosphere children are raised with little hope of ever understanding that their lives are 'different' to those of other children and not always in good ways.

Two sisters, Rena and Kathleen Mackert, who had earlier escaped the cult, have told reporters about a childhood with little education, frequent beatings and a rigorous program of household duties. Arranged marriages followed in their teen years.

Rena: 'My father had four wives yet he couldn't keep his hands off his daughters. One of my sisters had five sons, all sodomised by their father.'

Kathleen: 'I was required to perform oral sex on my father when I was seven and it escalated from there.'

Eventually Kathleen - now aged 50 - was called into her father's office and told that God had given the prophet a revelation that she was to marry her stepbrother, 10 years her senior.

Rena: 'You are taught that you can all but kill a child for deliberate disobedience. The men have their power taken away by Jeffs [the cult leader now jailed]. The only thing they have control over is their wives and children. It's power, it's control, it's sex.

'This is about underage children being bartered as sex slaves, taken across state lines to marry into other compounds. It's just that they tried to cover it up under the label of freedom of religion.'

COMMENT: I doubt we will ever know half the real story of what goes on behind those secretive walls.

Editorial: MAJOR POLYGAMIST BUST. www.piperpost.net - 6.4.08.

Texas authorities have raided a ranch and removed 52 young girls - thought to be in danger of sexual abuse. The 700-hectare Zion Ranch is operated by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a breakaway polygamist sect headed by now jailed Warren Jeffs.

In November 2007 Jeffs was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison for forcing a 14-year-old girl to marry her 19-year-old cousin and to submit to sexual relations against her will. Among various Mormon splinter-groups it is common to foster very young marriages, in many cases overriding the will of the girls involved or at the very least coercing acceptance of their chosen role as subservient handmaidens. It is emphasized that the official Mormon church forbids plural marriage and is not engaged in any of these activities.

Polygamy is illegal in the USA as it is in many non-Islamic countries. Joseph Smith, who founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, encouraged plural marriages but in 1890 official Church policy outlawed the practice. These marriages may be illegal but thousands of Americans still practice polygamy and there would appear, to this observer, to be no logical reason why plural marriages should be illegal, any more than there is no reason why gays and lesbians should not form unions. Clearly in this case the dominant Catholic and Fundamentalist Protestant view of marriage is being imposed on the rest of society.

It is not the multiplicity of partners that is of concern. The real concern is twofold - the coercing of young women, forcing them into unwanted marriages, and underage sex. Both appear to have occurred among some of these communities and from time to time the few young women who have escaped have told their stories to the press and on TV. In August 1998, for example, a 16-year-old girl was found badly beaten in a remote canyon. She had been made the 15th wife of her uncle and has allegedly beaten severely when she tried to run away. She had crawled 10 km to a payphone to seek help.

The raid on Zion Ranch came following accusations of abuse of a 16-year-old girl. Some reports said 'sexual abuse', others said 'physical abuse'. Officials say that eighteen of the children, aged 6 months to 17 years, are believed to have been sexually abused or are at risk of abuse. Police have yet to question boys in the compound.

ONLY SEX STOPPED CHILD BEATINGS. www.piperpost.net - 18.5.08

Many stories of emotional, sexual and physical abuse have been emerging from among the people evacuated from the Texas compound of the polygamist cult.

Carolyn Jessop, one of the most prominent ex-wives, has told an MSNBC interviewer the only way she could protect herself was by remaining of 'sexual value' top her husband.

Sex was the only currency in the marriage. And her eight children were regularly beaten by their father. The only way she could stop her husband beating them was by having sex with him.

Carolyn Jessop eventually escaped and later successfully gained custody of her eight children. She wrote a book about her experience, Escape (Penguin, 2007).

Cult children to be returned to mothers. www.piperpost.net - 1.6.08

The 430 children removed from the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints in Texas are to be returned to their parents.

A court has ordered this action, asserting there was no justification for removing them en masse from the cult compound. But at least some of the children were the result of sexual liaisons with underage girls.

The court order was appealed to a higher court but upheld, in spite of strong objections from Texan child protection authorities who fear abuse will continue.

Footnote: As this issue appears there are new moves taking place with the judge demanding compliance with certain conditions on the part of the parents, including remaining within Texas and complying with other conditions designed to protect the children.

COMMENT: Once again, the law is proved to be an ass! Many of these youngsters are in danger of sexual abuse and some observers think that notwithstanding court orders, the cult will now move on to another State, there to pursue their nefarious activities beyond the reach of the Texans.