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Show 12 All D Y NCR Saturday, September 4. 2004 AID members are so secretive that Eldorado has them on edge. Continued from B 1 II God has sent them here for : a ' reason: to wake us up from our apathy or to vote and be more alert,' or something like that." The acid reactions baffle supporters in the church's headquarters in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., home of what is believed to be the country's largest polygamist community. The group is not in any way a part of the larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints, based in Salt Lake City. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-daSaints abandoned polygamy in 1890 and now excommunicates members who practice polygamy. It has never held some of the belief s of the breakaway Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which teaches that women are property. Here are some of the splinter sect's other beliefs: I The church leader is a prophet chosen by God through revelation. I Men must have at least three wives to get to the celestial kingdom, heaven's highest plane. Marriages are arranged by revelation from the prophet. I Women go to heaven only if their husbands take them. I People who leave the church, "apostates," will be more damned than those who chose not to follow the religion. "I don't understand why people are so concerned about us," said Barbara Johnson, one of several women married to a Colorado City council member. "There's so many different religions and types of people in the world. Why is everyone so concerned about this one little reli- near. Waco. Jeffs, 49, was recently sued by an adult nephew who alleged that Jeffs and his two brothers raped him as a child, and that he if' has covered up serial child molestations by fellow church leaders. Attorneys for Jeffs and the church have denied that, saying the civil lawsuit is a vengeful at- tack by y O q0 cates with the group more than It's unknown whether Jeffs, who is battling law enforceanyone else in town, can say how many people are there now ment, financial questions and and whether they'll be there bitter former church members in his home state, will move to permanently. Texas, although local officials "They have a constitutional say he has visited the compound right to be here," he said. "Right a few times. now, I'm standing in between this community and our citiJeffs said to have dozens of wives is known to some as zens. ... We don't live in a coun"The Prophet," God's representry where you can bust down someone's door for no reason, tative on Earth who arranges and I wouldn't ant to live in a marriages through revelation. " He has declined interview recountry like 'ha .1. But Jeffs' vers say he quests and hasnt made any public announcements about his doesn't war io influence Eldorado the wa v his ;iurch conranch, plans for the 1,600-acrfour miles from the Schleicher trols Hildale . I it at and Colorado City. Ariz., where polygaCounty Courthouse. Not even county Sheriff mists make up 80 percent of the David Dor an, who communi- population and a church trust rado Success. Members of the church and officials who have spoken to some of the new arrivals say they came to West Texas to escape mounting pressures in their desert enclave of about a bor10,000 on the der. Eldorado provided a perfect setting for that, church supporters said. The county has no zoning laws to restrict building, and it's a hidden piece of land in an isolated area of the country. Only Jeffs and his most loyal followers no more than 200 will be either living in the compound or using it as a vacation-style retreat, church members said. Utah-Arizon- i ; e . , Continued from Bl Moore-Em-met- BROWNDaily Herald JOSHUA "God's Brothel" is a collection of stories of women in polygamy t. by Andrea Moore-Emmet- town of Eldorado. "God's Brothel" sprang from an interview Moore-Emme- tt published in Salt Lake City Weekly in 1996 with Vicky . e Brigham Prunty, a Young University student who was twice a plural wife before abandoning her polygamist belief s. In the book, Moore-Emme- tt recounts how Prunty's decision to leave her first husband left her homeless, seeking temporary shelter in a Catholic-ru- n women's shelter with her five young children. Other stories paint an equally bleak picture of the choices available to women who choose to live or leave polygamy. In one vignette, a man marries his own sister. In another, parents grant permis sion for their daughter to marry the stepson of Tom Green, an infamous Utah polygamist eventually convicted of child rape, criminal nonsupport and bigamy. In another, a young girl tries to commit suicide by swallowing a bottle of aspirin in order to avoid marrying her much-olde- r amorous cousin. "I think in general the reaction that people have to it is one of just absolute horror," said publisher Susan Vogel. "These women were extremely brave to teU their stories." The vignettes represent former members of a wide number of polygamist groups. Some belonged to splinter groups of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-da- y Saints, one-tim- AT YOUNG , ; 'WAX HANDS MADE VK3TC Adults S,$3 . t J-- f , f rf- C2'.l TACC:;3 ;;'; EOCX.T'.VIL ??KISFLj::3 Srrr.'S r",TAURANT MEDIEVAL FOODS p if" :'DiSTIU MEDIEVAL GAMES I I LIVING FARMS tut titfirliijn i h V wives. "You cannot violate the human rights of others, the civil rights of others under the cloak of religion, and for too long that is what's been happening ... The civU rights, human rights violations are just astounding." In an interview last year with the Dairy Herald, Dorothy Allred Solomon, the 28th daughter of the murdered pohgamist naturopathic physician Rulon Allred, said that after leaving her Utah fundamentalist religion she was astonished to see how bad some had been "I hadn't seen how dark things could be, which is something, given that my father was murdered," she said. "I didnt know about the enormous amount of domination and the high instances of child abuse, not physical abuse as much as emotional, spiritual and sexual abuse in the polygamous sector." Moore-Emme- tt hopes the book win spark an increasing national awareness and "put pressure on the gatekeepers of our society to actually do something." Several of the women in the book have an active role in Tapestry Against Polygamy, which aids women who leave plural marriage and lobbies against the practice. and exTapestry ecutive director Vicky Prunty said that her work with the organization is a great accomplishment, but getting her six children out of polygamy was even more significant. Now a mother of seven, Prunty has never remarried. The sacrifice and heartache she endured in her previous marriages make it too hard to that type of relationship right now, she said. "There is always going to be something there that hasn't healed. And I dont know, perhaps a healthy relationship might be the catalyst to that healing in me," she said. "But I'm not there yet." ts . . -:T owns most of the land. They run all levels of government, induing school boards and citycouncils, and virtually all businesses. Church members say they and their hew Texas neighbors will learn to ignore each other " peacefully. "Americans in general want to live and let live and believe everyone is different," said David Zitting, a church member and Hildale mayor. "And as Americans, we often seem strange to each other." Many in Eldorado can't seem to decide whether it's the strange religion, the scary tales about forced marriages and child brides, or that the church which practiced plural marriage in the 1800s but officially abandoned the practice in 1890. Today, members of the LDS Church who practice polygamy are excommunicated, but some polygamous groups continue to flourish. Moore-Emme- tt says that the state and national governments are not doing enough to stop the abuse and violence that are endemic to many cultures where men have multiple Brothel I Morning News . To some in Eldorado, it's because of worries that the group's reclusive and powerful spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs, will move in permanently with a few thousand followers and take over the local government. Others say that is too alarmist, and the general consensus is that the polygamists' arrival means life here will never be the same again. . "It's the biggest story this town has ever seen," said City Manager Randy Mankin, the owner and editor of the town's feisty weekly paper, The Eldo- - had nothing to do with it." Erickson's story is one of 18 vignettes collected in the recently released book "God's BrotheL" (Pince-Ne- z Press, t. $16.95) by Andrea The author, president of the Utah chapter of the National Organization for Women, said she wrote "God's Brothel" to expose the rampant abuse, violence and depravation in nmtniinitic manr nrl7ramict UMU1J I J .... ' ' . wimUWIUIbUi "I wanted to shine a light and let people know what was happening," she said. "In each story there is an aspect that is shocking the amount of incest, the amount of poverty, the amount of brutality ..." The number of polygamists living in the United States is notoriously hard to estimate most groups operate in a shadow of secrecy below the government's radar. In her book, Moore-Emme- tt said that some estimates have put the number of polygamists in the U.S. at 30,000, while Tapestry believes the number is closer to 100,000. The book comes at a time when plural marriage is attracting national attention and piquing the interest of Hollywood. Tom Hanks is producing a new drama series for HBO, "Big Love," about a fictional Utah polygamist with three wives. The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has raised eyebrows and suspicions in Texas after purchasing a 1,600-acr- e game ranch north of the smafl SCHLEOELDallas ERICH after a morning of clearing weeds from the community garden in Hildale, Utah. Part of the polygamist group has moved to Eldorado, Texas, to a tract of land they purchased there. his enemies. He's also drawn complaints from dozens of young men and boys who say Jeffs kicked them out of their home on the Arizostate line to keep na-Utah them from marrying girls intended for church elders. . Attorney Rodney Parker, who represents the church and Jeffs, said the allegations were false and that for the most part, the boys were older than 18 and dealing with delinquency issues that had made them fall out of favor with the church. To Eldoradoans, the mysterias the locals like ous "polys" to call their new pohgamist neighbors are the women in gingham dresses and braided hair occasionally driving pickups down Main Street. They are the men popping into Qty Han to ask about wastewater permits with Northern accents and strange, speech patterns in a place drenched in West Texas drawl just 90 miles from the Mexican border. Since the first buildings were found in March, the group has worked on its private communi-- : ty with an efficiency that has earned the grudging admiration of even the most skeptical of the townspeople. Still, as their new neighbors settle in, the people of Eldorado struggle with whether their beliefs in independence and freedom from government persecution are more important than their religious convictions. "I suspect," a local preacher remarked to Doran during one such conversation, "that before an this is over, our people wiU end up learning more about themselves than anything else." floor-lengt- Terrill Johnson's daughters ride in a pickup truck - gion?" Adding to the tension are re- cent child abuse accusations against Jeffs and fears about a second coming of David Kore-s-h, leader of the Branch Davidi-a- n sect that battled federal law officers in a fiery siege in 1993 :; r - K'-'- te " r :: ' 'sTerju,iAZECc:.'ANGruJL ACRES CF FUN . 37C3 North I!?-hw- 91 8y 10D-371-r:- Lie.--?, U:h I Elyssa Andruc can be 3 reached at or eandrusheraldextra.com 344-255- i? RICHARD Press DREW Associated of Seventeen magazine, responds during an interview in her New York office. Under Rubenstein, the girls' publication has added a faith section to its pages. Atoosa Rubenstein, editor-in-chi- ef Seventeen Continued from Bl teen with a mandate to revamp the publication and she revived the religion idea. For guidance, she formed an interfaith advisory board that includes an evangelical Christian preacher, a priest from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, a Reform Jewish rabbi, a Buddhist teacher, an Episcopal youth minister and two Muslims. . The only nationally known member is Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble with Islam: A Muslim's Call for Reform in her Faith," who has won several awards for her popular book, but has also become a target for criticism by some conservative Muslim leaders. i Rubenstein, whose mostly beige office is punctuated with bright pink chairs and zebra pillows, said she considers herself spirituaL She was raised Muslim, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, and said she prays for help and inspiration in difficult times. "It's a part of my life that is important," she said. "Yes, I'm into fashion Yes, I'm into makeup, but at the same time my faith is very important to me." The section debuted in August, and Rubenstein said the reader response has been mostly positive so far, with a few of the more religious readers complaining about some testimonials from skeptics. In the first issue, the section came just after , a detailed article on contracep- - . tion, which Rubenstein called "a very modern and realistic presentation. yf ' A companion Web site, ebigquestion, lets teens post comments on : whether they pray. More than 1,800 people have responded so far. Wood said the broad approach fits with the direction of Seventeen Whfle other teen fashion magazines have a niche, Seventeen wants to appeal to aU girls, he said. The August edi-dential election, health and facing hardships, along with fashion advice. "It's not necessarily taking a strong position but raising lots of questions that girls are probably wrestling with themselves and sharing different points of view " Wnnri cairi "Tthinlr plays well into this whole theme of diversity." But the Rev. Christopher Robinson, a DePaul University professor who researches religion in the media, said the section was less interesting than some other treatment of faith, such as the hit CBS show "Joan of Arcadia," about a teenage girl who talks to a God who takes the form of random people. "My impression is it gives you a nice feeling to ask these questions, but it makes no demands on you at alL" Robinson said of the magazine. "It's fun to hear about what other people think about God. It doesnt call me to make a stand." Laurie Whatey, of thedivi-M- pop-cultu- fiVW rtf TrlAmao re XTaIosw matKlieK- - v iviiiMtf aywu yyiinuir ers that created Revolve, a Bible for girls that looks like a fashion magazine, said she was impressed that Seventeen was addressing religion in any form. She predicted it would attract readers. "The teen culture today, ; : they're very, very much about faith," Whatey said. "I think it's appropriate to have a faith sec- -, tion regardless of what your periodical is about." top-selli- " |