polygamy

Culture

Proposition 8, Mormonism, and the Other Fight for Alternative Marriage

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A new documentary delves into the Mormon involvement in the passage of California’s Proposition 8, but it misses a chance to see the big picture. It wasn’t just run-of-the-mill theological homophobia that galvanized the LDS church, but a fear that the spectre of Mormon polygamy would arise if LGBT people were allowed to marry. And what do some polygamists think? Gay marriage or plural marriage: it’s a question of civil rights.

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Culture, Sexuality/Gender

Film Follows Teen Exiles from Polygamous Sect

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Many first learned of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints when the polygamous group came into the media spotlight following leader Warren Jeffs’ arrest (and eventual conviction) as an accomplice to rape. Pictures of young women in “prairie dresses” were splashed on TV and the media rushed to try to explain who these people actually were. Were they Mormons? Were they a cult? Sons of Perdition, a documentary that premiered at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival, follows the story of a group of teenage boys who have left the FLDS church, and tracks their struggles in exile from their homes and families. 

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Culture

Give Me That Small Screen Religion

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For viewers whose search for meaning is not confined to institutional religion, the television landscape abounds with religious and moral themes. And whether it’s euthanasia, polygamy, angels, demons, or clerics doing cameos, treatment of religion on the small screen is often surprisingly sophisticated.

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