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Birth defect is plaguing children in FLDS towns

They should just let them die out. Removing yourself from the genepool is a good thing if you think that marrying your niece or aunt is ok. Having children with them is a more serious matter, something that is outlawed and should not have endured for this long. The same goes for polygamy. It is not your religious right to break laws, the laws against inbreeding are there for the good of your children and the people they marry. If it was someones religious right to break laws then all of the terrorists who blew up the Twin Towers were just expressing their religious freedoms. Someone needs to stop this before it escalates even further.

Why don't they do vasectomies on all the males? Or sterilize the females. I realize that they are brainwashed in the two communities, but there has to be someone that can stop this inhumane practice. The taxpayers of Utah and Arizona are footing the bills for the medical care, plus the welfare that they are receiving to survive. One man in the community, can father over 100 children, and some do. I am very appalled by what I read of the two communities and Warren Jeffs.

People living by a Celestial law . . . raising Celestial children. God blesses people with children. He trust his special children to special parents. Keep up the good work.

Huh? "he trusts special children with special parents"??? Is it also special that the fathers rape there daughters? This has nothing to do with god and is just sick.

I grew up in an abusive religion called the Christian Missionary Alliance. It wasn't nearly as bad as what these the Later Day Saints kids are going through but it still gives me nightmares sometimes. I can only imagine what these little girls go through.

We could sterilize all of them. While we're at it, we could sterilize everyone who has more than 2 kids, to cut down on the exploding population. And then let's sterilize everyone who is disabled or has a mental illness, in case they pass on their traits to children who would be a burden on society. I'm sure we could think of lots of reasons to sterilize people if we really tried. The only problem with this approach is a silly little thing called CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS.

This is an incredibly sad situation, and government needs to intervene to protect current and future victims. However, we need to be careful how we respond to cases like this, to make sure we protect victims while respecting the rights of all. Otherwise, we may end up making rules that will come back to bite us in the behind. Some of you who are quick to take away someone else's rights would have a coronary if anyone ever tried to deny your rights in the same way.

The FLDS lost their way. And now the children are paying the price. There is a reason polygamy was abandoned by the Saints in the 19th century, and the continued FLDS practice of forcibly marrying underaged girls to their close male relatives is a mockery of the true LDS gospel.

If the FLDS has abstained from underaged marriage, and had they managed to bring in a sufficiently diverse (ergo, genetically diverse) number of adult females, it would be much harder to argue that their religious choice does anyone any harm.

But the damage has been done, and the more it is revealed to the general public, the more clear it becomes that the FLDS have failed to grasp the spirit of doctrine, in addition to the letter of doctrine, and that this failure will only continue to bring sorrow and pain to themselves, and their offspring.

First of all Huh? These are not LDS children. They are not connected to the LDS church whatsoever.

Second, since I work at the hospital here in ST. George, I have seen some of these children first hand. It is a terrible disease. These children have no real life to speak of. They are prone to other illnesses like pnuemonia and require constant care. I actually pity these children. There are reasons close relatives should not marry. Get a clue people

This syndrome is also a problem among Hutterite children in Alberta. The Hutterites are a comunnal people who are followers of Jacob Hutter, a German annabaptist sect. They also live in colonies where everyone is related. They do not marry outside their religious group.

Where are all the FLDS defenders, I read on the other posts? Ignoring this one?

Polygamy is wrong! Nothing good has ever come from this practice. Only pain! I do not believe in anyway that it was ever a revelation from God, perhaps though the devil. Now we can all see how miserably both woman and children have suffered the fate of this vile practice, because of a handful of over sexed males who think they can get away with this insanity in the name of God.

I think it is rather hard to defend something that is so directly linked to the practice on inbreeding.

The LDS church didnt abandon polygamy, they were forced to stop or they couldnt become a state. The LDS church still believes in polygamy, they just dont practice it because its against the laws of the land. After all, polygamy, according to LDS belief, is the higher law.

Jeffs is a "fugitive" polygamist leader? I was sure he was in custody.

An estimated 80% of all of the marriages in history are said to have been first cousin or closer. As a geneticist I�ll tell you that the probability of a severe birth defect among non-related individuals is 2-3%. The probability for related individuals is 3-4%, not a whole lot higher. This particular genetic defect is persistent among the FLDS because somebody who is a carrier of the recessive gene has had it expressed to the degree that it is surfacing more and more in the community. This would be the case in any small community, related or not.

"An estimated 80% of all of the marriages in history are said to have been first cousin or closer."

Whose estimate, yours? How was this "fact" determined?

To Tanner: Have you ever read the Bible? Some of the most revered prophets by Christians were polygamists. Have you ever heard of Jacob? Moses? Abraham? They all had multiple wives. To say nothing good has come from polygamy is using a pretty broad stroke.

Where do you get your facts? You should really stop using Wikipedia as your only source of information. You are wrong both about the church being forced to stop polygamy and about the church believing that polygamy is the higher law. Both of these items are simply not true.

These people ARE ABSOLUTELY connected to the LDS Church!

They have ancestors more directly than most LDS Church members, going back to the early "Brethren" who were "commanded" to practice polygamy along with Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and others.

Get your facts straight!

These are DEFINITELY an offshoot of the LDS Church, genetically as well as religiously!

Why have the police been ignoring this for so long? Everyone knows these people have been blatantly breaking the law for years. Are they so powerful that they're above the law?

I think you meant your title to say, "I'm Not LDS" because you obviously have never been to an LDS church meeting in your life. I've been a member for 30 years and I've ALWAYS been taught that anyone who practices or practiced polygamy after the church disbanded it has been or will be excommunicated. Besides the regular church meetings, our highest leaders have continued to teach that polygamy is wrong during the semi-annual general conferences.

Where's your source?