Please make sure you state the FLDS IS NOT related to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Some people think we are the same. It would be very good to to get comment from the LDS church headquarters for clarification.

It wasn’t that long ago, in history, that this type of society was everywhere. Before you start saying abuse remember that marrying from the ages of 13-15 was around the world for thousands of years up until the 19th century. In fact it still goes on today for there to be arranged marriages. Even genetically marrying a second cousin poses no significant risk for a birth defect than having children above the age of 35, age 41 for having children with a first cousin. Only in cases of mother/son, father/daughter does it represent a significant increase for birth defects. I fail to see any kind of abuse. I do see a way of life that society has moved away from but I do not see any abuse. America was founded on freedoms and rights. If these people choose to live their lives separated from the rest of society it is their right to do so. Otherwise we can just be communist and let the state tell us what is right and wrong. While the FLDS are extremely different to what modern society preaches it’s no more different than strict Muslim families and societies who practice a similar life style. It’s not our right or duty to force people to modernize their culture. Just let these people live their life according to how they feel it should be lived. There is nobody being forced to live that way. They made a choice and parents have that choice over their children until they are 18.

I’m in my 60’s. I lived in an era where girls married young -15- not uncommon and women often had 12 or more children. But they were not forced to do so. Only a slezze ball would force marriage to relatives, old men and sex offenders. No where in the Bible is there justification for these actions. These followers are brainwashed to believe and submit to a living hell.

My comments are for David. You say that the practices of this sect are no different than “Muslim families and societies who practice a similar life style.” Please, tell me what experience you have with Muslims? I am not Muslim myself, but you are making a correlation between marrying at a young age and sexual practices imposed on someone at a young age. They are not nearly the same thing. Societies can say that marriages are appropriate at young or old ages, but there isn’t a society I know of that welcomes the sexual abuse of children. And, if by chance you happen to give an example that does, dig a little deeper. They are a sect, a cult, an abnormal thing that broke from a society. Child abuse is not a right under any constitution, and no government is wrong to make it illegal.

My comment to MayJay:
I too am in my 60’s and it was not common in my day for girls to marry at 15, even in the south where I was raised. Sounds like you had a bad time of it?

I believe it was the Romans who were well known for their use of young boys as sexual partners and it was very well accepted in their society. My point is that just because something has a long tradition it does not make it right. There may be many cultures throughout the world that live this way, I don’t know. I do know that it is wrong to take a child and manipulate his//her thinking so that they will perform sexual acts. It doesn’t matter what time we are living in or where in the world we are.

I think the bottom line is that the state of Texas will need to prove that there is abuse. Choosing a simple life style or isolating your children from the modern world is not abuse…if it is then movie stars or other religious groups who home school are abusive. Cultures such as Muslims or Hindus who do have arranged marriages and often at young ages are abusive.
I agree that sexual abuse cannot be tolerated nor is it reasonable to marry very young girls off against their wishes, however this is a borderline situation and is very subjective to cultural upbringing…
I believe that law enforcement in TX should have to provide evidence of true abuse and not let this be decided in the media based on how things appear. Looks can be deceiving…. think of the trama involved in removing 400 children from their mothers and the only life they have ever known based on a scrap of testimony by a sixteen year old that they can’t find.

A small child sitting in the back of a car while the parent sits in front smoking away on cigarette after cigarette has absolutely no choice but to inhale the fumes. Growing up, the child sees no problem with smoking until he/she becomes educated enough to understand the dangers of second hand smoke and smoking. The key words here are “choice” and “educated.” These children living in that sick society have had the option of choice taken away from them, and they are being educated that it is the normal thing to do. Therefore, these children will grow up believing that this lifestyle is normal and may continue on this cycle of mental poverty indefinately until someone steps in and “chooses” what is right for them. That little child in the back seat thinks every mommy smokes and every little kid coughs like he/she does!

To Smitty:

Your comments about it being a “sick society” is unfounded, unjustified, and based on your feelings of what is normal.

Presumably, you would feel the same way about Amish communities. Simply because some would rather not be tainted by the rampant secularism in modern society, they aren’t criminals.

Further, it seems you would presume that only you can decide what is normal for another’s children.

Let’s wait and see whether formal charges are brought before you execute them