The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) is in the news again.  This time, their compound in Eldorado, TX was raided because at least one girl inside called the police to report that she had been sexually assaulted by her own husband.  What’s more, she was only 16.

The prophet of the FLDS, Warren Jeffs, was convicted last year of aiding the rape of a 14-year-old girl whom he forced to marry her cousin.  The difference between this story and the Warren Jeffs story is the perspective that the media is taking.  In the Warren Jeffs case, almost all the headlines and articles highlighted the polygamy issue.  This time, they’re focusing on what’s really going on, statutory rape.

Polygamy is illegal in all 50 states, including Utah, where the main LDS church is headquartered.  Contrary to popular opinion, the official LDS church outlawed polygamy in 1890.  Though at first it was in exchange for statehood for Utah, by now polygamy is strenuously condemned by the church leadership.  Of course, to be consistent, they do acknowledge that polygamy hasn’t always been sinful.  Here’s the official doctrine from the LDS website:

The family is ordained of God. Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan. At certain times and for His specific purposes, God, through His prophets, has directed the practice of plural marriage (sometimes called polygamy), which means one man having more than one living wife at the same time. In obedience to direction from God, Latter-day Saints followed this practice for about 50 years during the 1800s but officially ceased the practice of such marriages after the Manifesto was issued by President Woodruff in 1890. Since that time, plural marriage has not been approved by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and any member adopting this practice is subject to losing his or her membership in the Church.

The problem with convicting a person of polygamy is that the offender either has to register multiple marriage licenses or, if one of the parties to the marriage does not consent, a rarity when only adults are involved, that person has to report the crime. This produces a sensationalism in cases like this when polygamy is a part of a story when the real tragedy is that so many young lives are damaged or ruined because they had the misfortune of being born into a situation like this.

See this story for more details of this case.