Enforcement of laws is not persecution
 
Editorial
The Spectrum
 
We commend all law enforcement officials who have taken action in the communities of Colorado City and Hildale recently. Last week saw several men surrender to Arizona authorities after being indicted on charges of sexual conduct with a minor. Both Utah and Arizona are offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Warren Jeffs on one count of sexual conduct with a minor and one count of conspiracy to commit sexual conduct with a minor. The Utah Attorney General's Office has gone to court to have trustees of the United Effort Plan removed and independent trustees will soon be appointed by a court.

Note that nothing in the previous paragraph had anything to do with a person's religious belief that a man may marry more than one woman or a person's membership in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There have been no arrests of anyone for being married to more than one consenting adult.

These arrests and legal actions were based solely upon violation of existing criminal and civil laws that do not touch upon religious belief. Regardless of creed, we all agree on the need for laws that protect children from sexual abuse. Regardless of who we pray to, we all agree that our society needs to have laws that protect investors. No one can claim that these activities have been about persecution of religious belief. Therefore, individuals in these communities should feel encouraged to contact authorities.

The authorities should also be congratulated for conducting these actions under very tense conditions without having any serious incidents of violence break out. We hope this will continue to be the case as they move forward with their investigations.

For many years there have been suspicions that there were illegal activities (beyond the practice of polygamy between consenting adults) taking place in isolated communities without anyone being held responsible. We are glad to see the authorities moving forward on these issues.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published July 18, 2005
 
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