I know lots of people whose religious faith inspires them to dedicate their lives to helping the poor, the homeless, the sick or disabled. And although I’m not a believer, I applaud anything that inspires anyone to work selflessly to benefit those less fortunate, to strengthen communities, protect wildlife and the environment, or cultivate the arts.

Then there are those who use religion as an excuse to engage in the inexcusable:

The renegade Mormon splinter group requires girls at puberty to enter into polygamous marriages with much older men and produce children, authorities say.

So let’s see…you have a bunch of young teenage girls, sequestered in an isolated compound in a remote area, and each man gets a few as personal sex slaves. Since a man can only legally marry one of them, the remaining “spiritual wives” are victims of statutory rape, at the very least, and actual rape, child abuse, assault and kidnapping, as well.

I’ve heard it said that child abusers are on the bottom of the social ladder even in prisons full of rapists and murderers. One can only hope.

Here’s another odd angle on this depravity. Have you seen any of the photos of the women? They look like extras on the set of “Little House on the Prairie.”

Back in the late 70s’s/early 80′s, I knew a number of Iranians who were living in San Francisco while the revolution was raging back in their home country. One friend received a family photo, and was appalled to see his mother and sisters all wearing veils. His family had always worn modern western attire. He told me it was like if I received a photo of my family dressed in 19th century costumes. Seeing these 21st century women dressed like they’d just gotten off the wagon train made me wonder if, somewhere in Utah or Arizona, there were siblings or cousins looking at photos and wondering what had happened to the family they loved.

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