State Persecutes Parents

First off, I must say that as a Christian I believe Mormonism is a cult. Secondarily, I do not agree or condone any abuse of children. Having said that I have to say that I am confused by the recent case of a ranch raid in Texas against a fundamentalist branch of Mormonism. I am also disgusted by the media feeding frenzy that is using words like JUICY to describe the court proceeding. The word JUICY was used by the attorney who is coordinating all of the children's attorneys in an interview on CNN this evening.

It is my understanding that a 16 year old girl supposedly called someone and claimed that she was forced into marriage, raped, and pregnant by a much older man. This 16 year old did not file any charges against anyone and indeed seems to have disappeared. Why did the state not enter the compound with the intent of rescuing this one girl? If this girl exists and did indeed ask for help. How did a case involving one 16 year old lead to the blanket removal of 416 children from their parents? Is the state actually saying that all 416 of these children are being abused somehow? What standard are they using to determine abuse? Is the state considering being raised in their parents faith abuse? If so, did they have 416 search warrants or did they violate these families legal rights against illegal search and seizure.

Immediate reports following the children's removal said that they were all healthy. One woman who was interviewed stated that the children and mothers were calm, healthy, and in fact she said we would all be better off if we ate as well as they did. The families are requested nuts, yogurt, water and non pasteurized milk. The horror of finding children not inundated with sugar and white flour. Is this considered abuse? Some of the more interesting media comments have included shock at the children's lack of TV trivia, lack of knowledge concerning the use of the Internet, and apparently (GASP) the poor children did not know what crayolas where. Is this considered abuse?

It was also reported that there were several pregnant teenagers found in the raid. If these teenagers have not filed a complaint themselves why is it any of the states business. Does the state believe it has to rescue these young woman from themselves because of their beliefs? There are pregnant teenagers all over this country many times by older men and yet in most states a parent would be unable to press charges against an older man for having sex with their teenager daughter. In many states your elementary student is given condoms and sexually graphic material by the government school encouraging sexual behavior.

These parents should have the right to raise their children even if we do not understand their culture or agree with it. They have a right to not have their children seized by overly aggressive and salacious prosecutors who appear to be maliciously prosecuting a group of people simply because they do not agree with their lifestyle. Ironic considering how tolerant we are of alternative lifestyles. We should all be very concerned about our own rights as parents as the government continues to erode our ability to parent and education our children as we determine best.