The FLDS problem Public Forum Letter Article Last Updated: 04/30/2008 06:37:02 PM MDT
While emotionally appealing, the plea that the Texas FLDS children be returned to their parents fails to answer the question, "What then?" The Short Creek "return policy" has resulted in: the "lost boys," welfare fraud amounting to billions of dollars, 15-year-old girls exercising "free will" to marry 50-year-old men (please!), and women "reassigned" to new husbands outside the bounds of secular law. Which action presents the greater evil? Nature provides a near 50/50 ratio of female to male, yet in the Texas compound there are four women to every man. Someone is being short-changed. Being expelled from the community, the "lost boys" find themselves unprepared to fend in normal society. These expulsions warrant jail time for the responsible authority and for the parents.
How many men can afford to clothe, feed, house and educate 30 children? Polygamy is not only against the law, but by depending upon government welfare for its survival, it crosses the boundary of church and state. Yes, the Texas incident seems harsh, but something harsh is needed, similarly in Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz. Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff should do more than close one eye.
F.T. Gardiner Provo
Poster Comment:
but by depending upon government welfare for its survival, it crosses the boundary of church and state.
This op ed piece sums up the problem ... take State benefits and you open your door to the State thugs !