Last summer after Elizabeth Smart went missing, I mentioned to a couple of my friends, and even sent an e-mail to the Web Page that her family had posted, that Elizabeth may have very well been taken by a member of the Mormon Church.  Not necessarily one of those kids in white shirts and black ties that ride around on bikes, or even the more than eager evangelist types that are never late to church – I was thinking more along the line of David Karesh types – Jim Jones without the polyester slacks and special cups of Kool-Aid.

Shocking isn’t it?  Sacrilegious!?  Some may say.  The mere idea was quickly dismissed by anyone I mentioned it to and I along with everyone else I became more and more complacent as the weeks turned into months.

Now we know that Elizabeth was indeed taken by a member of the Mormon church – or I should say a ‘previous’ member as we are told that he had since been excommunicated for reasons we can only imagine.

The two suspects, are seen downed in Biblical type ropes, his wife, as well as Elizabeth, covered from head to toe, near identical to the Afghan women who under the Taliban heeded to the same type of religious demagoguery.   We are also told that when Elizabeth was approached by police that she denied being Elizabeth Smart, and went on to tell subsequent lies about her identity calling herself  ‘Augustine Marshall.’

So, the people around the world afterwards saw pictures of Elizabeth Smart with her parents, smiling and laughing – balloons everywhere, and of course everyone speaking of ‘Miracles’ and how their prayers had been answered.

Let’s now look at it from a purely secular and reasonable perspective.

Last summer when I suspected that she could have been taken by a member of her own church, why, or as some had asked, could I have asked such an isolated hypothesis?

Mormons are historically a very tight knit group – they stick with their own, very infrequently marry outside of their religion, and of course do not tip toe around the fact that theirs is a sect that by following such strict rites of passage sets them apart from other religions.  Their views on Polygamy, contrary to popular belief, is not only practiced by practically every Male character in the Christian Bible, but is many times encouraged by Yahweh.   The idea of many wives in the Bible is looked upon as a sign of strength, vigor and hierarchy.   The Protestant church ignores this practice, paradoxically so, as they preach of ‘sola scriptura’ (scripture used as Christian doctrine/practice).  This being the case, can’t you argue then that the Mormons are more religiously honest than that of other religions that don’t practice polygamy?

This leads to the subject of how Elizabeth was ‘brainwashed’, that she was psychologically drawn in under the guise of a self appointed Mormon prophet who not only spoke with God, but who allegedly was instructed to write new scripture in addition.

Those aghast at the mere idea I proffered that Elizabeth had possibly been taken by another Mormon, not only defies popular belief, yet was completely overlooked by even the FBI profilers.  Consider the scenario that the FBI had come out in public stating that this was a possibility.  Imagine the backlash they would have received.  Are our prejudices so counteracted by established religion that we possibly overlooked the most probable case in the kidnapping of this young girl?

I keep hearing the word brainwashed.  What I don’t hear is the criticism of religious structures that do more harm than good. Was what was planted into the young mind of Elizabeth Smart by Brian Mitchell and Wanda Barzee  that much different than what is taught in the accredited community of the Mormon church?  Are we, in concentrating on the idea of independent brainwashing, not ignoring an intricate symptom of a much greater problem that exists in America today?

I, just as much as anyone else, hopes that Elizabeth Smart can escape whatever horrors were introduced to her during those nine months.  What I wish for even more, is that one day we as a people can rise above religious myths, and carry about our lives to the best of our ability as evolved and intelligent humans, not bowing to an invisible god in which our only reward is ignorance.
 

by Andrea W. Royall-Jones (Andrea W. Royall-Jones)