Aftermath of the Polygamist Church Raid

You've probably been reading about this cult bust up over at Eldorado... the polygamist Fundamental Church of latter Day Saints (FLDS) and followers of Warren Jeffs. It's not, by Texas standards, that far from here so I was curious about the exact location. Found this page from Google 3D Warehouse which pinpoints it if you are curious too. The local newspub called the Eldorado Success has quite a few archived stories on the complex, but it seems to be simply because there's not much other news coming from tiny Eldorado.


The count of the number of people who have been brought out of this complex has gone from 50 yesterday to over 500 today, and although it is so far without bloodshed, there is plenty of damage that's already been done to these people by this cult of fear.

It will not be easy for the people taken out of there to adjust to a new life. worth it, of course, but not easy. There is great fear to overcome -- fear of going to Hell for even being tempted to believe anything but the given doctrine, fear of punishment (even torture), fear of God and Prophet, fear of betraying , disappointing or leaving family, love and fear being to intermingled as to be the same emotion. It's the ultimate abusive situation: children forced into marriages with close relatives -- 14 year old girls unwillingly paired with 50 year old men, plus the polygamy.

I have nothing against polygamy as a concept. If all parties are adults and all are of sound mind and wanting to marry more than one person, and all those persons want to be married to all parties concerned, then let it be arranged. To me, polygamy is not really the issue.

There should be freedom of religion. The problem comes in when your religion takes away the freedom of others, and in this case involves imprisonment and torture -- both physical and psychological.

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