Recently, Warren Jeffs and five unnamed members of the FLDS were indicted on charges of sexual abuse. While I approve of the action taken against perpetrators of any kind of abuse I am also aware that this will not open the eyes of the thousands of members of this religious sect. If anything it will reinforce their beliefs. The history of the fundamentalist Mormons is filled with persecution and the jailing of prophets. It is part of their collective identity. There may be a few fringe members who will see things differently in light of these events but the majority will not. I find myself observing these events from afar, withholding judgment until all events surrounding Warren Jeffs and the raid on YFZ Ranch in Texas have transpired. Although, I cannot see how the FLDS will ever be able to return to their covert practices while living in the United States. With the exposure that the raid has generated, such as interviews on Larry King and CNN not to mention YouTube, there cannot be a full return to secrecy. This creates a new conflict between the law and these fundamentalist Mormon groups unlike anything the US governement has dealt with before. The Internet, with its knack for exposing the underbellies of everything we did/didn’t want to know about, keeps the FLDS from being able to slip back into their hiding places. I am curious to see the events unfold, as secrets become violated through the information craze. As crazy as it can be sometimes, it is a beautiful example of the kind of freedom the first amendment promises. Hopefully, that same freedom will reveal the filth and dross within these communities and those who are living decently will be left out of the limelight.

Polygamy has been around since earliest recorded history and was lived in nearly ever culture. What makes it interesting today is the relationship polygamy now shares with religion. In the past, it was always an economic, social or personal choice to live polygamy until early Mormonism. It was included as a tenet of their religion and a prerequisite to salvation until 1890 when the Mormon Church abandoned it in favor of statehood for Utah. Hence the birth of Mormon fundamentalism which developed when practicing polygamists that continued to believe in polygamy as a religious requirement went underground and disappeared from public view. I think that this is one of the problems society faces today in regards to Mormon fundamentalists: How do you separate polygamy from religion? Polygamy on its own is very tolerated in this country but when you add the elements of religion and/or patriarchy things get a little dicey. The US has had its share of religious cults from, the Lebaron brothers to the Branch Davidians to Heavens Gate and several others and they all meet their end similarly, in some act of violence. There is a fear that anything radical or unorthodox always ends in blood and violence. This fear is warranted and seeing pictures of an unstable Warren Jeffs in the newspapers only reinforces it. There are some splinter groups who practice Mormon fundamentalism who do so while remaining somewhat mainstream, in their appearance as well as their contributions. The women are educated, some with Masters degrees or even PhDs while others have high paying jobs as lawyers or businesswomen. They remain unseen because they don’t need to be seen. I don’t see religion being taken out of polygamy any time soon. What must end is the Mormon fundamentalists need for peculiarity and the validation of persecution. If you take the radical out of Mormon fundamentalism they can finally accept their place in society with respect for democracy and we can all begin to live in peace.

Faith and belief were often interchangeable words in my vocabulary. Until recently I had not really taken the time to consider the differences. My discovery about faith and belief was simply this: A belief is an idea or a concept of the mind that one holds to for various reasons while faith on the other hand, is entirely outside the boundaries of the mind. Faith belongs to the heart. Beliefs can be altered and even abandoned when an experience challenges or repudiates them, while faith grows and expands with each experience. Faith is willing to act without the why, while a belief is a why without the accompaniment of action. When I hear someone expound on the validity of their beliefs whether religious or otherwise I wonder if their words are mere props for an idea that is not grounded in experience. To know something through experience is different than simply believing something. I don’t want to sound as though belief has no place but only that it has been given too much emphasis as if believing were the end accomplishment. Faith has come to mean something more to me in recent years as I have broadened my life experience; for life itself requires faith. Faith is a kind of knowing without having evidence or proof; the kind of knowing that comes from personal experience. Belief is the mind stepping toward faith. Faith is a word most often used in a religious context but in truth it has very little to do with religion and much more to do with living. Faith is not something I have, but rather something I practice. It is a profound spiritual tool while belief is the whetstone on which faith is sharpened.

I am a history buff. I love to learn everything I can about anything that has ever happened anywhere in the world during any time period. This is not a hobby but part of my intellectual and spiritual enrichment. Therefore, I am appalled at the lack of historical knowledge, and even more so, the lack of understanding of that knowledge, that is prevalent in today’s society. Why is it important to me? I ask myself this question and I pose it to you. Why is history important? The short answer is this: History inspires me. It makes me want to be more than I am and examine myself more deeply. It connects me to my fellow human beings in a more meaningful way. It forms new questions about life in my mind and answers other questions that have tantalized me for some time. More importantly history demands that each one of us become responsible for our actions and that even the common man matters. History is the thread that links us all together both with those who have gone on before and those yet to come. So, brush up on your history and be inspired.