Keep sweet. Pray and Obey cult or just different religion?

Question

For those who don’t know I am big on documentaries. I love to watch some of everything so I was watching this on Netflix and it’s essentially about the FDLS church and Warren Jeffs.
For those who don’t know who he is here’s a few pieces about him. 
But this man placed himself in charge after his father died and under his reign marriages went from being done when a girl turned 18 to being 12-13. He started kicking out boys as teens so the girls would be married to older men because the boys were seen as competition. He himself married his “mothers” the young ones that were married to his father. 
But if you have seen it or plan to I wanted to ask with whatever knowledge you have right now of FLDS do you consider it to be a cult? Should these be allowed to exist in 2022? 
Personally I don’t understand how they are allowed to continuously grow when there is obvious harm being done. I just don’t know how you go about dismantling one.

Accepted Answer

I just started this documentary yesterday and it disgusted me immediately. I believe people should have the right in this country to practice whatever religion or belief they want, but NOT at the expense or freedom of others. These women were seen as nothing more but property and breeding machines. Once your religion starts harming others or impeding on their human rights, it should be stopped with legal repercussions.

Answer

cult 100%

Answer

Oh it’s 100% a cult. 
Should fringe religions be allowed to exist though? Yes. Consenting adults should be allowed to live any way they wish, even if it’s lifestyles mainstream society doesn’t approve of. 
Should child abuse be allowed? No. Absolutely not. 
The problems come in establishing what abuse is, and what to do about it. 
Exposure to wackadoo beliefs, religious or otherwise alone isn’t abuse. 
Lack of schooling is abuse, but this cult is centered in states that are big on “personal liberty”. There’s little to no oversight on home/private schools, and accreditation isn’t required. 
We can all agree sexual abuse is wrong, but many states protect it. Child marriage is often legal whether someone is in a cult or not. This is a quote from PBS’s Frontline“Between 2000 and 2015, at least 200,000 minors were legally married in the United States. 86% of those marriages were between that minor and an adult. About 5% of the minors were aged 15 or younger, meaning they would be under the age of consent in all United States territories “Until we fix our mainstream culture that allows this, we can’t selectively go after certain groups because of religion.
They’ve raided FLDS compounds twice now hoping to find charges that stick. Once in 1953, and again in 2008. The second was more effective, they were able to establish several cases of sexual abuse, that resulted in prosecutions. 
However, despite interventions from professionals the majority of women and children removed wanted to go back. It didn’t help that they were sent to shelters with poor living conditions, and were thrust into a society that doesn’t have a robust safety net for those escaping abuse.

Answer

100% a cult. A extreme patriarchal cult where girls and women have zero rights and are groomed and abused from a very young age. 
I highly recommend the book Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer for anyone interested in this topic.  It is about Warren Jeffs and the FLDS.

Answer

It meets the definition of a cult, yes. Something being a cult really isn't a matter of opinion.

Answer

Continental European  courts have adjudicated that the major difference between a religion and a cult is the aspect of secrecy in terms of dogma, writings and/or teachings. For example the Xenu writings are not publicly available, only to those within Scientology and only if you reach a certain level. This was the reasoning given to reject in some European countries the claim Scientology made to be recognised as a religion. I think FLDS also has several of their teachings secret from the general public, especially the ones that would bring criminal charges, so that would fall possibly within that definition. 
From a sociological aspect, I think cults also contain an aspect of family alienation when certain members do not follow the same religion. And from my understanding FLDS also did that.

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Religion in general is pretty cultish if you ask me

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It broke my heart this documentary but particularly the audio at the very end. I do not know how this was ever allowed to happen in modern society. Seems we just turn a blind eye to everything. I don’t live in the US be in New Zealand we have a similar “cult” named Gloriavale the government has been trying to stop for years. My brothers friend grew up there and is giving evidence against the leader. Some good documentaries on that one as well :)

Answer

Yeah I would say it is. It’s honestly gross how they’re allowed to do this for so long. I’ve only watched the show about the three women who have escaped from this type of situation (can’t remember the name). I don’t understand why the state has not gotten involved to stop this.

Answer

Cult

Keep sweet. Pray and Obey cult or just different religion?

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