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Some links about Warren Jeffs, FLDS, El Dorado and abuse within polygamous sects

April 23, 2008

I’m trying to weed out the ones with an obvious bias against religion or Mormonism, but no guarantees. This is one time when being of no particular religious faith is both an advantage and a disadvantage; it’s easier to see some things and harder to see others.

State of Utah v Warren Steed Jeffs

These are the felony charges filed against Jeffs of accomplice rape of a child.

God’s Brothel

These are first-hand accounts of life inside polygamist societies – not for the easily nauseated, but extremely valuable as primary sources, and not limited to FLDS. I found it about two years ago, after reading about the El Dorado compound then being built in West Texas.

Polygamist Groups

This is a clearinghouse-type site of news articles, organized by group. Obviously the organization has an agenda and can select which stories to archive; there are, however, a wide variety of sources, many from local and regional papers. This is a particularly interesting rundown of the treatment of teenage boys that I was talking about in the comments:

Texas sect kicked out its boys as teens

If the purpose of the sect is truly to pass on its religious values, including polygamy, why curb the number of boys? Shouldn’t they be raising them in the faith of their fathers, rather than treating them as competition for the youngest, prettiest wives?

The Hope Organization

The Diversity Foundation

Non-profits dedicated to helping victims of abuse in polygamous communities – foreverastudent will be able to ascertain their respective credibility much better than I can.

One comment

  1. The Phoenix New Times also has a good long-running series (from 2003) about the FLDS, mostly in Colorado City, and the AZ and UT government responses. Their take was that Utah was actually being much more aggressive about prosecuting. There are some especially good articles about the welfare fraud issues and FLDS control of public schools, police, and other government agencies. http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/specialReports/view/212740?page=1



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