Persecuted Prohpet ? or Plain Pedophile ?

                                               Warren Jeff's trial tends to bring some interesting questions to a very serious and important issue in our day. Religious freedom is a bedrock of the American way of life. The founders thought that is was so profound that an article of the Constitution was written to protect that freedom. Speech is often seen as one of the most important freedoms we hold as a people. It would be hard to argue otherwise, but the freedom to worship without the restraint of government in any way, shape or form is far more fundamental in my opinion, in fact I feel it rivals the right to life in many instances. To debate that is irrelevant however, a fundamental freedom is just that. A sacred covenant between the people, and those that establish laws, that there are some subjects that are untouchable. So sacred that the mention of establishing law on these matters should require the dismissal of any one who dares violate that fundamental truth. Apparently Mr. Jeff's hopes that a jury, and you and I the public will share that sentiment on his behalf, and acquit Mr. Jeff's of the charges that have been brought against him. To Use that covenant and trust to conduct an immoral, and illegal act that violates the rights of another human being is just as despicable. To take the freedoms that have been fought for over a period of centuries now, and to try to twist the meaning of such a foundational covenant to the end of pursing criminal behavior is some of the most vile  forms of behaviour a human being can perform, and to use freedom, and God as a means to accomplish that is the most appalling conduct of a human being.
                                                                                         His case essentially began with a phone call. A phone call that brought an accusation of abuse; and the presumed victim was a young lady named Sarah. Sarah claimed she was being abused by an elder that she was being forced to marry and was being locked in a room with no windows. Rozita Swinton was the fictitious Sarah. The fictional character had contacted Flora Jessop who belonged to the Child Protection Project  (http://www.childpro.org/ ) . Also Sarah was calling a shelter  in Texas which alerted authorities who then conducted a raid on April 3rd. This raid established some troubling patterns of abusive behaviour with the authorities, 400 children were removed ( although they were returned by court order ) and the person that the authorities were looking for a young lady named Sarah never surfaced, and no one had ever heard of such a person within the community. The raid for the search for Sarah produced other material that became direct evidence against Mr. Jeffs, including audio tapes of physical contact with a 12 year old child, and DNA that was extracted from the child of a 15 year old girl, which proved to be the child of Warren Jeffs.
                                                                                         Warren Jeffs has a conviction brought on by his faith that allows him to conclude that he is a Prophet, it is also the stated believe of the FLDS that for a man to be a god that he must have plural wife's. Young girls may be assigned to older men in the community and " Celestial Marriages" may be performed, these marriages are often in direct violation of law, and the ages of these young girls that are assigned to the elder men would make them in violation of State laws as well, some as young as 12 years old. Of course these young brides according to the doctrine of the FLDS may not refuse there " husbands" and are viewed to be gods, in fact in open court Mr. Jeffs has referred to himself as a God. This is not an insane man, but a man driven to action on an insane view of theology, which is not practiced my mainstream Mormon churches, but the fundamentalist believe that the Mormon church does not follow the proper doctrine of faith, however what Mr. Jeff's never addresses nor has addressed is a faith that violates the law of the land. It is the slight of hand that is being practiced in the courtroom and in the public arena that I am sure Mr. Jeff's hopes that the jury and the public will overlook. I once sat on a jury where an attorney tried a similar slight of hand trick, in which one of the witnesses of the case was an ATF agent, and the attorney spent an inordinate amount of time trying to discredit his testimony on the case just on the fact that he was a Federal Agent, the attorney even referenced actions by the ATF at Waco as proof of the Agency and it's agents from telling an honest account of a lawful situation.


                                                                                   I would be the first to stand in line to defend the rights of any individual to worship the Almighty as they see fit in this Nation, it is an unalienable right that exists just as your right to property, and liberty. No government should be able to enact, or enforce any laws that prevent the free exercise of religion, and that same government must show tolerance of the practices of many different forms of worship. However to use that sacred right as a means to violate the rights of children, and to perform acts and violations that would put any other individual in prison in the name of faith is one of the most vile acts a human being can commit, further more the damage that is done perceptually to individuals who may have deep convictions and may worship outside what may be called the mainstream is indefensible. Families whose children are home schooled, families who choose to believe outside what the majority of the country may worship are put in danger because of the likes of Warren Jeffs. Practitioners who have fundamentalist believes may be subject to undo law enforcement arrests because of a panic and fear that the actions that a man like this may take thus denying a right to worship. Violating the most innocent of our society to feed an insatiable appetite of deviancy is of the most appalling nature, and to justify it in the name of God shows a manipulation and indecency of the most base kind of behaviour we could ever know.
                                                                           If found guilty I hope he gets his full term in Jail. The sentence could be as high as 119 years. Even that is to short a sentence, but keeping pedophiles away from society and young children is the least we as a society can do to protect our children.




For more on this please follow these links:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-iIOWOblW0


http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0730/Has-Warren-Jeffs-turned-his-trial-into-a-sermon-on-polygamy





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rozita_Swinton#Rozita_Swinton