[ExI] flds raid, was general repudiation...

[John Grigg]

BillK wrote:
Good work I say! Texas does the job where Utah is afraid to act
against FLDS because there are too many of them.
>>>

In 1953 the Arizona law enforcement authorities (aided by the National
Guard) raided a Mormon splinter group practicing polygamy and this is known
as the Short Creek Raid.  But the whole thing backfired when camera
crews filmed police showing up at the town just as the polygamists were
having an outdoor gathering and singing hymns (the community had been tipped
off  about the police coming).  The cops looked like big bullies as
they made arrests and sorted the husbands, wives and children around.
The U.S. public saw the footage and ironically their hearts went out to the
polygamists (there should have been camera crews around during the
horrific persecutions of Mormons during the 1830's and 1840's, lol).  After
this the mainstream SLC LDS Church did not want to get involved in any
way trying to break up these tenuous offshoots (the Deseret News, a Church
owned newspaper, applauded the raid, despite the public outcry) from the era
of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (even though they were/are viewed as
an embarrassment).

John Grigg
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