Trial will set precedent for years to come
 
By Norma Najacht
Custer County Chronicle
 
It’s a tale of incest, rape, physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The latest Hollywood movie? Perhaps, but it is also the norm — along with deprivation of education and forced marriages of young girls — in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), according to Laura Chapman, who left that group, as stated in the book, "God’s Brothel," by Andrea Moore-Emmett.

With the trial of FLDS self-proclaimed prophet Warren Jeffs scheduled to start this week, press from around the world has converged on the tiny town of St. George, Utah, shedding light on this shadowy sect.

The FLDS likes to fly beneath the radar. Only when a trial of this magnitude hits the news does the FLDS show up on the radar screen of the consciousness of the nation.

As well it should.

According to Chapman, one of the leaders in the FLDS has told members it is OK to marry relatives as close as cousins and uncles to nieces because God will change the blood so it is not related. That presumption has produced children with genetic disorders such as Down and Tourette’s syndromes, as well as other birth defects.

Chapman says the prevalence of pedophile behavior dominates the culture, while the victims are forced to revere their abusers. When she was 4, one of her step brothers tied her to a bedpost and tried to rape her.

"It would be difficult to pull a girl out of Colorado City who hasn’t been sexually assaulted," she said, adding that she knows of girls as young as 12 who have been forced to marry their step fathers.

As the 25th of 31 offspring of her father, Chapman’s earliest memories are of molestation and rape by her father. She was also routinely fondled by her brothers.

And the leaders claim these acts are their right because it is their religion.

On Chapman’s 16th birthday, she was taken for a ride by her father for her "sexuality lesson." According to Chapman, it was a tradition for all her father’s daughters and his attempt to legitimize his rape of them.

After her marriage, one of her father-in-law’s wives became plagued with STD around her rectum, while the small grandchildren developed STD in and around their mouths.

When she finally confided the abuse to her husband, he confessed to her that he had sexually abused his own sister when she was 11.

"For how many years will the state look the other way while laws are broken by these people," she asked.

How long, indeed.

Cora Fischer, who also grew up in the FLDS in Colorado City, Ariz., became a second wife at age 14. Her husband would discipline his children by holding them under water until they passed out. He once held the inside of his daughter’s arm against a light bulb until her skin melted, according to Fischer. To teach his daughters about sexuality he would demonstrate on himself.

When her husband’s first wife was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, her doctor insisted she not have any more children, as that would rob her of precious life resources. However, because polygamist women are supposed to have a child a year, she was not given that choice. Instead, she gave birth to three more babies — the last while she lay unconscious, as her life ebbed out of her and she died.

It isn’t just the men who abuse the women and children.

Jane Blackmore’s sister, Debbie Palmer, who wrote "Keep Sweet," related details of sister-wives abusing each other and each other’s children. There was no one to turn to, as the police, who were also members of the "priesthood," turned them right back to their abusers, routinely saying that next time they needed to be more obedient.

Connie Rugg notes that her mother, as well as so many other women living in polygamy, learned to deny her feelings in order to survive her husband sleeping with other women. There were no feelings left for any of Rugg’s 13 siblings, who grew up bereft of a mother’s love. Rugg was never held as a child. If she cried, her mother slapped her until she quit.

So many women who have left the FLDS have become involved in destructive behaviors, such as substance abuse and self-mutilation, as they try to medicate the plundering of their bodies and souls.

It’s important to remember that these are the people who are living at the FLDS compound near Pringle. These are your neighbors.

In 1978 Congressman Leo Ryan went on a fact-finding mission to investigate allegations of abuse and human rights violations at a religious compound in another country. Human rights are defined as the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, including the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.

Does any thoughtful person believe the women and children have these rights in the FLDS? Where are the congressmen and women who would investigate these same allegations of abuse and human rights violations in a religious compound which are occurring in our own country?

The trial of Warren Jeffs was originally scheduled to begin Monday, but since jury selection has not been completed, it is believed it will start later this week. The state has listed 18 potential witnesses, while the defense has listed 70. Jeffs’ lawyers will no doubt claim he has "religious freedom" to do as he pleases.

However, the courts have traditionally stated that while a person has a right to believe anything he wants, he has the right to practice those beliefs only when they don’t violate someone else’s rights.

It is no stretch of the imagination to believe he is practicing his religion at the expense of the women and children in the FLDS.

I have heard people say FLDS members should be left alone because they are not hurting anyone. If you believe that, I urge you to read "God’s Brothel" or any of the other books by women who have left the sect, or talk to any woman who has come out of the FLDS.

If Jeffs is convicted, he will be considered a martyr. If he is found not guilty, not only will he be free, but it will set a precedent for untold years to come.

While the eyes of the world are focused on this case, the lives of the thousands of women and children hang in the balance — including those in our own county.
 
CusterCountyNews.com
Originally published Wednesday, September 12, 2007
 
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