Big Love gets busted

I see on the news that Texas authorities have raided the compound of a polygamist cult, removing the women and children. Evidently, last week one of the children called the police and claimed they were being sexually abused.  

As someone who has libertarian leanings, I think the government would do better just to leave polygamists alone. In my mind, Polygamy isn't any more immoral than a man who starts a family, divorces his wife, and then starts another family.

That said, in general there is tremendous abuse in these cults, and at some point the state has to step in and remove the children (mostly young females) who are being forced into marriages and sexually abused.

It is also a well known fact that there are many other such compounds scattered all throughout the Southwest. Jon Krakauer documents one such compound in Arizona, in his book Under the Banner of Heaven.

I guess I wonder why these compounds are allowed to exist. I understand the administrative nightmare of tearing apart families. But at some point aren't we just endorsing child abuse. We seem to permit these cults to exist as long as they function far from the rest of society and operate under the guise of religious freedoms.  

NPR on the Prosperity Gospel

Monday, March 31, was the deadline for certain pastors to submit information to Senator Chuck Grassley (R) regarding Grassley's investigation into their financial practices.

As a follow up, NPR did a short piece with a Professor of Religion from the Unversity of Rochestor on the "Prosperity Gospel".

It is a fairly well balanced segment, explaining the belief of the prosperity doctrine and how that belief has potentially run afoul of certain tax laws.  The professor ends the segment by calling Prosperity Doctrine churches "corporations". She concludes that when a corporation pretends to be a non-profit it can get into trouble.

Lastly, here is a good article listing where all the pastors stand in their complaince with the investigation.

Has City Bible Church withdrawn from MFI?

We recently received this email from a reader:

Do either of you know anything about Frank withdrawing his membership from MFI? Would that mean he'd be withdrawing his church as well? (If so, no doubt it has something to do with Bob MacGregor being Mr. Iverson's choice for the next MFI top dog.)

If Frank is withdrawing completely, I wonder if he's starting something of his own to replace it?

Can any of you verify this statement? Or is it just a rumor? If true, I think it's probably one of the few decisions by Frank that I actually commend. MFI is a pretty useless organization.