Reason Magazine - Topics > Cults

Live from the YFZ Ranch: Fashion Week

mriggs@reason.com (Mike Riggs) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:45:00 EDT

The moms of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints started an online clothing store to provide their confiscated children with acceptable clothes. Now that they have been reunited with their kids, they're considering turning the website into a money-making venture:

"We don't know what to expect on demand but we have had a flood of interest," said Maggie Jessop, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. "Our motive is not to flaunt ourselves or our religion before the world. We have to make a living the same as everyone does."
The sect is offering dresses, overalls, shirts, pants, nightgowns, sleepers, onesies for babies and, yes, ankle-to-wrist underwear. There are denim jeans for boys and "teen princess" dresses in plain, jacket and vest styles in pastel shades of pink, peach, yellow, green, aqua, blue, lavender and lilac.

The FLDS has gotten a rough rap during the last few months, and I'm on the fence about how much of it was deserved, but the group's openness to economic adaptation is refreshing:

"They accuse us of [relying] on welfare, but that's untrue," [Jessop] said. "We like to be busy and learn to meet our needs—out of ashes growing lilies."

Editor Jacob Sullum wrote here about Texas' abuse of children in pursuit of protecting them from the very same.

Thursday Morning Links

jwalker@reason.com (Jesse Walker) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 08:15:00 EDT

* Cato embraces micro radio.

* The Nation discovers the Ron Paul Republicans.

* A socialist reads Hayek.

* Debbie Nathan reads Comstock.

* A child of a commune peers at the children of the FLDS.

The Latest from LaRoucheland

jwalker@reason.com (Jesse Walker) — Wed, 21 May 2008 09:32:00 EDT

Jim Antle writes:

Passing through a Metro station, I was accosted by some LaRouchies handing out fliers about a webcast or some such by their fearless leader. I took the flier, gave them a look that was equal parts amusement and bemusement, and kept walking. One of them shouted after me, "With your support the Washington Nationals will win the Super Bowl this year! Are you with me? Do I need to get you free tickets to be with me?"

Another Strike for the Chosen One!

jwalker@reason.com (Jesse Walker) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 09:53:00 EST

Time's new Person of the Year is an iconic figure. Literally.

The Bolshaya Elnya village in the Nizhny Novgorod Region is home to the "Rus' Resurrecting" sect, a group of local residents who believe that President Putin was both the Apostle Paul and King Solomon in previous lives....

"We didn't choose Putin," Mother Fontinya told the Moskovsky Komsomolets paper, expounding on the first time she laid eyes on the "holy one."

"It was when Yeltsin was naming him as his successor [during a live New Year's Eve TV broadcast in 1999]. My soul exploded with joy! 'An ubermensch! God himself has chosen him!'" I cried.

"Yeltsin was the destroyer, and God replaced him with his creation," claimed Fontinya.

The sect possesses a President Putin icon that Fontinya claims miraculously appeared one day.

"He has given us everything," she said, pointing to the sky.

Beware the Leesburg Garden Club!

jwalker@reason.com (Jesse Walker) — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 16:24:00 EDT

This is the first presidential election since 1972 in which the fascist crank Lyndon LaRouche is not running for the White House. Writing in The Washington Monthly, Avi Klein reviews LaRouche's political career and the declining fortunes of the cult he created.