That was pretty much the official line in my Catholic school sex ed class, too.

Actually, the kind of nice-ish thing about having sex ed in a specifically religious context was that there was no need to pretend that a church/state separation was in place. Which means the teachers felt free to give us all the real information in the world, with the above caveat and liberal reminders that premarital sex was a sin and you would go to hell for it.

Which is a much easier idea to blow holes in than shifty lies about the nature of contraception.

These are pervs that cross jurisdictions and only the feds can easily follow. The FLDS men have left to hide away. Shame the state is gaining DNA database on them. Makes it easier to prove multiple rape.

This is a really tragic, and really frustrating, dimension to Catholicism in America. When I meet people who profess to be “Catholic”, I’m always tempted to quiz them on their beliefs and conduct so I can deliver the verdict that, according to the Church, they are no such thing.

I remember a very funny quote in the Boston Globe from a priest who was leading a protest against the Kevin Smith movie “Dogma” when it came out: he was responding to some line from Smith about how he considers himself a Catholic but doesn’t really agree with the Curch or the Pope on a lot of things, yadda yadda. The priest said, “We have a word for people in Mr. Smith’s position. They’re called Protestants.”

I actually think that these cafeteria Catholics are committing a pretty grave offense against history and against the lives and ideals of thousands of people who were killed in wars and purges for their right to disagree with the Pope. If they want to believe in Jebus but not follow the dictates of the Pope, they should get in line with the rest of the Protestants. Trying to have it both ways is perverse and irresponsible, especially because their moral and financial support for the Church makes that kind of freedom impossible for people in countries where the Church is more influential.

That, or the FLDS has been what it has always been and it’s the zeitgeist that has left them in the dust.

I bet more than a few have died as a result of working as illegal day laborers.

One reason they get away with this is that the nearest state government agencies with power to deal with them are several hundred miles away due to the mountainous terrain of northern Arizona. Not only are they remote, but they can scoot people across the state line in a blink.

At my pre-cana class, the couple leading it told us that the rhythm method doesn’t work, but if you were really interested, they could find you some brochures after class. The husband then made my favorite pronouncement of the whole ordeal:

“If you don’t play the game, you don’t get to make the rules.”

That was an official Catholic Church pre-cana course held at a local church.

Our priest didn’t bother to figure out whether or now we were living together, and just wanted to know that we were “open” to having children.

Not “open” at every opportunity, just open to the possibility, someday. (Boy did we show him! Honeymoon Baby! Aging eggs my ass.)

My friends in Minneapolis had to lie to their priest about living together or else they couldnt’ have gotten married at all.

Again, if you don’t play the game, why are you trying to make the rules?

—-More to topic, I understand that FLDS incorporates its own towns and therefore the authorities–cops, judges, social services–are in on it and declare their loyalty to the Prophet comes before all else. What can be done about this?

There aren’t any autopsies, and these places have crematoria, so that there never can be autopsies. The officials are complicit, but how do you write laws to fix it?

Laws that will protect girls from slavery without violating the Constitution, that is. The fact that the local authorities are in on it is creating an issue for me. I absolutely believe all these people should be locked up, but there’s got to be a way to protect them without having to worry about Short Creek raid nonsense then affecting future prosecutions.

Religion as a cover for behavior that is otherwise antisocial is part of it, but the other part is that the last time they did a big raid, it blew up in their faces. It’s taken a long time - decades and even generations - to realize that this is something worse, something that needed to be stopped. That is was teenage girls being harmed certainly added to their slowness to realize this merited greater attention, but it’s not the only reason. And it’s not clear they won’t fuck this up so royally that it will inhibit future investigations.