I am three chapters into this book called "Under the Banner of Heaven" by Jon Krakauer. Anybody read it? Holyfuckinmoly. I did not know all this shit about fundamentalist mormons (I have a bunch of mormon relatives on my mom's side! -- though not fundamentalists/polygamists). Most modern day mainstream mormons shun polygamy and deign to be associated with it or those who practice it.
Aside from the FLDS's sinister history of statutory rape, child and spousal abuse and heavy duty cult mentality, I was shocked to find out how much money these people siphon from the system in the form of food stamps and welfare! One man with five "wives" and over fifty children can really bank on all those "single mothers." Many of the people documented in this book far exceeded that number. The most well known being Thomas Green (convicted rapist and bigot), who fenagled over a million dollars in welfare over a period of roughly 35 years. According to the book, each person in Colorado City who paid a dollar in taxes received about $8 in welfare. Okay...well let me not get started on how our tax dollars are spent because that could get ugly. Let's just say all of these statistics were startling to me and I suddenly felt as if I'd been in the dark about a deeply troubling segment of Americans who seem to fly completely under the radar. I had heard inklings of this stuff, but never recognized the extent of it.
This is serious shit on many levels, one of the more disturbing of which is the comparison that can easily be made between these fundamentalist mormon societies (Colorado City...) and other extremely oppressive religious practices and societies such as fundamentalist Islam and the Taliban, wherein women have no individual rights and members are forced to follow an extremely rigid code of conduct which is meant to isolate them from the rest of the world.
The book is really about the murder in Utah of a woman named Brenda Lafferty and her baby Erica by Brenda's fundamentalist mormon brother-in-law and his friend (because, of course, God told them to - as he often seems to do. Apparently, God makes quite the business of ordering others to kill innocents). Thus, the reason for all the background on this particular sect of the religion. (The one that believes Polygamy is the god given right of every mormon man and that to take that away is to infringe on his constitutional right to practice his religion, regardless of the fact that in America there is no law permitting men to molest or rape, impregnate and/or marry young girls and that it is not their constitutional right to defraud taxpayers). That's not really the main gist of the book though. It's supposed to focus more around the danger of religious extremism.
I'm sure I'll be updating on this book in the future. So far it's got me sucked in. The other book I have been reading, which is, unfortunately, about as riveting as watching paint dry (in spite of the relevant subject matter), is being shelved for now.
Posted by Maria at June 2, 2004 08:42 PMI read Into Thin Air by him. That was really good also.
Posted by: Geoffrey at June 2, 2004 09:48 PMYeah my friend who lent me this book also read Into Thin Air and said it was one of the most gripping pieces of literature she's ever read. (And she reads a lot) Said it gave her a couple of minor anxiety attacks.
This one I'm reading is outstanding so far. But also gives me a stomach twisting sensation. I guess Krakauer's got a knack for that.
Posted by: Maria at June 3, 2004 09:12 PM