A brief but thoughtful discussion of the unfortunate events surrounding the FLDS church in Texas appears in this “Sightings” piece (Note from BlogMistress: link fixed).

If child sexual abuse has been occurring, then by all means Texas authorities have done the right thing to step in. (And reports alleging that there are 14-year old girls pregnant by 50-year old men would seem to confirm that what most of us would consider abuse has been taking place.)

But I offer this for discussion: as the author of the “Sightings” piece suggests, do we not have an inclination to equate “different” with “wrong”? Would authorities be as quick to step in and remove over 400 children from their homes if the alleged abuse had taken place in a more mainstream church? For example, we now know for a fact that instances of child abuse have occurred in certain Catholic churches in America, in some cases for years, and while there have been efforts to prosecute those guilty of the abuse, there was never an effort by authorities to remove all the child members of the relevant churches from their homes, and there was certainly never an effort to completely shut down the Catholic Church.

Do I think a 14-year old girl, who has been taught all her young life that bringing children into the world is her highest calling has been brainwashed? You betcha. By my set of beliefs, she has.

But it isn’t much of a stretch for me to also think that a 14-year old boy who has been taught all his young life to respect and trust the priest in his local parish church has also been brainwashed.

A possible point, it seems to me, is that one man’s brainwashing could well be another man’s faith, and I am not sure that what has happened in Texas doesn’t have as much to do with those people’s difference as it does concern for their children. How many people didn’t breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of them being herded onto buses from a local Baptist church?

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