The Fundamental Latter Day Saints (FLDS) church has been in the news a lot the past couple of months. Seems that the great state of Texas determined that every child of parents who practice this religion are or could be victims of abuse. And that, in my humble opinion, is an enormous miscarriage of justice.
Just because the culture of polygamy may be distasteful or considered bad and wrong doesn't make it right to take away all the children of that culture. The Texas child protective service doesn't have the evidence that each and every child was in harm's way. They shouldn't move in to remove children until they have that kind of evidence. If individual children need to be removed from their homes because there is evidence of abuse, then that should happen.
Then there's the argument that if their parents are practicing polygamists, they are law breakers and children should be taken from people who break the law.
I think a lot of laws are like the visiting hours at a hospital. They're there to be enforced if a need for enforcement arises. But if everything's going well, you can visit after visiting hours are over. And you can practice polygamy in your own home(s). Along the same lines as adultery is against the law. And oral sex. And sodomy in lots of places.
There are lots of laws like those that I'd rather not ever get enforced. And as long as my local polygamists aren't forcing their young daughters to marry old lechers before they are "of age", I really don't have much of a problem with them quietly going about their business.
Polygamy is part of my heritage. My ancestors practiced polygamy back in the 1800's when the Latter Day Saints, or Mormon's as they're more commonly known, practiced polygamy. But Mormon's don't practice polygamy today. One of the standards of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is that they follow the laws of the land where they are. So as long as the law of this land is against polygamy, you won't find any Mormon's practicing polygamy.
That's not to say there aren't splinter groups who do practice polygamy. There are a lot of those. Especially around here in Utah. Some of them dress the way you've seen the Texas group dress and stand out a bit from the crowd. Other's you wouldn't know unless they told you.
I am very glad that Texas seems to have seen the light and are allowing most of the children to return to their homes. I hope that the authorities in Texas and elsewhere have learned that the burden of proof must be met BEFORE removing a child from their home.
