The State of Texas is Wrong

A community that works together for a common goal, supporting each other through times of need, sharing in each others joys and triumphs. Sounds pretty wonderful doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you want to live in a community with these principles?

Children raised to believe that God is their heavenly father, that people should be held to a moral law, that you support every member of the community, that crime is condemned and punished by a higher authority than man. Who among you would not want to be a part of this community?

Far too many families these days stay away from church. Their children are not being taught the golden rule “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. They are not taught to love thy neighbor. They are taught that trust is for fools and will only result in you being ripped off or exposed to personal injury.

Children in the FLDS community, as in other religious based communities, are being protected from the ugliness and sin that has so pervaded our world. Is this so wrong?

The main point that so many people object to with the FLDS sect is that one man can have more than one wife. And, of course, if you believe it happens, that girls are forced to marry older men.

Many stories we read from women who have “escaped” this lifestyle are told from the perspective of their own experiences based squarely in their own agenda. They use the word escape, which denotes imprisonment, and yet they entered these marriages voluntarily and stayed for some time. Marriages fall apart everyday. Wives leave their husbands for a variety of reasons. Did they say they were actually abused? No. But they leave us with the impression that abuse was a common occurrence. It is easy for us to believe abuse was common because we don’t subscribe to plural marriages and believe that it can only exist if a woman is forced into it. And choosing to believe this only satisfies our understanding of it. We only listen to stories from those who want to break away and we easily believe their version because our culture has been indoctrinated by mass media to expect only the juicy gossip, the more gory and demeaning the better. And allowing the assumption of abuse as the basis for these women’s escape helps them garner our sympathy. It is human nature to try to gain sympathy from others to help rationalize their actions as justifiable.

The wording of this statement: “young girls forced to marry older men”, is being tossed about by the Texas authorities as one justification for their raid because Texas law says it is illegal for any man over the age of 19 to have sex with a woman under the age of 16. It’s a good and proper law. Personally, as the father of four daughters I think the age of consent for the girl should be 18, but, that’s just me.

This picture of girls being forced into marriage is simply not true. Many women involved in these polygamist marriages deny that they were arranged or forced. They also say women are free to leave the faith if they want to.

It is true that they are raised to believe that it is acceptable for one man to have many wives. Is this brainwashing? Isn’t it brainwashing for the rest of us to be forced to believe that a man should only have one wife? Is it brainwashing to be taught to obey your parents? Is it brainwashing to be raised to believe in only one God? What about being raised to believe in “one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.

The state sees another point of contention, a closed community that does not need the state.

After the raid on this sect, the state of Texas must maintain that there was imminent danger towards these children in order to justify their actions in taking these children away from their mothers. They have to say they are acting in the best interest of the children because that pulls hardest at the public’s sense of justice. They entered this community based on a tip that has not been verified, has not been corroborated, and has not been substantiated. The caller has not come forward to get the help she supposedly claims she needs. So, naturally, the assumption is that the call was never placed.

Those of you who believe Texas authorities rightfully removed these children from their homes have the right to your belief. I am sure you are convinced that the FLDS followers were duped into a life of immorality which in your world is considered abuse and you base your belief solely on the fact that they don’t subscribe to the same beliefs as you.

We allow authorities too much leeway in the interpretation of what constitutes abuse. When they can come into a community, remove children from their homes, based on the idea that ‘in the future’ another fifteen year old will be ‘forced’ to marry an older man for the purpose of producing children then we have given the authorities too much power.

The FLDS community is not a criminal enterprise. They do not prey on members outside of their community, nor do they prey on each other, they do not ask for handouts from state welfare or anyone else. They are self-sufficient. They don’t need the outside world.

Texas rangers did not need to come riding in on their white horses to clean up a lawless town.

Many of you reading this may have formed the opinion that I must be a polygamist member or sympathizer with my own agenda for painting law enforcement as the bad guys here. Well, I confess, I do have an agenda:

I don’t believe law enforcement has the right to tear families apart without valid verifiable evidence.

I believe a law abiding community of like-minded adults has the right to raise their children as they see fit, if that excludes the state then so be it.

I do not believe in plural marriages, I am not a polygamist, I am not a member of the LDS church. I am Baptist, I believe in God and Jesus and the apostils.

I believe every child should be exposed to religious instruction for the purpose of learning morals.

I believe every child should be taught ethics.

I believe in the basic right of every human being to live his/her live in any way they see fit until they begin encroaching on the rights and livelihood of their fellow man.

I believe the state of Texas is out of line in this case and that they are justifying their actions based on simple religious prejudice.

That phone call or phone calls cannot be proven to have ever taken place. Texas is ripping these families apart based on their “faith” that future crimes will take place.

This is not my ideal of legal justice.