The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka the LDS Church, or Mormonism) is, by itself, an odd Christian sect, but odder still is the breakaway group, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka the FLDS Church (Archive.Is cached article). The impetus for the rift between LDS and FLDS is that the latter retained the practice of polygamy, which the former suspended in order to facilitate Utah’s statehood. They also are found in the West in pockets which they control almost absolutely.
As one would expect, the FLDS don’t think very much of women, viewing them largely as “baby machines” and little else. They revealed their misogyny in a rather stark fashion recently when, as the Associated Press reports via the Religion News Service, the FLDS employees of a town resigned en masse when a woman was elected mayor (cached):
The new mayor of a mostly polygamous town on the Utah-Arizona border is finishing off a complete overhaul of municipal staff and boards after mass resignations when she took office in January to become the first woman and first non-member of the polygamous sect to hold the seat.
Six of the seven Hildale, Utah, town workers quit after Mayor Donia Jessop was elected and took charge of the local government run by the sect for more than a century. They were joined by nine members of various town boards, including utility board chairman Jacob N. Jessop. All were members of the sect, the mayor said.
The childish quitters were unapologetic about their disdain for women and non-FLDS people:
“It has come to a point where I have to choose between my religion and participation in city government, and I choose my religion,” [Jacob Jessop, distantly related to the mayor by marriage] wrote in his letter dated Jan. 25. “My religion teaches me that I should not follow a woman for a leader in a public or family capacity.”
He cited sermons from the 1860s from Brigham Young, the second president of the mainstream Mormon church who led pioneers west to settle in Utah. Polygamy was part of early Mormonism, but The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has disavowed polygamy for more than a century.
He added in the letter that his religion teaches him “to leave apostates alone severely and not have anything to do with them.” Apostates refer to people who renounce their religion’s teachings. Most of the others who resigned said in their letters they were taking other jobs.
The FLDS folks have a lot more on their plates, of course, than just having a woman (curses!) as mayor of their town. The Jeffs family, which heads their sect, is a cadre of criminals: The FLDS “prophet,” Warren Jeffs, is now in jail for (essentially) statutory rape, and his brother Lyle is in prison after pleading guilty to food-stamp fraud (cached).
At any rate, it’s kind of refreshing to see this sort of religion-fueled bigotry, misogyny, and hatred being expressed openly and candidly.
Photo credit: Utah Atty. General’s office, via KNAU.
