Greg Hollingsworth

Well, they finally tracked down Warren Jeffs and that my friends is very, very good news. For those of you out there who are unfamiliar with Warren Steed Jeffs, as I am sure many of you are, he is the leader of a group most commonly referred to as the FLDS, a splinter faction of the Mormon church that continues to practice polygamy. The FLDS is headquartered in the small Arizona border town of Colorado City. The city, established in 1985, was created by the church, which owns almost all of the land within the town. Colorado City is a haven for polygamists such as Jeffs, who is reported to have upwards of 40 wives and over 60 children, who continue to embrace the Mormon practice of "celestial marriage". "Celestial marriage" was a practice invented by Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, although no one is a hundred percent which hat he read the message out of. The practice was continued after Smith's death, most prolifically by Brigham Young, although some modern day polygamists are rumored to have as many as 100 wives. The practice of polygamy was discontinued by the mainstream Mormon church in 1890, although it had been outlawed by the US Congress in 1862. The LDS Church had claimed as late as 1878 that the practice was protected by the US Constitution, although the Supreme Court stated in Reynolds v. U.S that "Laws are made for the government of actions, and while they cannot interfere with mere religious belief and opinions, they may with practices." However, polygamist communities continue to exist in many areas of the US and Canada, the largest of these being the twin cities of Colorado City, AZ and Hildale, UT, home to Warren Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Jeff's arrest and trial has the potential to blow the proverbial lid off of the polygamist communities in America as well as bringing justice to the many victims of child abuse and rape committed against the people of these communities. There have been many reports of children as young as 13 being married to first cousins (who in at least one case was also the aunt of her future husband) and being forced into sexual activity. Most notable in this is the case of polygamist Tom Green, who was convicted on four counts of bigamy and one count of failure to pay child support in 2001 and one count of child rape in 2002(he will be released from prison in August of 2007). Although the most frightening aspect of these cases is the control which these men exert upon their wives and children. The aforementioned Green was convicted for the rape of then 13 year old Linda Kunz, who was forced to marry Green in 1986, and gave birth to their first child later that year. Kunz, who has since become Green's lawful wife, refused to testify against Green. Yet in all of this there lies a question that no one really wants to have to answer, why is polygamy illegal? Elizabeth Taylor was divorced and remarried at least 8 times, yet she was certainly not considered a polygamist. Is the sentiment not somewhat the same? Aside from the fact that she was never married to two men at the same time (although she did marry Richard Burton twice) she had 8 husbands. What is so innately terrible about the practice of people having more than one spouse at a time? Just to be clear on this point, I am not advocating polygamy. Personally I find it to be a detestible practice that has the tendency to pray on the weak and vulnerable (who often happen to be minors forced into marriage, which is and should always be considered a crime). Yet in a society where the idea of gay marriage is so divisive, why is so little attention paid to the damage done to the institution of marriage by heterosexual couples? Polygamists utterly destroy the notion of monogamy within marriage, yet the government (who knows where 90% of these communities are) chooses instead to focus on issues that will divide voters and after all, polygamists are just crazy mormons right? There are so few of them, why should we be that concerned, the gays want to marry each other, and that's just an abomination. If the government and every politician in the country want to talk about getting tough on crime and preventing sexually predatory behavior shouldn't polygamist communities where young girls are becoming sexually active with adults as early as the age of 13 be near the top of the "Things to stop for the overall improvement of society" list?