Comments about ‘Authorities help woman leave Utah polygamous sect’

Women who want to leave a polygamous marriage shouldn't have to sneak away to seek help from the authorities. Had she gone to the local police she would have been returned to her "family" to suffer punishment at their hands.

Good for her. I wish her all the best.

I hope she gets her children, if any.

Exactly what kind of brainwashing is going on to convince these young women that that particular lifestyle is good for them?

If people are really that gullible perhaps they deserve what they get.

"Exactly what kind of brainwashing is going on"

Well, that would be RELIGIOUS brainwashing.

If she believes that her religious leaders are Prophets, it's not really that hard to understand.

Its not the first time its ever happened.

The problem is that they are born and raised in it, they dont know any different. I sincerely hope that she gets help.

@rifleman I agree with you....so sad.

DeltaFoxtrot | 2:29 p.m. Oct. 12, 2011
West Valley, UT
"Exactly what kind of brainwashing is going on to convince these young women that that particular lifestyle is good for them?"

Delta -- do you make the same assumtions about young women who married LDS polygamists when polygamy was in practice? If not, why not? Was that lifestyle good for the young women when LDS practiced polygamy? Is it Ok for LDS to put down the practices of another religion, especially practices that were common in the LDS church? Is your post anti-FLDS?

There should be radio broadcasts and leaflets dropped on these communities encouraging and enabling defection. Armed embassies of the free united states and vehicles with billboards telling people how to get out. Help for them to get their children out. Or better yet, a gitmo on the arizona utah border, and enforcement of the law to fill it with these pedophiles.

There is good reason that poligamy is grown out of in most civilized societies. The population of the earth is pretty evenly spit at 50/50 men and women.

It's to me, a crime against all those FLDS young men that will never marry because thier leaders take all the young women against thier will as wives. I can't believe the young men haven't abondoned the religion by now in droves.

There is a world of difference between the polygamy practiced by early church leaders and the polygamy of Warren Jeffs et al. The latter takes place in a tightly-controlled community where education is rudimentary at best, where girls are groomed to marry early, and where the children have no contact with the outside world. It's virtually impossible for these people to escape. If they do, they are ostracized.

What a brave woman. It takes real courage to break away from a controlling organization like that.

"There is a world of difference between the polygamy practiced by early church leaders and the polygamy of Warren Jeffs et al."

You really see a "world of difference" between Jeffs and SLC in the 1800's?

SLC was pretty much all LDS run completely by church prophets.
Probably VERY "tightly-controlled".
Certainly the schools were run by LDS.
And, really, how much contact with the "outside world" was there for your typical girl?

Tell me, how easily could a teenage girl "escape"? Would they not have been ostracized?
Heck, adults that leave the church even today are ostracized.

I contend that it was not nearly as different as you purport.

I don't see a difference between Jeffs and SLC in the 1800's. I do see a *big* difference between the world of the 1800's and the world of today. With all the media exposure you would have to be pretty dense to not know that something was just the tiniest bit off.

@ JoeBlow:

I urge you to read the history of our church before you start making assumptions of an issue that you know nothing about.
The 1800s and 2011 are hundreds of years apart, the social, cultural and political contexts are different as well. Don't be like most people who have issues with the church even when they really don't know anything about the church, but base their opinion on second hand information. Women in our church have never been brain washed, the church has never been a compound were its members are not allowed to have contact with the outside world, if anything its exactly the opposite because our leaders counsel us to get involved in the communities where we live, to give service to other, to obey the laws of our communities and they counsel on getting a good education.
And just for your information, when people leave the church or have gone through disciplinary counsel, they are treated with love by our leaders. If they leave the church on their own free will, their choices are respected.

A radical religion that demonstrates the problem with extremism.

to:JoeBlow | 4:18 a.m. Oct. 13, 2011

The situation back in the 1800's with the LDS practising polygamy and today's polygamous groups is like comparing apples and oranges. Very few members were allowed to live in such situations and only if they were found worthy to do so. The major difference is that the Lord instructed some saints to live that way back then. The Jeffs situation is abusive and illegal and has nothing to do with the way things were in the 1800's. People such as yourself tend to make assumptions about things you really know nothing about. If you are against the LDS church, why post on an LDS news comment board?

This is an incredibly hard thing to do, I've seen one instance in the past that never made the news. Best of luck to her in finding a better life.

@Kevin: How do you know the Lord didn't instruct these FDLS saints to live how they are living? Wait, I'll give you your response: Because the LDS have the true prophets, and the FDLS do not. right?

Problem is, you can't prove it, aside from your own religion (propehts) telling you it is so.

Oh, and by the way, for those who think you are treated with respect and not ostracised for leaving the LDS church, you might want to let my hometown know that. They don't seem to agree with you!

Good for her! I hope she gets the help she needs and is able to live a good life.