State expert says Fundamentalist Mormon beliefs are abusive
The belief system at a polygamous sect is abusive and teen girls do not resist early marriages because they are trained to be obedient and compliant, an expert testified Friday in a custody hearing for 416 children seized from a secluded ranch . . .
An expert in children in cults testified Friday that while the teen girls believed they were marrying out of free choice, it’s a choice based on lessons they’ve had from birth.
“Obedience is a very important element of their belief system,” said psychiatrist Bruce Perry, who interviewed three girls seized in the April 3 raid. “Compliance is being godly, it’s part of their honoring God.”
He also said that many of the adults at the Yearning For Zion Ranch owned by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are loving parents and that the boys seemed emotionally healthy when he played with them.
But, he noted, the sect’s belief system “is abusive. The culture is very authoritarian.” . . .
Numerous other reports indicate that the hearings in this case have been farcical. The AP report is here: Polygamist sect hearing in Texas descends into farce.
The AP also carries this report: Investigator says girls pregnant in polygamist sect.
Update:
The original caller reporting abuse may be a serial caller who posed as a minor abuse victim. The Denver Post reports: Springs woman may have posed as abused cult member.