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Vice News: Uncovering the Truth Behind This ‘Sex Church’

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Honey69
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15 Apr 2023, 6:56 pm



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2VoHEs ... l=VICENews


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Fnord
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16 Apr 2023, 3:05 am

From the commentary to the above video:

Quote:
The Phoenix Goddess Temple claimed to be a neo-tantric church offering ‘seekers’ healing through sensual touch. But one day, the temple unknowingly welcomed in a new kind of seeker -- undercover detectives on a mission to expose what they believe to be a brothel in disguise.

From a New Phoenix Times article dated 2016-05-20:
Ray Stern wrote:
Phoenix Goddess Temple Priestess Tracy Elise Heads to Prison

On Thursday, May 19, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge sentenced Tracy Elise, head priestess of the now-defunct Phoenix Goddess Temple, to four and a half years in prison for numerous felony counts related to running a house of prostitution.

The long-running case received international attention and was the subject of a New Times feature story last month by Miriam Wasser, who explored the claims of Elise and temple supporters that the business existed not to facilitate prostitution but to improve clients' health and promote religious beliefs.  In March, about five years after her arrest, and following a 48-day trial in which Elise represented herself, a jury found her guilty of 22 counts of prostitution, illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering, conspiracy, and related charges. . .
 Link to News Article 

Quote:
Phoenix Goddess Temple

PHOENIX GODDESS TEMPLE TIMELINE

1961: Tracy Elise was born.

1995: Elise divorced her husband, left her family, and moved to Seattle to pursue her spiritual interests.

2000: Elise began to develop the spiritual path that subsequently led to the establishment of the Phoenix Goddess Temple.

2002-2005 (June 21): Elise developed relationships with and credentials in a series of spiritually oriented groups.

2005: Elise established the Sedona Temple School of International Arts in 2005.

2008: Elise founded the Phoenix Goddess Temple in a residence in Scottsdale, Arizona.

2011: The Phoenix Goddess Temple received a conditional use permit from the Sedona city officials.

2011: Local police in Phoenix raided the temple based on allegations that the church was a brothel. Numerous arrests of Temple affiliates were made; the Temple was shut down.

2015: Elise received an honorary doctoral degree from the Institute for the Advanced Study of Human Sexuality.

2016 (March): Elise was found guilty on a series of prostitution-related charges and sentenced to prison.

2019 (March): Elise was released from prison and continued her efforts to protest and overturn her conviction.
 Link to Follow-Up Article 

So, the arrest occurred about 2011, the conviction occurred in 2016, and the video was posted 2 days ago (2023).

Old news.

At least the church could actually deliver on their promise of a happy ending.



Tim_Tex
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16 Apr 2023, 7:51 am

Damn Republicans.


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naturalplastic
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16 Apr 2023, 8:03 am

Its against the law to use dangerous controlled substances like peyote. But they allow certain Native American tribes to use peyote as a sacrament in traditional tribal rituals because of freedom of religion. And rightly so in my humble opinion.

On the other hand if someone claimed to be reviving the sun worship religion of the ancient Aztecs that involved human sacrifice - "freedom of religion" would not be enough of an excuse for the goverment to sanction homocide.

Sorry Aztec sun worshippers...freedom of religion is not enough to allow your clergymen to cut out human hearts and to offer said still beating hearts to the sun god- on top of pyramid.

They forbade soft, as well as, hard liquor during Prohibition. But they allowed the use of wine in Jewish and in Catholic religious ceremonies.

This cult looks a lot like prostitution. So...is it more like peyote, and wine-during-Prohibition? Or is it more like human sacrifice? Should it be allowed because of "freedom of religion"? Or should it be banned because its taking FOR too far?

Discuss.



Honey69
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18 Apr 2023, 4:32 pm

To be fair, Reynolds v United States (1879)

https://www.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/ar ... ted-states

Quote:

In Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879), the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that a federal law prohibiting polygamy did not violate the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. The Court’s decision was among the first to hold that the free exercise of religion is not absolute.

The case began when George Reynolds, a resident of the Territory of Utah, was sentenced to two years at hard labor and assessed a $500 fine by a federal court for violating a federal anti-bigamy law. Congress had passed the statute against polygamy because it perceived that such a practice contravened good order and peace.

By practicing polygamy, Reynolds, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the Mormon Church), was following what was then one of the central tenets of his religion. Appealing his case to the Supreme Court, Reynolds argued that the anti-bigamy law was in direct violation of the First Amendment’s free exercise clause.

Although the Court agreed with Reynolds that the free exercise of religion underlay the founding of the United States, it also held that government officials have a right to regulate behavior as part of religious practices that are considered odious and violate basic notions of morality. Until the inception of the Mormon Church, the Court noted, the northern and western nations of Europe and every state had criminalized polygamy.

More important, the Court created a belief-action dichotomy for free exercise clause cases. It held that the federal government cannot interfere with a person’s religious beliefs, except when a religious practice violates certain notions of health, safety, and morality — commonly called police powers. Reynolds, therefore, had the freedom to believe in polygamy, but he could not practice it, because the action violated national police powers....


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Honey69
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18 Apr 2023, 4:55 pm

Fnord wrote:
From a New Phoenix Times article dated 2016-05-20:

Ray Stern wrote:
Phoenix Goddess Temple Priestess Tracy Elise Heads to Prison


...a 48-day trial in which Elise represented herself, a jury found her guilty of 22 counts of prostitution, illegal control of an enterprise, money laundering, conspiracy, and related charges. . .



Representing herself was a very bad idea.

If you look at the definitions used in Arizona prostitution law

https://casetext.com/statute/arizona-re ... efinitions

Quote:

5. "Prostitution" means engaging in or agreeing or offering to engage in sexual conduct under a fee arrangement with any person for money or any other valuable consideration...

8. "Sexual conduct" means sexual contact, sexual intercourse, oral sexual contact or sadomasochistic abuse.

9. "Sexual contact" means any direct or indirect fondling or manipulating of any part of the genitals, anus or female breast.

10. "Sexual intercourse" means penetration into the penis, vulva or anus by any part of the body or by any object...



According to the legal definitions, doctors who examine your genitalia, anus or breasts are engaging in "sexual contact", which falls under the category of "sexual conduct." By charging this, doctors would be guilty of "prostitution."

Also, placing a catheter into a penis would count as "sexual intercourse." By charging for this, a doctor would be guilty of "prostitution."

The law does not offer any excuses for medical procedures. She might have been able to build an argument that if doctors can do this, then why, oh why, can't I?

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and have no idea how this would fly.

But, she probably spent the 48 day trial trying to proselytize rather than offering an actual legal defense. Which is her right.


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naturalplastic
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18 Apr 2023, 6:41 pm

I thought about Mormon polygamy just as I posted my above post. A real life 19th century version of my hypothetical "human sacrifice to the Aztec sun god" scenario. The Mormons had to cave into the pressure to give up polygamy from mainstream America back in the 19th Century. Though some rogue Mormon communities still practice it.



Honey69
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18 Apr 2023, 6:58 pm

Mitt Romney's grandparents were polygamous, and moved to Mexico, with other Mormons, to be able to continue to practice polygamy.


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naturalplastic
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18 Apr 2023, 7:17 pm

Interesting. You learn sumpin very day. Lol!



Honey69
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19 Apr 2023, 3:49 pm

When the Mormons first relocated to Utah, Utah was a part of Mexico. Then, after the Mexican-American War, the Mormons fell under United States jurisdiction once again. Some, including Mitt Romney's ancestors, chose to move to Mexico, when the United States government cracked down on polygamy.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/t ... -62357039/

https://theworld.org/stories/2012-01-31 ... gamy-video

Funny, in his public life, Mr. Romney never made anything of his Mexican heritage. He generally expressed the standard Republican views on Mexicans.


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naturalplastic
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19 Apr 2023, 4:17 pm

Im one of the rare folks that knew that Utah wasnt even part of the US until after the Mormons settled there (and had their asses rescued by those sea gulls- but I digress). Part of that huge chunk of land that we took from Mexico during the Mexican American War (when we sent the Marines to "the halls of Montezuma"). But didnt know that some Mormons pulled up stakes AGAIN after the Mexican War and followed the retreating Mexican border south to seek refuge from the USA again. Interesting.