By Matt Carlstrom
Round Table reporter

I was first exposed to Mormon fundamentalism in the spring of 2008, a time when national media turned its attention to the dark and criminal aspects of the Fundamentalist Mormon church.

On April 4, 2008, 439 children were taken away from the YFZ Ranch by law enforcement, following a call to Texas Child Protective Services from an alleged teenage victim of abuse.

Two years earlier, the self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter-Day Saints, Warren Jeffs, was placed on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list, accused of marrying teenage girls to adult men. He was arrested, and sentenced to 10 years-to life in prison.

It is important to understand the difference between “mainstream” Mormonism, and the teachings of the Fundamentalist Mormon Church.

Several tenets that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the Mormon Church with the most followers, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah), abandoned years ago, are upheld by Fundamentalist Mormons, most notably the practice of “plural” or “celestial” marriage, also known as polygamy.

The practice of polygamy, the marriage of multiple people, was a staple of Mormon lifestyle in the Utah Territory of the nineteenth century. However, heavy societal backlash and government intervention lead to the abolishment of polygamy by the LDS. Since then, the church has acknowledged polygamy as a sin, and frowns upon its practice.

Such is not the case for people like Warren Jeffs, the head of the FLDS, who now resides in the Utah State Prison. Jeffs is believed to have married over twenty women at one time, including some of his own father’s widows, making him the step-father to his own siblings.

The practice of polygamy within the Fundamentalist Mormon community is both mysterious and criminal.

Often, law enforcement can be avoided in the cases of plural marriage, by avoiding legal marriage certificates, and appointing marriages as “spiritual” and therefore not illegal. However, girls as young as 12 are often married to men many years their senior, having been taught that they will be damned if they refuse marriage. This lifestyle is unbelievably exploitative of young women, and often pedophilic.

Now, TLC has produced a new television show, entitled “Sister Wives,” showing the life of a fundamentalist Mormon family, consisting of a man married to four women, and their collective children.

 The show’s mission statement is to promote awareness about polygamist lifestyles, and “combat societal prejudices” associated with them.

While this seems like a noble goal, which could enlighten those that are not Fundamentalist Mormons, the show has only given trouble to the mainstream Mormon Church and created ill-informed misconceptions about its members.

Ginny Lee Dinh, a junior at Middletown High School, and a Mormon, was converted to the LDS at the age of 10. Proud of her faith, she is hurt by the image “Sister Wives” has given Mormons, and insulted by the practice of polygamy.

“Polygamy upsets all of us, it gives us a really bad reputation and people think that all Mormons practice it. It’s really hard being a Mormon, we really do adhere to a moral life,” said Dinh.

It is both upsetting and absurd that the Fundamentalist Mormon Church, a back-water compound of some 15,000 members, can hold such supreme influence on the perception of the fastest-growing religion in the world. “Sister Wives” is a prime example of our media’s obsession with the abnormal.

As long as polygamy is considered unattractive to American society, shows like “Sister Wives” will do nothing but hurt all Mormons, and create poorly-informed biases about those who live a Mormon life.

Regardless about what you believe spiritually, adherence to the government’s law is important, and if the head of your church is in prison, it’s probably likely you are in the wrong faith.