Cynematik • Cyndi Greening

I’m still trying to understand this plural marriage as a divine principle idea. The arguments include (1) there just are not enough “just” men so the good ones must marry more women, (2) there were so many more widows and women who than men, (3) Joseph Smith had a personal revelation from Jesus Christ that revealed plural marriage as a divine principle (in direct contradiction to Bible). I’m not a Mormon so it’s just hard for me to understand how anyone makes sense of this.

Further research into the wives of Joseph Smith revealed that NINE of the first thirteen plural marriages were with women who were married to OTHER men. It just about destroys all of the arguments for plural marriage and divine principles. Puzzling. So, puzzling.

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I’m stuck in the sweat zone and I am grumpy. Really grumpy. I was supposed to be in Utah this week, researching the polygamy documentary but plans changed at the last minute. So, I’m getting reports about how things are going, about the images and journals that are being discovered, about the video being shot. My documentary is drifting into new realms without me. Where oh where did my project go? So, I’ve got a big grump on.

My birth mother died two weeks ago. It’s been a few weeks of endings. Disconnection. Loss. Disappointment. There have been a whole lot chaotic feelings lately. Sometimes, I feel like I’m walking on Jell-O … take one step and watch the ground shake. Difficult to see a clear path. What’s that thing that people always say, “If God closes a door, he opens a window.” So, I’ve been looking for the open windows and checking out the potential new views.

Independence Day is almost here. I keep reflecting on that in light of everything that has been happening. Humans are such odd creatures. Why is it so hard for us to be free? We encumber ourselves with so many things. We make it impossible to be happy, to live joyfully, to express fully who we are and what we have to offer the world. We go through life like the little pigs, huddled inside our structures, trying to ignore the wolves at the door. What do we do to distract ourselves? We go to Disneyland! At least, that’s what I’m doing. I got an invite to spend the weekend at Disneyland with a friend while she celebrates her 50th birthday. At least I know which t-shirt to buy.

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Phoenix has been a BLAST FURNACE for a few weeks now. The temperatures are hovering near 114° as the sun blazes like the tip of blowtorch. We humans cling to our air conditioned spaces and only venture outdoors if there’s a swimming pool within twenty paces of the door. Summer is the time to get things done in The Valley of the Stunned. Who wants to be outside?

So, no surprise, I’m heading north with my pal, Elisa, to spend some time cooling in the pines of Flagstaff. The altitude, the breezes, the smell of pine and a little time to focus on the trajectory of my life.

The last six months, we’ve been working on an exciting and compelling documentary. It’s on the establishment, expansion and exodus of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. One of the major elements of the film is the influence of polygamy on the settlement of the desert southwest. I am amazed at how much of Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Texas and New Mexico was settled because of the Mormon effort to locate land where they could practice polygamy without governmental interference. Initially, the unsettled, undeveloped western territories were ideal but, then, the passage of several laws and increased efforts at prosecution pushed the polygamous Mormons south of the U.S. border. Those people who settled those colonies are the focus of this documentary. Looking forward to finishing it up and moving on to the next thing. Hope to use the time in the woods to find more clarity on all of that and what sort of film and animation projects come next.

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The last few days, I’ve been blogging about religious freedom and the fundamentalist Mormon groups. I’ve been dwelling in this subject area since last October when we started a new screenplay about religious intolerance during Puritan times. It’s funny, when I’m working on a project, everything I read, see or do seems somehow linked to this story.

Everything about the war in Iraq seems related to the topic. You’ve got the entrenched intolerance that the Shiite and Sunni have for one another driving the centuries-old civil conflict. That is layered with the right-wing, righteous Christian drive to bring “freedom” to the region and obliterate a dictator. Everyone in the region is claiming the will of God as their inspiration and motivation. Just as the Puritans did when they beat, imprisoned and hanged the Quakers. Just as Joseph Smith and his followers did in their justification for marrying multiple women.

I was raised in the Roman Catholic faith. Whenever I’m talking about these other faiths and their controversial practices, someone invariably mentions the sexual abuse committed by Catholic priests and demands that I justify what they have done. Like my LDS friends, I hastily distance myself from “those” Catholics. There is, however, a big difference between the events. To the best of my knowledge, none of the priests ever claimed to have been commanded by God to commit those acts. None of them ever claimed to be doing God’s will.

The historically-astute may then point to The Crusades, the nearly 200-year conflict between Christian Europe and the Muslim Middle East. Christians claimed that were trying to “liberate” Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Muslims said it was Christian greed that brought them to their lands. The roots of the Iran/Iraq problem with the U.S. were planted about nearly a millennium ago. Maybe that is the problem with doing “God’s work” — the conflict is eternal.

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There is so much confusion surrounding the Texas “YEARNING FOR ZION” FLDS community. Fathers are in hiding. Mothers are pleading on camera. Children and other members of the sect are withholding family information or providing false family information to authorities. The ACLU is saying the civil rights of some members may have been violated. In the wake of the media coverage, we are all left to debate religious freedom, family rights and child abuse.

An Associated Press review by reporter Michelle Roberts of the records kept by the Bishop of the sect (seized by authorities in the raid last month) shows that by the time a girl reached 16 she was more likely to be married than allowed to live with her family as a child. The same was not true for boys. The records reveal the relationship details of 37 families totaling 507 individuals. Tthe lists were written from March through August 2007, most of the people were living at the YFZ Ranch, though others were in homes along the Utah-Arizona line.

Two-thirds of listed households were polygamous. Once senior elder was listed as having 21 wives. Men still in their 20s made up most of the dozen monogamous marriages. Of the 19 youths listed as being 16 or 17, none of the boys are husbands, while nine of the girls are listed as wives. Only one 17-year-old girl remained unmarried. Under Texas law, children younger than 17 generally cannot consent to sex with an adult.

So, what are we left to make of this data? I had a professor who once said that one could use data to prove virtually any point of view or reveal a deeper truth. What does this data say to you?

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When I was in grade school, I had always been told that America was settled because of a desire for religious freedom. In the process of researching our current script, we’ve been spending a lot of time looking at the settlement of the “New World.” As I’ve written before, it turns out that the ONLY religious freedom the Puritans were interested in was the freedom to practice the Puritan —and only the Puritan— religion. If you wanted to worship according to any other faith, say the Baptist or Quaker or Catholic faith, you would be denied the ability to vote, own business or be a meaningful member of the community. You would be ostracized, whipped, jailed or beaten. It was this religious intolerance that led to the formation of Rhode Island which inspired Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in the writing of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

My Mormon friends are quick draw a distinction between themselves and their fundamentalist counterparts. It was Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints who said that he’d had a personal revelation from Jesus Christ in 1843 that the followers of the Mormon faith were obligated to practice the “divine principle” of plural marriage. Joseph Smith had 33 wives. That is not a typo. He had 33 wives. In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy act into law making plural marriage illegal in the U.S. and all its territories. Extermination orders against the Mormons, forced expulsion from a number of states, more legislation and a failed Supreme Court case plagued the nascent religion for the next forty years. They fled to the new zion in the Utah Territory near the Great Salt Lake. Their efforts to gain statehood were thwarted until the 1890 Prohibition against polygamy was announced. Poor enforcement led to the Second Manifesto of 1904 which stated that any Mormon practicing polygamy would be excommunicated.

So, since 1904, members of the LDS church have chosen not to observe the divine principle of plural marriage. This is not true in the fundamentalist sects. The Salt Lake City Tribune estimates there are about 37,000 fundamentalist Mormons living in remote towns in Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Texas, Idaho, Canada and Mexico.

Of course, I believe in the Bill of Rights. I believe in freedom of speech and the freedom to practice my faith according to my conscience. But, I have to ask myself, what would I do if one of my friends or neighbors told me they had a personal revelation from God and they had been instructed to begin ritually sacrificing a virgin at every full moon. Suppose they said that only adult virgin females would be sacrificed and ONLY with their permission and of their own free will. Would I be okay with that? If not ritual sacrifice (everyone always thinks I’ve gone too far when I suggest that one), what about ritual mating on a golden altar? Where is the “religious freedom” line to be drawn? If I open an internet church and solicit willing sacrificial victims online, would that be okay?

In November of 1978, the Reverend Jim Jones convinced 909 of his faithful followers in Jonestown, Guyana to drink a reported concoction of valium, cyanide and chloral hydrate which resulted in the world’s largest mass murder-suicide. The medical examiner who examined the victims said well over 50 corpses showed evidence of having been injected with the poison, perhaps against their will. Jones’ benevolent communist church and society was established in Indianapolis, Indiana in the early 1950s with the beguiling name of the People’s Temple. In 1965, Jones and his followers were forced to flee, settling in Redwood City, then San Francisco and later Los Angeles. Ultimately, charges of tax evasion and an imminent arrest led to the group relocating to Guyana.

Thirty-eight members of the Heaven’s Gate religious order committed mass suicide as directed by their spiritual leaders in March of 1997. They were told their souls would be liberated so they could join divine beings who were piloting a spaceship that was hiding in the tail of Comet Hale-Bopp. My entire family was in southern California a few miles from the Rancho Santa Fe location on a reunion-style vacation. We read a lot about the religious order of Bonnie Nettles and Marshall Applewhite. The Ontario consultants on religious tolerance support their decision to follow their faith in the way they saw fit. Don’t think I’d have been too happy if one of my family members had decided to go out that way.

It’s a Gordian Knot to be certain.

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People in the Phoenix metro area all know that a high percentage of Mormons live in the suburb of Mesa. When I first started teaching at Mesa Community College in the ART Department, I was warned that I needed to make sure my course content was “Mormon sensitive.” Having grown up in northern Wisconsin, I had virtually no knowledge of Mormons except that they had a choir that did great Chrismas albums and a really, really big temple in Utah. After a few years at MCC, I understood the “warning” I had been given when I was hired.

For convenience, I moved to the East Valley a couple of years ago. Now, I live on the border of Mesa and Gilbert. The property is actually in Gilbert. When I first moved here, I never wanted to tell anyone I lived in Gilbert because I hated the NAME. It just sounded like an old, hick farmer town. The choice seemed to be having people typecast me as a Mormon or a farmer. So, I decided on the farmer. Last week, someone told me the only town MORE Mormon than Mesa is Gilbert.

So, as you can imagine, I have a lot of Mormon friends and neighbors. My writing partner is a Mormon. I have learned more about the Mormon faith than I ever thought I would. This whole Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints sure creates a lot of uncomfortable moments for me and my pals.

When I read things like this data table from the Salt Lake Tribune and am not surprised. FLDS family size almost double the general population, median age about half, one fourth the average income, and three times the poverty level. As a group, they are less educated, less wealthy, more encumbered and much more isolated.

Every other year or so, I drive across country. I love seeing the U.S. this way. I’ve tried inviting people to come along with me on this, the “world’s slowest PBS nature show.” Most everyone gets bored and sleeps. While flying is certainly more expedient, I have found no way to duplicate the awareness that I gain from this experience.

Sometimes, while I drive, I think, “How beautiful! This part of the country is just gorgeous.” Other times, the thought is more grim. In poverty-stricken, visually-challenged regions, I find myself thinking, “Oh, heavens. What if I had been born here? What if this were the only life I knew?” Wisconsin was beautiful and the educational system was extraordinary, so I felt lucky about my own “accident of birth.” What if I had been born to a fundamentalist, polygamist family in a remote area of Utah, Arizona, Texas or Calgary? What if almost all the girls I knew were married to an older member of the church by the time they were 15? What if I had always been told that I would be banished and shunned if I disobeyed the “Prophet”, never to see my family again. Would I simply conform to the male-dominated theocracy?

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