Texas polygamist sect is accused of indoctrinating girls
By MICHELLE ROBERTS
April 18, 2008
SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) =97 Girls in the west Texas polygamous sect enter
into underage marriages without resistance because they are ruthlessly
indoctrinated from birth to believe disobedience will lead to their
damnation, experts for the state testified Friday at a custody hearing
for 416 youngsters.
The renegade Mormon sect's belief system "is abusive. The culture is
very authoritarian," said Dr. Bruce Perry, a psychiatrist and an
authority on children in cults.
But under questioning from defense lawyers who lined up in the
courtroom aisles to have a turn at each witness, the state's experts
acknowledged that the sect mothers are loving parents and that there
were no signs of abuse among younger girls and any of the boys.
The testimony came on Day 2 of an extraordinary mass hearing over an
attempt by the state of Texas to strip the parents of custody and
place the children in foster homes away from the compound inhabited by
members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints.
A witness for the parents who was presented by defense lawyers as an
expert on the FLDS disputed the state's contention that a bed in the
retreat's gleaming white temple was never used to consummate the
marriages of underage girls to much older men.
Instead, W. John Walsh testified, it is used for naps during the
sect's long wor****p services.
"There is no ***ual activity in the temple," Walsh said.
The children were seized this month in a raid on the desert compound
because of evidence of physical and ***ual abuse, including the
forcing of underage girls into marriage and childbearing.
Texas District Judge Barbara Walther boiled it down this way: "The
issue before the court is: Can I give them back?"
Attorneys for the children and the parents appeared to be trying to
show in cross-examination that their children were fine and that the
state was trying to tear families apart on the mere possibility that
the girls might be abused when they reach puberty several years from
now.
Only a few of the children are teenage girls. Roughly a third are
younger than 4 and more than two dozen are teenage boys. But about 20
women or more gave birth when they were minors, some as young as 13,
authorities say.
The judge controlled the hundreds of lawyers with a steelier hand
Friday than she did the day before.
Under cross-examination, state child-welfare investigator Angie Voss
conceded there have been no allegations of abuse against babies,
prepubescent girls or any boys.
But her agency, Child Protective Services, contends that the teachings
of the FLDS =97 to marry shortly after puberty, have as many children as
possible and obey their fathers or their prophet, imprisoned leader
Warren Jeffs =97 amount to abuse.
"This is a population of women who appear to have a problem making a
decision on their own," Voss said.
In response, the FLDS women, dressed in long, pioneer-style dresses
with their hair swept up in braids, groaned in chorus with their dark-
suited attorneys.
Walsh disputed that young girls have no say in who they marry.
"Basically, they're into match-making," he said of the sect, adding
that girls who have refused matches have not been expelled.
"I believe the girls are given a real choice. Girls have successfully
said, 'No, this is not a good match for me,' and they remained in good
standing," he said.
Perry testified that the girls he interviewed said they freely chose
to marry young. But he said those choices were based on lessons
drilled into them from birth.
"Obedience is a very im****tant element of their belief system," he
said. "Compliance is being godly; it's part of their honoring God."
Perry acknowledged that many of the adults at the ranch are loving
parents and that the boys seemed emotionally healthy when he played
with them. When asked whether the belief system really endangered the
older boys or young children, Perry said, "I have lost sleep over that
question."
Under questioning, Perry also conceded the children would suffer if
placed in traditional foster care.
"If these children are kept in the custody of the state, there would
have to be exceptional and innovative programmatic elements for these
children and their families," he said. "The traditional foster care
system would be destructive for these children."
At that, dozens of FLDS parents applauded.
Eugene Volokh, a UCLA law professor, said courts have generally held
that a parent's belief system cannot, in itself, justify a child's
removal. He said, for example, that a parent might teach his child
that smoking marijuana is acceptable, but only when he helps the child
buy pot does he cross the line.
"The general view of the legal system is until there is an imminent
risk of harm or actual harm, you can't" take the children, Volokh
said.
The raid was prompted by a call from someone identifying herself as a
16-year-old girl with the sect. She claimed her husband, a 50-year-old
member of the sect, beat and raped her.
Investigators have yet to identify her among the children seized.
Jeffs is in prison for being an accomplice to rape. He was convicted
in Utah last year of forcing a 14-year-old into marrying an older man.
Walsh testified that the renegade Mormon sect did not promote underage
marriages until imprisoned leader Warren Jeffs took over as the sect's
"prophet."
"He encourages marriage," Walsh said. "In some ways, he's indifferent
to their age."
Associated Press writer Jennifer Dobner contributed to this re****t.
http://www.truthandgrace.com/1842younglust.htm
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