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Fifteen Eighty Four

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6
May
2008

FDLS Arguments Will Not Hold Up

Marci A. Hamilton

From today’s Fort Worth Star Telegram

When Texas authorities entered the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, one of the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compounds, on April 3, they did so using a warrant based on calls from a person who alleged that she was an underage girl being subjected to physical and sexual abuse, including rape, at the ranch.

Once the authorities entered, they discovered pregnant underage girls, girls with more than one child, papers indicating that rampant polygamy was occurring at YFZ, and even a document involving cyanide poisoning. The authorities then intelligently decided to remove all of the children from a situation that posed obvious and serious danger to them.

Lawyers for the FLDS members have been arguing in the press that the entry and removal of the children constituted a “massive” violation of due process. Others have argued that the authorities’ actions represent the unfair targeting of one religion.

Each of these arguments is singularly misguided.

Read the rest of the article >>

About The Author

Marci A. Hamilton

Marci A. Hamilton is author of God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty (2007) and Justice Denied: What America Must Do To Protect Its Children (2008). She is one...

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