Colorado City Abuses
It was brought to my attention this morning that Dr. Phil had on his show two girls who had escaped from Colorado City, Arizona and the group there. A break away group calling themselves “fundamentalist mormons”. Using polygamy and religion to justify forcing teens into marriage and keeping them perpetually pregnant.
I decided to check the Dr. Phil show forum and see what people would be talking about. And as expected, all the former mormons who firmly believe my church is a cult because of their own bad experiences came out in force. Most of these people had grown up in Utah. Which didn’t surprise me much. When you live in an area where everyone thinks the same, it unfortunately can happen that some people’s thinking becomes narrow.
There were some voices who wondered why Arizona isn’t doign anything about this. I wonder that as well. The authorities in that area turn a pretty big blind eye. And then some people were wondering why children services weren’t doing something. Unfortunately on that scale, I think I may know why. I have a step uncle who works for children services over in the Safford, Arizona area. And I once heard my mother talk about him commenting that child abuse of all kinds is sooo bad that he literally has to draw a line on how bad it has to be before they can interfere. If a kid has clothes, a bed, a roof, and regular meals they let it go, because the number of children who don’t even have those things are much higher. And how severe the abuse is has to have a line drawn. It was really shocking to hear my mom talk about it. She sees some of it in her job running the Boys and Girls club in her small town. In Oregon, you can have your kid potentially taken away just from slapping their hands in public.
What is happening in Colorado City is vile by anyone standards, and I feel sorry for people who think our church sanctions that sort of thing. Even when polygamy was being practiced in the 1800’s, the men were usually assigned their families who showed up in the valley after having lost husbands and various others to hardships along the trail or through persecution. Only 3% of the elders had extra wives. People like to go off as if it’s something everyone was gung ho for. Most people are not able to handle that kind of responsiblity. I know I probably can’t do it. And with my background of having a sunday school teacher who used the polygamy idea to justify his molestation of me (he was training a future wife) I know all about how it can be abused. But I learned from that experience that how people may use something to justify abuse doesn’t mean that’s the way it really is or meant to be.
I hope something is done about that city. But I do also hold that those who abuse others do not get away with it scott-free. There is accountability in the universe. I was once told in a blessing that “my children are on loan to me and it’s my job to raise them and return them to my Heavenly Father”. We don’t own our kids, and I firmly believe we will be held accountable for how we treat those put in our care and stewardship.
