I do believe in individual freedoms, including being free to have faith in the doctrine of one’s choosing. Freedom is a tricky thing, though. One of your “rights” may well impede upon and take away one of my own. Some very simple examples would be an individual’s right to smoke a cigarette on a park bench. Being a non-smoker, my right to enjoy the fresh air on the other end of the same park bench has been taken away. My neighbor enjoys his right to rev up continuously, over and over again, his loud un-muffled motorcycle engine, as well as competing with the revving of his cycle gang’s engines at any time of the day or night. His right impedes my right to a restful night’s sleep or an afternoon nap while recuperating from surgery. Simple examples, indeed, but I trust the point is made.

This is the price we pay for our freedoms. A veteran once said he did not agree with a certain “freedom” another citizen wanted, but would fight to the death for the citizen to have that freedom.

And so I do believe in religious freedom and the practices in the pursuit thereof. Who are we to judge what is deemed just and appropriate by believers of a faith? Some may question the price that freedom has on the unsuspecting children. Of course, the youngsters being raised in a commune of sorts would be none the wiser, living in an environment of chosen harmony among its residents. Any of us would be brainwashed, in a manner of speaking, to the ways of our parents – especially in our belief system.

This thought leads to the young boys who are excommunicated. Could it be true they are left by the wayside for minor infractions or to unbalance the man/woman ratio to allow for remaining men to engage in bountiful polygamist marriage?

About theocracy and religious conviction: why is it, seemingly among the world’s religions, that doctrines may come and go as seen fit for the present time? Why are some truths taken literally and others figuratively? If the doctrine of polygamy was sanctioned by the Mormon God, why was not in the golden plates found by Joseph Smith? If a god is all-knowing, throughout all time, space, and eternity, would he then not have had a plan from the beginning? Why would there be Revelations to bring about change? Why is the word of God brought to mankind via a human prophet, be it Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, or Joseph? As a human, supposedly marred with flaws, fallibility, and sin, is he able to be entrusted to serve such an important task? Would entrusting the passage of Revelations to a man not naturally succumb to the similar fall of man?

Did God not see the earth would one day become too populated to properly house and feed its people? If polygamy is for the purpose of creating a kingdom, has that need not been met? When Abraham was told to go forth and multiply, was it not a time in the world’s history that man’s numbers were far less than the billions they are today?

Back to the lost boys and unfair treatment. The thing I find most unfair, if it were true, is the collection of funds via welfare from the government. Could it be true polygamist communities collect WIC or welfare checks for the support of its children? That is certainly an area difficult not to pass judgment. How could a godly man allow such an immoral injustice to society? How does the conscience work?

My stance on the issue is this. So long as I can be available and help a male or female teen, a child, a woman, or any other member who finds himself no longer in the realm of belief or obligation to his religion in a time of need, and I do not, as a taxpayer, have to support a population that is not self-supporting, I remain another humble human who has questions, but cannot pass judgment on another man’s religion and feel he has the right to choose it.

A stay-at-home homeschooling mother who wishes to educate her children on all the world’s religions.