Our Awful Situation

ACLU weighs in on FLDS raid

Posted by Charlie Kilo on May 7th, 2008

What! I’m shocked, shocked that it took the ACLU this long to weigh in:

The American Civil Liberties Union said it has “serious concerns” about the way the government is handling the massive child custody case over the Fundamentalist LDS Church’s YFZ Ranch.

“The ACLU has serious concerns that the state’s actions so far have not adequately protected the fundamental rights at stake,” the national organization said in a statement recently posted on its Web site.

The ACLU said children have a right not to be abused or forced into marriages by their parents or anyone else, parents have a constitutionally protected right to free exercise of religion and to raise their children in their faith, as well as a fundamental right to due process of the law.

“Children may not be separated from their parents based solely on the state’s disagreement with a group’s thoughts or beliefs, religious or otherwise,” the ACLU said.

The civil rights group said it is concerned about Texas authorities’ justification for placing 464 children in foster care, by saying that all children at the ranch were at risk because they were exposed to FLDS beliefs on underage marriage.

“Religion is never an excuse for abuse,” the ACLU said. “But, exposure to a religion’s beliefs, however unorthodox, is not itself abuse and may not constitutionally be labeled abuse.”

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Our Awful Situation

ACLU weighs in on FLDS raid

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