Have ya'll been reading up on the FLDS sect in Texas (church, devil)

[angellous_evangellous]

It's absolutely heartbreaking.

Note: Ex-sect members escape polygamy, but not pain - CNN.com

When Texas authorities this month seized 416 children from the FLDS Yearning for Zion compound in Eldorado, there were similar signs of indoctrination, said Helen Pfluger, whose Baptist church in nearby San Angelo volunteered to help feed and clothe the children and their mothers.

"They were very quiet and didn't want to look us in the eye," she said. "We never knew for sure which child belonged to which mother. It was very communal."
They refused to play board games. Clothes had to be cotton and plain -- no patterns and no red, "the color of the devil," Pfluger said. The children shunned processed food, white bread and sodas, and essentially subsisted on yogurt, fruit and lots of almonds, she said.

"Another San Angelo church had brought some coloring pages and crayons," she said. "They didn't know what to do with them, and their mothers didn't either."

[lunamoth]

However, if we had happened upon a previously unkown and isolated culture of people who existed communally, avoided a certain color or type of clothing, and ate only almonds, yogurt and fruit, who didn't know what to do with crayons, we'd extoll the virtues of simple and communal living.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by lunamoth

However, if we had happened upon a previously unkown and isolated culture of people who existed communally, avoided a certain color or type of clothing, and ate only almonds, yogurt and fruit, who didn't know what to do with crayons, we'd extoll the virtues of simple and communal living.

I don't know of a primitive culture that lives that simply. Even isolated cultures know something about their world, tracking stars, knowing how to hunt, and use color and art and music quite prolifically. What the FLDS have done is restrain humanity in the extreme.

[texan1]

FYI - there are some other threads going on about this:

400 + Kids Taken From Texas FLDS Compound

[lunamoth]

I totally agree that the lifestyle of the compound could only be described as oppresive and restrictive of what I think of as basic human rights. I just think that criticizing the women for those particular small things is silly. More to the point is that they have been isolated and deprived of rights and protections they would otherwise be entitled to, and so as a result the indoctrinated are more likely to be victims of abuse by those in power in the cult.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by lunamoth

I totally agree that the lifestyle of the compound could only be described as oppresive and restrictive of what I think of as basic human rights. I just think that criticizing the women for those particular small things is silly. More to the point is that they have been isolated and deprived of rights and protections they would otherwise be entitled to, and so as a result the indoctrinated are more likely to be victims of abuse by those in power in the cult.

I agree. I see the women as victims - twice - being deceived into polygamy and then having their children taken from them by the state. It's just awful.