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The State vs. The Family

Leon’s post below about mentioning government “health visitors” reminded me of a topic that’s been haunting me and some of my Catholic conservative friends in recent weeks. In Texas, the government raids a “compound” of polygamist breakaway Mormons, on an accusation of abuse that proved to be fraudulent. The state of Texas (the same government […]

Leon’s post below about mentioning government “health visitors” reminded me of a topic that’s been haunting me and some of my Catholic conservative friends in recent weeks.

In Texas, the government raids a “compound” of polygamist breakaway Mormons, on an accusation of abuse that proved to be fraudulent. The state of Texas (the same government that mandated the HPV vaccine for girls) has taken custody of the children. Now, polygamy is immoral (though, considering that fornication isn’t, in any practical way, a crime, why should polygamy be one? or does promiscuity only offend the state when it’s fertile promiscuity?), and abuse or incest probably happened here, but the state’s taking kids away from “religious extremists” ought to make any Tridentine-Mass-attending home-schoolers a bit worried.

Is it too far-fetched that a state judge or the Obama administration, citing a girl’s “right to reproductive freedom” or “right” to learn about evolution or homosexual behavior and transgenderism, will take kids away from a conservative Catholic, Muslim, evangelical, or Orthodox Jewish homeschooling family? Maybe I’m safe, because my family shops at the Gap, attends a mainstream parish, and doesn’t have a stockpile of rifles, but a more socially awkward, well-armed, traditional family had better worry.

In the horrendous Arlington baby-snatching case, the mother’s crime was apparently being socially awkward and unmarried, and so:

Arlington County social workers used unproven allegations of neglect in April 2005 to justify removing then-3-week-old Sabrina from her parent’s home. Her parents were accused – anonymously – of starving Sabrina.

And then there’s the Detroit dad whose crime was absentmindedness and insufficient knowledge of girly drinks:

The way police and child protection workers figure it, Ratte should have known that what a Comerica Park vendor handed over when Ratte ordered a lemonade for his boy three Saturdays ago contained alcohol, and Ratte’s ignorance justified placing young Leo in foster care until his dad got up to speed on the commercial beverage industry.

Shouldn’t we all be worried?

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