Polygamy Sect Raid Uncovers Some Ticklish Questions

Everyone's eyes are on the media's feeding- frenzy reporting the Texas raid on the FLDS ranch two weeks ago. Reporting has ranged from somewhat sympathetic to the women of the sect to downright salacious-even going so far as to call the group a 'Sex Cult'. If reporting were more factual and less sensationalism, the viewership might be far better informed about polygamy and the lifestyles it espouses.

Polygamy is almost invariably a religious practice. Polygamy was a widely-accepted practice in the Old Testament and the New Testament appears to contradict itself on the issue. Islam accepts polygamy under Sharia Law and is practiced somewhat over much of the world, with most adherents citizens of Asia, the Middle-East and Arab world. In many cases, polygamy was originally a method of providing for widows and orphans under religious tenets where there were few social services to provide for them. Many populations also see the arranged marriages of young children as a method of assuring their future through dowry and legal rights. Polygamy has far less to do with sex, then, than assuring the well-being of the weaker of the populace. Some groups have codified polygamy more deeply into their religious practices than have others. When life is hard and much food preparation and family care requires a goodly amount of hand-labor such as gardening, cooking, laundry, livestock care and child-rearing, many multiple wives in such countries see it as advantageous in allowing them to work a bit less. It also often provides for younger wives to care for those more elderly as time passes. Since that is not the case in the United States, we find it difficult to understand why any woman would willingly be involved in polygamy.

The United States has frowned openly on the practice of polygamy throughout much of its history and several federal and state laws forbid it. For many years, Mormon communities practiced polygamy openly, primarily in Utah. While legislation gradually outlawed the practice, many polygamist groups simply went under-ground, practicing their marriage faith in secret. Utah Mormon churches outwardly outlawed polygamy in order to gain statehood in the 1900's but allowed existing plural marriages to continue legally until death. Other groups continued to practice this tenet of their religion up through the present. In fact, there are few teeth in laws against polygamy; most states typically only prosecute based on child abuse or incest rather than polygamy as without government marriage licenses and official sanction for marriage, there is no legal case to prosecute.

Other instances of polygamy exist throughout the United States-and very likely exceed the number and scope of all Mormon polygamist sects. The practices of these groups very often involve child abuse, incest and under-age marriage without the consent of the child bride. You will never hear anything about these groups though-because they are Muslim. Somehow, in our cultural obsession to embrace diversity, we have decided these outrages against the rights of children can be ignored. Even the all-too-common reports of fathers or uncles killing young girls who they suspected of behaving in Americanized fashion get little official attention as to the underlying issues and customs creating these situations. Apparently, we save our outrage for those like us who behave differently, although certainly less dangerously than those who mutilate and kill their girl-children here within the United States.

Islamic polygamy is practiced throughout a wide swath of the middle-east and Asia, although less frequent than in the past, due to changing economic conditions and changing customs. However, in nearly every Islamic population in the United States, there are a few-or many-polygamous relationships. An immigrant may bring with him two or more wives, but must not declare them as wives. Instead, savvy immigrants list their 'sister' or 'cousin' or 'aunt' on immigration paperwork, or have relatives arrange visas for their new child brides. Wives acquired within the United States and married privately within the religion become, for all practical purposes, simply unwed mothers and privy to all of the attendant social services.

This is not a new practice. It has been going on here for as long as we have been accepting-legally and illegally-large numbers of Islamic immigrants. Social Service organizations have adopted a 'don't ask, don't tell' policy in dealing with such welfare claimants. Local Muslim doctors likewise do not regularly report instances of female genital mutilation performed-usually by relatives-in keeping with customs brought from the home country. This can only be termed child abuse under any reading of our laws. Many such brides are far below the age of legal consent in their respective states, so it stands to reason that statutory rape attendant such unions is technically child abuse. As it is not uncommon to marry close relatives in such societies, it can be expected that such practices have not changed once they reach the United States, resulting in unprosecuted incest. Yet, we do not see prosecutions of the illegal effects of polygamy in these populations. Why?

All Americans are concerned with the welfare of children. It is a well-documented tenet of our legal system that the protection of the child is paramount. In fact, such laws regarding child protection have evolved to the point where, in most states, the parent has no rights once the 'system' sets them in its sights. This is not well-known among the average citizen. We are inundated with stories of horrendous child abuse and neglect-and these exist. However, it is far more common for families to protect and care for their children in the best way they can.

Unfortunately, common generations-old wisdom in child-rearing has been negated in favor of 'studies' and 'philosophies' of child-rearing that have little basis in fact. Psychology has been called an 'art' in search of a canvas. Unfortunately, as with all art, some innate talent must be inborn into the practitioner. Our schools of psychology can not convey onto practitioners the talent needed simply by granting a degree for memorizing theory but we act as though they can. Therefore, there are some very dysfunctional practitioners among the anointed-and none more so that among 'child psychologists' who profess to speak for those yet unable to verbalize their feelings and thoughts. Here they find their blank canvas onto which they may paint any unspeakable horror that exists in their nightmares. How much is true? And how much has been proven untrue only after imprisonment of the innocent and un-repairable disruption of the family bond?

Listening to psychologists interviewed and quoted in the major media conveys their personal prejudice that all of the children living the lifestyle of the Yearning for Zion Ranch are abused simply by living in an atmosphere where polygamy is followed. This precept is what has driven the raid and subsequent incarceration of 416 children. And, yes, it is incarceration-these children have been removed from the only home they have ever known, from mothers and fathers and other relatives, from familiar surroundings and routines. Is that child abuse? As a mother, I would say it is-and it's being perpetrated by the State. A few more weeks of this trauma will undoubtedly provide for yet another study in which these children's lifestyle is to be blamed for the on-going trauma caused by the State in this action.

There is no evidence these children were in danger of abuse. There is no evidence that abuse exists. This raid was perpetrated on the supposed anonymous complaint of an unknown 16-yr-old caller who alleged abuse she had suffered. A thirty-three year old woman in Colorado Springs has also been arrested and charged with filing a false police report involving making false reports in which she stated she was a teen-age sexual abuse victim on several occasions. It is believed she was the '16-year-old Sarah' who called to say she had been forcibly married to an older man, raped and impregnated at the ranch. If this is true, there was no legal justification for the raid and the attendant trauma to families and children. It is obvious that Child Protective Services seized upon this call as an excuse to go into a situation over which they had much curiosity and un-proven speculation. Before the buses carrying mothers and children even reached their destinations, there was much talk about permanent termination of parental rights and adoption of these children into 'a better environment'. Anyone who is aware of the serious problems facing the foster parenting and supervision problems in this country must immediately feel the hair stand up on the back of their necks.

Most people do not know in this country that we have allowed our concern with children's well-being to reduce parents' rights to a negative. Child Protective Services may respond with 'investigation' on the most minor-sounding complaints. It is common for disgruntled ex-spouses to attempt to get even with a former wife by making a false complaint. Often this is because the ex-spouse resents having to pay child support and complains the mother did not use all the support money directly on the child's needs or some other fabrication. The law is so structured that nearly every anonymous complaint requires an immediate follow-up investigation. Custodial parents are often told they MUST let CPS into their home without a warrant-not true. They are told they will not need an attorney as, if they are not guilty, there will be no action, and however, if they retain an attorney it will be seen as an admission of guilt. All of the 350+ attorneys flocking to Texas are not there to protect the parents' rights but the child's rights. It is doubtful many of them are prepared to deal with the vaguarities of the law in these circumstances. Whose rights are being protected, then? The right of the State to make determinations as to how these children should be raised? What does that say for the rights of every one of us if the State is allowed to 'own' our children and we have no rights?

There is so far no evidence submitted that any girl was forced into marriage against her will. Saying some mothers must have conceived before age eighteen does not constitute a crime; many girls find themselves pregnant at far younger ages and we do not ordinarily prosecute anyone for the crime that obviously occurred. Until two years ago, the age of consent for girls in Texas was 14-undoubtedly authorities are conveniently overlooking the fact that some girls may well have been married when it was legal to do so, although it isn't now. Authorities have even held some girls who state they are over age eighteen, saying they 'look younger' and therefore must be lying. I submit these authorities would have great difficulty in determining the respective ages of a clean-scrubbed and modestly dressed 20-yr-old over a painted and seductively-dressed 13-yr old at any mall in the United States. Whatever these men and women say, it is reported ad nauseum as 'lying' and we are told they have all been taught to lie. We are also told every hour on the hour that these women are too 'brainwashed' and 'too naïve' to know what is good for their children.

We are also expected to find some sense in the comment that all boys over 4 years old have been removed because 'they are raised to abuse women'. Since I have seldom found a 4-yr-old who was physically capable of rape, I find this ridiculous. After all of the men at the ranch volunteered to leave so the women could be re-united with their children in their home-as is customary in cases of suspected abuse, this, too was denied. It's obvious someone has their eye on a huge number of children going up for adoption. How much of this action has to do with the fact that states receive federal money based on the number of children removed to foster care is also not considered-Texas CPS may have met their budget goals early this year due to this action and can well-expect bonus dollars next fiscal year because of it.

That these women were so deprived and so imprisoned within the ranch system is questionable. They were sufficiently supplied with cell phones that they have produced video of Texas Law Enforcement's armored track vehicles and extraordinary armaments during the raid. Did Texas learn nothing from the National and humanitarian shame of Waco? That the vast majority of these women chose to return to the ranch rather than seek asylum at shelters provided for them speaks to their comfort at the ranch for themselves and their futures. That there was no bloodbath speaks to their common sense and aforethought-far more than it does for law enforcement.

Public sentiment for official actions appears to be being driven by media reporting of less-than-factual activities at the ranch. That people tend to suspect and fear what they do not know is human nature-for the public as well as ranch inhabitants. In this case, the public has been poorly served by the media and official pronouncements regarding the case. Even more poorly served has been our Constitution with its rights guaranteed all citizens-of which these victims of over-zealous prosecution have most certainly been deprived. The fact that these polygamists were singled out for such outrageous and false prosecution, while the many enclaves of polygamist Islamic polygamy are not, likely serves to prove the fact that there is a higher value placed on adoptable white children in our society. This is racism at its worst-we are taking the children of people who look just like we do, on the excuse we disagree with their belief system.

The fact that April 19^th is the 15 year anniversary of the fire at Waco that killed over 80 American citizens -in Texas-in a religious compound should not escape any of us. And the fact that the original complaint against the people of Waco was unsubstantiated child abuse should chill us all to the very core of our being. We must all insist that the people of YFZ Ranch be given every opportunity to a fair hearing and fair trial, regardless of our feelings about their religious beliefs, not only for them, but for all of us. An over-reaching government must be stopped in its tracks or none of our children are safe.