In recent days, law enforcement agents have raided a compound belonging to the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) -- Warren Jeffs' operation -- and removed nearly 200 girls and women from the premises.
I was discussing it with a neighbor, who told me that this amounted to kidnapping. "These girls were forcibly removed from their homes," he explained. "The girls had done nothing wrong, yet they must feel like they're being punished -- being ripped from their homes, from their families."
Well, that's one way of looking at it, but a very simplistic one. The situation inside the compound was anything but simplistic, as chronicled in the memoirs of a few rare escapees.
In normal society, when it is discovered that a child is being abused at the hands of her parents, the authorities intervene, if the child is lucky, and the child is removed from the abusive environment.
The recent activity at the FLDS compound is no different. The authorities simply removed those girls and women from an abusive environment.
Some are probably too young to realize that they are being rescued, and all must be very frightened by the abrupt change of course that their lives have taken. But such is probably the case for just about anyone who is rescued from a dangerous home life.
While I don't personally have a problem with polygamy, if it's between consenting adults, girls who are raised in the FLDS are not willing participants. They are forced, when very young, to marry whomever the church leaders deem appropriate.
Imagine being a young girl forced to marry a man old enough to be your father -- or perhaps even old enough to be your grandfather. You are treated like breeding stock. Your purpose in life is to have lots of children and to obey your husband. Those are your keys to heaven. That is how you are measured.
You have no control over your own life, your own body, or your own children. All the decisions are made by your husband and by the church leaders on behalf of "God".
You are powerless. You have to ask permission to make even the smallest of decisions.
The only decision you can make, the only power you can gain, is to win your husband's favor through sex and thereby perhaps have some minimal influence on things. And, of course, this leads to backstabbing and rivalry amongst wives.
And then there is the abuse by husbands, other wives, and the community.
No one will help you. No one will listen.
Imagine the effects that kind of life must have on a girl's self-esteem.
These girls are prisoners. They are trapped in this cult with no way out. They are, essentially, slaves.
They are brainwashed and told that the outside world is "evil", so that they won't dare try to escape. Besides, to reject or even question these practices, they are told, is to defy the very word of God. Do so and you're hellbound.
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
I first thought it odd that white buses marked Southern Baptist Church were used to remove the girls from their homes. Then last night I heard an interview with one of the well-intentioned ladies from the church who proclaimed her deep love of children and how long she and others had waited for an opportunity to get into the Mormon compound and save the abused girls therein.
"They're not of our world," she said. "They don't wear make up, and their cheeks are rosey. They won't eat processed foods, or watch TV, or play with toys. They work hard. They go right for a broom or the dishes and start to clean up. They don't even know what to do with Crayolas. They don't want their bodies exposed to others."
That is about the best I can summarize from memory, but I recollect being struck by the idea of who was abusing whom. If one complains about Islam for some of these same qualities, one is branded intolerant, even though Islam brings with it the imperative of spreading its ideology with the sword. Yet, a Mormon living in peace without television or processed food, with an old fashioned American work ethic, who rejects a society that sees women as nothing more than sexual objects useful for selling products, who has rosey cheeks and refuses to wear make up or be seen as a sex object, must be saved from her society and brought into line with our sexually charged, consumer oriented, processed food culture, even if it kills her.
Yes, the yound women should have a choice. But force is not the answer. Especially force initiated by a rival religious establishment. The first amendment takes another one on the chin.
by
W.M.L. (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 329 comments)
on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 6:23:25 AM
While I too loathe the life strangling misogynistic tenets of this groups "theological" belief system, it is always bothersome to see massive assets of American law enforcement exercising police state authority.
As a father of daughters, the rescue of these young women feels proper. (On a purely emotional level, as a father, I would have been a one man ass kicking machine in an effort to retrieve one or more of my dauhters from such a freak show). But unless there is irrefutable proof that this isolated group is nothing more than a facade to facilitate pedophila, then I have a problem with what is taking place.
As an American who believes in freedom of thought, freedom of and from religion, freedom to assemble, and if desired freedome to isolate...then the specter of governmental interference annoys me to no end.
Is this the next Waco? Many males (noitce I did not say men) are still living in the compound. They cannot be happy campers. Let's hope that they and the authorities do not create yet another American embarrassment in the form of a violent resolution.
As to the polygamy, men are such hypocrites. If men were honest about their natural desires, polygamy would be the rule throughout all societies. And if women were honest, from a psychosexual standpoint many more than now admit (even whip wielding dominatrix's) actually desire the passionate and protective male dominant interaction...honest, passionate, and protective being the operative words here.
Bottom line...even when used for good reason, police state tactics make my skin crawl.
by
James Strait (39 articles, 0 quicklinks, 7 diaries, 192 comments)
on Tuesday, April 8, 2008 at 6:59:06 AM
The un-named minor that is nowhere to be found is suspicious. When any minor is missing the name and photo is pasted on milk cartons and on news. This is not the case in El Dorado. Baptist buses shuttled the minors to a Baptist shelter. This is giving preference to one religion over another which is un-constitutional. The adults are not under arrest but held against their will with no accuser to face,again un-constitutional. Could it be the complaint is a fabrication ?
The lockdown seen in El Dorado is coming to a town near you. No crime or endangerment is needed by a fascist dictatorship bent on crushing any person or movement that does not fit the politically correct mold.
What will the bleeding heart liberals think when their children are removed from their home. Wake up people. You are next. No charges are needed. Any excuse will do when so many rush to defend the fascist machine that "protects" the innocents.
by
john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 426 comments)
on Wednesday, April 9, 2008 at 2:18:17 PM
And perhaps I shouldn't be surprised if they miss one particularly glaring issue--how the women actually feel about this variety of slavery. I know that a lot of women fantasize about a brute taking over their lives. Many choose their partners poorly for this reason. Perhaps this is nature's way of getting the average woman to tolerate the average man--otherwise, no children. Fantasy and reality, however, are two different things. The masochist wants Mr. Wonderful to do these nasty things to her, she doesn't want the mangy pot-bellied slob next door (nor anyone other than the apple of her eye). When he tries it, it is rape.
The intervention, I think, was clumsy. The use of another church's buses was particularly inflammatory. The kids are likely to be traumatized--it's probably inevitable--and how will the boys do after having been "groomed" for the exhalted role in their narrow world? For at least some of the women and girls, I reckon there is some sense of relief--like their most fervent prayers were finally answered!!!
The real problem is that the FLDS went too far with its isolationism and it led to serious abuses. A life without TVs, make-up or processed food is wonderful, and it is a great way to raise children, IMO. But people need to be given a choice, and forcing a young teen to marry and bear children for a much older relative? If there isn't already a law against this, there should be. I don't know if a guy can imagine himself in a young girl's position, but I wonder if misogyny doesn't drive some of this.
by
Patricia 0rmsby (3 articles, 5 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 133 comments)
on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 12:09:44 AM
The political elite have their underage boys and girls and are beyond the reach of the law. The Franklin Savings debacle a very good example. The minor witnesses to the politicians crimes were threatened and killed. Lets not cloud the issue here, The Mormons were gardening and living somewhat "off the grid" not accepting the mind control offered by TV and not politically correct. Funny the Baptist were the source of the cell phone abuse complaint, if it ever really took place. A famous European dictator in the 30s also took charge of the children and removed them from the home. Now its Youth for Dubya.
by
john riggs (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 426 comments)
on Thursday, April 10, 2008 at 7:37:54 AM
The Jehovah's Witnesses have settled lawsuits alleging church policies protected pedophile men who sexually abused children for many years. Frederick McLean is one of the most-wanted fugitives in the United States
How can you condone the actions of this cult? A child sex cult is wrong. You try to make it seem like they are keeping them and putting them into "sexually charded normal" soceity, but what they are in right now is for more sexual what 11 year old girls are involved in sexual relations in normal society? none except children normal society considers abused!!!! Do the other male posters in support of that cult have a hidden agenda here? Perhaps they too are pedophiles? The government isn't going to come into anyones home, and even if they did come into someones home as long as you're not *abusing* your child you have nothing to fear. The only thing that the government did wrong is not act sooner, as this cult had way too much time to grow. I notice the other posters seem to call anyone apposed to that cult baptists. I belong to no set religion, I'm agnostic. The leaders of that cult are sick, and deserve to be treated like they treated those girls, perhaps in prison where they can be the ones who are raped!
by
Steve Zimmer (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 1 comments)
on Friday, April 11, 2008 at 12:15:07 AM
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