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The New York Times is reporting that an all-Republican Texas appeals court has ruled that the 468 children taken from the Mormon fundamentalist compound in west Texas were taken and held illegally. The children were taken from the Yearning for Zion FLDS polygamist ranch outside of Eldorado, Texas.

The prosecutors for the state could not prove that the children were in any imminent danger of physical or sexual abuse and that the abuse previously reported was mostly unsubstantiated. Though the ruling only applied to the families who appealed, the burden of proof now lies with the state to prove that those remaining children are in immediate danger. Without such proof, all of the children will be returned from the foster families they’ve been living with in as soon as 10 days.

The call that prompted the decision, a call made by a supposed 16-year old girl who was being sexually abused by an older “husband,” is being called a hoax by many. The search for the girl who made the phone call came up empty, leading many to doubt that she actually existed in the first place.

The quick reaction to take away the community’s children was sanctioned by a lower court judge who was chastised in the appeals court’s ruling.

The quick reaction to take away the children, as I’ve said before, stinks of religious condemnation rather than genuine concern for the children. After all, the impetus for the raid was a single phone call and not the long, documented histories required for most children to be placed in the protective custody of a foster family.

Hopefully the state will now find a way to accurately find those children being abused and take them out of their family situations without widespread harm to the entire community.

You can read my previous posts on this subject here and here.

This blogger’s tough questions have been nearly answered. Seems like the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) ranch, the fundamentalist Mormon compound in west Texas near Eldorado, was systematically committing crimes against girls, some as young as 14. Recently officials in Texas announced that they’d found a bed within the large, white temple on the compound, which can be seen in the picture above. This bed may have been used for the sexual assault of young, underage girls. Officials aren’t releasing specific details, but we do know that long, female hairs were found on the bed.

As reported earlier on this blog, the YFZ ranch was a large ranch purchased by the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, or FLDS, a sect that broke away from traditional Mormons over the decision to no longer allow polygamy within the church. The FLDS claims to carry on the legacy of Joseph Smith and other founding Mormons and they do this on large, self-sufficient compounds.

Men on these compounds have been said to have up to 20 wives. Women aren’t permitted to wear red, cut their hair, or choose their own husbands. The raid on the compound is said to be related to the systematic abuse of young girls who were forced into marrying much older husbands. Officials also site concerns of physical child abuse against many children on the compound.

The sixteen year old girl who made the call that initiated the raid has still not been found, though officials claim that she complained not only of clear sexual abuse given her young age, but also physical abuse at the hands of her husband.

While I don’t much mind if a religious sect wants to practice polygamy as part of their religious tradition, I DO have a problem with community-wide abuse of children, both physically and sexually. My greatest concern, and I’m sure I share this sentiment with many others, is for the safety and wellbeing of the women and children who are currently in protective custody or living in alternate housing. I’m sure many of our thoughts and prayers are with these women and children.

Editor’s note: An update to this story can be found here.

In Eldorado Texas, in the scrub of the West Texas prairie, Child Protective Services and law enforcement officials are going door-to-door at a massive, self-sufficient Fundamentalist Mormon compound. So far they have detained more than 400 children and put them in protective custody. Many more women and children are being held in interim housing off the compound, and men on the compound have been separated until the search warrants have been conducted.

At issue is the Yearning for Zion compound in Texas, a large property purchased by the Fundamentalist Mormon church known as the FLDS. On the compound, church members had created factories, a church building, farming, ranching, and everything needed for self-sufficiency. Recently the FLDS’s leader, Warren Jeffs, was convicted of several sex-related crimes, including being an accomplice to the rape of an underage girl. Jeffs apparently arranged a marriage between a fourteen-year old girl and her cousin, something that’s illegal in the state of Texas.

Authorities were tipped off by an unidentified sixteen-year old girl who was forced into marriage with an older man and had a child. Authorities claim they still have not identified this woman or her child, and are not sure if she is among the women and children who are currently being housed in controlled housing.

The claim of authorities is that the raid on the compound isn’t about the religious beliefs of the members but more about the systematic abuse of children. The more than 400 children in custody currently are there because authorities claimed these children were in immediate danger of abuse from family and others.

It’s hard to believe that a single report from a single girl is enough to raid an entire community and place hundreds of children in custody. The whole reaction smells of religious condemnation from the state rather than simple concern over child wellbeing. In the United States, we are supposed to have the freedom to practice our religion as we see fit, providing our religion abides by the laws of the United States, and even then there are some exceptions. The notable example of the Native American Church and its use of peyote is one example. In this case, the issue of polygamy is at issue since polygamy is technically illegal, assuming that a single man wants to be legally married to more than one woman. In these compounds, however, the man isn’t legally marrying more than one woman, though subsequent wives will be “married” in the church though not married in the eyes of the state.

The systematic abuse of children should never be tolerated, of course, but officials in Texas should proceed with extreme caution. If children are indeed being abused as reported, the perpetrators should be convicted to the fullest extent of the law. A raid on a fundamentalist compound should not be about eradicating a religious preference, but protecting children in legitimate danger. Texas is in no position to begin an ideology war with FLDS members. Their aim should only be about crimes committed.

TV fans can see the world of the FLDS fictionalized in the HBO series Big Love which chronicles one man and his struggles against persecution as a believer in FLDS doctrine, including polygamy.