Friday, Indianapolis, Indiana

Among the news stories this week was the raid on the polygamist ranch in Texas. Over 400 children were taken from this religious compound, after allegations of “sexual abuse” were made against the adults in this community.

This whole episode raises disturbing questions. On the one hand it is an important step forward that authorities are taking seriously the need to intervene when children and minors are sexually abused by predatory adults. The prevalence of sexual abuse against minors is an appalling and an incomprehensible phenomenon in culture. Every reasonable citizen supports the idea of dealing aggressively with those who would use children for their own personal gratification.

What’s confusing about this story however, is that the adults in this community assert that they are following their religious beliefs that allow men to have more than one spouse, and have children with different women. The age of the wives in these cases include many young women in their mid-to-late teens. And here is where the matter gets a little foggy. Different states legislate different ages that constitute adults consent for sex and marriage. In some places the young lady needs to be 16 years old, in others it’s as high as 18 before they can legally consent to marriage and sex.

While many people find it shocking that a 16-year-old girl can be married and have children, the reality is that it wasn’t very long ago that boys and girls in their mid-teens were marrying and having children with the approval, consent and even encouragement of the society. These days of course, this sounds bizarre. Most parents have a hope and an expectation that their children at 16 will be engaged in the routines of high school, looking forward to several more years of education through college. Most parents would feel disappointed if their children opted out of late high school and college to get married and start their adult life as parents. But again, this was the norm not very many decades ago.

Given the fact that our physical bodies enter puberty between the ages of 11 and 14, it seems that nature is suggesting that the optimum years for procreation are in fact late adolescence and early adulthood. But because social and cultural norms have delayed dependency in childhood for so long after teenage years, we are distressed when teenagers opt to begin an adult lifestyle before the age of 20. For most Americans, of course, a look into their own family history will make clear that they are the products of many generations of teenage marriages that were the norm until less than a half century ago.

So what’s the right attitude here? Clearly the Texas situation is made more controversial because of this community’s practice of polygamy, a notion that is anathema in our society. But the children have been taken from these families not because of the polygamy, but because of the allegations that there were sexual relationships between adult men and adolescent girls. But if the “victims” in this community are above the age of 16 years old, then the issue of government intrusion becomes a lot more uncomfortable.

I might find the lifestyle and ethical choices of this community appalling, but I do believe that we need to exercise caution when talking about the government stepping into such situations. Perhaps there was adequate justification, and children who truly needed protection. But I will be eager to hear clarification that there really were children who are at risk and needed to be taken from mothers and placed in foster homes.

Strange as their lifestyle was, including their quirky 19th-century dress, I do remain skeptical about government becoming too zealous regulating the lifestyle choices of ordinary citizens. Such intervention is especially disconcerting when the result is to separate children from their mothers. I’m just not sure I have a lot of confidence in government paid social workers and judges to make such decisions. They may be right in this case, but I wonder.