oprah winfrey, oprah winfrey show Today's Oprah Winfrey Show is about the polygamist communities that the FLDS (Fundamentalist Mormons) still have. Oprah Winfrey has done a great deal to educate people around the country about the suffering that the children in these communities suffer at the hands of the community elders. Her guests talked about escaping the ordeal of childhood marriages, having to marry people you don't want to, and even having to marry cousins. The Oprah Winfrey Show needs to be applauded for taking on this subject. Living out west myself, I live among many Mormons and have them as close friends. They have extraordinary community values, are independent, and while their beliefs are their own, many of them make very positive contributions to the community.

It's the FLDS sectors in a few states that have given Mormonism a black eye. The church outlawed polygamy years ago, and some of my Mormon friends believe that the practice was started as a way to help widowed women in the 19th Century survive in Mormon communities. Life was tough back then, and many single mothers and/or widows could not have survived without the help of the rest of the community. Marrying them made it legal. I did not hear that on the Oprah Winfrey Show today, but maybe I'll write it and email it to her. But there is no excuse to marry underage girls and force young boys to leave the community. That was not practiced in the past.