Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Mormon, Menno, Muslim

I've been following the FLDS story in Texas with some interest as I'm sure many of you have as well. Even though their theology is so different from ours, there's an eerie sense of kinship with them on a number of levels--rural, big families, women in long dresses--and we can't forget those amazing poofs in their hair. Many of us have had our fears about our children being taken away because our beliefs were out of the mainstream, so this is a chilling factor as well. Not that I for one second defend the way these people treat women and children, God have mercy. I go around and around in my head--what exactly should the government have done here, and how and when and why, and would there have been some way to deal with it without the overblown Texas-government sort of tactics?

I also wish like crazy that these children could go to Amish/Mennonite foster homes. It seems the culture shock would be so much less and the kids would feel so much safer.

The FLDS practices also have some eerie correlations to Islam, with the older husbands/multiple wives, etc. This was an interesting article in a recent Yemen Times about an 8-year-old "wife," sent to me by my sister Rebecca whose friend works for the YT and got to meet this little girl after her ordeal. In fact the newspaper staff threw a party for her, with teddy bears and crayons and such.

It's a mixed-up world.

Quote of the Day:
"Americans will spend lots of money on a "green" dryer but they won't hang their clothes on the line."
--Emily

13 comments:

  1. In listening to interviews with the women I find it alarming/maddening/heartbreaking at all the lies they believe about themselves & life in general simply because they have had twisted religion pounded into their heads and do not have the capacity to think for them selves

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  2. I read the story of the little girl and it was heartbreaking! How someone could justify that kind of behavior in the name of "religion" is beyond me! We have an 8 year old granddaughter and the thought just sickens me!

    Just the other night I commented to my Hub about this case. I told him how there is such a fine line on protecting these children and intruding on parental rights and beliefs. If nothing is done there is criticism about children "falling through the cracks", "the system letting someone down" and so on. However, what happens when this is taken to the extreme? Can you have your children taken away because someone else disagrees with the fact that you believe in a healthy swat on the backside to motivate them? Or you decide that they can have a better education by being home-schooled. Is someone going to say that you are cruel by not putting your child in a state pproved social setting?

    While I am not a home-schooler and I am totally ignorant of FLDS, I can recognize opression when I read about it. To separate these children away from their mothers is wrong! These women are victims as well!

    Whew, I feel better for the chance to rant!
    Connie

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  3. In the book Under the Banner of Heaven, the author [I forget his name right now] also compares Muslim beliefs with this Mormon group. It's not the main thrust of his book. It's a really good book. Rather chilling.
    ~Edith

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  4. The culture shock would almost certainly be less if the kids were to be fostered in a Amish / Mennonite family...but I disagree they would be made to feel any safer than with and other loving protective Christian family.

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  5. Interesting thoughts, which had not crossed my mind. I agree with Constance that the women and children are victims twice over right now, but hopefully they're on their way to better lives. I'm glad there are churches involved in the process because, frankly, the states' child welfare systems really scare me!

    It will also be interesting to watch the LDS public relations crew do its best to distance the mainstream church from this "blast from the past" they don't enjoy talking about.

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  6. Amen! to today's quote. I can't say I use the clothes all the time because I'm wimpy when it comes to the cold, but the warm months are fine.

    I have been a little concerned by the whole FLDS thing as we are recent "converts" to a plain church. But trying not to fret and trust God. I have worry wart tendencies. :P

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  7. I'm a Mennonite, also "with" BMA... the same day that you posted this, I had a lady in Wal-Mart ask me if I was a Mormon... gaaah!

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  8. I live in CO and there are FLDS sects in our state. There is a lot of emphasis on the poor girls who are married off to older men, but what gets forgotten is The Lost Boys. When boys on a compound reach 14, many of them are abandoned on the highway. They are the throw away children. Its so sad. They are uneducated and end up in our foster care system.

    Take a look at the pictures of those children. You'll see a ton of teenage girls but no teen boys. My heart just breaks for these poor boys. To me it seems worse to be kicked out of your community.

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  9. Wow... Just amazing what the women and childern are going through. I have prayed for them... two main reasons, that the lies that have been taught will not hinder their ability to see who God really is.

    Also that they will be able to graciously accept help and that those offering help with be very sensitive to thier special needs.
    That this 'help' will not just add more trama to a very difficult time.

    Thanks for your insight.
    I just love being able to learn from you! For those of us who have walked a different faith walk(Baptist, then Church of Ggd, and now Assemblies of God) It is neat to be able to learn what inquiring minds want to know without feeling we are offending someone with our very curious minds. DJ

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  10. Yeah, we were asked multiple times in Cali if we were Mormons like those in TX. On the downside, we were associated with their practices. On the upside, it gave us an opportunity to share the gospel of Jesus.

    It was freaky comparing our ladies to the picture on the front page of the LA Times: cape dresses and all...

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  11. I love the quote from Emily.

    I'm not sure how it is out west, but many of the subdivisions around here have neighborhood covenants that prohibit clothes lines in your back yard. That was the one thing my parents didn't like about their neighborhood.

    There is too much pollen right now to put clothes outside(they'd turn yellow) but maybe I can get my husband to put up a line for me this summer. There is nothing like sheets fresh off the line.

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  12. Just have to say, I loved Emily's insightful quote! So true! I was interested to hear what mm said about young boys in the FLDS sects. I was wondering about the absence of boys AND MEN in the photos and news stories. I guess they turn them out to ensure that they don't marry the young women so that they can have them for themselves as multiple wives, eh? ~ribbit98

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  13. I have been increasingly saddened by the whole FLDS affair in TX.
    I agree--there are many victims here: the young girls,boys and the women who have been 'brainwashed' to believe they must live like this. I feel that separating the women from their young children is a crime too and makes them doubly victims. Sad.
    The children--both boys and girls- have to be protected but surely there must be a better way that would allow the moms to stay with them--perhaps in a supervised setting.
    I can not even imagine the amount of fear and turmoil the children and the moms must be feeling right now. I imagine my grandkids and what they would feel if a stranger came and uprooted them from all they had ever known, sending them to yet another set of strangers to live with. It is scary...and will leave emotional & psychological scars for years on these young ones.
    It is a matter for much prayer that God's will be done and that He gives the State & judge the wisdom of Solomon in dealing with all these lives.

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