How Religious Fundamentalism Enables Sadists Like Elizabeth Smart's Kidnapper

[MountainLaurel]

Very interesting theory; I think she has a point.

This week, the testimony in the riveting Elizabeth Smart kidnapping case drew to a close and the jury prepared to deliberate. As Smart--who is currently living abroad on mission for the LDS church-- took the stand nearly a decade after her infamous kidnappings, she revealed herself to be an incredibly strong, resilient young woman. She served as an uncompromising witness to her own brutal victimization at the hands of her captors: Brian David Mitchell and Wanda Barzee, a pair of breakaway fundamentalist Mormons who captured Smart to “seal” her to them in plural marriage.

Over the years, the Mormon community and its critics from within and without have debated whether Smart’s upbringing in the mainstream Mormon (LDS) church--which emphasizes male authority and prophecy and holds the belief in “direct revelation” from God--preconditioned her to a kind of brainwashing by a kidnapper who knew the tenets of her faith inside and out, and even dressed himself in the white robes reminiscent of those worn in the LDS temple in Salt Lake City. It took Smart considerable time to confess her true name to police officers who found her, and she finally admitted her identity to them by quoting 'Thou sayest,' which is what Jesus said to Judas. There’s compelling anecdotal evidence for Mitchell’s ability to influence younger people using his religious theology. Julia Adkison a young woman--who had left a polygamous cult-- had been approached by Mitchell to be his plural bride, before he abducted Smart. Adkison admitted to reporters and in court testimony that while she immediately refused his proposal, she sat and listened to him for hours because “everything he said was stuff I was raised on.”

Still it’s important to note that on the stand, Smart has made a point of refuting these theories, saying she stayed with Mitchell for one reason only: because she feared his violent retribution. During her testimony, she called him “Evil, wicked, manipulative, sneaky, slimy, selfish, greedy, not spiritual, not religious, not close to God” and has said that his cruel, and self-indulgent behavior (including drinking heavily and watching porn) demonstrated to her, even then, that he wasn’t truly holy.

Putting the issue of exactly what kind of fears motivated Smart’s compliance under such unimaginable circumstances aside, religion still plays a crucial role in the behavior of her rapist and abductor, Mitchell. Throughout the ordeal, he claimed he was acting on God’s orders and that he was the “one mighty and strong” a messiah-like figure who Mormon fundamentalists believe will reinstate plural marriage within the church. Journalist Jon Krakauer notes in his book Under the Banner of Heaven that over twenty fundamentalists, among them notoriously cruel polygamists, murderers and common criminals, have all claimed to be this holy man. Krakauer’s book documents the story of the Lafferty brothers, Dan and Ron, who, like Mitchell, claimed to be getting direct revelations from God when they carried out the truly brutal murder of their brother’s wife Brenda and her baby, Erica. In fact, when Krakauer interviewed Dan Lafferty in prison during the Smart case, Lafferty correctly guessed that her kidnapper was a fundamentalist LDS polygamist.

http://www.alternet.org/belief/149128/how_religious_fundamentalism_enables_sadists_like_elizabeth_smart's_kidnapper/

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Sad, isn't it?

[DemocratAholic]

2. More common than a lot of people like to admit

You take religion, add to that a person who is marginally sane (or worse)...what do you get? Sometimes...the unthinkable. I wish I had a nickel for every schizophrenic I saw on the subway who was quoting bible passages. They are obsessed with that kind of stuff. I think people should be required to take a psychiatric examination before they are indoctrinated with religion. Religion in the mind of the mentally ill can be a very dangerous thing.

[dimbear]

3. After a lot of careful thought, I believe it is at least 50-50 that

this particularly dusty drifter was not actually in direct communication with God. I'm sure many disagree.

[struggle4progress]

4. People will always use any available ideas to justify their bad behavior

[LAGC]

5. Sure, but...

Don't you think religion gives schizophrenics a handy vehicle for their delusions? They can feel emboldened to commit crimes because "they are speaking with God." I can't imagine any secular ideology having the same effect.

I have no doubt he honestly thought he was talking to God, in his mind... and "God" told him to marry a young girl. Part of the problem with having an overly religious culture, is that it breeds this type of animal. Makes a bad situation (mental illness) worse by putting the holy stamp of righteousness on it.

[laconicsax]

7. +1

[struggle4progress]

8. I don't know many schizophrenics, so prefer not to generalize about the disease

One I knew was a very charming, intelligent, and pleasant woman: you had to be around her quite a lot to realize she actually had conversations with an invisible companion. She was dysfunctional in some ways, but I never heard anyone say she was violent

Another one I know is psychologically stressed by the illness but functional: that person is religious and also nonviolent

[LAGC]

9. I'm not saying that most schizophrenics are violent...

Alot of it depends on whether or not they've come to realize the voices in their head are really just that -- in their head -- most can manage their symptoms just fine on medication. But it often takes a psychotic break, someone totally losing it and flipping out with major delusions before the problem is realized and can be treated. But for that minority that refuses medication and is sure that "someone else" is talking to them, religion can really turn things ugly real quick.

I mean, you hear stories all the time of distraught mothers who murder their infant children because they think "God" told them to do so, or are convinced "the devil" is inside them or some bullshit like that. Certainly having more mental health services available can help if you can get to them in time, but you have to admit that the prevalence of religion is part of the problem here.

I mean, if you're a non-religious person and hear a voice telling you to do something, how likely are you to act out on it? Only if your first assumption is to presume its "God" talking to you, do thinks get complicated.

[struggle4progress]

10. If you consider yourself a scientific thinker, then you should pause here

and examine whether actual evidence supports the hypothesis you advance

I should be reluctant to draw conclusions about why particular people behave as they do while reporting that they hear voices

[Odin2005]

13. Most Schizophrenics are not violent, they are far more likely to be VICTIMS of violent behavior.

I know a gal with Schizoaffective Disorder (Schizophrenia + Bipolar) and she is one of the kindest folks I know. The only thing that betrays her illness is occasional bouts of delusional paranoia and the tremors she has from years of taking anti-psychotics.

[Odin2005]

12. Non-religious schizophrenics just have non-religious delusions.

Like mathematician John Nash's delusions about the CIA.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

11. Indeed. And for that end, fundamentalism is like a chainsaw that happens to be lying around

if you want to fell a tree.

[cleanhippie]

16. Correct. Unfortunately, it seems to be the religious idea most often.

[DeSwiss]

6. K&R n/t

[PassingFair]

14. It's mainstream.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/13/us/13exorcism.html


For Catholics, Interest in Exorcism Is Revived
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: November 12, 2010


"There are only a handful of priests in the country trained as exorcists, but they say they are overwhelmed with requests from people who fear they are possessed by the Devil.

Now, American bishops are holding a conference on Friday and Saturday to prepare more priests and bishops to respond to the demand. The purpose is not necessarily to revive the practice, the organizers say, but to help Catholic clergy members learn how to distinguish who really needs an exorcism from who really needs a psychiatrist, or perhaps some pastoral care. "


Religion tends to ENABLE mental illness,
if it can be bent to fit the format.

People who otherwise would be sent for
real help are buoyed along by an acceptance
of magical thinking.

[left is right]

15. if god didn’t exist, they would have to create him

N/T