Who decides First Amendment limits - God or state?
 
Opinion
The Spectrum
 
When a group's First Amendment right to worship as they choose involves the subjugation of women and children, and reportedly violates the law, how far do we go to ensure the safety of the women and children without violating the group's rights?

For every American, regardless of our beliefs, the events surrounding the incident at the YFZ ranch in El Dorado, Texas, require our close attention. Texas officials have stumbled into the gray area of religious liberty, child abuse and the question of how much deference we pay to the idea of "God's law."

Accounts of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' practices indicate that women, children and property are just that - property. They are reportedly taken away and redistributed at the whims of the prophet. Growing evidence seems to indicate that the sect arranged marriages, some to girls as young as 13. We're not talking about consensual polygamous relationships here.

And this is all done in the name of God. FLDS faithful will tell you that they are free to leave at anytime, which is tantamount to saying that they are free to suffer eternal damnation for defying the prophet and, by extension, God. That's some freedom.

At what point are authorities justified in going into these communities and trying to eradicate these practices? If these practices are what God commands the sect to do, how can you eradicate the practice without violating their First Amendment right to free exercise?

By eradicating these practices, does society then have some say over what religious practices are acceptable? At what point do we say that male circumcision is a form of child abuse? When do we hold parents accountable for their child's death for refusing medical treatment for the child, opting to pray for healing instead? Who decides that someone else's mandate from God is wrong?

If authorities go into the FLDS community and attempt to prosecute only the instances that have violated the law and then leave the community alone, won't the FLDS members continue violating the law as commanded by God? How do we attempt to help the women and children who are abused, while leaving the system of divine mandate and indoctrination in place that perpetuates the abuse?

Most of us agree that children, especially those younger than 16, have neither the intellectual nor emotional capacity to enter into marriage, let alone become breeding machines. It's bad enough when teenagers put themselves in these positions. To have it forced upon them, by holding salvation over their heads, is truly criminal.

But the question looms: When does the state get to decide that your God is wrong? Whether it's the arranged marriages of children, the replacing of medical care with prayer or the gender discrimination pervasive in many faiths, this event highlights two things: the gray area that exists between the laws established by the state and the laws commanded by God, and the tremendous power wielded, and sometimes harmful consequences justified, under the auspices of "God tells us so."

Mark Boggs is a resident of Washington City. He is a member of The Spectrum & Daily News Writers Group and can be reached for comment at meescat@msn.com.
 
TheSpectrum.com
Originally published Tuesday, May 20, 2008
 
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