Polygamous sects are 'form of organized crime'

I've had close relations with a polygamist FLDS family in Colorado City and they really opened my eyes to a seemingly strange way of life that after a while becomes increasingly normal. I dated one of their sons (He didn't embrace polygamy like his parents), went on family trips, and spent time in Colorado City, Arizona. There's so many different types of polygamists; they are people after all. Welfare fraud, tax evasion, incest, and other types of illegal activities do go on, but having a polygamist relationship does not mean you support or practice any of this behaviour.

Polygamist communities need to be accepted in a modern worldview. While polygamy exists, it IS a modern way of life to those who practice it. It's just as necessary to accept people who engage in polygamy and their children as it is to accept other social minorities. Many children of polygamists aren't educated up to national standards in the United States because parents are afraid to let the children intermingle with an unaccepting society. The more acceptance, the better education and most of us know education is the key to a peaceful existance.

"Cloaking themselves in the trappings of religion to conceal crimes"? Ooh, like the Catholic church perhaps? Or Osama Bin Laden? Or George W Bush?

Organized crime? I dunno. When I think of organzied crime, I think of RICO violations. I don't know that this sect's "wrongfully cloaking" itself in the trappings of religion to live a marital standard that is just as Biblical as Holy Communion constitutes an organized crime. That seems a little over the top for me.

As distasteful in this day and age as I personally find the practice of polygamy to be, I can't really say that there is anything overtly criminal about the practice. Too many places in the world have proven that polygamy is just as appropriate a marriage situation as monagamy. Although, I maintain that the USA is just not the society at large wherein to institute the practice. America is much to sexually repressed and narrowminded. We have too many preconceived, selfish notions about what sex and marriage should be. We haven't gotten our arms around heterosexual monogamy yet.

The only issue I had with the Warren Jeffs fiasco is that the wives were coerced at too young an age. Had these sister-wives been willing 25 to 50 year olds who entered these unions of their own volition, I personally would not have had a single problem with it. Hey, we can't tell grown folks how to do their thing, no matter how crazy that thing may turn out to be. But, this case came to light when a teenager was made to marry her teenage first cousin. This poor girl was being forced against her will into an incestuous union, violating a number of legal statutes. I don't think anyone should be forced into a marriage for any reason at any age, especially with the expectation that the union will only end at death. That's too long to spend with someone with whom you don't want to even have coffee.