Yet another religious cult raided

[Occhidiangela]

So noted. And removing the boys is pretty dodgy; I suspect they either wanted to interview them separately, which to my mind is a very marginal justification.

Agreed.

As to the non-pregnant girls, if you think for a moment you might come up with a reason that they could be in some peril in a community that views impregnating underage girls as a normal practice.

Depends on if they are ripe or not, but given the norms of FLDS as I understand them, not an irrational concern.

We've become rather more conservative as a culture. There's an unspoken assumption in your comment, though, that the intent is to destroy the FLDS culture. Certainly there are many Texans who find the FLDS abhorrent. Fortunately for us, and the FLDS, we've got laws and lawyers. Hundreds of lawyers are descending even as we speak.

Well yes, it seems rather obvious that the church, as in the group of people, was being targeted. And yes, lawyers aplenty will get to play. Lucky them. Keeps them off the streets, I suppose.:P

Arguably, the law was changed in direct response to their presence. At that point we can debate what the age of marriageability should be. Was the law changed to bring Texas in line with the majority of other states; was this the closing of a loophole or a strike on diversity? I would think of it as closing an embarassing oversight. Nevertheless, the FLDS always had the option of obeying the law.

Your last sentence hits the heart of the matter.

Like any high-control group, they were indoctrinated by isolation and fear. I'm not sure you understand how difficult it is to leave a group like that.

I do indeed. Remember the deprogrammers and cults in the 70's and 80's? Try this on for size: I've dealt with some pretty extreme branches of Pentacostals in the Navy, in my past, and am very familiar with the narrow world view excercised within those circles.

Yep, I'm not a big fan of some of our foreign policy either. As to how tolerant is tolerant, I'd vote that we make our laws as liberal and unrestrictive as possible, controlling only those activities that lead to harming others.

Tend to agree.

Occhi