Fear & Loathing in Utah

This week Warren S. Jeffs, a so-called modern day prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was convicted on charges of being an accomplice to the rape of a 14 year old girl and faces a life term sentence; he also faces charges in Arizona for similar crimes. Elissa Wall, the accuser, stated that Jeffs forced her into marriage with her 19 year old cousin when she was 14 years old. The Church doctrine says that Jeffs's match-making was divine revelation and her only path to heaven. It took Wall three attempts to manage, "Okay, I do," at the altar. A couple of weeks after the marriage, Jeffs spoke to Wall saying that it was now time for her to perform her wifely duties. After Wall consummated the marriage Wall attempted suicide. Eventually Elissa Wall began and an affair when eventually led her to become pregnant by another man. When found out, Wall was excommunicated.

This story is an example of how dangerous fanatical religious zealots can be and how much damage they can cause. This isn't only a concern in American Society but across the world. People do unspeakable things in the name of religion--the unfortunate part of this is that when instances like this happen it completely taints the group as a whole. I've discussed several times the stigma with the Islamic Faith. Personally, it's not my business (nor should it be anyone else's) whether these Mormons want to have more than one wife because of their religious beliefs. What I have an issue is when you have religious leaders like Jeffs that take advantage of the power they are perceived to have and warp their ideas to force a 14 year old into marriage with her 19 year old cousin.