It's easy to dismiss the Yearning for Zion Ranch as a collection of kooks, but even kooks have rights in this country, or should. Innocent chidlren, especially, should have their rights firmly protected, including the right not to be torn from their homes without clear and compelling evidence of immediate danger. Yet the State of Texas has abused the children of the Yearning for Zion families in just that way, on the strength of one anonymous phone call accusing one man of abusing his 16-year-old wife. Over 400 children were turned over to strangers, subjected to medical examinations, and even though there was no evidence of abuse have still not been allowed to return home.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (not to be confused with the "mainline" Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, commonly called Mormons) certainly is bizarre, and if they are forcing people to marry against their wills (underage or not), if they are breaking the laws of Texas, they are in the wrong. But living in an isolated community, wearing old-fashioned clothing, and teaching one's children that obedience is a godly virtue are not crimes, no matter how odd they might seem to mainstream America. If the laws against underage marriage have been broken, let them be investigated and prosecuted with due process, not with hysteria and actions that will forever scar young lives.
"Laws against underage marriage." Hmmm, I wonder where the activists are? The ones who think it's so natural for children to have sex that they're pushing for condom distribution in middle schools? The ones who insist 13-year-olds need access to abortions—without parental consent or even notification? It's okay for young teens to be sexually active and have abortions, but not okay for them to marry and have children? Now that's what I call a bizarre belief system!Amen, sister!
One thing I have a problem with is how these Nth wives claim to be unmarried mothers for the purpose of welfare benefits. It's the only way the guy can afford > 10 wives. If they wanted to stop this, they could simply by acknowleding their unlicensed (by the state) marriages as actual marriages and stop welfare payments. That would require no show of state force at all. But that would require that the state not be the arbiter of marriage and would thus lessen it's power. So that's not what they did.
