Saints Under Siege: The Texas State Raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints

Published by New York University Press 2011

Saints Under Siege

The Texas State Raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints

Edited by: Stuart A. Wright and James T. Richardson

Volume 2 in the series North American Religions

https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814795286.001.0001

Overview
Contents

About this book

In April 2008, state police and child protection authorities raided Yearning for Zion Ranch near Eldorado, Texas, a community of 800 members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a polygamist branch of the Mormons. State officials claimed that the raid, which was triggered by anonymous phone calls from an underage girl to a domestic violence hotline, was based on evidence of widespread child sexual abuse. In a high-risk paramilitary operation, 439 children were removed from the custody of their parents and held until the Third Court of Appeals found that the state had overreached. Not only did the state fail to corroborate the authenticity of the hoax calls, but evidence reveals that Texas officials had targeted the FLDS from the outset, planning and preparing for a confrontation.

Saints under Siege provides a thorough, theoretically grounded critical examination of the Texas state raid on the FLDS while situating this event in a broader sociological context. The volume considers the raid as an exemplar case of a larger pattern of state actions against minority religions, offering comparative analyses to other government raids both historically and across cultures. In its look beyond the Texas raid, it provides compelling evidence of social intolerance and state repression of unpopular minority faiths in general, and the FLDS in particular.

Author / Editor information

Wright Stuart A. :

Stuart A. Wright is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Office of Research at Lamar University. He is the author or editor of a number of titles including Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict.Richardson James T. :

James T. Richardson is Professor of Sociology and Judicial Studies and Director of the Grant Sawyer Center for Justice Studies at University of Nevada, Reno. He is the co-author and editor of 10 books.

Reviews

Wide-ranging and provocative collection.

David G. Bromley,co-author of Cults and New Religions: A Brief History:
There has been a disturbing recent trend toward military-style government raids on minority religious communities. This book offers an incisive set of analyses by distinguished religious movements scholars of the massive state raid on the FLDS community in 2008. [It] will be the book of record for interpreting this historic event.

Catherine Wessinger,Rev. H. James Yamauchi, S.J. Professor of the History of Religions, Loyola University New Orleans:
In this significant volume, noted scholars explore the historical, sociological, legal, law enforcement, media studies, and religious studies aspects of the 2008 raid on the Yearning for Zion ranch. A must-read for those concerned with the dynamics of how and why law enforcement agents take aggressive actions that harm children they are tasked with protecting.

Johnathan W. Olson,Florida State University:
A highly recommendable book for both academic and popular readers alike looking to gain further insight into government-sponsored religious intolerance in contemporary America.

Spencer L. Allen:
Saints Under Siege's strength resides in its multi-author and multi-hermeneutic approach as each chapter considers a distinct set of historical, cultural, and political/legal realities underlying the raid.

John-Charles Duffy:
Saints Under Siege is a welcome corrective to the sensationalism surrounding the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...this book can heighten students' hermeneutic of suspicion towards [child abuse] allegations.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Preface and Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction Stuart A. Wright and James T. Richardson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part One: Historical Context
1. The Past as Prologue: A Comparison of the Short Creek and Eldorado Polygamy Raids Martha Bradley Evans Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	25
2. Rescuing Children? Government Raids and Child Abuse Allegations in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspective Susan J. Palmer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	51
3. The Struggle for Legitimacy: Tensions between the LDS and FLDS Ryan T. Cragun, Michael Nielsen and Heather Clingenpeel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	80
Part Two: Social and Cultural Dimensions
4. Reader Responses to the Yearning for Zion Ranch Raid and Its Aftermath on the Websites of the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News Michael William Hamilton Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	107
5. Deconstructing Official Rationales for the Texas State Raid on the FLDS Stuart A. Wright Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	124
6. Texas Redux: A Comparative Analysis of the FLDS and Branch Davidian Raids Stuart A. Wright and Jennifer Lara Fagen Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
7. Large-Scale FLDS Raids: The Dangers and Appeal of Crime Control Theater Camille B. Lalasz and Carlene Gonzales Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	178
Part Three: Legal and Political Perspectives
8. Strategic Dissolution and the Politics of Opposition: Parallels in the State Raids on the Twelve Tribes and the FLDS Jean Swantko Wiseman Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	201
9. Political and Legislative Context of the FLDS Raid in Texas James T. Richardson and Tamatha L. Schreinert Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	221
10. Pyrrhic Victory? An Analysis of the Appeal Court Opinions Concerning the FLDS Children Tamatha L. Schreinert and James T. Richardson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	242
About the Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	267

Language: English
Publisher: New York University Press
Audience: Professional and scholarly;

eBook

Published: October 1, 2011
ISBN: 9780814795309