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	Wendy Murphy's and Justice for Some Column: and the Lord Said: 'Go Forth and Rape Children'(No, He didnt!) Patriot Ledger April 19, 2008 http://www.patriotledger.com/opinions/x2103872502 QUINCY — Just when I thought we'd hit a lull in sex crimes stories so that I could write about something other than rape, big news developed in Texas when a polygamist cult was raided after a teenage girl called 911 to report that she'd been beaten and sexually abused by her middle-aged "husband." So forgive me for yet another column about sexual abuse, but polygamy is a huge and growing problem in many states and it's high time law enforcement used its might to knock down the walls of every religious organization that uses the First Amendment to hide or justify crimes against children. I'm not anti-religion, I'm anti-exploitation of religious freedom; a fundamental right that aptly enjoys constitutional primacy because it was meant as a shout out to other nations that America's greatness would grow from its commitment to the inherent right of human beings to have a personal, not government imposed, belief in God (or not). With any freedom, however, comes the risk that some people will take unfair advantage for reasons that have nothing to do with the underlying goal, and in fact, cause harm to the integrity of the doctrine. It's important to protect even wildly unpopular religious beliefs from government power but absolute protection means that a crazy person can wake up one day and start a whole new religion by claiming he had a chat with God in the parking lot of a Wal-Mart. Any of us could do it. I could claim that God spoke to me and told me to create a new church where everyone goes fishing on Sunday and Mass is held lakeside. Wine is served but from a good bottle of French chardonnay and everyone gets a full glass not a sip. Music comes from Eva Cassidy, Elton John, Queen or Aerosmith (Hannah Montana for the kids). And the rules of marriage are simple marry whomever you love but if either person asks the other one to iron their clothes, a divorce will be granted upon request. In my church irons are pagan gods and must be destroyed. Silly I know. But at least nobody's getting hurt. In Texas, God reportedly told the polygamists that girls should be abused and men must marry as many wives as they can because whoever marries the most women and rapes the most children gets priority seating in heaven. This is all clearly criminal behavior, not remotely protected by religious freedom, but the problem for cops is that the crimes are hidden not just inside temples but behind the gated walls of "polygamy towns." It's hard enough to police criminal activity in the real world when it happens behind closed doors. It's near impossible to uncover crime much less doing something about it when it's going on behind doors that surround an entire community and are cloaked in the First Amendment. It would help if the mothers of the girls being abused could get their heads out of their Granny Clampett bloomers. Even a mom with a brain that's been scrubbed clean with mind-control bleach can snap out of it when her 12 year-old daughter is being whisked away to be "married" to a 50 year-old monster. It's difficult for most of us to imagine such atrocities when we see the videos of giggly fresh-faced females covered head to toe in cotton and lace playing jump rope. But maybe that's the point. We'd be so much more suspicious if they were prancing around the prairie in lace thongs. So they dress to the opposite extreme to make sure we respond with incredulity just in case. It's time to peel back the layers of the petticoat and teach cult members that no god would allow, much less command, the sexual abuse of children. And even if there is such a god we don't have to let him sit under our First Amendment umbrella. Remember Jonestown, Guyana? Sorry but some religions can have too much freedom. It will certainly offend many cult members when government officials take custody of their children and say: "We know what's best for the kids." But so what? It's worth offending an entire nation if the goal is to point out that the emperor has no clothes AND that he's doing very bad things while naked.
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