Fools Rush In (or Hello, Texas?)

You know, there's just way too much faith-based foolishness going on in this world today. The latest example of course is the FLDS child custody case going on over in West Texas.

You know the story; polygamous religious groups establishes compound in remote area, stories come out of child abuse and sexual mistreatment, Child Protective Services swoops in and removes 416 kids, and hilarity ensues.

The cult members had their first day in court yesterday, and it turned into a three ring circus. Every lawyer in the state of Texas has seemingly flocked to the area to try and cash in on the free publicity to be had by representing one of these kids. The result?

The court hearing, which continues Friday morning, disintegrated into farce early Thursday, as hundreds of lawyers who descended on San Angelo for the proceedings shouted objections or queued up to cross-examine witnesses. The judge struggled to maintain order.

The state may have waded into a mess that it will have a hard time getting itself out of easily. Based solely on a mysterious phone call to an abuse hotline, they seized all of these kids from the compound because of concerns that they were in "eminent danger." Unfortunately for them, that may not be enough for them to achieve their goal of permanently removing the kids from the compound and placing them in foster care.

Now, I'm no expert but I've always heard that fools rush in, and that appears to be exactly what the state did in this case. There's obviously some strange goings on in that compound, but I do believe you need quite a bit more substantial and solid case before taking off down the path that was chosen. Not to mention the slippery slope of establishing precedent whenever authorities deem some other group of children to be in "eminent danger." Like maybe the kids at your church. Or in your home school network. Or youth group. Or whatever.

The end result of this whole thing will most likely be the kids being returned to the compound, the state paying out a bunch of money, and the FLDS folks being left alone. In other words, the exact same result as the last raid on a sect of this type 55 years ago.

I'm not saying that's what should happen, or condoning anything going on out at that compound. What I am saying to the state of Texas is that if you're going to do something like this, have a plan.