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Texas says all YFZ kids at risk

Uh Oh, persecution based on someone's beliefs.
Very dangerous precedent.

The problem is...girls marry early, strict religous programming of children, patriarchal obedience to elders, a community isolated from the mainstream culture...

I bet the Amish aren't planning to move to Texas anytime soon.

Texas is Heartless.

God Bless Texas!!

Well, at least they're being forthcoming. The FLDS are not a Texas-approved religion. And, as such, can be "dismantled" because "their belief system requires that they follow the prophet."

If you have a like belief and you don't in some way stand up for these people, keep your mouth shut when the state comes after you and your prophet.

TexaSS is finally admitting the truth: they don't like the groups religious beliefs.

LDS better watch out as Section 132 of the D&C still has that commandment in it. It has not changed. It is still a Belief... and TexaSS has shown that is all they need.

Well, at least they were honest enough to finally come out and say it. You can be a member of the Church of Statn, and that doesn't break laws. You can be a member of the National Man Boy Love Association, and that's okay. But you dangerous religious freaks: we're coming for you, and we're going to commit genocide to destroy you!

Thought / faith crime is now a reality. You don't have to actually break laws (as we know EVERY adult there hasn't broken laws), you just have to BELIEVE something the government consideres DANGEROUS to the children.

So they all need to be taken away, and put in mainstream society, where they can believe things like how it's okay to have sex with no strings attached. How it's okay to numb your mind on high fructose corn syrup, MSG, and prescription drugs. How it's okay to do the bare minimum to get by, and complain that "the man" is holding you down. And how it's okay to destroy entire communities if you don't like their beliefs.

This is truely a sad day in American history.

Before the unspeakable damage goes any further to these children, Texas needs to present to all adult women IN ONE SITTING (meeting) a choice:

Give the state a written, signed statement identifying all of their own children AND each child`s father`s name. On separate signed statement give the state the names and parentage of every child in the community as they understand it to be.
Any refusal or lie will disqualify each mother from any further consideration to be reunited with their children. Period.

In one sitting meet with all men from the community.
Instruct them to remove themselves from the YFZ property, secure employment outside the "ranch" and send whatever money they can to an office set up on the "ranch" operated by women of the "ranch" and OPEN to the state`s view.

These women can "run" the "ranch". They are well-used to hard work.
UNTIL the state has time to figure out what`s in the long-term best interest of these children, THEY should be returned to HOME and their own MOTHERS!
Anything less is DESTROYING (for LIFE) children the state should be PROTECTING! Once they "get it", they will no longer advance this garbage to their children.

Guilt by association.

"A waste of judicial resources"?
SO now spending court time to ensure justice for children forible - at gunpoint- separated from their parents is a waste of 'judical resources'?
Texas CPS will lose this one - and go down hard.
I onlly hope the DA, CPS, and judge get the Nifong treatment they so deserve.

Visible punishment of specific crimes deters others from committing those crimes. But you have to wait until people commit crimes before you punish.

Can I gather up everyone who listens to violent rap music because it preaches a belief system of violence?

This article makes it clear Texas is not going after crimes, but a belief system--a religion. Instead of prosecuting those who are guilty, they are preemptively punishing all.

Texas should uphold the law while showing respect for the law by aggressively punishing those who have married underage girls and allowing all the children to return home. When Texas levels specific charges, arrests the men, and returns the children, they will have done their duty in all respects and will earn much wider support.

With over 30% of females becoming pregnant as teens, the United States has the highest rates of teen pregnancy and births in the industrialized world costing the over $9 billion annually. Moreover, nearly 80% of the fathers of babies born to teen mothers do not marry their babies' mothers. Then, to make matters worse, on average, these absent fathers pay less than $800 annually for child support. Half of high school students in the country are having intercourse. So, I guess we better round up and take the whole country into custody. Either that or stop moralizing to the FLDS. At least the don't flush hundreds of thousands of their unborn fetuses down the hospital drain like the rest of the people on their moral high horses.

There isn't enough room in a whole newspaper to list all the dangerous belief systems that parents teach and pass on to their children. But we don't take their kids from them for those beliefs. If there is specific evidence of abuse then deal with it but for some State attorney to suggest that their belief system is enough to permanently take their kids, we are truly traveling a new, downward path for which the end is no where in sight. The Supreme Court will take these statements from Texas officials and throw them out big time. Unfortunately, the kids and their parents are largely the ones hurt by all this.

Okay, now this allegation takes the cake and is the most scary to us all outside of child brides/pregnancies. This touches every single home and every single neighborhood. When will our beliefs be labled dangerous? Laws can change daily to define a new "abuse". When will loyalty to Jesus, the Pope, or other religious figures be labled abuse? We are throwing the baby out with the bathwater with this if allowed. This is sure taking a nose dive away from all the allegations of rape and sexual abuse. This is a DANGEROUS precident. I actually am agreeing with TLRA's comment about the children's removal being like salt on an open wound. I belong to a "conservative" religious belief system, not FLDS, and when the state starts being thought police this is a very very dangerous precident for us all. What is labled "extreme" was not so years ago (I am not talking about sexually raping girls..I am mentionig things like husbands head of the home) and this definition and judging bar changes daily. We all need to watch this part of the case as it will be in our backyard tomorrow if we don't. This can go beyond reason.

CPS has now made this explicitly a religious issue. There has to be a road to parent/child reunification, even if it requires mothers to leave the compound. CPS gives crack addicts the chance to clean up to get back their kids, which often entails them changing where they live, getting a job and taking parenting classes These mothers will need a similar opportunity. However, I don't see how CPS can require that these women change their religion because that is a constitutionally protected right. The higher courts are going to have to address the line of freedom of religion when religious practices conflict with child welfare laws. This is going to very interesting but it is going to take a long time. I feel sorry for the children caught in the controversy.

Does anyone realize the ramifications of wholesale declarations that ALL people in a group believe the same thing? Finally, the attorneys are getting to the heart of the matter. What a double standard it is to apply this line of thinking to ALL people in a group. By this logic, ALL Catholic priests would be child molesters and the parents of the victims would be child abusers for "failure to protect." Furthermore, ALL foster parents would also be child abusers (don't forget the statistics of abuse in foster care that are much higher than the norm). Why didn't Texas remove ALL of the children in their TYC (Texas Youth Commission) facilities (juvenile jail)? Was there not PROVEN SYSTEMIC abuse? Double standards apply for CPS and the law doesn't matter to them. This precedent is DANGEROUS and OUTRAGEOUS! Whose mind will they be reading next?

By attacking their "dangerous belief systems" the CPS is confirming that is a case of religious persecutuion. Actions and not beliefs are what matter. The evidence for any abuse is slender. Certainly, there is no evidence for this mass round-up of chidren.

The State of Texas will be damned if they do and damned if they don't.
For the past years I've been reading everything I could lay my hands on in regards to LDFS and must say, some oversight of their practices is necessary. Especially in the Eldorado compound.since Warren Jeffs imposed doctrines are so restrictive it will prevent any one of those children to be able to live on it's own, always dependent on it's own people, that is a form of slavery. The idea that a prophet decides when a girl is ready to marry and to whom, usually the man who can be relied on to make his wives the most obedient, is repulsive. To suppress an inquisitive mind, to explore what the world has to offer, the good or bad, is part of what matures a person. This will be sorted out, never to anyones satisfaction, but the State at least tried to make sure 'business as usual' will never go on again in the Eldorado compound.

Where is the due process for the other 95% of the children involved Here? If I remember right, 31% of the teens in America become pregnant. Nobody is taking them away from their homes.

Texas admits what it is all aboub, someones religious beliefs.