This is a complex issue and I’m torn as to what the proper response would have been. The libertarian in me says that the government did overreach. However, given that it seems for all the world that the real purpose of this particular religion is to provide a means for older men to have sex with very young girls who have been groomed for that purpose since birth, I can understand why they acted as they did.
If that’s what was happening – if those girls are being taught from birth that it’s their duty to submit after they hit puberty, and the boys are being taught that it’s their right and duty to take advantage of the situation, then it becomes a criminal conspiracy and not just a few isolated cases of May-December romance, as I’m sure lawyers for the group would like us to believe. In that scenario, I would consider all the adults, including the women, to be guilty of participating in a criminal enterprise and all the children, including the youngest ones, to be at risk.
Maybe a case could be made that it’s not strictly illegal to teach children that they should allow themselves to become crime victims, but at the very least it HAS to be evidence of parental malfeasance.
