BIGAMY OR BIGOTRY?

Tribune Religion Reporter Schuyler Reddy

Modos Church members and community leaders are discussing the trial of Warren Jeffs in Texas.  Father Abe is concerned about a recent meeting held at the church.  As the City of Modos has come to recognize, Abe holds meetings on a regular basis in the church Common Rooms.  These gatherings are discussion groups, open to all who interest, which consider topics ranging from local religious issues to worldwide politics.  Abe understands he is treading on the threshold of separation of church and state and that if he goes too far the church stands to lose its tax free shelter.   That being established the Pastor feels that in these present times no place other than his church is willing to step up and confront these issues and that under his leadership no place is better able to face these problems.

Abe reports that fifteen percent of the congregation and city leaders feel that the trial of Warren Jeffs presently taking place in Texas is not much more than a show.  Their feelings are that Federal and state laws have no business interfering in church matters.   In fact several present argued that religious bigotry was the driving force behind the trial.  If the reader is not aware of his predicament, it is that Jeffs’ teachings are that one man does not have to limit himself to one wife.   Nor does that wife have to be of the age of consent.  Multiple marriages are appropriate in his religion and according to him, are sanctified in biblical teachings.  Father Abe is quoted as saying:

“The Jeffs’ trial is an issue that has become another story we continually see in society today.  We have a man; supposedly a spiritual leader in his community.  A man of power and influence who like so many has taken advantage of the innocent.  Just today I read of another man of influence who downloaded child pornography; when caught he found a doctor who blamed his behavior on a spinal tumor.  My question is, are the media outlets in the modern day making us more aware of these individuals?  I mean, has this been going on forever?  Or is mankind becoming less feeling and less responsible?  I feel that with the increase of instant gratification, the technology at our fingertips, mankind is becoming weak and submitting to temptation.  These men are intelligent, no doubt thinking themselves as being good men; they feel safe in an environment they have created or in the privacy of their homes or offices.   They thus conduct themselves in any manner they see fit.  These risks are taken because they are weak and without moral fiber.  Society has lost the values and conscience it once had.

It is written that technology will destroy our society.  This is just one of many signs that the end of days is drawing near”.

Abe

The trial as it presently stands:

• Warren Jeffs has been found guilty on counts of sexually molesting two girls.  One twelve years old and the other fifteen years old.
• The trial now moves into its penalty stage.
• Jeffs had been accused of sexual molestation of children.
• Marriages have been performed; referred to as “Celestial Unions”, between underage girls and adult men.
• The case was dismissed in Arizona.
• A guilty finding was reversed in Utah.
• Jeffs stated he “will be delivered before the trial”.  No reference has been made as to what this meant.
• He could be sentenced to spend up to 119 years in prison.
• He fired his defense legal team and from that point defended himself.
• Jeffs’ fired attorney has now been reinstated for the sentencing phase of the trial.
• Question – Will his church implode without him?  Already one splinter group has formed a separate church.
• Question – Did Warren Jeffs make an error in firing his lawyers?
• Question – Will reinstating his lawyers result in

o        Getting Jeffs paroled,

o         Granted the minimum sentence allowed under law, or

o         Makes no difference whatsoever?