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Final tally: 416 children removed

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Texas | 6:27 p.m. April 9, 2008
I hope Texas learns a lesson Raiding a large family like this and feeding them all
Surely the Peoples tax money is being wasted
Anonymous | 6:35 p.m. April 9, 2008
The FLDS and the COJCOLDS use the same Book of Mormon and the same D&C as their scriptures. The difference is that the FLDS has not temporarily repudiated D&C 132 that came directly to Joseph Smith, supposedly, at the direction of an angel with a flaming sword. But it does continue to seal men to plural wives for the Celestial Kingdom. Just as it continued to seal GAs to their plural wives for 10 years after the Manifesto.
MAN SOME OF U | 6:36 p.m. April 9, 2008
are just adding fuel to the flame..especially for someone who might not know what a mormon is. Then you wonder why so many are anti..and the persecution is going to be so great in the last days!
Comments continue below
Evidence | 6:48 p.m. April 9, 2008
If Texas had evidence now, they would not be fighting to have enrestricted access to everything on the property.
Anonymous | 7:32 p.m. April 9, 2008
Maybe when UT gets through looking the other way about the polygamy, neglect, abuse and welfare fraud they can house and care for those women and children in the $1billion new shopping mall.
Sikk | 7:43 p.m. April 9, 2008
Abraham Lincoln once stated that " polygamy and slavery are the twin relics of barbarism". We as a nation managed to eliminate slavery with a civil war that cost more blood than all other American wars combined, but we can't seem to muster the resolve necessary to eliminate it's twin. Polygamy preys upon the innocent, the weak and the defenseless.We wouldn't stand idly by while slavery was openly practiced. Why have we continued to do so with polygamy? Is the State of Texas the only place worthy of the title, "land of the free and home of the brave"?
Kay | 7:40 p.m. April 9, 2008
For everyone who keeps talking about the rights of the parents, what about the basic human rights of the children? Those little girls are being traded like cattle among dirty old men; oftentimes across state lines and often being "reassigned" several times to different men according to the wishes of the prophet. I cannot even define what happens among the FLDS as polygamy. It is prostitution and pedophilia at best. Why else do they kick out their young boys once they reach adolescence? Their practices have NOTHING to do with religion and everything to do with the lust and power of perverted old men. It's time for this child sex ring to be brought down. God bless all the conscionable people who are looking out for the best interest of the children and not those who would abuse them.
Kristi | 8:15 p.m. April 9, 2008
I agree with Sikk. I am so pleased TX finally did something about this absuive group. Why UT and AZ have turned their backs to this is beypnd me? I know the law states there needs to be probable cause to enter their private property and luckily with this girl's call there was reason to enter the ranch. It's going from bad to worse each day as new facts surface. The beds in the temple are disturbing and the age these girls are marrying is twisted. It's so odd the govnt will spend billions in Iraq to give the citizens their freedom yet we have ignored this form of slavery and mind control for how many decades now?
Anonymous | 8:10 p.m. April 9, 2008
I was involved once with polygamy and I can guarantee you that it is nothing but pure evil. It was the worst experience of deception that I have ever experienced in all my life. It was truly scary and hard to get away from! These people hunt down defectors. I had to get the law involved for protection.
leroy | 8:23 p.m. April 9, 2008
Sikk is right, but I would like to add one more thing. Polygamy preys upon the gullible.
Latest news withheld?? | 8:24 p.m. April 9, 2008
Why is this headline only found on other news sources???

Informant: Men had sex with underage girls in FLDS temple
Anna | 8:23 p.m. April 9, 2008
To Judy. I would be careful about calling someone a liar. Otherwise, you better back it up.
Sad to be a Utah Native | 8:31 p.m. April 9, 2008
GOD BLESS TEXAS... for stepping up to the plate for what the LDS Church, LDS (UTAH) legislature and lawmakers would not do. This LDS sect is forever linked to the mainstream LDS church and state of Utah and are very fortunate that state of Texas is strong enough to stand up against religious arrogance and abuse that those in Utah are willing to ignore..
Anna | 8:30 p.m. April 9, 2008
Sikk - Very well said!
Mr Monogamous | 8:39 p.m. April 9, 2008
The FLDS church would not be "hiding" from society if society had progressed to a healthy level of open-mindedness and acceptance of diversity. The abuses of children are unacceptable and inexcusable, but this could have been stopped long ago if the prejudices against those who practice polygamy had not driven these groups to separate themselves so completely from society. Why does society, in general, not accept polygamous relationships but is accepting of homosexuality, extra-marital affairs, etc.? The activities of these sick bastar ds would have been much more easily monitored if polygamy was not a shunned practice.
Ronald A. Young | 8:48 p.m. April 9, 2008
I do not really think that the FCOJCOLDS has a negative effect on the LDS Church then any other group like the RLDS (Community Of Friends) which has 5 Women and 1 Black in their Council Of The Twelve. You know the difference unless you are very very slow. Like people that show up in the Ensign or Church News having Moved and not been able to find the Church for 10,20,30 years, usually in places where the LDS Church is well known like England. When I moved I could always find where the LDS Church, was located. Find the Neatest, Cleanest, Church Property, then Look for the Sign. That is the place it would most likely be. I did not act on any urges to go to in the building but I knew where it was. On the other hand I never fled in the other direction either. Good People, Good Values, Cream comes to the Top. Best Indian Fry Bread at the Arizona State Fair. I do not think many people will get things mixed up. I am happy the raid was done but the conspiracy theorist in me wonder why? On LDS General Conference Weekend.
Anonymous | 8:42 p.m. April 9, 2008
Think TX may be able to act to prevent more abuse and neglect of children and women because their government isn't so saturated with LDS members who have guilt complexes or polygamy envy or whatever keeps them from enforcing the laws they've sworn to uphold?
posters | 8:45 p.m. April 9, 2008
everyone knows darn well that these polygamist people who come on these posts are using all the same tactics and propaganda that they use on their cult victims. So be aware.
Anna | 8:51 p.m. April 9, 2008
THESE PEOPLE HAVE NOTHING NOR EVER DID WITH THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. You are ignorant if you associate them with us or are past. The media is stupid and should stop any remarks linking us to them. Has the media ever been to Utah and do we let this type of environment go on--NOOOO!!!! Just a thought but try doing some research and maybe a visit to ZION before you start talking about the subject.
awesomeron | 8:52 p.m. April 9, 2008
This has Nothing TO Do With Mormons. and most people will get that. The Raid was long over do. Many of these young people are messed up for life. The Girls will have trouble with Relationships and Marriages, and they have been thought that being abused is part of life. The Boys have been thought how to Abuse, WOmen and Girls, and some will continue in that mode. First they have to get some cloths in and the costomes off. council them feed them, and play some pleasent Rock and Roll, let them watch TV, use the Internet etc, etc. Church would be good also. Also Education for both the Boys and Girls. Foster Care, Mothers with their Babys as much as possible but most establish a feeling of Safety and Security.
Kay | 9:07 p.m. April 9, 2008
Latest headline on Fox News: "Sect's Temple Used for Sex" ..."Teenage girls, often younger than 16, were required to have sex in the soaring white temple after they were married in sect-recognized unions at a polygamist compound in West Texas, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday."..."The temple "contains an area where there is a bed where males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of 17," said an affidavit quoting a confidential informant who left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."
This just gets worse and worse. I'm so glad they got the children out.
Jamie | 9:18 p.m. April 9, 2008
Re awesomeror
LDS or FLDS....YOU GUYS ARE ALL MESSED UP! YOUR TWO RELIGIONS ARE BOTH CULTS! Y'all are a bunch of messed up mental cases!
Joseph | 9:16 p.m. April 9, 2008
This has everything to do with mormons and furthermore the state if Utah! One cannot choose to distance themselves from the past nor ignore their neighbor or cousins!
Re: Anna... | 9:28 p.m. April 9, 2008
FLDS may not have any CURRENT association with LDS but they were a part of LDS before the mormon church denounced polygamy. Please get your facts correct. If you are truly LDS, you should know this.

1890: Wilford Woodruff denounces polygamy
1904: LDS begins excommunicating polygamists
1928: LDS polygamists move to Short Creek and establish FLDS

FLDS is a product of the LDS church whether you like it our not.
Fred | 9:28 p.m. April 9, 2008
GO TEXAS!!
We brand and castrate bulls down in Texas. Maybe we should consider doing this to a few old men with child brides!!
Laurie | 9:29 p.m. April 9, 2008
The LDS Church HAS NOTHING to do with this. Please leave the Gods TRUE Church out of this mess. These comments against the church are STUPID and those who choose to spout off against the church should ask for forgiveness.
Tammy | 9:31 p.m. April 9, 2008
Oh, I love Mormon gossip's! You guys know how to gossip so well. How do you gossip so perfectly.

I also agree with Jamie.

I hope they put every polygamist sex offender in prison permanently! These guys are too evil!
Giacomo | 9:45 p.m. April 9, 2008
Them mormon fundy boys is some kind of twisted. I'm surprised that the sheriff waited so long to open up a can of whup you-know-what on them. I'll give em this though, them mormon fundy boys are some kind of resourceful. Did you get a load of that temple they built with their own hands? Kinda reminds me of the saints back in the good old days when they used to do the same thing. Prophet Joseph wouldn't recognize the mainstream mormon church today. Would he recognize them mormon fundies? I wonder.
Gordo | 9:46 p.m. April 9, 2008
Please everyone remember these are not LDS poeple. I see some confusion but these are not LDS.
MyTempleNameIsTex | 9:57 p.m. April 9, 2008
There was a SEX BED in the temple! Ewwwww!!! This bed was for adult men to have sex with underaged girls. How revolting.

Don't worry people, Texas WILL put an end to this.
Real funny! | 9:55 p.m. April 9, 2008
RE: GIZZMO...whoops, I meant gigolo, Oops I meant Gicomo or whatever you call yourself. I hope the authorities catch you and lock you up too. Your so called funny boy's are nothing but ripp-off child molesters. They only find resources in raping woman.
Justin | 9:59 p.m. April 9, 2008
I find it disturbing that some posters only intent is just to distance the LDS church from the FLDS. These posters note no compassion, no responsibility of the LDS church for the culture, and note no liability for the Utah lawmakers and law enforcement (heavily LDS influenced) in recent years.

It is just very sad and disappointing for those LDS who are not concerned about these abused individuals but more concerned about the image of yourself and your church.
NOW I UNDERSTAND | 10:02 p.m. April 9, 2008
WHEN I GO TO PARTS OF UTAH ..I HEAR THE STRAINS OF "DUELING BANJOS" IN THE BACKGROUND.
to Anna & Laurie | 10:11 p.m. April 9, 2008
It may not be a comfortable thing for you but FLDS and LDS have everything to do with one another. It's the same BOM and the same D&C. Even has 132 on the record and multiple sealings in this life for the CK.

FLDS merely refused to give up the principle that JS and BY preached and lived. ...down to the fact that they both had wives that were 1/3 their age. Meanwhile, LDS has among its elite ruling class descendants of polygamists like Orrin Hatch and Mitt Romney. Remember, after the Manifesto was issued, Romney's relatives evaded it by moving to Mexico and yet he is still treated like Mormon royalty and put forth as a candidate for President.

Thank god we dodged *that* particular bullet...

Stop lashing out at others and deal with what your own religion has for its history.
Charity | 10:12 p.m. April 9, 2008
just out from the Associated Press...
Documents: Sect Teens Made to Have Sex
By MICHELLE ROBERTS � 30 minutes ago

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) � Young teenage girls at a polygamist compound in West Texas were required to have sex in a soaring white temple after they were married in sect-recognized unions, according to court documents unsealed Wednesday.

The temple "contains an area where there is a bed where males over the age of 17 engage in sexual activity with female children under the age of 17," said an affidavit quoting a confidential informant who left the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Agents found a bed in the temple with disturbed linens and what appeared to be a female hair, said the affidavit signed by Texas Ranger Leslie Brooks Long. The Rangers are the state's investigative law enforcement arm.

The temple also contained multiple locked safes, vaults and desk drawers that authorities sought access to as they searched for records showing alleged marriages of underage girls as young as 12 or 13 to older men and births among the teens. The affidavit unsealed Wednesday mentions a 16-year-old girl who has four children.

Tina | 10:18 p.m. April 9, 2008
re My TempleNamesTex,
Your information really gripes me! Thanks for the disgusting information... Sex-Beds? that really cripples me emotionally and makes me want to puke!

However, I am just wondering how long it will take the authorities to clean up this mess. It gets worse by the minute. These polygamist men are sub-humans. They are horrible and completely perverted!
Different Anna | 10:31 p.m. April 9, 2008
Correct that Wilford Woodruff disbanned polygamy. But he also said it was for "temporal" reasons and he said that it would come back at a later time. Today, plural sealings take place in the LDS temple for men who are widowed and divorced. A male's church records maintain the marriages/sealings indefinately. Or, until a temple divorce is requested and approved by the First Presidency. I can speak from experience, first hand knowledge.
NOTICE HOW | 10:30 p.m. April 9, 2008
SOME ARE MOVING INTO THE DEFLECTION MODE.
Woodruff and the Manifesto | 10:34 p.m. April 9, 2008
Besides D&C 132 merely being set aside "temporally", he and other GAs continued to seal additional wives to influential Mormons � including GAs � for 10 more years. They just did it quietly.

I guess it was "sacred" not "secret"...
Sinder | 11:04 p.m. April 9, 2008
Those comparing the FLDS to LDS don't realize how different we truly are.

A sex bed in their temple?!? I'm speechless! It's amazing how less than 100 years of misdirection and false leadership can totally drive people off the deep end. I mean as an LDS person I believe that the other Christian religions have lost their way but still have a lot of truth, they've also had a much more substantial amount of time to do so, but the FLDS in this short period of time go that far off base? Talk about the lord taking the truth completely from them.

I know there are a lot of ex-LDS out there that are extremely bitter and hateful towards the church, you can't help but know after reading these posts, but they have more in common with the FLDS church than the LDS church does. Even then, only common ground that they have is that they used to be part of the LDS church, and have distanced themselves as far away possible from it.
Mahershalalhashbaz | 11:09 p.m. April 9, 2008
You people who think LDS and FLDS are related. That's like saying the Catholic church is responsible for the salem witch trials. So anything bad the Lutherans do is a direct result of the Catholics? You're a little crazy. But when someone is enraged with hatred towards some group for who knows why, I guess you start using any twisted logic you'd like.
Serenity NOW! | 12:17 a.m. April 10, 2008
For all those on this board that want to blame the LDS Church for not "stepping up" somehow to do something about the FLDS abuses, that's like blaming the Lutherans, Presbyterians, Baptists and other offshoots from the Catholic Church for the sexual abuse that Catholic Priests have committed. After all, they believe in the same "bible"! Please use logic people! The FLDS church has NOTHING to do with the LDS church! NOTHING! These people are not even excommunicated members because most of them WERE NEVER MEMBERS OF THE LDS CHURCH! As for history, I would encourage anyone who is interested in facts to read LDS Church History-BH Roberts. Women who were asked to participate in poligamy were given a CHOICE! There is also a very famous quote by Brigham Young that when this doctrine was revealed to him whenever he saw a man in a coffin he envied that man. In otherwords, this was not something he looked forward to, neither did Joseph for that matter. As for poligamy not being mentioned in the Bible, you must not know your bible very well. Please explain the multiple wives of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Moses, and David, etc.
Dossier | 1:22 a.m. April 10, 2008
You will find the families ARE related between the LDS and FLDS churches. From polygamous unions ages ago. That is why the Utah government/church won't go after them. Dueling anjos is accurate.
Brenda | 2:22 a.m. April 10, 2008
Reading these posts and others like MSN reminds me that in the last days, good will be called evil, and evil will be called good. So true, so true.
What's wrong | 6:11 a.m. April 10, 2008
There's nothing fundamentally wrong with the practice of polygamy.

It has been practiced for thousands of years in many different lands and cultures, including by many of the prophets of the Old Testament -- Abraham, Isaac and Jacob -- to name three.

What makes the practice of polygamy wrong today is:

1. It's against God's laws.
2. It's against the law of the land.

But, God changes his laws from time to time to suit His purposes.

Man changes laws his from time to time to suit his purposes. Not always in harmony with God's laws, by the way.

I can forsee a time when polygamy is once again practiced in harmony with God's laws and the laws of the land.
Friends | 7:18 a.m. April 10, 2008
I'm not LDS, but over the years, and in two states, I've worked with, and been friends with, LDS folks. There is no way I'd put them in the same category as the men at the FLDS compound. If you look into the past of any religion you're going to find things you don't want to be reminded of. Why not focus on the men who are in the news today, and leave the others alone?
Confused | 8:24 a.m. April 10, 2008
The LDS church has NOTHING to do with the culture and practices of the FLDS people.

Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or is lying.

LDS people have nothing to hide or to be ashamed of regarding the church's past history of plural marriage. Just as Jews and Christians alike are not embarrassed or ashamed of Biblical prophets who practiced polygamy, the LDS people should not be ashamed of their ancestors and prophets who practiced polygamy.

It was all done in accordance with God's laws.
Frank | 8:42 a.m. April 10, 2008
I've yet to see the posts defending the FLDS actions on here that people are claiming. The majority condemn their actions, but many are reluctant to just white wash the whole incident just because they are doing some really evil stuff.

We've got to be aware that this is not a black and white situation. Just because the FLDS are abusing people and deserve to go to jail doesnt mean we can convict them for every rumor or conclusion we jump to on an uninformed internet forum. Here your guilty till proven guiltier, evidence not required. I think thats the problem a lot of us are having on here. Thats my problem at least. I think one of the posters clearly illustrated it by assuming that since I spoke out against promiscuity then it is a fact that I myself am promiscuous. We cant just make stuff up(or place evidence) to make ourselves feel 100% justified on the situation.

It�s a bad situation for everyone, we need to stop denying that, some of the kids are going to suffer, but the group on the whole is better off. Polygamy needs to be wiped off this continent.
Sar Casam | 8:42 a.m. April 10, 2008
I think UT and AZ could do what Texas did. It will take a lot longer though. The FLDS compound in TX was owned by 1 person and needed 1 search warrant. Sadly the FLDS in UT own their own properties so all we need is like 200 warrants and a phone call from a 16 year old girl in each house. Lets get cracking.
Friends | 9:30 a.m. April 10, 2008
I was trying to make a positive comment, but I guess it didn't come out that way. Sorry. I was assuming that the people who are speaking out against the LDS and polygamy are not LDS, so I was suggesting that they check into the past of any religion for things best forgotten, things like burning at the stake, sacrifices, beatings, the scarlet letter, etc. I'd best keep my thoughts to myself from now on so I don't offend anyone else.

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