I hate it when these type of things happen. On one hand, I understand why people and the government want to raid these places. Society has determined that what goes on in there is abuse, and we want to put a stop to it.I
I just wonder if we’d be saying the same things these people are if something similar happened to one of us, who is in the mainstream. If the government busted into your house and took your children, claiming that what you believed was abusive to them, how would you feel?
6 responses so far ↓
William Rennick // April 14, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Lets be clear: FLDS does not mean “Mormons”. It would be like saying Fundamentalist Christians instead of “Catholics”.
y // April 15, 2008 at 2:02 am
If I can be really intolerant for a second, given that normal mormons have rules that make them about as straight edge as the most fundamentalist Christians, I was blown away that there were people that considered themselves more fundamentalist than regular mormons. But I figured out that among Christians, being fundamentalist just means you don’t drink and you don’t like gays. Apparently being a fundamentalist mormon means you’re a pedaphile.
Justin, to answer your question, I think this goes back to the concept of your rights stopping where my nose starts. If you’re religious beliefs involve hurting other people, I think that judicial rulings have said that those beliefs aren’t covered by the constitution. it’s the same reason the parents in the gweezus church go to jail when their kids starve and the reason why rastafarians can’t smoke pot in the US.
justinmundie // April 15, 2008 at 2:37 am
Yeah, I understand your point. But I think they have a point too, in that, their religion has allowed this for a long time… and as far as I know, marrying people that we consider underage was common practice up until about 150 years ago. At some point, society determined that that was wrong. What is society going to consider abuse 50 years from now? Teaching them the bible… about creationism, or whatever? Granted, I don’t believe in creationism, but as ridiculous as some of those people are, they have the right to teach their kids what they want. All kids are brainwashed to some effect by their parents sharing values with them, and once they get older, they have the opportunity to make their beliefs their own.
Just anytime the federal government raids peoples homes and takes their children… that makes me nervous.
Dobosh // April 15, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I don’t believe that “pedophile” is the correct term to use here. Firstly, the abused people in question seem to be post-pubescent (otherwise they wouldn’t be bearing children). Secondly, it’s not clear that the abusing older men are excited and aroused by young children so much as marrying and pro-creating with young women is a tenant of their religion.
Then again, proper language isn’t really something people give a darn about in Amerika these days.
y // April 15, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Dobosh, is a 50 year old man marrying and having sex with a 15 year old any less disturbing than having sex with a 5 year old? It is one thing when you have two kids who are into each other, but it is something much different when you’re talking about old guys like this.
As for proper language, I believe I did use the proper term. Webster defines pedophilia as “sexual perversion in which children are the preferred sexual object”. Someone of age 15 is a child.
jessie // April 20, 2008 at 10:09 pm
“Someone of age 15 is a child.”
A lot of evidence out there would suggest that Mary was between 14-16 when she gave birth to Jesus. That’s simply how society was back then - and, apparently, in some places today. Something isn’t sick and wrong simply because it isn’t what we’re used to.
And perhaps the “child”-like aspects of teenagers today isn’t because they aren’t supposed to be adults yet. Puberty, which begins as early as 9 or 10 in some cases, is a pretty significant pyhsical sign that someone is LEAVING childhood and ENTERING adulthood. Might I propose that teenagers today (in America more than anywhere else) are still child-like and immature because that is how they are being raised, rather than how they truly ought to be?
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