In the Clutches of Religion—Victims of Violence and Perversion
by Djulia Montana ‘tahna’ de Veyra
On March 29 and 30, a 16-year-old girl from the West Texas ranch made a furtive phone call to a family violence shelter, speaking in a hushed voice as she reported the ordeal she was experiencing in her own religious compound. The authorities responded promptly, raiding the ranch Thursday following the phone call.
The girl, who was weeks pregnant, reported being sexually assaulted by her 50-year-old husband who also “beat and hurt” her. She described how the latter would choke her and hit her in the chest.
The 16-year old girl’s ordeal is not an isolated case. Court documents revealed many more pregnant teenage girls at the ranch. Officials removed a total of 416 children from the compound, claiming that they were in imminent danger of “emotional, physical, and-or sexual abuse.”
As stated in an affidavit with Lynn McFadden, investigative supervisor of Department of Family and Protective Services, as a signatory–”Investigators determined that there is a widespread pattern and practice of the (Yearn for Zion) Ranch in which young, minor female residents are conditioned to expect and accept sexual activity with adult men at the ranch upon being spiritually married to them,”
The 1, 700 acre ranch, also known as the Yearning for Zion (YFZ) Ranch, is located in Southwest Texas, outside of
Carolyn Jessop, an escapee of the YFZ Ranch, has this to say about the refigious sect, “I think it’s a form of pedophilia hiding behind a religion as a protection. There’s just a desire to control and manipulate and torture people, and religion is just used as the cover.”
Right now, there is controversy surrounding whether the raid was justifiable or not, with some people referring to the authorities’ action as religious persecution. Former members of the FLDS also stress that the children are likely to face difficulty adjusting to current foster care.
Ben Bistline, who is now 72, and was 18 years old when a similar raid happened 54 years ago (taking 200 children into foster care) has this to say, “It was total misery for them.”
But Bistline further comments, “This situation in
I could not agree more. Nobody is persecuting any religion here, polygamous marriage at that. Nobody is putting judgment on such an arrangement. So long as all parties are willing participants, we’re cool with that. Problems and strong objections only arise when unwitting children are involved, especially when they are exposed to unwarranted physical, emotional and sexual abuse. This is religious turned cultic. And this definitely warrants action by the authorities.
And the difficulty experienced by children as they adjust to foster care is totally understandable. What can you expect from kids who have been under rigid control ever since they were infants? These kids were brainwashed to accept things as they were, made to believe that it was the only world that existed for them.
As the 16-year-old girl reported on her March 30 call, church members would tell her that if she left, “outsiders will hurt her, force her to cut her hair, to wear makeup and (modern) clothes and to have sex with lots of men.”
The boys were also reportedly groomed to become sexual predators. They were to marry underage girls and engage in sexual activities upon adulthood.
A commentator at the MSNBC - U.S News message board has this to say, “What about the total lack of crime in the FLDS community? In the “real world” - that we demand they live in - there are kids killing kids, adults killing kids, drugs, thefts, obscenity and a total lack of morality.”
True enough. The outside world is not any cleaner. But at least we don’t hide behind the guise of religion, which in my opinion makes it all the more abominable. It’s sad how people fall in the clutches of religion. Many not as horrendous as the YFZ’z case but still clutched anyway, held in the bounds of unreasonable dogma. And their self-righteousness makes them all the more annoying.
How about you? Are you held by the clutches of religious dogma?
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