Texas Defends Removal of Mormon Cult Children

Photo from source, Yahoo! News

I haven't reported on this story until now, because I couldn't think of a way of doing so that wasn't intensely derogatory. I'm an agnostic, leaning toward atheism, and have a very strong distaste for most religions. When those religions wander into what sane people would call child abuse and molestation, I get livid.

There is no schadenfreude involved for me in this little busting of religion. Most of the people involved know nothing other than the life they've been leading. Most are the multiple wives (and even more multiple kids), and they can rightfully be seen largely as victims.

So I'll avoid judgment here, and instead offer only an observation. If you take some time to check out the photos of the people involved, there is a very creepy undercurrent to them. First, and most obviously is the frontier garb, and Little House on the Prairie hairstyles. Superficial yes, but enough to make them look very different, and alien to most Americans. Second, is a profound aging of the women. Some are said to be in their thirties and forties, but they look twenty years past that. Almost like middle-aged people of 35 or more years ago, old before their time.

And most superficially, there is an odd sameness to the faces of many of the people involved. A strange--not totally unattractive--but masculineness to the women. And they certainly all look related. Sad all around.

[Excerpt]

Texas defends separation of polygamist sect kids from moms

ELDORADO, Texas - State officials Tuesday defended their decision to suddenly separate mothers from many of the children taken in a raid on a polygamist ranch in West Texas.

Texas Children's Protective Services spokeswoman Marleigh Meisner said the separation was made Monday after they decided that children are more truthful in interviews about possible abuse if their parents are not around. . .

Read more at: Yahoo! News