National Polygamy Rights Movement Opposes Warren Jeffs

On Sept. 8, Mark Henkel, a national polygamy advocate and the founder of the TruthBearer.org organization in Orchard Beach, Maine, issued a press release asking the media to "get their facts straight about polygamy and polygamy rights" in light of the media frenzy that is expected with the upcoming trial of Warren Jeffs.

TruthBearer identifies itself as a Christ-centered, Spirit-led, Scripture-believing organization for Christian Polygamy. The organization says it's not about any form of Mormonism and does not involve underage or arranged marriages, but is about Christian polygamy as found in the Bible.

Henkel says that Warren Jeffs and his upcoming trial has absolutely nothing to do with either Mormonism or polygamy. Yet, virtually every news report about Jeffs and his alleged illegal activities makes a point of referring to him first and foremost as a polygamist.

On June 9, 2005, Jeffs was indicted by a Mohave (Arizona) County Grand Jury on two counts of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. He remained one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitives until his arrest on Aug. 28, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nev. According to the FBI, Jeffs was the leader and prophet of "a polygamous sect known as the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS)."

In the press release, Henkel said: "Every time that any media reports about Jeffs as a 'polygamist' while not specifically clarifying the national polygamy rights movement's opposition to that Utah-local rogue Mormon polygamy sect leader, the facts about polygamy rights are not being accurately presented. In fact, without such clarity, it becomes a grossly biased distortion instead."

Henkel went on to say that "too often, most of the media have only reported about polygamy when a real crime has been involved - such as with the Jeffs case. But when there was no real crime to report, most media typically have pretended that we pro-polygamists do not exist, refusing to let us make our pro-family case either on its own merits or without requiring us to put a circus-act (of a polygamous family) on dangerous public display. So, against that one-sided backdrop, when a case such as Jeffs' trial comes along, the media reporting about it are implicitly 'conspiring' - if you will - to falsely connect all normal polygamists to real crimes. That is an egregious injustice."

The national polygamy rights movement is only for consenting adults and has always opposed Warren Jeffs and what he stood for. But with the Jeffs trial about to begin, Henkel is anticipating more misleading media reports and is asking that three specific clarifications be included each time the media reports on the story. Briefly stated, those clarifications are that most pro-polygamists outside of the Utah area don't come from any form of Mormon-based belief system, much less from Jeffs' FLDS religious system; the national polygamy movement and most normal polygamists have always opposed Jeffs and the FLDS ideas of underage and arranged marriages; and not a single one of the criminal charges against Jeffs had anything to do with polygamy.

In summation, Henkel said that neither Warren Jeffs' nor his case has anything to do with the national polygamy rights movement. Further, he said, every time Jeffs is referenced in the media as a polygamist without clarification, it's "slanderous of genuinely good, normal people who support consenting adult polygamy. Clearly, Jeffs' FLDS does not represent polygamy around the country. The national movement has always opposed Jeffs and the FLDS ideas. And none of the charges against him pertain to polygamy anyway. Accordingly, just as the media routinely clarifies how the FLDS is not part of the mainstream Mormonism, it is time for these three clarifications to also be included for clarity too, in all reports on the ongoing Warren Jeffs trial."

Making his point even more clear, Henkel said: "Connecting all polygamists to Warren Jeffs is as offensive and as slanderous as connecting all teachers to Mary Kay Letourneau."

Sources:

TruthBearer; http://www.truthbearer.org/

Press release, Polygamy Movement Opposes Warren Jeffs, Says National Polygamy Rights Leader; http://www.prweb.com/releases/2007/9/prweb552208.htm

FBI; http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/fugitives/cac/jeffs_ws.htm