VOLUME 8 |ISSUE 3 |2017 3727
agreed that Colorado City Marshals turned a blind eye to criminal
activities, including those involving FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. …
However, the judge ruled that he was unpersuaded by Justice
Department arguments that the town governments should be
dismantled. The feds, along with Utah Attorney General Sean
Reyes, argued the Colorado City Marshals should be replaced
with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Utah and the
Mohave County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona. Instead, the judge
demanded outside police consultants and new hiring procedures
be implemented, and ordered the Colorado City Marshal’s Office
to purchase body cameras. …‘It is now time for the citizens of
Colorado City and City of Hildale to come together and accept
the fact that communal ownership of residential property in
the Defendant Cities is a thing of the past,’ the judge wrote. ‘All
residents of the Defendant Cities must be afforded equal access
to housing and residential services, to nondiscriminatory law
enforcement, and to free exercise of their religious preferences
that are not contrary to law.’ In an email to FOX 13, Blake Hamilton,
an attorney for Hildale, expressed hope that an independent
monitor would resolve the situation.” (FOX 13 News, 04/18/17)
Former bishops guilty of polygamy in Bountiful, British
Columbia
“Two former bishops of an isolated religious commune in British
Columbia have been found guilty of practising polygamy after a
decades-long legal fight launched by the provincial government.
Winston Blackmore, 60, was married to Jane Blackmore and
then married 24 additional women as part of so-called ‘celestial’
marriages involving residents in the tiny community of Bountiful.
The court heard that his co-defendant, James Oler, 53, had
five wives. …Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said Monday the
evidence proves Blackmore has been a practising member of the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage. …
‘Mr. Blackmore confirmed that all of his marriages were celestial
marriages in accordance with FLDS rules and practices.’ … Both
men’s lawyers argued against the credibility of evidence related
to marriage and personal records seized by police from the
Yearning for Zion Ranch, an FLDS church compound in Texas,
in 2008. The information pertained to members of the sect in the
United States and Canada. … Blackmore and Oler were charged
in 2014 for the second time with practicing polygamy, more than
two decades after allegations that members of the Bountiful
community were involved in multiple marriages, sexual abuse
and cross-border child trafficking. The charges were the latest step
in a series of investigations and failed attempts at prosecutions
dating back to the early 1990s involving Bountiful, located in the
southeastern corner of the province and close to the U.S.-Canada
border.” (National Post, The Canadian Press, 07/24/17)
With Jehovah’s Witnessess ban, rebuke of Russia grows
“The Kremlin threat to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses from
worshipping in Russia has received widespread condemnation
across the world after the United States Helsinki Commission
yesterday spoke out strongly against the development and called
for respect of religious freedom in the vast ex-communist country.
… Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Roger Wicker (MS),
co-Chairman Rep Chris Smith (NJ-04), and Commissioner Rep.
Richard Hudson (NC-08), in a joint statement yesterday rebuked
the Russian authorities for cracking down on religious liberty.
‘It is wrong to apply flawed counterterrorism laws to those who
seek to practice their faith,’ Wicker said. ‘The Russian government
is exploiting genuine threats of violent extremism to undermine
what little religious freedom remains in that country. This distracts
from real efforts to fight terrorism. I urge the Russian government
to drop the case immediately.’ … The pressure was being applied
as Russian authorities have approached the country’s Supreme
Court to effectively ban Jehovah’s Witnesses in the country from
worshipping, claiming that they were members of an ‘extremist
organization’. … On March 15, the Russian Ministry of Justice
filed a formal court claim to label the Administrative Centre of
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia an extremist group and liquidate
their national headquarters and 395 local chapters, known as
‘local religious organizations.’ Should the Russian Supreme
Court decide against the Witnesses next week some 175 000
Witnesses in Russia could face criminal prosecution for practicing
their faith. … According to the Helsinki Final Act signed by
all 57 participating states of the organization for security and
cooperation in Europe—including Russia—‘participating States
will recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to
profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion
or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own
conscience.’” (NewsDay, 04/02/17)
Russia labels Jehovah’s Witnesses extremists and tries to ban
them from the country
“In Russia, there’s a database of extremists. It includes members
of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and … Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Mind you, that’s not because members of the Christian religious
denomination have been caught plotting some kind of violence.
Pacifism is a core value of members, who believe that the Bible
should be taken literally. ‘I cannot imagine that anyone really
thinks they are a threat,’ Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the
SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, which monitors
extremism in Russia, told The New York Times. ‘But they are
seen as a good target. They are pacifists, so they cannot be
radicalized, no matter what you do to them. They can be used to
send a message.’ …There’s a long history in Russia of harassing
Jehovah’s Witnesses. During Soviet times, the KGB accused them
of spying. It’s true, too, that leaders of the formerly socialist
country—where atheism was the official doctrine not too long
ago—are naturally skeptical of faith. … ‘The treatment of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses reflects the Russian government’s tendency
to view all independent religious activity as a threat to its control
and the country’s political stability’ the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom said in a statement earlier this
month. Experts see it, too, as part of a broader campaign against
Russian civil society using the 2002 anti-extremism law. Officially,
the rule was touted as a measure against radicalized violence
from homegrown and foreign terrorists. But it’s been broadly
interpreted, used to jail anyone from antigovernment activists to
Muslims with no ties to terrorism or violence. …‘They say I am a
terrorist,’ he said. ‘But all I ever wanted to do was to get people to
pay attention to the Bible.’ Alexey Koptev, a member of the faith
since 1992, was arrested after Russian security officials secretly
taped worship services. Koptev and the others were banned from
traveling. Many lost their jobs. Authorities told them they would
be set free if they denounced their faith. ‘Why me?’ he asked the
Washington Post’s Andrew Roth. ‘Who did nothing illegal, who
read nothing illegal, why was I secretly filmed and listened to?’”
(Washington Post, 04/14/17)
agreed that Colorado City Marshals turned a blind eye to criminal
activities, including those involving FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. …
However, the judge ruled that he was unpersuaded by Justice
Department arguments that the town governments should be
dismantled. The feds, along with Utah Attorney General Sean
Reyes, argued the Colorado City Marshals should be replaced
with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office in Utah and the
Mohave County Sheriff’s Office in Arizona. Instead, the judge
demanded outside police consultants and new hiring procedures
be implemented, and ordered the Colorado City Marshal’s Office
to purchase body cameras. …‘It is now time for the citizens of
Colorado City and City of Hildale to come together and accept
the fact that communal ownership of residential property in
the Defendant Cities is a thing of the past,’ the judge wrote. ‘All
residents of the Defendant Cities must be afforded equal access
to housing and residential services, to nondiscriminatory law
enforcement, and to free exercise of their religious preferences
that are not contrary to law.’ In an email to FOX 13, Blake Hamilton,
an attorney for Hildale, expressed hope that an independent
monitor would resolve the situation.” (FOX 13 News, 04/18/17)
Former bishops guilty of polygamy in Bountiful, British
Columbia
“Two former bishops of an isolated religious commune in British
Columbia have been found guilty of practising polygamy after a
decades-long legal fight launched by the provincial government.
Winston Blackmore, 60, was married to Jane Blackmore and
then married 24 additional women as part of so-called ‘celestial’
marriages involving residents in the tiny community of Bountiful.
The court heard that his co-defendant, James Oler, 53, had
five wives. …Justice Sheri Ann Donegan said Monday the
evidence proves Blackmore has been a practising member of the
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
a breakaway Mormon sect that believes in plural marriage. …
‘Mr. Blackmore confirmed that all of his marriages were celestial
marriages in accordance with FLDS rules and practices.’ … Both
men’s lawyers argued against the credibility of evidence related
to marriage and personal records seized by police from the
Yearning for Zion Ranch, an FLDS church compound in Texas,
in 2008. The information pertained to members of the sect in the
United States and Canada. … Blackmore and Oler were charged
in 2014 for the second time with practicing polygamy, more than
two decades after allegations that members of the Bountiful
community were involved in multiple marriages, sexual abuse
and cross-border child trafficking. The charges were the latest step
in a series of investigations and failed attempts at prosecutions
dating back to the early 1990s involving Bountiful, located in the
southeastern corner of the province and close to the U.S.-Canada
border.” (National Post, The Canadian Press, 07/24/17)
With Jehovah’s Witnessess ban, rebuke of Russia grows
“The Kremlin threat to ban Jehovah’s Witnesses from
worshipping in Russia has received widespread condemnation
across the world after the United States Helsinki Commission
yesterday spoke out strongly against the development and called
for respect of religious freedom in the vast ex-communist country.
… Helsinki Commission Chairman Senator Roger Wicker (MS),
co-Chairman Rep Chris Smith (NJ-04), and Commissioner Rep.
Richard Hudson (NC-08), in a joint statement yesterday rebuked
the Russian authorities for cracking down on religious liberty.
‘It is wrong to apply flawed counterterrorism laws to those who
seek to practice their faith,’ Wicker said. ‘The Russian government
is exploiting genuine threats of violent extremism to undermine
what little religious freedom remains in that country. This distracts
from real efforts to fight terrorism. I urge the Russian government
to drop the case immediately.’ … The pressure was being applied
as Russian authorities have approached the country’s Supreme
Court to effectively ban Jehovah’s Witnesses in the country from
worshipping, claiming that they were members of an ‘extremist
organization’. … On March 15, the Russian Ministry of Justice
filed a formal court claim to label the Administrative Centre of
Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia an extremist group and liquidate
their national headquarters and 395 local chapters, known as
‘local religious organizations.’ Should the Russian Supreme
Court decide against the Witnesses next week some 175 000
Witnesses in Russia could face criminal prosecution for practicing
their faith. … According to the Helsinki Final Act signed by
all 57 participating states of the organization for security and
cooperation in Europe—including Russia—‘participating States
will recognize and respect the freedom of the individual to
profess and practice, alone or in community with others, religion
or belief acting in accordance with the dictates of his own
conscience.’” (NewsDay, 04/02/17)
Russia labels Jehovah’s Witnesses extremists and tries to ban
them from the country
“In Russia, there’s a database of extremists. It includes members
of al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and … Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Mind you, that’s not because members of the Christian religious
denomination have been caught plotting some kind of violence.
Pacifism is a core value of members, who believe that the Bible
should be taken literally. ‘I cannot imagine that anyone really
thinks they are a threat,’ Alexander Verkhovsky, director of the
SOVA Center for Information and Analysis, which monitors
extremism in Russia, told The New York Times. ‘But they are
seen as a good target. They are pacifists, so they cannot be
radicalized, no matter what you do to them. They can be used to
send a message.’ …There’s a long history in Russia of harassing
Jehovah’s Witnesses. During Soviet times, the KGB accused them
of spying. It’s true, too, that leaders of the formerly socialist
country—where atheism was the official doctrine not too long
ago—are naturally skeptical of faith. … ‘The treatment of the
Jehovah’s Witnesses reflects the Russian government’s tendency
to view all independent religious activity as a threat to its control
and the country’s political stability’ the U.S. Commission on
International Religious Freedom said in a statement earlier this
month. Experts see it, too, as part of a broader campaign against
Russian civil society using the 2002 anti-extremism law. Officially,
the rule was touted as a measure against radicalized violence
from homegrown and foreign terrorists. But it’s been broadly
interpreted, used to jail anyone from antigovernment activists to
Muslims with no ties to terrorism or violence. …‘They say I am a
terrorist,’ he said. ‘But all I ever wanted to do was to get people to
pay attention to the Bible.’ Alexey Koptev, a member of the faith
since 1992, was arrested after Russian security officials secretly
taped worship services. Koptev and the others were banned from
traveling. Many lost their jobs. Authorities told them they would
be set free if they denounced their faith. ‘Why me?’ he asked the
Washington Post’s Andrew Roth. ‘Who did nothing illegal, who
read nothing illegal, why was I secretly filmed and listened to?’”
(Washington Post, 04/14/17)
