Yearning for Zion; Yearning for Truth
Other than one post wondering why the Midland Sheriff's Department has an armored personnel carrier, I've shied away from the story of the child custody battle playing out in Eldorado, Texas. The state of Texas Child Protective Services (CPS) raided the Yearning for Zion Ranch (YFZ) and took custody of 416 children after receiving a telephoned complaint that children were being sexually abused.
I've shied away from the story in part because the public had more assumptions than facts. Let's let the facts come out before forming conclusions. But a bigger reason was that I saw no ending to this story that didn't harm one or another of my most firmly held values.
Scott Henson, in a The Dallas Morning News viewpoints column presents the civil libertarians' argument well. Reportedly, the raid was prompted by an anonymous phone call, alleging sexual abuse at the YFZ Ranch, home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS). Allegations of polygamy and rape of thirteen-year-old girls by older men at the ranch led to 416 children being removed from their homes and families being broken up.
Henson asks reasonably, "Where's the evidence of abuse?" The phone call turned out to be phony. No pregnant thirteen-year-old girls have been found. There's been no testimony of forcible sex or rape. Henson concludes, "From the evidence presented publicly, I do not believe that the children have been sexually abused or physically harmed."
The still-developing story looks, at present, like a case of over-reaction by CPS against a religious sect with views unpopular with the rest of the community. My support for America's Constitutional liberties leads me to agree with Scott Henson and side with the FLDS and against CPS.
So, why have I shied away from saying so? Because I also value protecting children from forced marriage and statutory rape. Even without corroborating testimony by anyone from the YFZ Ranch, I fear that there's a good possibility that underage girls are, in fact, being coercively married off to older men in polygamous arrangements at the ranch. If true, it would be a case where my upholding of our Constitutional liberties has the effect of protecting the criminal instead of the victim.
I hate it when that happens. Hate it.
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