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Women's rights in the Mormon Fundamentalism church (FLDS)
Related to country: United States

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"The government of the wife is therefore placed in the husband by the law of God;for he is the head. I suffer not a woman saith the Lord to teach, or to usurp authority over a man, but to be in subjection...Here, the wife is pronounced the husband's property, as much so as his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, or his horse...polygamy regulated by the law of God as illustrated in this book could not possibly produce one crime; neither could it injure any human being...Speak not a word against it at your peril"(qtd in Krakauer 91).
These words are skeptically written by Joseph Smith, in the book [i]The Peacemaker[/i]. In the fundamentalist church, they believe every single one of these words was inspired by God, and delivered in a revelation to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. When the Mormon church was forced to give up their practice of polygamy, by the U.S. government, many people separated from the church and continued to do this "sacred practice". Although the church today renounces and even bashes the practice of polygamy, there are still hundreds of thousands of Fundamentalist Mormons who still practice it. Not only has it caused the Mormon church to have a bad reputation, but it has resulted in thousands of sexual, and emotional abuse to women.
In the book, [i]Under the Banner of Heaven[/i], John Krakauer tells the stories of many women who were treated horribly. "After being married against her will to her uncle, David Ortell Kingston, at the age of sixteen, Mary Ann Kingston tried to run away twice but was caught on each occasion. Following the second escape, she sought refuge with her mother--who promptly turned the girl over to her father, John Daniel Kingston. John Daniel then drove Marry Ann to an isolated ranch near the Utah-Idaho border, which the Kingstons used as a "re-education camp" for wayward wives and disobedient children. He took the girl into a barn, pulled his belt off, and used it to whip her savagely across the buttocks, thighs, and lower back, inflicting hideous injuries...After brutalizing his daughter, John Daniel departed, at which point Mary Ann fled from the ranch and limped five miles along a dirt road until she reached a gas station, where she called the police."(Krakauer 19).
This example is quite common in the culture of the fundamentalists. Not only do fathers beat their children, but husbands as well. Sexual abuse is even more prominent within this religion, and too often have their been cases of men over the age of forty, marrying girls of up to thirteen years of age. For example the famous case of Tom Green, a fundamentalist living with five wives, and thirty-two children. His youngest wife, and daughter, Linda Kunz Green, was thirteen when she married him. He was caught by the Juab County attorney, David O. Leavitt.
Not all Mormons are fundamentalists though, and practice these things. Yet the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints, is abusive to the female gender. Not only do they believe that they have the right to own a woman, but they believe they have power over women's overall rights, including sexual performance, right to opinion, and right who they would like to marry. Therefore women have absolutely no rights within the Fundamentalist Mormon culture.

January 8, 2009 | 10:26 PM Comments  1 comments

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ambersmith Amber Smith
January 8, 2009 | 10:47 PM

I don't know how you sleep after reading this book. I also don't know how these men sleep at night. I would think their consciences are screaming so loudly that it'd be impossible to ignore.
But then I guess that raises a whole different question - our all of our consciences based on the same general regard for human rights? or, are they able to adapt and mold to fit what we "believe"?
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