A RESPONSE to my BOUNTIFUL COLUMN

A RESPONSE to my BOUNTIFUL COLUMN

Dear Jamie Lee,

You really should have sent this to me ahead of time, since you know that I am an (inactive) LDS priest.
For one thing, you mis-wrote "Church of the Latter Day Saints". The mainstream church is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (note the hyphen and small "d"). "LDS" for short. No other names are acceptable or else you appear ignorant. They have discontinued using "Mormon" as a nick-name, though The Book of Mormon is still the name of one of their sacred books. I'm not sure of the FLDS spelling.

You're unfair to Barry O'Neill. I'm sure he would favour an orderly transition to public schools.

I'm solidly with the many of the critics of Bountiful, while agreeing that no one is legally guilty until convicted. Occasional polygamy and polyandry don't bother me much, as long as the partners have given truly informed consent. I doubt that they have with the teen-age females. They are an organized brain-washing cult movement. It's necessary to criticize them. For one thing, the practice creates an imbalance for society as a whole. That is, I believe that many young males are driven out of such communities because the older patriarchs have taken the most attractive females for themselves. If their movement grew it would be very harmful. I hate patriarchy. It's what oppresses women, gays, children, etc.

Here in Arizona there's a very similar community causing very similar scandals. Please read probably the best reports, which are in the New Times of Phoenix:

Disclaimer - Perhaps I should write Sex Columns!!! JL