Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

in today’s society it is a taboo. However, The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) has been known for marrying young brides. In the early 2000s, a scandal concerning the FLDS swept over the nation. This resulted in a nationwide yearning for more information about the FLDS, but in order to understand that, one must understand its roots and what really happens behind closed doors. Mormonism has several branches, but with the recent scandal, the FLDS is in the spotlight. The FLDS is a branch that stems from the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), but the LDS originates from Mormonism. Mormonism has multiple branches that include: “The Independents, The Apostolic United Brethren (AUB), Centennial Park (The Work of Jesus Christ), Davis County Cooperative Society (The Kingston Group), and some miscellaneous groups” (Darger 287-291). The Independents are most closely related to the FLDS. This society practices polygamy but does so in a different manner. Practicing independents are consenting…

Warren Jeff’s manipulation and power usage toward his followers in the FLDS church indicates a complicated group process relating to status. This is not an instance of a crazy leader brainwashing innocent followers; this is an instance of a high-status actor manipulating power over low-status actors all in the guise of religion. The power of religion is something that many individuals hold as incredibly important in their lives. To religious individuals, their religion and their God/Gods hold…

life than there is in it.” So is polygamy evil as we believe? I believe that though the government has passed many laws that are against polygamy. I believe that it should be legalized. What is polygamy, polygamy is the practice of a man marrying more than one woman. According to the LDS, church polygamy was started in the U.S by a man named Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith was born on December 23, 1805, when Joseph Smith was 14 it is said that he saw God and his son Jesus, it is also said…

There is a separation between church and state in order to allow people to not only practice, but celebrate their own religion freely. The US government is based off the values of the men that wrote it though. The Puritan and Eurocentric views reflect heavily on the constitution and the amendments. The documents that which we base our way of living off of were written by and for cist white males and them only. This makes anything that goes against their original laws hard to overcome. The laws…

involved in worship of the supernatural or its symbolic representations” (Cult). While most cults have died out, many are still active today or have influenced modern cults. People may know these cults by name but they may not know what it is that they do or believe in that sets them apart from the major religions of the world (A Listing of Cults in America). There are many different types of cults today, some are religious like the Peoples Temple and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of…

marriages between underaged girls and adult men. Girls as young as 13 years old were married off to men as old as 30 year olds. He himself molested and raped multiple children, some being from other families in the community and some being his own children. Twenty-four of his fifty wives were under the age of seventeen. Jeffs was also known to make people (mostly teenage boys) leave the convent. He would drop them off in the middle of a desert, forcing them to find a way to make it on their own.…

Polygamy in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS) allegedly began in 1831 (Bennion 2011:23?). Mormon fundamentalists subscribe to the line of Mormon theology which was founded by Joseph Smith (Bennion 2011:23). It includes traditional gender role beliefs, religious communalism, and polygamy. However, many “mainstream Mormons” aspire to distance themselves from polygamy. In North America alone, polygamy is practiced by between 38,000 and 60,00 persons, despite…

whether the messenger is credible—“before people decide what they think of your message, they decide what they think of you” (Cuddy et al. 59). Powerful arguments are subverted by the character of the author—for instance, no matter the future content of his writing, nobody will take seriously the work of a journalist such as Stephen Glass, rising-star turned disgraced writer and failed lawyer (Grimminck). John Krakauer, author of exposés such as Three Cups of Deceit and Under the Banner of…

“Escape” is another great book that was hard to put down. Although hard to read, this is a first- person account of life inside the world of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), the derivative of the Mormon Church. This community is prominent along the Utah - Arizona border. This book gives a thrilling account of one woman’s courageous flight to freedom along with her eight children. It's hard to read because Carolyn Jessop’s story is one of non-stop abuse, from…

Polygamy is one of the most thought about and controversial issues in this day in age. It’s specifically controversial in religions that do not practice polygamy, but still notorious in religious where it once was practiced like in Islam and Mormon societies. These two religious groups are very controversial due to their history and societies acceptance of them. Mormons and Islamic people are subjected to a lot of criticism in today’s society. In order to fully understand their arguments, you…