Although I'm not a particularly religious person, I admire and respect people of faith and resent those who take advantage of their deeply held faith. That's why I was pleased when a Texas jury convicted Fundamentalist LDS Church "Prophet" Warren Jeffs of child sexual abuse. Some prophet.
Jeffs told the court that God directed him to take advantage of the children in his congregation, but the jury didn't buy such nonsense and convicted him of the charges after deliberating for less than 30 minutes. Jurors heard graphic testimony including an audio recording of Jeffs having sex with a 12-year-old girl. The tape culminated in both of them saying "Amen." Sick!
What will happen to Jeffs' polygamous cult following his conviction? That's a question for law enforcement officials in several states including Arizona, Texas and Utah. There was a Nevada connection to this bizarre case because Jeffs was finally arrested at a motel near the Nevada-Utah border and the FLDS leader was a frequent visitor to Las Vegas.
Best-selling author Danielle Tumminio put the case in perspective when she wrote that "the (critical) issue is the way in which Jeffs manipulated power - specifically, religious power - in order to harm those entrusted to his care. One might term this kind of mistreatment religious abuse." That's exactly what it was and my question is: What took authorities so long to bust this serial child molester? Law enforcement officers knew for years that Jeffs and men in his phony church were "marrying" child brides under the age of consent.
"Religious abuse ... involves degrading people, harming them, and preventing them from growing into the potential that God intended for them," Tumminio added. This is precisely what Jeffs did when he told a 14-year-old bride that she was "the property of your husband's kingdom and the Kingdom of God on Earth." So Jeffs sees himself as some kind of "God on Earth," which won't fly in the Texas prison where he'll spend the rest of his life.
Jeffs isn't the only preacher guilty of religious abuse. There's the notorious case of Jaycee Dugard of South Lake Tahoe, who was kidnapped by street preacher Phillip Garrido and his accomplice/wife Nancy in 1991 when Jaycee was 11. Garrido, a registered sex offender, was released from custody by Nevada parole authorities shortly before he kidnapped young Jaycee and held her captive for 18 long years.
Garrido told police he and his wife were carrying out a weird "God's Desire" program in which his wife procured young girls for her perverted husband. He was sentenced to 431 years in prison earlier this year and Nancy got off easy with 36 years to life.
And finally, let's not forget street preacher Brian David Mitchell (aka "Emmanuel"), who kidnapped 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart from her Salt Lake City home in 2002 and held her captive for nine horrible months. Elizabeth described Mitchell as "smart, sneaky, wicked ... (and) not close to God." These charlatans use God to pervert religion, as do some TV preachers. Amen.
• Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, isn't a regular church-goer.
