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Ex-FLDS member exploring custody solutions

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gal50 | 1:44 a.m. May 12, 2008
Dan Fischer better start building a bigger shelter because he is going to end up with more children than he bargained for.

Calling Warren Jeffs, "goofy," is an extreme understatement of his devastatingly harmful edicts. Guess this was FLDS political correctness speaking.

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Anon. | 2:14 a.m. May 12, 2008
They can blame Warren Jeffs if they want to, but the real culprit is delusional thinking.
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Buttons` | 5:23 a.m. May 12, 2008
Thank you Dr. Fischer. I live here in Texas and it is extremely interesting and hard. The stories are even scary. Good Luck Dr. Fischer
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WOW | 6:01 a.m. May 12, 2008
I wonder, if Mr. Fischer only left the group about 10 years ago, how many of the children and women there are his if any????

Maybe if Texas is successful, and even if they are not, Utah will do something about the polygamist issue there.

I am in my 40's. I knew polygamy was going on in Utah in my junior high days... It's past time Utah did something about it.

The children deserve a future; a future not starting with marriage to a man old enough to be their grandfather or father.






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Thomas | 6:12 a.m. May 12, 2008
The culprit here is CPs and its unjustified seizure of innocent children. any assertion that a child might be forced into an underage marriage in the future is not good enough.
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Anonymous | 6:29 a.m. May 12, 2008
It takes a brave man to even consider doing what you do for these families. I hope that the people of the FLDS eventually are able to see their so called prophet for what he really is. Nowhere on these postings have I seen any comments regarding to the fact that this organization condones the exploitation of women and children. My prayers are with you and others who are trying to do the "right" thing.
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Anonymous | 6:36 a.m. May 12, 2008
Dan Fischer is in a position similar to that of many who have left the LDS Church, (as well as from others). Their affection and concern for their friends and kin who remain in the religion of their past is close to the surface.

That he steps forward now displays character, integrity and charity that never fails when the spirit rises above the letter of the law...
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Roger | 6:50 a.m. May 12, 2008
How commendable that Dan Fischer has empathy for those who remain in their delusion. Many here relate... Charity, never faileth
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Michigander | 6:55 a.m. May 12, 2008
A good move. The FLDS is reaching out to the apostates.
It means that they are understanding it's not business as usual. The only thing that is a question, do all apostates have given up on Warren Jeffs, just because he kicked them out, or are they still hoping to be forgiven and taken back into the fold? Real vetting needs to take place, to make sure that the people who might be allowed to take in children from Eldorado are living within acceptable standards of CPS, to break the artificial 'keep sweet' mold.
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To Thomas | 6:55 a.m. May 12, 2008
The culprit here is Warren Jeffs. It was ok for him to send these people to Eldorado, even though some of them were kids who were taken away from their families in Utah and Arizona. As I've said before, abuse and neglect depends on who is doing it. What CPS did was justified. They had an allegation and they followed up on it. If they hadn't investigated, more people would have been howling on here about what they didn't do.I think that there are more concerns than if a child might be forced into an underage marriage in the future.
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To Thomas | 7:12 a.m. May 12, 2008
So you also believe that all children around the country should be returned to their parents even though there is reason to believe (such as continued drug use or mental illness) will beat, rape, and kill their children in the future? If this be the case, heaven help all of the children because the concept of PROTECTION (the middle word in CPS) is for naught.
Thomas, in order to stop abuse, you have prevent abuse, not just pick up the pieces AFTER a child has been abused. If you can show that a parent HAS abused, you MUST change the situation to PROTECT the child from FURTHER abuse.
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Re: Thomas | 7:13 a.m. May 12, 2008
"The culprit here is CPs and its unjustified seizure of innocent children."

Wishful thinking on the part of "Thomas" and his ilk that the children will be returned and they can go back to business as usual.

The real culprits are the FLDS men who so willingly followed the illegal edicts of the deranged Warren Jeffs in sexually abusing young girls.

It's time the FLDS leaders and men woke up and realized that the rest of the world now knows what they've been doing and they'll never again be able to use their so-called relgious beliefs as cover for abusing their children.

It's time for the FLDS men to start acting like real men, take responsibility for the abuse they've committed, and start putting the needs of their wives and children first.
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Denny Andrews | 7:13 a.m. May 12, 2008
Interesting word "custody". Kind of sounds like the situation the kids were rescued from. That and "ownership".
Go texas.
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Good Luck to Dan | 7:37 a.m. May 12, 2008
Dan Fischer is a good man to do this. I wish him well. It's great to see that the majority of posters on this thread are well-wishers and hopeful for positive change within the FLDS culture. They don't have to give up their core beliefs in principle, but they do need to give up the notion that they have no agency (that God has always been so careful to preserve) in order to enter heaven. And they do not have to give their daughters and wives to be passed around like table salt. And they need to change to a law-abliding society. That may take some work.
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David S; Re Thomas | 8:05 a.m. May 12, 2008
In the spirit of prevention, CPS should go after, and should only go after, those specific men suspected of abusing young girls--based on evidence. There is no question putting a few men behind bars would deter future abuse.

But for CPS to take all the children regardless of the complete lack of evidence of crime on the part of many parents is heartless, illegal, and only paints CPS in the worst light because it is going beyond reasonable prevention.

Having said that, the FLDS men who know they are guilty of underage marriage should present themselves as ransom in this hostage situation so the innocent children can be returned to the parents who are innocent.

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Vision | 8:22 a.m. May 12, 2008
Imagine 50 years into the future. The FLDS will have grown to several hundred thousand members; Warren Jeffs will be revered as a Prophet of God who "has done more save Jesus only for the salvation of men"; these women and children will be revered as "pioneers" and "martyrs" who sacrificed their comforts, liberties, and lives for the "cause of Zion."

Can't you see it?

If not, just re-read the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph Smith was no different then than Warren Jeffs is today. And just as the persecution of the early LDS Church actually stimulated strength and growth, so the persecution of the FLDS will do the same.
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Anonymous | 8:26 a.m. May 12, 2008
Why is Warren Jeffs the culprit of FLDS suffering and persecution today, but Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and others are NOT considered to be "culprits" of the suffering and deaths of early LDS pioneers and saints? Sounds like a double standard LDS people invoke against the FLDS polygamists. And it sounds like hypocrisy.
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Re Vision | 8:40 a.m. May 12, 2008
Wrongo ranger. Warren Jeffs is a nutcase of the first degree. Joseph Smith was a monder-day prophet. BIG DIFFERENCE. I think what Dr. Fischer is doing is great. The state of Texas has a huge problem on it's hands, and the possiblity of some serious civil rights violations, at best.

You cannot lump FLDS and LDS into one box. That would be like me trying to tie KKK with the Southern Baptists, just because they shooted off of them, to avoid seggreation.
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R U Kidding? | 9:03 a.m. May 12, 2008
Can't believe some people are still using the term "modern day prophet" for people like Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Warren jeffs, etc. You really believe that God came down and actually spoke to these people? Come on - you have got to be kidding me. That's like the Catholics believing in talking snakes or that the pope is holier than you or I...
Has it occurred to you that maybe either they had a dream and ran with it (and it was just a dream) or, more probable, they realized that they could control people through their faith and made it all up so people would worship them?
You can have whatever faith you want, but let's at least try to keep it within reality. Sure there may be a gretaer power that we should all look up to, but no one came and spoke to these people. You're worshiping false idols if you trust these men.

And Texas did the right thing getting those people out of that cult. FREE THE WOMEN AND CHILDREN. LOCK THE ABUSERS UP.
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Delusional | 9:06 a.m. May 12, 2008
To: Vision and Anonymous

Joseph Smith is a true prophet of God, called by the Lord Himself to usher in the last dispensation. He will continue to have both good and evil spoken of him throughout history.

Warren Jeffs has admitted that he is a false prophet. He is a misguided and soon-to-be forgotten leader by his own people.
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