George Q. Cannon (center with cane), William Gimbert Saunders (second from right), and William Morley Black (right of Cannon with white beard).
Posted on 04/25/2008 2:27:00 PM PDT by JRochelle
The raid this month on a polygamist sect's Texas ranch left more than 400 children from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in state custody.
Under any circumstances, children have trouble adjusting to a world in which their parents suddenly are gone. But in this case, these children likely will be put in an outside world that they have been raised to see as evil.
To better understand their plight, The Washington Times spoke with three former members of the FLDS as well as Rowenna Erickson, a founding member of Tapestry Against Polygamy (Polygamy.org).
The Utah-based organization supports children and vulnerable adults seeking to leave the polygamous lifestyle.
"Polygamy is one big male excuse" for sex, Mrs. Erickson told The Times, using graphic language.
She grew up in the Latter-day Church of Christ, a polygamous Mormon sect also known as the Kingston family. At age 20, she became the second wife of her older sister's husband; the couple bore eight children together.
"My children and I lived in dire poverty in a two-and-a-half bedroom house," Mrs. Erickson said.
Her husband lived separately from the family, and she was prohibited from disclosing their true relationship to others — including to the couple's own children — so as not to raise the suspicion of the civil authorities.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
First off,
Any sane person would remove kids from a home where no one claims the child and the child can’t tell who their parents are. That’s SOP in any situation.
Secondly, for the other questions, off to ask those who know to pull articles far quicker than I can (like the one posted here about some children being from Canada)
As for voices in my head, I’m just reading news, listening to reports and doing research, maybe you need to get your seeing eye dog away from the keyboard for a while.
George Q. Cannon (center with cane), William Gimbert Saunders (second from right), and William Morley Black (right of Cannon with white beard).
You appear to have no problem with the government going into a sect, and taking all of the children away. And if the children can be shown to be truly 'at risk', that is a good thing. However, base upon the Time line, it does not appear that the Texas goverment placed a whole lot of effort into this act. Given that the phone call that triggered this whole mess is a bogus, prank call - one wonders if any thought was given at all.
Warren Jeffs is in jail, and that is a good thing. However, because he broke a law and 'married' a 14 year old; does not mean that every 14 year old girl is to be taken away from their home. I value my family, and I am very suspicious of any goverment agency that can arbitrarily decide that my grandchildren are at risk and take the kids away without interviewing the parents, or child. Without provocation, without redress and without a chance to prove innocence. That is my concern.
Late 1800s prison garb?
Where, o where is that hyperbole hero? Honestly. Hodar, this post was not one of your best.
"Without provocation, without redress and without a chance to prove innocence. That is my concern." Really? Well then, relax. Nothing of the sort happened here, and if you are not FLDS, it probably won't happen to you, either.
I haven't seen so much scripture twisting since I read gay biblical 'justification' for a homosexual lifestyle. It is disgusting.
1886?
“You and others keep bring up the same arguments from thread to thread, no matter how many times they have been addressed, answered, shown to be wrong, whatever.
I recommend reading the responses and coming up with something new, but hey! it’s a free country”
it became apparent a few days ago that the general feelings about this polygamy issue seems split down gender lines with the men folk taking the side that looks to the legality of the raid and attempting give people a chance to have their day in court and the women posters seem to take the hardline, prejudicial stance and as such we are all at a stalemate
You just made my point. Today, the FLDS are the targets. Who's the target when we obliterate the FLDS? I mean, if we trample all over their rights, then whatever group you or I belong too are just as vulnerable tomorrow. Remember Nazi Germany? First they took the Jews, and I didn't protest because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Gypsies, and I didn't protest because I wasn't a Gypsy.
I want the letter of the law followed EXACTLY for every single person and group.
Again, if you read my earlier post to you, we have identified nearly 150 children out of 432 which the CPS conceded to be NOT at risk, yet these children remain captive and are prevented contact with their parents. Do you believe that the FLDS lawyers will ignore this fact? How many hundred Million dollars do you suppose this screw up is worth?
To declare that because of their faith, they are immune from the same rights that you and I are protected by, is to make our Constitution meaningless. We do not have a 2 class system of laws. Everyone has the same rights and the same protections. It is my view that the FLDS are being denied their basic Constitutional rights, simply because they are FLDS. I think that time and the courts will find that Texas made, and continues to make some serious transgressions. I just hate to see my taxes get handed to a religious sect, because some hot-head decided to ignore the laws and go after a religious sect he didn't care for. I'd be just as irate if this were a Muslim group, instead of FLDS.
Very astute observation. I think you are correct.
BTTT
Tell that to Matt Drudge, he's the one who linked it (www.drudgereport.com).
What do you consider a credible source? Again, if you can't defend the idea, attack the person presenting a different side. When that fails, attack the source. Ever hear of Al Franken?
Hillary’s “it takes a village” concept hasn’t been enacted into law. Courts do not hand over children to random adults who claim, as a group, that the children, as a group, belong to them. Likewise, if police a raid an apartment in sketchy part of town, based on an anonymous phone call saying that underage female runaways are being kept there by a group of adults who run a prostitution ring, they don’t take the adults’ word for it that the girls are actually their own children and not being used for prostitution. They take the girls out of there, get them away from the pimps for a while until they feel safe telling authorities what’s actually going on. If the pimps want them back sooner, for starters, each of them will have to prove to the court that specific girls are their own children.
Do your own reading about the history of this cult, including recent history by escapees — mothers, lost boys, ejected fathers, etc.
Prejudicial? What is that? Bait?
From the article:
As a teenager, Mrs. Mackert was assigned to marry her stepbrother, with whom she had three children. Shortly before the couple’s fifth wedding anniversary, her husband, who had not taken a second wife, announced that he was not a believer in polygamy and was filing for divorce.
The FLDS subsequently assigned Mrs. Mackert to marry a man who was more than 30 years her senior and the husband of her sister. Mrs. Mackert refused.
“They told me I had the spirit of apostasy ... and took away my children,” she said. “I was told they were conceived under the covenant of plural marriages and that I no longer had a right to them.”
Her children were placed with her parents — a situation that terrified Mrs. Mackert, given her father’s abuse — and told that she had abandoned them.
Popping back and forth across state lines has also been a key part of their strategy, which is the main reason for the Utah-Arizona straddling enclave. But international border crossing is certainly part of the program of hiding people who are wanted by authorities. It may bite them this time, though, as Canadian authorities have been looking for an opportunity to crack down on this group, and having a court in Texas requesting help in identifying and locating the biological parents of children in Texas custody who seem to be Canadian citizens will open the door. The State Department may get involved too, especially if any cross-border custody disputes crop up between verified parents.
There may be more adult members willing to “squeal” in Canada, because the group has fairly recently undergone a major schism there, with about half sticking to following Warren Jeffs, and the rest transferring their loyalty to a guy named Blackmore who had long been the “bishop” there, but broke with Jeffs a year or two ago.
The Dallas Morning News reported that at least one 14 year old is pregnant.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-polygamists_23tex.ART.State.Edition2.4682227.html
The Deseret News notes that about 40 or so of the mothers are under 18.
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695273381,00.html
In the meantime, all the reports show how many of the cowardly men are afraid to stand up and claim their wives and children.
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