Misogyny and Distraction in the Texas Polygamy Raids

National media coverage of the recent raid at the Texas compound has revealed as much about “ourselves” as about the FLDS polygamist sect.

Child abuse, domestic violence, and rape are wrong: they are some of the greatest evils a society ever knows. Yet, too often, the coverage of the raid has focused not on the abuse but on the “peculiar” culture of the people. The clothing (“long pastel dresses,” according to an April 7 Chicago Tribune article) is not the point; child abuse and misogyny are the point, and distractions confuse that important moral lesson. Both the sect members and our voyeuristic culture need to understand that. People should not be humiliated for what clothing they wear; they should be tried and punished for what harm they cause.

It is well worth questioning whether a government that does not protect its children from poverty, toxic toys, and manipulative commercial advertising, has learned any lesson from this raid. Will we recommit ourselves to helping all children escape the evils of child abuse? Is this raid to help the children or is it to soothe the smug consciences of mainstream citizens who fear “deviants?” It is also worth questioning whether a national spotlight on this sect discourages such violence, or pushes similar instances of abuse further underground.

Also illuminating is that commentary on the raid has emphasized the “Latter-Day Saints” half of the church’s name, and not the “Fundamentalist” half. While some of the community’s beliefs may come from the LDS tradition, it is the fundamentalist style of the faith that encourages a closed community structure and intolerance to other perspectives. Fundamentalism is not unique to LDS communities, and facing the dangers of this belief system in the wider Christian community may be harder than further marginalizing LDS and Mormon believers.

(May we all keep praying for those children and their families, and for the redemption of the gospel from those who would pervert it to serve their abusive purposes.)