Category Archives: Polygamy

June 12, 2022by nicholas jacobsen

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or Mormon church) works to maintain the public image of a loving-Christian religious group while simultaneously acting as an anti-queer international political organization. If youre at all familiar with the church, youre probably aware of their pro-nuclear family / anti-LGBTQIA2s+ politics. What you may not be as aware of is how their current anti-queer beliefs, practices, and policies are tied to 1) their past polygamous practices, as both are rooted in settler-colonial eugenic ideologies, and 2) the World Congress of Families, a known hate group founded and funded by Russian oligarchs.

Polygamy was seen as uncivilized and thus not-white by many in the late 19th century United States. In President Hayess 1880 State of the Union, he called out Mormon polygamy proclaiming that marriage and the family relation are the cornerstone of our American society and asking Congress to reorganize Utah Territory to allow more intelligent and virtuous immigrants'' in.

Immigration, marriage, and the family were as central to the rhetoric and politics of this Euro-settler-nation then as they are now. Settler-colonialism destroys to replace and intelligent and virtuous immigrants who become married and reproductive Euro-settler-couples are essential to the replace half of this equation.

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The Roots of the LDS Church's Opposition to Same Sex Marriage - CounterPunch

The man known as the prophet was arrested in a red Cadillac outside of Las Vegas. Warren Jeffs, the head of a polygamist sect, had been living the high life, a private investigator would later recall. He had been to Disney World. He had celebrated Mardi Gras in New Orleans. He had gone to strip clubs. He had worn gentile clothing instead of the clothes he expected his followers to wear. He had kept the company of his favorite wives.

At the time, Warren Jeffs was a high-profile fugitive, recently bumped to the FBIs Ten Most Wanted list. He had been charged in Arizona with two counts of sexual conduct with a minor, one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor, and unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. In Utah, he faced a charge of rape as an accomplice.

On 28 August 2006, a routine traffic stop led to Warren Jeffss arrest. The license plates on his vehicle were obscured. He and other passengers were pulled over. Warrens brother Isaac Jeffs was driving; Warrens favorite wife was in the front seat. Warren himself was in the back seat, eating a salad.

The arrest, which led to the first of Warren Jeffss convictions, is one of many gripping moments recounted in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey, a new Netflix documentary dedicated to Jeffs and the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

The FLDS emerged when the Mormon church discontinued polygamy and excommunicated those who kept practicing it. It was incorporated under that name in 1991, though its origins can be traced back to the early 20th century. The group was originally located in Arizona, close to the Utah border, and later expanded into Utah and Texas, with communities in other regions.

Elements of the FLDS story are already familiar to the public. Images of women in long-sleeved, ankle-length pastel prairie dresses, their hair pulled back back in the same braided hairstyle, will ring a bell. (Some of the women themselves spoke to the media after a high-profile police raid of an FLDS ranch in Texas in 2008.) Warren Jeffss photo circulated when he became wanted by law enforcement, and when he was twice convicted on criminal charges. Former members who left the sect have provided firsthand accounts of life in the group, of the type of mind control deployed by Jeffs, and of the events that led to their departure.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey adds to these existing testimonies by painting a portrait of the FLDS as a structure of coercive control and systemized abuse, in which Warren Jeffs and his father before him made themselves into so-called prophets and weaved religious doctrine in service of their own domination.

Warren Jeffss name has become synonymous with the FLDS, but the movement had existed for decades, partly under different names, by the time he became its leader. Leroy S Johnson was the head of the Council of Friends (now viewed as an early iteration of what became the FLDS) from the Fifties to his death in 1986. Warren Jeffss father Rulon Jeffs took over that same year. He was known among members of the FLDS as the prophet, an undisputed ruler within the group.

A mans status depends on how many wives he has

Rulon Jeffs lived his years as the FLDS prophet much like Warren Jeffs later would, according to accounts given by former members of the sect. Rebecca Wall, a participant in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey who was raised in the FLDS, recounts being married to Rulon Jeffs, then 85, when she was 19. Her account is a scathing illustration of the power dynamics in which women and girls, evidently, were treated in the FLDS like something resembling currency, pawns in the sects political games.

A mans status depends on how many wives he has, Wall says in episode one. My dad he had two wives, and he couldnt figure out why other men were getting more wives and he was not. So my dad always felt like he was jilted. He was always kind of frustrated. But he also had this host of daughters that could be given to other men. And its kind of like, Ill give you some if you give me some. Even though its never spoken that way, I think thats the general understanding.

People in the FLDS did not choose who they married. The way Wall recounts it, girls were given over to the prophet once it was deemed time for them to wed, and the prophet decided on marriages himself.

When I turned 19, my father brought me to Rulon Jeffs, she continues. By then, Wall says, it was known that Rulon Jeffs had a specific handshake he used with girls who would later become his wife. He shook her hand and squeezed it three times. That meant I was supposed to marry him, she adds. My dad was so excited. For any man in the FLDS, to have their daughter marry into the prophets family, was a massive honor. And I think my dad felt like finally he was getting the respect that he was entitled to and that he deserved. But I was just like, Ew. I got married, and then my father got his third wife.

In a book disputing his daughters account of the family's time in the FLDS, published in 2015, Lloyd Wall, Rebecca Walls father, stated that there was no pressure or collusion to force his daughter into marriage with Rulon Jeffs. Rebecca does have a story to tell as her marriage to Rulon Jeffs turned out to be a nightmare, he added in the book. But the marriage and the horrible experiences with Rulon Jeffs cannot be blamed upon any family member.

Rulon Jeffs died in 2002. His death was a time of confusion, recounted candidly in the documentary: Members of the FLDS had been taught that the prophet was immortal literally. I truly believed that any minute, he was going to sit up and be renewed, Elissa Wall, who grew up in the FLDS and says she was forced to marry her cousin aged 14, recounts. They closed the casket and there was this overwhelming fear inside of me. If they put him in the ground, how is he going to get out?

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey trailer

Rulon Jeffs (left) and his son Warren Jeffs (right)

(Courtesy of Netflix 2022)

It could have been a damning moment for the FLDS, proof that a key part of the doctrine (that the prophet could not die) was false. But Warren Jeffs succeeded to his father as prophet, and, per Elissa Wall, began speaking as though he was his father renewed. He married his fathers wives. His ways didnt sit well with some members. I went to my husband, and I said, Somethings wrong, Charlene Jeffs, who was married to Warren Jeffss brother Lyle Jeffs, recounts. And he said, Nothing our prophet does is wrong.

Warren Jeffs enforced stricter rules than his father. Members were to abstain from any form of fun. Lloyd Wall says a big change for him was having to turn in all his guns. But a lot of rules targeted women specifically: under Rulon Jeffs, they had to be covered; under Warren Jeffs, they were forbidden to wear denim, prints, or the color red. They were then expected to wear long underwear covering their entire bodies to their wrists and feet. Their hair had to be done and braided. The women listened, Charlene Jeffs says, because they thought this was their path to salvation.

Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey is at its most powerful when it ventures outside the strict limits of the FLDS to look at the wider forces that allowed the group to keep going for decades, even as it existed in plain sight, with the knowledge of at least some of the local authorities. In a damning sequence, journalist Mike Watkiss, who investigated the FLDS for years, is seen, camera on his shoulder, telling a police officer in Short Creek (now known as the towns of Colorado City, Arizona, and Hildale, Utah): Utah Constitution says that polygamy is illegal, and I guess theres laws on the books in Arizona that say the same thing. Why dont people get arrested here?

You know, Im the police officer begins, then replies: I mean, were in we believe in plural marriage. (That officer, Mica Barlow, was later reported to have written in a letter of support for Warren Jeffs while Jeffs while a fugitive: I want to be an extension of you in the police department or whatever you would have me be. In 2006, he was one of two men held in contempt of court for refusing to testify about Warren Jeffs in front of a grand jury.)

People are entitled to believe what they want, but the law currently in the United States is that polygamy is not a protected constitutional right, Roger Hoole, an attorney in Utah featured in the documentary, says. Yet, despite being illegal, it is almost never prosecuted.

Its hard to prove, and law enforcement and politicians are not very interested in disrupting families, he adds. I think most people in Utah, the mainstream Mormons people like me see polygamy as an embarrassment. But polygamy is really not the problem anyway. Its the secondary crimes that occur in a closed religious society controlled by men. Thats when all sorts of mischief can take place, and thats what happened with the FLDS.

Rulon Jeffs (center) was the FLDSs prophet until Warren Jeffs took over

(Courtesy of Netflix 2022)

Former members of the FLDS said they obeyed the sects leader because they thought it was the path to salvation

(Courtesy of Netflix 2022)

A woman from the FLDS speaks to the media after a 2008 police raid of an FLDS ranch

(Courtesy of Netflix 2022)

Most of the men in the FLDS regarded women as chattel, Wallace Jeffs, one of Rulon Jeffss sons, says at one point. Members of the FLDS were taught that men needed to have at least three wives in order to reach the highest degree of the celestial kingdom. Then, a man would basically become a god.

And what happens to the women? Do they become gods? Wallace Jeffs is asked during his interview. He laughs, then says: That is kind of a gray area. We were never taught what a woman becomes on the other side, other than a wife.

Ruby Jessop, one of the participants in the documentary, says Warren Jeffs ordered her to be married to her second cousin when she was 14. There had historically been underage marriages in the FLDS, Hoole says, but they took off on steroids under Warren Jeffs. The pattern, he adds, seemed to be that with a girl that was a little bit independent, the idea was to get her married young and pregnant, and she would be locked in.

In 2011, Warren Jeffs was convicted in Texas of sexually assaulting two girls. He was sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and 20 years for sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl. This was four years after Jeffss 2007 conviction on two charges of being an accomplice to rape in Utah, for which he was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison. The Utah Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2010. By then, the Texas charges were already pending.

During the sentencing phase of the Texas trial, evidence reflected that Jeffs was involved in conducting the marriages of 67 underage girls to FLDS men, says Angela Goodwin, a former US Attorney Special Prosecutor. Jeffs himself, she adds, had himself 78 wives 24 of those wives were underage.

Warren Jeffs is believed to still be running the FLDS and exercising influence on members from prison. Former members who have left the FLDS describe being estranged from their relatives still within the group in Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey. Three of us are out, Lola Barlow, who was in the group as a child, says. The rest of everybodys still in. I could just drive to their house and talk to them. But they wont talk to me.

Read more:

Polygamy, underage wives, and women treated as chattel: Inside Warren Jeffss Fundamentalist Mormon sect - The Independent

Dear Abby Jeanne Phillips

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are in our 40s. Last year, we decided to make a very big change in our lives. We decided to seek out a second wife (sister wife) for my husband. I was completely on board with it at first. He reached out to a woman he knew years ago and asked if she would consider joining our family. However, I started getting this feeling that she wasnt the right woman to bring into our family. She ignored many of my in-depth questions about why she wanted to live this type of life.

I have expressed to my husband that I no longer want her in my life and it has reached the point that I no longer want to live a plural lifestyle. I felt bad that Im the one who changed my mind, so I agreed to allow them to continue a relationship as long as they keep me out of it, and he keeps her out of my home and my life.

I dont understand how he can continue living this way, living two separate lives and be OK with it. Weve been together more than 20 years and I dont want to leave, but how can I continue loving a man with my whole heart and soul when he only loves me with part of his? SISTER WIFE

DEAR WIFE: Relationships such as you describe can work out when all three of the parties involved feel they are equally valued. Some women tolerate their husband having someone on the side because they derive some benefit beyond the emotional connection one associates with marriage. That said, in the final analysis, the only person who can answer the question youre asking me is you.

DEAR ABBY: I am an 11-year-old girl. My 16-year-old sister has severe depression and an eating disorder. She has been to the hospital twice because of it, and now she has to go to the hospital every day to get her to eat more. Even though people are helping her, I dont think shes getting better. It makes me feel worried and sad.

My mom has me seeing a therapist, and she helps me to feel better, but its still hard knowing my sister is having such a hard time. I have never dealt with anything this hard in my life. I wish I could just not have to always think about how sad I am. I really want everything to be normal. Can you tell me ways to not get so upset about everything thats going on? HAVING A HARD TIME IN IOWA

DEAR HAVING A HARD TIME: Im glad you are seeing a therapist you can talk to about your sadness and worry. Being able to discuss them with someone you trust and who isnt emotionally involved can be a blessing.

I do have a suggestion that might help you in addition to your therapy. Participate in sports activities and hobbies that keep your mind occupied. If you keep yourself busy, you will have less time to dwell on your sadness and worry. And please, write me again in a couple of months and let me know how you are doing, because Im hopeful you will be feeling better than you do right now.

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First wife has second thoughts on polygamy Shawnee News-Star - Shawnee News-Star

In recent months, Netflix has released a collection of harrowing true-crime content, from the "Conversations with a Killer" series surrounding the John Wayne Gacy tapes to the "Our Father" documentary on disgraced fertility doc Donald Cline.

The streaming giant's latest installation is the docuseries "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey," which revisits the unthinkable horrors of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS), a radical denomination of Mormonism.

Regarded as the "one true prophet," Warren spent years brainwashing the close-knit community into spiritual submission, promoting child sexual assault, bigamy and unlawful marriage.

Over the course of four episodes, the series features several survivor stories from former members of the polygamous and abusive sect led by Warren Jeffs. Regarded as the "one true prophet," Warren spent years brainwashing the close-knit community into spiritual submission, promoting child sexual assault, bigamy and unlawful marriage all in the name of religion.

RELATED: Inside the diaries of polygamous wives: Life as an early Mormon woman

The documentary notes that Warren himself had 78 total wives, 24 of whom were underage. In 2011, he was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault, for which he is serving life in prison and an additional 20 years. Watch a trailer for it below, via YouTube:

Today, the FLDS is regarded as both a designated hate group and "a white supremacist, homophobic, antigovernment, totalitarian cult" by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Here's a closer look at the church's history, from its inception in 1890 to its practices and preachings.

The church's founding

The FLDS was established in 1890 after a group of nonconforming adherents broke away from the Mormon church in order to continue practicing polygamy. Since polygamy was deemed illegal in the state of Utah (and nationwide), the group decided to settle in the towns of Hildale and Colorado City located on the Utah-Arizona border. The remote locations allowed them to follow their customs and expand their following with little to no backlash from state law enforcement agencies in either jurisdiction.

During the 20th century, the FLDS endured several crackdowns from the local government that inadvertently made the denomination stronger rather than weaker. On July 26, 1953, all the FLDS members residing in Short Creek, Arizona including 36 men, 86 women, and 263 children were arrested during a pre-dawn raid ordered by the state's governor, John Howard Pyle. The raid's outcome, however, didn't go as planned as it garnered negative media coverage and botched the governor's own political career. Instead, it bolstered public support and sympathy for the growing sect of polygamists.

Rulon T. Jeffs' reign

The first leader of the FLDS was John Y. Barlow, followed by Joseph White Musser and then Charles Zitting, following a brief scuffle within the community. Zitting was later succeeded by Leroy S. Johnson, who led the sect until his death in 1986. That same year, Rulon T. Jeffs took over as prophet. Prior to his FLDS leadership role, Rulon served as a High Priest Apostle in Salt Lake City after moving back to town in the spring of 1945.

Among his followers, Rulon was commonly known as "Uncle Rulon" and he "oftentimes made decisions based on visions he claimed he received from a higher power," per Distractify.

In "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey," one of Rulon's many wives, Alicia Rohbock, recounted the prophet's dining room wall, which organized each picture of Rulon's partners in the order he married them. At the time of his death in September 2002, it was reported that Rulon had more than 75 wives and fathered approximately 60 children. Many of Rulon's wives were also believed to have been underage at the time of their marriage Rohbock, in particular, was just 20 years of age when she married Rulon, who was 86.

"Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey" (Netflix)

Warren Jeffs takes over

Rulon's son, Warren quickly assumed his position as prophet shortly after his father's death. What was once Rulon's now belonged to Warren, including Rulon's 70+ wives. Warren married all but two of his father's partners and additionally, took on his father's previous responsibility of assigning wives to their designated husbands.

Warren stripped women and girls of their autonomy, ordering them to don a new kind of prairie dress that covered them from head to toe and style their hair in a specific fashion.

Many former members of the FLDS recalled that Warren's leadership marked a dark period within the church's longstanding history. Under his reign, rules for the sect's members became stricter with Warren dictating what they wore, who they married and what they ate. Warren also forced members to turn over their personal property to the church's leadership, required that children be homeschooled and even prohibited members from voting by telling them that he was the President of the United States . . .

Warren also banned the use of items that were the color red (even though he owned a red Cadillac Escalade) banned different kinds of entertainment like "dogs, toys, television, newspapers, the Internet, birthday and Christmas celebrations, festivals, parades, camping and fishing" and encouraged members to tone down their emotions.

A handful of his rules served to control the girls and women in the group. Warren facilitated numerous underage and incestuous marriages, forcing girls as young as 14 years old to tie the knot with their distant relatives. The so-called prophet also adhered to his own rules and had 78 wives, 24 of whom were underage.

Additionally, Warren stripped women and girls of their autonomy, ordering them to don a new kind of prairie dress that covered them from head to toe and style their hair in a specific fashion.

Warren's arrest

Warren became a sought-out felon in 2005, when he was first indicted in Arizona on felony charges of arranging a marriage between a 16-year-old girl and a 28-year-old man, who was already married. The following year he was arrested as an accomplice to rape for performing another unlawful marriage involving a 14-year-old girl.

In 2007, Warren was found guilty of two counts of rape and in 2008, he along with other FLDS members were indicted on charges of bigamy and sexual assault.

Three years later, on August 4, 2011, Warren was convicted of aggravated sexual assault of a child under the age of 14 and sexual assault of a child under the age of 17. He is currently serving a life sentence for the former and an additional 20 years for the latter.

"Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey" is currently streaming on Netflix.

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A primer on the abusive FLDS church, from its self-proclaimed prophet to forced underage polygamy - Salon

DEAR ABBY: My husband and I are in our 40s. Last year, we decided to make a very big change in our lives. We decided to seek out a second wife (sister wife) for my husband. I was completely on board with it at first. He reached out to a woman he knew years ago and asked if she would consider joining our family. However, I started getting this feeling that she wasn't the right woman to bring into our family. She ignored many of my in-depth questions about why she wanted to live this type of life.

I have expressed to my husband that I no longer want her in my life and it has reached the point that I no longer want to live a plural lifestyle. I felt bad that I'm the one who changed my mind, so I agreed to allow them to continue a relationship as long as they keep me out of it, and he keeps her out of my home and my life.

I don't understand how he can continue living this way, living two separate lives and be OK with it. We've been together more than 20 years and I don't want to leave, but how can I continue loving a man with my whole heart and soul when he only loves me with part of his?

SISTER WIFE

DEAR WIFE: Relationships such as you describe can work out when all three of the parties involved feel they are equally valued. Some women tolerate their husband having someone "on the side" because they derive some benefit beyond the emotional connection one associates with marriage. That said, in the final analysis, the only person who can answer the question you're asking me is you.

DEAR ABBY: I am an 11-year-old girl. My 16-year-old sister has severe depression and an eating disorder. She has been to the hospital twice because of it, and now she has to go to the hospital every day to get her to eat more. Even though people are helping her, I don't think she's getting better. It makes me feel worried and sad.

My mom has me seeing a therapist, and she helps me to feel better, but it's still hard knowing my sister is having such a hard time. I have never dealt with anything this hard in my life. I wish I could just not have to always think about how sad I am. I really want everything to be normal. Can you tell me ways to not get so upset about everything that's going on?

HAVING A HARD TIME IN IOWA

DEAR HAVING A HARD TIME: I'm glad you are seeing a therapist you can talk to about your sadness and worry. Being able to discuss them with someone you trust and who isn't emotionally involved can be a blessing.

I do have a suggestion that might help you in addition to your therapy. Participate in sports activities and hobbies that keep your mind occupied. If you keep yourself busy, you will have less time to dwell on your sadness and worry. And please, write me again in a couple of months and let me know how you are doing, because I'm hopeful you will be feeling better than you do right now.

See the rest here:

The Day - First wife has second throughts on polygamy - News from southeastern Connecticut - theday.com

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Dear Abby: First wife has second thoughts on polygamy - Charleston Gazette-Mail

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First wife has second thoughts on polygamy - EH Extra

My granddaughter, (daughter's daughter), is studying the subject of mathematical probability. And her younger brother is getting acquainted with the fundamentals of quantum mechanics. It was during a recent chat with them that I started thinking about the importance of probability and uncertainty in life.

As I have mentioned before, my elder brother had an irrepressible sense of humour. We were chatting about this and that one afternoon, when he pointed to a bird perched on the sill of a nearby window, and said, "if I threw a pebble at it and it flew away, how would you tell whether it was a he bird or a she bird? I was completely at a loss to find an appropriate answer to that trick question. My brother smiled and said, "Simple. If he flew away, it was a he bird and, if she flew away, it was a she bird!"

In the classes I take for civil service aspirants I also cover the subject of ethics, especially as relevant to the field of governance. Among the many things I teach, while handling that rather complicated subject, is the principle that, good and evil, sinful and virtuous, moral or immoral, as also right or wrong, are not easy to define. They are, all of them, functions of time and space, as well as the culture of the society in the context of which one is defining them.

Many phenomena, such as abortion, polygamy, eating meat, consanguineous marriages, homosexuality or child marriage are held as crimes in some religion or culture, while others have approved them. In the same region, and at different times, views taken have changed, as they have, for instance, in India. The law creating rights for transgender persons or, in another instance, the High Court of Kerala upholding the rights of the children of living persons are recent examples.

The trick, therefore, I tell my students, is to find the golden mean at a given place, at a given time and a given context. And, very often, that will turn out to be neither totally white nor black, but somewhere in the area of greyness. There is, in other words, a certain amount of uncertainty in deciding, precisely what is the right or wrong thing to do, in a given situation. But, then, everything about this universe, and human life, is totally uncertain.

It may sound a little preposterous if I were to ask "where is the guarantee that the sun will rise tomorrow"? But a little thinking will make it clear that it is a perfectly sensible question. Do not floods and earthquakes occur suddenly? And do not millions of people who slept happily the previous night, believing that all will be well, fail to see the next morning? Similarly do not stars (the Sun is one), explode and self-destruct, every other second, in this universe? And, but for the predictions and estimates offered by science, what certainty defines the future of this planet in which we live, the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy or the universe itself?

How close did mankind not come to complete annihilation, twice in the past, on account of the world wars? Or in recent times, the pandemic? For that matter, even as this column is being written, the war in Ukraine can escalate, causing, a direct confrontation between the superpowers. A sudden impulse many seize a maverick leader such as the President of North Korea, resulting in disastrous consequences for the whole of humanity.

This is the reason why Kabir said, in one of in his celebrated 'dohas', that what needs to be done tomorrow should be done today, and that which needs to be done today done at once. And Kishore Kumar sings for Rajesh Khanna in the movie 'Andaz' saying that nothing is known about what will happen tomorrow and therefore today should be spent in singing and laughing. In a similar vein Dale Carnegie advises you to live in 'day tight' compartments, forgetting what happened yesterday, and not bothering about what is in store for tomorrow.

The phenomena of uncertainty now is an accepted scientific proposition and is the foundation of most inventions that have made modern life at once comfortable and dangerous. The famous cat of Schrdinger's which is both alive as well dead, (the principle of uncertainty). And tight which can be a wave and a particle (the concept of duality) at the same time, are mysteries accepted by science as fact, thanks to the advantages made in quantum mechanic.

Coming back to day to day life we find that announcements regarding the arrival of aircraft or trains usually use the expression ETA or the expected time of arrival (or departure as the case maybe). I have often wondered why they cannot be a little more precise. Clearly circumstances can change suddenly on account of unpredictable factors. The engineer driving the train can fall sick, or a cloudburst may cause an incoming flight to be diverted to another airport.

The railways, or the airlines, do not take chances, especially in these days when public interest litigation is common and they can be sued by the passengers, or those waiting to receive them, for compensation for the damage caused to them on account of inaccurate announcements.

A somewhat similar experience comes with weather forecasts. The weather forecaster, to plagiarise Shakespeare, is making unsure weather doubly sure! Reminds me of the weatherman has sought a transfer to another place because the local weather would not agree with him! Probably why the word 'anuman' used in Hindi for expectation (In the context of forecasting), means suspicion in Telugu!

The land fall location, and the extent of the coast-line which a depression crosses depends on its direction and speed. The area that is likely to be inundated by a flood which is approaching a city after heavy rains in the catchment area, depends on many factors including the terrain over which the waters travelling, the vulnerability to submersion of different areas in the city etc. both are matters of probability and estimation. Effective preparedness depends on anticipation and expectation, not precise knowledge

(The writer is former Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh) (The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of The Hans India)

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The uncertainty of human lives - The Hans India

New Delhi:Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has issued an order banning polygamy among members of the group terming it unnecessary and costly, Kabul-basedBakhtar News Agency reported on Saturday.

The country, which is an Islamic emirate governed under Sharia laws, allows for men to have up to four wives. Polygamy is widely practiced in Afghanistan. The absence of offspring from the first marriage isbelievedto be the primary reason Afghan men take multiple wives.

However, Akhundzada has emphasisedhow Taliban members should avoid second, third and fourth marriages as its an expensive affair.The order further instructed the Amr-ul-Maruf Ministry (Ministry of Enforcement of Virtue and Suppression of Vice) to identify violators and report to the leadership.

In January 2021, a similar decree was issued by the Taliban when it was still in midst of peace negotiations with the Afghan government regarding the countrys future. The leadership wasconcernedabout rampant corruption among members who were looking to raise money to either pay the bride price (dowry paid by the groom to the brides family) or sustain their many households.

The Taliban leadership also believed that spending a huge amount of money on wedding ceremonies could lead to criticism from their enemies/opponents or from within the group.

Polygamy is common among the Taliban and most senior members have more than one wife. Even the groups founder Mullah Mohammad Omar reportedlyhad at least three wives. One of those was Osama Bin Ladens daughter that had secured an alliance between the Taliban and al-Qaeda before the events of 9/11.

(Edited by: Manoj Ramachandran)

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Taliban chief bans polygamy, calls it unnecessary and an expensive affair - ThePrint

One of the most influential social and religious reformers of the 19th century, Ram Mohan Roy, born on May 22, 1772 in what was then Bengal Presidencys Radhanagar in Hooghly district, would have turned 250 years today. As India grapples increasingly with changing social and religious circumstances, Roys work in the sphere of womens emancipation, modernising education and seeking changes to religious orthodoxy finds new relevance in this time.

In Makers of Modern India (Penguin Books, 2010), a book that profiles the work and words of the men and women who argued the Republic of India into existence, its editor, historian Ramachandra Guha, writes, Roy was unquestionably the first person on the subcontinent to seriously engage with the challenges posed by modernity to traditional social structures and ways of being. He was also one of the first Indians whose thought and practice were not circumscribed by the constraints of kin, caste and religion.

Early Life

Born into a prosperous upper-caste Brahmin family, Roy grew up within the framework of orthodox caste practices of his time: child-marriage, polygamy and dowry were prevalent among the higher castes and he had himself been married more than once in his childhood. The familys affluence had also made the best in education accessible to him.

A polyglot, Roy knew Bengali and Persian, but also Arabic, Sanskrit, and later, English. His exposure to the literature and culture of each of these languages bred in him a scepticism towards religious dogmas and social strictures. In particular, he chafed at practices such as Sati, that compelled widows to be immolated on their husbands funeral pyre. Roys sister-in-law had been one such victim after his elder brothers death, and it was a wound that stayed with him.

The waning of the Mughals and the ascendancy of the East India Company in Bengal towards the end of the 18th century was also the time when Roy was slowly coming into his own. His education had whetted his appetite for philosophy and theology, and he spent considerable time studying the Vedas and the Upanishads, but also religious texts of Islam and Christianity. He was particularly intrigued by the Unitarian faction of Christianity and was drawn by the precepts of monotheism that, he believed, lay at the core of all religious texts.

He wrote extensive tracts on various matters of theology, polity and human rights, and translated and made accessible Sanskrit texts into Bengali. Rammohun did not quite make a distinction between the religious and the secular. He believed religion to be the site of all fundamental changes. What he fought was not religion but what he believed to be its perversion (Rabindranath) Tagore called him a Bharatpathik by which he meant to say that Rammohun combined in his person the underlying spirit of Indic civilisation, its spirit of pluralism, tolerance and a cosmic respect for all forms of life, says historian Amiya P Sen, Sivadasani Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, Oxford, UK, whose Rammohun Roy: A Critical Biography (Penguin, Viking, 2012), remains a definitive work on the man who was a key figure in Indias journey into modernism.

Roy, the first among liberals

Even though British consolidation of power was still at a nascent stage in India at the time, Roy could sense that change was afoot. Confident about the strength of his heritage and open to imbibing from other cultures what he believed were ameliorative practices, Roy was among Indias first liberals. In the introduction to his biography of Roy, Sen writes, his mind also reveals a wide range of interests, rarely paralleled in the history of Indian thought. He was simultaneously interested in religion, politics, law and jurisprudence, commerce and agrarian enterprise, Constitutions and civic rights, the unjust treatment of women and the appalling condition of the Indian poor And he studied matters not in the abstract or in academic solitude but with the practical objective of securing human happiness and freedom. That made him a modern man.

In 1814, he started the Atmiya Sabha (Society of Friends), to nurture philosophical discussions on the idea of monotheism in Vedanta and to campaign against idolatry, casteism, child marriage and other social ills. The Atmiya Sabha would make way for the Brahmo Sabha in 1828, set up with Debendranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagores father.

Abolition of Sati, educational and religious reforms

During the course of his time in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), a period of about 15 years, Roy became a prominent public intellectual. He campaigned for the modernisation of education, in particular the introduction of a Western curriculum, and started several educational institutions in the city.

In 1817, he collaborated with Scottish philanthropist David Hare to set up the Hindu College (now, Presidency University). He followed it up with the Anglo-Hindu School in 1822 and, in 1830, assisted Alexander Duff to set up the General Assemblys Institution, which later became the Scottish Church College.

It was his relentless advocacy alongside contemporaries such as Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar that finally led to the abolition of Sati under the governor generalship of William Bentinck in 1829. Roy argued for the property rights of women, and petitioned the British for freedom of the press (in 1829 and 1830).

His Brahmo Sabha, that later became the Brahmo Samaj, evolved as a reaction against the upper-caste stranglehold on social customs and rituals. During the Bengal Renaissance, it ushered in sweeping social changes and birthed the Brahmo religion, a reformed spiritual Hinduism that believes in monotheism and the uniformity of all men, irrespective of caste, class or creed.

Perils of non-conformism

As many modern liberals discover to their peril, non-conformism brings with it its own share of infamy. Roy, who was given the title of Raja by the Mughal emperor Akbar II, was no exception to this. Among the first Indians to gain recognition in the UK and in America for his radical thoughts, in his lifetime, Roy was also often attacked by his own countrymen who felt threatened by his reformist agenda, and by British reformers and functionaries, whose views differed from his.

Would Roys reformist agenda have met with equal if not more resistance in contemporary India? After all, in 2019, actor Payal Rohatgi had launched an offensive against Roy on Twitter, accusing him of being a British stooge who was used to defame Sati. Sen says Roys legacy has not been celebrated enough for many historic reasons, of which partisan reading by the Hindu right is one, but His life and message stands vastly apart from the spirit of contemporary Hindutva or exclusionary, political Hinduism.

Celebrations

Roys 250th birth anniversary will see year-long celebrations in different parts of the country. In West Bengal, the unveiling of a statue at Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Salt Lake, by GK Reddy, Minister of Culture; Tourism; and Development of North Eastern Region, will mark the inauguration of the Centres celebration plans. The West Bengal state government has overseen repairs of Roys ancestral house in Radhanagar, and is set to confer heritage status to it. The Sadharan Brahmo Samaj in Kolkata has organised a three-day inaugural programme from May 22 to May 24 that will see musical tributes and talks by Rajya Sabha MP and retired diplomat Jawhar Sircar; eminent academics and historians such as Suranjan Das, vice-chancellor, Jadavpur University; Rudrangshu Mukherjee, chancellor, Ashoka University; professor Arun Bandyopadhyay of Calcutta University, among others.

A philatelic exhibition on the Bengali Renaissance has been organised by the Rammohun Library and Free Reading Room, set up in 1904. The organisation will also publish a commemorative volume.

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A look at the legacy of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, the father of Modern Indian Renaissance - The Indian Express