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Towns home to polygamist sect accused of discrimination as Arizona trial begins
Source: The Guardian
Towns home to polygamist sect accused of discrimination as Arizona trial begins
Federal government says communities are dominated by Fundamentalist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have functioned as theocracies
Joanna Walters
Monday 25 January 2016 12.00 GMT
Two towns that are home to a polygamous sect went on trial this week in Phoenix, Arizona, in a case that revolves around claims of religious liberty and discrimination – reaching back two centuries to a problem posed by the founders of the US: what kind of wall separates church from state?
A Justice Department (DOJ) lawsuit challenged a religious sect’s way of life in the mountains of Utah and Arizona this week, bringing a group infamous for polygamy before a jury of their peers. The leader of the community, Warren Jeffs, is not himself on trial, as he is already serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting children in a prison in Texas.
Nor is polygamy on trial, though it remains illegal in the state and US.
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The federal government has accused the towns ofoperating as a de facto theocracy that discriminates against non-believers, and of violating the US constitution with practices such as denying residents fair access to housing.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Federal government says communities are dominated by Fundamentalist
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and have functioned as theocracies
Joanna Walters
Monday 25 January 2016 12.00 GMT
Two towns that are home to a polygamous sect went on trial this week in Phoenix, Arizona, in a case that revolves around claims of religious liberty and discrimination – reaching back two centuries to a problem posed by the founders of the US: what kind of wall separates church from state?
A Justice Department (DOJ) lawsuit challenged a religious sect’s way of life in the mountains of Utah and Arizona this week, bringing a group infamous for polygamy before a jury of their peers. The leader of the community, Warren Jeffs, is not himself on trial, as he is already serving a life sentence for sexually assaulting children in a prison in Texas.
Nor is polygamy on trial, though it remains illegal in the state and US.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
The federal government has accused the towns ofoperating as a de facto theocracy that discriminates against non-believers, and of violating the US constitution with practices such as denying residents fair access to housing.
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jan/25/mormon-polygamist-sect-arizona-utah-trial-fundamentalist-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints