Holm has many valid points. One not mentioned is that they rip from each others families when they take and marry off their daughters to an appointed mate that the leaders choose. When they are underaged, is that not the same thing as they are crying about? That is about abusive as it gets!

It is ironic. Good call.

I feel for the women in the sect just because I am a mother and it would kill me if someone took my kids, but I don't feel for them enough to just give them their kids back without a complete investigation which includes unbiased interviews with these children. The state can't get unbiased interviews if the mother's of these children are around and able to influence what they say. The mothers themselves were probably born into this way of life, so they don't know any different which makes it that much harder, but we (investigators and children services) have to break the cycle of child abuse and if the mothers can't or won't do it then we have to. And American's out there need to decide what's more important, hurting these women who are older and should know better or preventing these kids from being hurt by more sexual and physical abuse.

Truly, it is because of the child abuse and all these reasons in this article that the national polygamy rights movement for consenting adults has always opposed the FLDS. Look it up on the internet for proof. It is ironic that the same mainstream Mormons who want the media to say the FLDS are not real Mormons who then also refuse to report the facts that, NATIONWIDE, the consenting adult polygamy movement does not even accept any form of Mormonism and rejects the FLDS. The Mormon media silence on this point looks as if the mainstream Mormons are so egotisticial that they want to "own the polygamy definition" as if it is exlusively Mormon while simultaneously telling the world they reject polygamy. If the mainstream Mormons REALLY reject polygamy, they would start reporting the fact that the NATIONAL polygamy rights movement is just as much against the FLDS as anyone else is.

re:report ALL the facts

HUH!!!!!

What about the kids, are all 400+ are in immediate danger and in abusive homes? Why are these young kids getting ripped away form their mothers and now subject to foster care or adoption? I have a hard time accepting that these <10 year old children are in such danger that they need immediate intervention and that these children are in more healthy "home" than they were a month ago. Build a case against the fathers and leave the children alone.

Why??????? read the news, maybe one day it will sink in to you just why these children are taken away and why they were in danger. Abused children are taken out of homes everyday in America and for good reason.... they dont just go in and take children from their homes without a reason..... get a grip!!!!! I am sure if all you bleeding hearts will hush your mouths for a few days you might just understand a little better when the actual facts come out in court! People are so quick to jump to conclusions... Texas has been investigating these people for about four years, believe me Texans are not stupid!!!!!!! They had a reason and cause!
God Bless Texas for caring about children!

Mr. Holm's comments, and those of Ms. Jessop, are interesting, but we must keep in mind that most of the reporting on the polygamous lifestyle has come from those who are no longer members. Perhaps that's because few current FLDS members talk to the media. But if we want to fully understand, we have to get information from both sides.

As is so often said, if you want to learn about the Mormon Church, listen to the Mormons themselves. If you want to learn about the Catholics or the Baptists, go to the Catholics and the Baptists, not former Catholics and Baptists. That wise counsel should apply here, too.

you have a great point

instead we should get our information from brainwashed accomplices who have lots to cover up

maybe some sobbing mothers

of course it is hard to get information from both sides when one side is a sex abuse ring covering their crimes

maybe some more sobbing mothers

Rights, Rights, Rights. Going into the compound on hearsay.....voices from radical womens groups??? Get a grip on that concept. Read the news "a texan" what governement has a right to "TREAD" on beliefs...

The court of public opinion has already decided this groups fate... They have already been branded.

Child abuse investigations in every state almost always begin with hearsay. You can't place a case worker in each American home 24/7 now can you? This wasn't like law enforcement went into an average neighborhood and pulled everyone's kids away. The fences that keep outsiders "out" and women and children "in" are what tells the truth here. Is this "religion" and it's beliefs so weak they fear contact with anyone else who doesn't believe? Is that how normal parents raise children? Do we lock our kids in our homes or bedrooms their whole lives just to protect them from freedom of thought and a view of the outside world? What other religion goes to such lengths? The fences tell it all. You don't lock a jewelry box that is empty. This place isn't empty of abuse, it's absolute and total abuse. It's a community of like minded men who systematically shut out all normalcy and isolate women and children to indoctrinate them to abuse in a way that it seems normal. The women and underage children are traded like cattle. Polygamist men have been repeatedly convicted for these crimes, too many victims have fled to tell the truth.

The biggest sin of FLDS is this:
FLDS removes any chance of children coming to their own understanding about their world and their God.

Bringing a thinking, aware, conscious, and suffering being into the world in order to meet some kind of silly heavenly quota is WRONG at the basest level of human dignity. What has GOD got to do with any of this? This is man's perversion of life. You can see in the women that the children are an emotional crutch for their imprisoned lives. I have no idea what the men think. Some must be genuinely stupid, others manipulative.
Good for Texas.

that kind of hurt. Why does everyone look to the LDS church when off-shoots are brought up? I was born and raised in the LDS religion and I never heard about polygamy from anyone I went to church with. I heard about it from people who thought they knew about the church. I feel for all these people but the children are the ones that need our hearts.this isnt an issue of religion anymore its an issue of abuse. noone in any religion deserves abuse.

Why don't you post the new comments or do you want to censure them first!!!

As a US taxpaying citizen, I am concerned with all the information/reports I am hearing from former FLDS members regarding the sexual abuse of children, the physical abuse and torture of children, and the use of my tax dollars to support those adults doing this through public assistance. Reports of the FLDS community receiving public assistance while abusing children should appall every tax paying American. Yes, Texas authorities are doing the RIGHT thing by going into that compound and investigating what has been reported. And if all these allegations/reports are proven true, then those in the FLDS community should be thrown not only in jail, but sterilized too, so that no more children are brought into this sick community to be tortured/abused. That would best serve my tax dollars.

Also, I too am a follower of Christ. My question to any FLDS member is this....if you all are following Christ's example, how does FLDS principles mimic Jesus' teachings regarding children? These alleged reports of abuse and torture goes against anything that Jesus Christ taught in His day or in the "latter day" regarding the treatment of children.

The final paragraph quoting the anti-polygamy activist is crazy. If she's trying to figure out why everyone thinks this case is about religious persecution, she should note that 416 (four hundred and sixteen!) kids have been forcibly removed from their parents because of their parents religious beliefs. The state only had evidence of abuse against a teenage girl (now found to be bogus) and no evidence of abuse against the boys or young children.

Fortunately for the FLDS, it sounds as if the volunteer lawyers representing the parents and children know what they're doing, and understand the 14th Amendment's guarantees of due process. Too bad Texas doesn't.

oh yeah