Principle Voices

Source: Deseret News

Members of Utah’s polygamous communities are here to speak to social workers, Child Protective Services caseworkers and law enforcement about the plural life and how to interact with fundamentalists — perhaps averting another raid.

Members of the pro-polygamy group Principle Voices and Utah’s Safety Net Committee are presenting a pair of workshops today on polygamous culture to hundreds of people at the Texas Council on Family Violence’s annual conference.

“Utah’s made all the same mistakes,” said Pat Merkeley, a social worker and the newly appointed coordinator for the Safety Net Committee, a coalition of polygamists, government and social service agencies from Utah and Arizona.

“Hopefully, we are building on the mistakes of our past.”

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Hair splitting and squabbling doth commence.

Via: Deseret News

A coalition of polygamous groups is taking issue with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ objections to the term “fundamentalist Mormon.”

In a statement issued Wednesday, the group Principle Voices said it strenuously objects to what it calls “efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing.”

Last month, the LDS Church appealed to the news media and the public to make the distinction between it and the Fundamentalist LDS Church — the FLDS Church’s YFZ Ranch in Texas has been the subject of widespread media attention.

“Mormons have nothing whatsoever to do with this polygamous sect in Texas,” said Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve. “The fact is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890: 118 years ago. It’s a significant part of our distant past, not of our present.

“People have the right to worship as they choose, and we aren’t interested in attacking someone else’s beliefs,” Elder Cook said. “At the same time, we have an obligation to define ourselves rather than be defined by events and incidents that have nothing to do with us. It’s obvious we need to do more to help people understand the enormous differences that exist between our church, which is a global faith, and these small polygamous groups.”

Full article at: Deseret News

The Fundamentalist LDS Church is beginning a dialogue with members of Utah’s leading pro-polygamy group.

In return, members of the group Principle Voices have traveled to Texas to offer support for the families involved in the massive custody battle over the children of the YFZ Ranch.

“I know what position they’re in right now. They just need to know that they’re not alone and we’re here to help them,” said Heidi Foster, a member of the Davis County Cooperative Society.

She spoke to the Deseret News from outside the Schleicher County Courthouse in Eldorado, where members of the FLDS Church were testifying before a grand jury investigating crimes within the polygamous sect. Foster was involved in a high-profile custody battle with the state of Utah over children she has with polygamist John Daniel Kingston.

“They need to know their support system is bigger than them,” she said.