by David Grossack

    In 1948, the United Nations, under moral pressure from revelations of the Second World War, .... 

    ....adopted a Convention of the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide.  In so doing they had to define exactly what genocide was.  Mass murder is an obvious component, but the legal scholars who defined genocide also included as a definition the "transfer of children of one group to another group."(1) Physical annihilation is not required under the law. Destruction of a culture, infliction of harm and break up of families are also illegal.

    The seizure of 416 children of a religious minority known as the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints in El Dorado, Texas this week, 15 years almost to the day after the massacre of the Branch Davidians in Waco, is an unsettling confirmation of what many of us have known all along.

     The United States is drifting far away from its Constitutionalist heritage into becoming a totalitarian state where civil rights violations are the norm and accountability is rare.

    On point, the federal courts  have usually  given "qualified immunity "to all social workers employed by Child Protective Services.(2) when civil rights suits are brought over instances like this.

    Based on one anonymous and alleged call, by one girl, 416 children in a religious community that happens to believe in the Book of Mormon and still practices polygamy, are now in the custody of Texas Child Protective Services. They are being brought en masse before a Texas judge, separated from their parents, given lawyers at the last minute whom their family doesn't know, and subject to the most disgraceful form of assembly line justice.

    Don't tell me for one second that the ends justify the means.  If a molestation or rape occurs in the context of a Jewish religious school, and occasionally it does happen,  the government would never consider seizing all of the children of the Jewish congregation.  Similarly when the Catholic Church had its sex abuse scandals, nobody considered having the Child Protective Services take in millions of Catholic children.

    The decent way to handle the situation would have been on a case by case basis, instead of some sort of collective punishment reminiscent of the conflicts in  Rwanda or Bosnia.

    But small minorities and unusual religious movements  are always easy targets.
    It is sad to look at recent history and realize that non-mainstream religious movements in this country face some serious persecution.  For years the Scientologists had to struggle with the IRS to get their contributions recognized as deductible.  Only after years of expensive litigation was the issue ever resolved in their favor.  Bhagwan Rajneesh wound up in exile and the Children of God movement fled the country for years.
      The Branch Davidian Church in Waco would not have been incinerated if it was a rebel Episcopal or Congregationalist faction.
     Few folks probably think highly of Rev. Moon and his Unification Church.  But jailing him for tax evasion was probably wrong.  Clergymen from other denominations studied his case and determined the Church's practices in accounting were typical, but it was Moon who was singled out.(3)
    Today this System focuses its  hate on  polygamy.  Never mind that it was the practice of the patriarchs of Judaism. Never mind that it was practiced by European Jews for 1000 years and North African Jews until very, very recently.  King David, the Talmud says, had 18 wives.  Scientists who study genetics and intelligence credit polygamy for helping improve the gene pool among Jews.  The smartest and healthiest Jewish males had the most wives and sired the most children, keeping IQ scores considerably higher than average.(4)
    And what of our Muslim brothers and sisters?  They practice it still.  The Prophet Mohammed took child brides and America has honored his religion on a postage stamp.  The President has called Islam a great religion, making friends with Saudi royals who usually have about 30 or 40 wives, no doubt some kidnapped from Europe .and Africa.  Go figure.  Maybe there is more to this issue than we know.  Christians, especially Lutherans, have practiced polygamy in Europe from time to time throughout history, and apparently the ones who complained the loudest when it was abolished were the women.(5)
    So why does the System hate polygamy?
     Jealousy and tradition no doubt have much to do with it. But you can argue that it makes financial sense, at least.

   If there are a dozen bread winners in the household, say, then the need for credit and loans decreases vastly.  A man married to six nurses doesn't need five credit cards or a very substantial mortgage.  They will have a lot of cash flow.  Banks won't extract much compound interest from those folks.

    Moreover, polygamist families can be self sufficient in many areas, especially in an agricultural community.

    Back to the media sensation. I saw her last night on television.Nancy Grace, the high priestess of hate, her face contorted with phony rage, in its glory, feigning shock and awe, cheering on the pogrom against the polygamists. Cynically using the sensational story for her ratings and whining about the evil, evil Mormon polygamous families.

    I don't want to defend the FDLS Church, because it is obvious it is quite flawed. They are said to expel teenage boys so they won't be competition for the older men for the women. The community doesn't seem quite right for a lot of other reasons. It doesn't appear that they educate the flock very well, and the voices of the women sound , well, zombified.

    But they still deserve due process and equal protection  of law, because this is America.

    Instead they're getting genocide.

1. Proceedings of the United Nations General Assembly, Dec. 21, 1948.
2. Landstrom v Illinois Department of Children and Family Services 892 F2d 670
3 .Why Pastors are flocking to Moon Christianity Today, August 1, 2001
4. The Jewish Mystique by Ernest van Den Haag, Stein & Day NY 1977
5. Polygamy in Munster by Kate Arms.(..on line)   The Taiklor King : The Rise and Fall of the Anabaptist King of Munster by Anthony Arthur .(on line)  See also Arthur C. Piepkorn " The Theologies of Lutheran Orthodoxy," Concordia Theological Monthly, 25, (1954)

    The author, a lawyer in Newton, Massachusetts, is Chairman of the Hull Republican Town Committee. He serves as General Counsel of the National Writers Syndicate.  Comment on this essay to This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

 

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