There seems to be a surprising amount of sympathy for the FLDS community, and quite a lot of skepticism about whether anything abuse actually ever took place. I think it takes a very big stretch of the imagination to

Or perhaps not. All you need to do is assume that law enforcement (government) agents have more incentive to lie about whats going on than religious fanatics who believe in repressing women and polygamy.

A big piece of contention seems to be the fact that the 16-year-old who made the original phone call has yet to materialize. Apparently this is supposed to cast doubt over the fact that this community was anything short of a repressive cult. Leaving aside the obvious point that concealing this person's identity is both normal procedure as well as prudent for the girls safety, you need to remember that this has been a years-long investigation which began at least as early as the initial Warren Jeffs case.

Police have clearly had their eye on this community for some time, and social workers have made the determination that the environment is not suitable for children. Is it sad that these families are now broken? Yes, but it would be far worse to let abuse continue and a cult flourish.

Lastly, the FLDS is absolutely a cult by any definition. If you have strict rules that are enforced by a community involving physical punishment, then its a cult. There's no need to debate it. Cults are more pervasive in this country than most people realize, largely because it is in their nature to remain innocuous to outsiders and keep a tight control on all communications. If breaking up families is what it takes, in some cases, to bring this issue to the attention that it deserves, then so be it.

These children won't be told that they aren't allowed to go to college, to listen to music, to grow up and be able to determine their own lives. This was, in the end, a good thing that happened, and I think it is paranoid and shameful to say that this was a case of the state overreacting.

well said.

The crying women torn away from their children engender sympathy in some people.

It's painful, true. But necessary.

If I gave my fourteen year old daughter to a 50 year old man and told her to hurry up and have twelve or more kids by the guy, I would be ARRESTED in my state in a hot minute. For pandering, using a child for prostitution. Religion is NOT the issue here. Child abuse is.

Good for Texas that they did something.

Exactly.

Since this discussion is nominally about Carolyn Jessop's book, did you see "Kathleen" being interviewed by Anderson Cooper on CNN? she was looking pissed and saying that in the land of the free and the home of the brave, her freedom and that of her five children was being compromised unfairly. She said she had one ten month old grandchild by her "18 year old" daughter. She wouldn't answer questions about how many wives and children her "husband" has.

Well, Kathleen was one of Carolyn's sister wives (Carolyn was number four, and Kathleen was number five, and Carolyn says that by the time she fled, their "husband" Merril had seven wives and she thinks he's married eight more since). Carolyn was "mother" to Kathleen's kids, and she says the daughter is just now 16 years old, not 18, which means she was impregnated at about 15. Also, Kathleen was the one who ran to Merril to tell him Carolyn was sneaking out of the FLDS community with her kids. Who's interested in "freedom"?

How terrible that the land of the free and home of the brave won't allow the pandering and statutory rape of 14 year old children?

I missed the interview, but it doesn't surprise me. These people are brainwashed.

And if their children are allowed to grow up in such a way, generation after generation, the cycle continues.

What hypocrisy. "Land of the free", I wonder what freedom was given to their daughters when they were forced into the beds of these middle-aged men? What freedom was given to their children, bred to be shut off from the rest of the world and to have no say in what they will do with their futures and to be force-fed pseudo-religious tripe that paints all outsiders as spawn of the devil?

I have issues with Mormonism as it is, but these people are so steeped in brain-washed crap that it's mind-boggling. These "prophets" like Jeffs that prey on the weak and impressionable make me sick.

If the baby is 10 months and the girl is 16, she was just as likely 14 when impregnated.

Yuk, you're right.

Don't think I'm defending the FLDS, but no its not a "cult by any standard." I think most people who study religion won't call it a cult. It is as much of a church as the mainstream Mormons and has been around just as long.

Freedom of religion in our society must be somewhat limited. Its obvious that we wouldn't allow human sacrifice no matter how much someone believed in it. We cannot allow child abuse either as a part of religion.

My biggest fear has been that the whistle-blower girl was found out and subjected to "blood atonement." I hope she's being hidden by someone for her own protection.