StandingWater Creations

The FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) deserves what they are getting. I mean that as the sect or religion as a whole and not the collective group of individuals. However, with that, I have no desire to see the children returned to either parent -- ever.

You see, the law of the land, Texas, Utah, Arizona, or just the U.S.A., is that you do not have multiple wives AND that underage marriage and sex is strictly forbidden. It does not matter what these women feel (the mothers), it does not matter whose law they are following (the members of the FLDS church), it does not matter in any way what these people feel when it comes to the execution of the law. All the parents can hope for, at this point, is that they a) leave the FLDS church and petition the state for custody of their children; or b) that the children are placed in good homes that will foster the children in a way that will strengthen them and not tear them down or apart.

Unfortunately, I don't see either as being possible... not for a lot of years.

You see, the FLDS church is an offshoot of the LDS church. The "F" stands for fundamentalist. They believe that the LDS church was wrong about eliminating plural marriage. The outcome was that a group of disgruntled members of the LDS church started the fundamentalist church... technically a sect. They appoint a new prophet, who's authority is passed along through the prophet's male lineage. Until you get to Warren Jeffs, the leader of the Fundamentalist LDS church, who was arrested, tried, convicted, and is now awaiting trial in other states, for accessory to abuse of a minor.

When the writing was (clearly) on the wall, the FLDS church moved a large portion of their operations to Texas, near San Angelo onto an 1800 acre Hope For Zion (HFZ) Ranch as well as building a temple on that property. It is the largest structure in the immediate area. What the FLDS church did was to create a room within this temple where religious marriages between a man and young girl could be consummated within the confines of their holy edifice.

One of the elements that exists in this is that the FLDS church has removed themselves, almost wholly, from practicing anything that resembled the religion that Joseph Smith started. In truth, the religion subverts the rights of women, it keeps them in ignorance, and makes them subservient to their husband. The problem, though, is that the LDS faith has always advocated the equality of women; and the FLDS church not only subverts the rights of women, it also heaps upon them multiple wives and then keeps them behind walls and convinces them that they are evil for wearing makeup and for wanting something to wear other than a prairie dress.

The problem with the FLDS is that they marry off young women to older men the moment they begin to menstruate. The reason for the room in the temple for consummation is, in part, to tie it irrevocably to the religion. Since marriage is a religious institution (the state(s) are kept out of it) and since the first night of the marriage takes place in the most holy edifice of the religion, the Temple, then sex is a part of the religion. Refusing to have sex is denying the religion.

Age is a factor in this. The older a woman gets, the more independent, the harder it would be to convince that individual that what she is doing, having sex and babies, is in any way bad. And, truth told, I don't think that sex or children are bad; I do think that children have the right, and we, as adults, have the responsibility to ensure, that they grow up and are allowed to be children.

We all know (and if you are relatively new to the site... then here's news) that I believe that people don't become emotionally mature until they are 26 (or thereabouts). As a result, to marry someone off, and have her have children before she is even old enough to drive (not that she would be able or allowed to drive when she does turn 16) is criminal. The FLDS church breaks the law, and they deserve to be punished for breaking the law, but on top of breaking the law there is underage marriage, underage sex, and underage pregnancies. Because of this, it was a matter of time before the government got involved.

On Larry King Live, the other day, several of the mother's from the FLDS church were interviewed. Whenever Larry King asked a very specific question, the mother's repeated the same things over and over and over again... "We want our children back," and, "We feel bad about the government coming in and taking our kids."

One woman said, "My child is handicapped and only I can take care of him, I want him back."

There is a part of me that believes that there is some truth to what she is saying, that her son is handicapped and that she feels like she is the only one who can take care of him. Chances are, though, the child is going to receive considerably better care outside of the HYZ Ranch than inside of it. Do I doubt the love both mother and father has for their children? No. I do believe that they lost their rights as parents and as guardians when they allowed underage and under-prepared children to be married off and made pregnant.

Regardless of how the FLDS church acts or who gets married, the reason the HFZ Ranch was raided was not because of the illegal marriages, but because one of the girls who had been married off called authorities and told them she was pregnant and being abused. This sent officials into the compound and this is what caused the cascading series of events.

Is the FLDS church being persecuted? I don't think so. I think the persecution argument is a marketing ploy by lawyers and by the FLDS church to convince people that this is a simple religion that has done nothing wrong and should be allowed to exist in virtual obscurity. However, underage sex and pregnancy is abuse. Children are not prepared for the responsibilities of having babies. The outcome to this society is that yes, their way of life is being rejected and yes, the future of their society has been taken away; but no, they are not being persecuted.

More, their Temple is not a holy place. You cannot create a room specifically for the consummation of marriage and expect people to respect the religious institution as a whole. You cannot undermine the advancements of gender and expect people to stand back and ignore an ignorant population or gender. You cannot subvert a group of people (women) and not expect someone, sooner or later, to step in. And you cannot have this kind of closed environment and then claim that physical abuse does not happen.

This kind of society is one that would use physical punishment for children to keep them in line and for them to obey god's law. However, that abuse is not permissible in the law and as a result, the society does not deserve to be left autonomous. Societies that have followed the rule of law have been allowed to remain, within reason, outside of the normal, day-to-day, operations of law and society. One of these, of note, is the Amish community. And yet, they do pay taxes and they do follow the law, the Amish are not trying to subvert the law.

Follow the law and, chances are, your religion will be left alone. Choose to ignore and flaunt the law, and, chances are, your religion will be destroyed. We will not brooch underage marriage, sex, pregnancy, or murder for religion's sake. And in all of these areas there is sufficient evidence to suggest that the FLDS church has either done it or tried to do it.

John Hattaway | smokingpen | Alicia Grey | Clockwork Princess | Cassandra West

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