How Polygamy Leads to Slavery and Child Abuse

What choice do these girls have for their life? They have no chance to further their education. They have no money. Most have no one, outside of their group, to reach out to. If they try to resist they are told their families will be put out on the street.

Women and in particular young women become a commodity. Like a sheep, or a goat, or a head of cattle they become status symbols to brag about, like a new car or piece of jewelry.

If these were all adults making decisions for themselves it would be one thing, but eventually even the adults who went in of their own free will have children. It is their children who soon become victims. Think for a minute, a second wife has a young daughter. The leader wants to give her to an older man that maybe is a big money maker. If she doesn't turn over her daughter her husband gets in trouble. She is already second fiddle. What will happen to her? She also has no means of support for herself. She can't get alimony. Her marriage is not even legal.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully you get the picture.

Here is the bottom line. We do not and I emphasize do NOT need new laws. We just need to enforce the laws that are already in place.

There are laws in every state to protect the young from sexual predators. These laws need to be enforced.

There are laws regarding the legal age of consent. Polygamy is against the law for a very good reason. The law protects little girls in closed societies from becoming property. Children are not meant to be sex slaves.

Slavery was abolished in this country by the thirteenth amendment.

Article 4 of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights (passed in 1948) declares such servitude as illegal.

In America, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 extended servitude to cover Peonage as well as Involuntary Servitude.

At every level of law these children are under protection. It is just up to us as citizens to understand these children's plight and speak out and to act upon it, as we are able.

At first glance you may be inclined to say. So what? As long as they're adults and consenting, than it is their business. What is not seen at first glance is the dirty little secret of polygamy.

Polygamy historically leads to rape, and child abuse. Even in the U.S.A. when religious groups adopt a doctrine of polygamy it eventually leads to slavery, or its close cousin, indentured servitude.

The dirtiest, of all the dirty little secrets is; It is the children who become pawns in the game.

It is these children who are the true victims. Never allowed to even reach an age close to adulthood, they are coerced by social pressure, threats of abandonment, and sometimes brute force. More often than not, it is a man much older than they are that they are made to marry. Laws about statutory rape, or the legal age for marriage are thrown out the window. These groups consider themselves above the law. People inside the group are afraid to speak out

Polygamy is against the law in the United States.

Please understand, this is not a freedom of religion issue. It is a child abuse issue.

When all law is disregarded what is left is anarchy. Sometimes there are laws that need to changed, and there are mechanisms in place to do so. The laws of our land that protect women and children from exploitation are very good laws and they need to be enforced.

The reason I feel so passionately about this is because I have witnessed the destruction that can come from these laws being usurped by a self proclaimed religious leader.

It is particularity destructive when it is against the law, and a religious leader deems it not only acceptable but his duty to break the law and have multiple wives. Immediately there is an "Us against Them" mind set that is strengthened. The leader takes on an aura of power.

In the group I am familiar with, and from what I've read, these other polygamous groups recently in the news, the leader takes on more and more power. They will even take the role of assigning who should marry whom.

Think now of the position a young girl is put in. (We are talking 11, 12, and 13 years old). She is told to marry a man she probably barely knows, or doesn't know at all. Remember, she is told this by the one person, that from her birth, she has been told is God's Prophet, or Wolrd Pastor, or such like. At this age she probably does not dissern these things for herself. If she's lucky the man she will marry is in his twenties. More often, he will be in his thirties, forties, or fifties. I know of one poor girl right here in the United States that was forced to marry a supposed man of God in his late sixties or early seventies! (Afterwards the monster bragged about how tight she was).

God's Brothel ,

Eighteen women's stories of extortion of sex for salvation in modern, erroneously named, "Christian" Fundementalist and Morman churches.

A must read for those who want to understand the truth behind polygamy.

Tony Alamo - Sexual Predator

http://www.the-signal.com/news/article/4242/

The FBI arrested Tony Alamo in a motel in Flagstaff, AZ. Authorities said he was taken into custody on charges of violating the Mann Act. The Mann Act makes it a crime to knowingly take a minor (under 18) across state lines with the intent of conducting sexual activity.

Alamo's compound had been raided after receiving information of child abuse and possession of child pornography.

"To Whom It May Concern;

I, Cindi Jo Angulo, (aka Cindi Jo Franckiewicz) was born and raised in the Tony and Susan Alamo Christian Foundation. I am the oldest of four siblings. Knowing no other life, I thought my life was good. We had our own school, cafeteria, recreational center and, of course ,church. As I got older things started to change. Tony's wife, Susan had passed away and Tony remarried. I remember vividly playing on the playground and seeing Tony's limo pull up. He got out with his expensive furs and diamonds. His wife decked out as well. Everybody stood around him as if he were God. That's when things really started to change. Tony, shortly afterwards, remarried and then remarried again. He was going through one wife after another.

Things started to change for the worse. I lived in fear that if anything I did could possibly be misconstrued or twisted, there was the fear of being beaten. It was a fear that became a reality so many times. When I look back now, I, as well as the other children, never deserved those beatings.

The girls my age were all being married off to older men in the church. I knew my time was near. Sure enough, I was married too. I never knew this man I married or anything about him except that it was supposedly of the Lord for me to marry him, and how dare I question that? I was fifteen years old. At eighteen I had two children and two miscarriages. Birth control wasn't an option.

Meanwhile the church and Tony was just becoming more and more corrupt. Tony had become a polygamist and was marrying girls my age. During this time he was finally caught and sent to prison for tax fraud and other things. Once again, he still ran and operated the church through phone and message tapes. His 9 wives, at the time, moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado to be close to the prison and would visit him almost daily.

The church property in which we stayed was hardly livable. There was no electricity, running water and the duplexes were infested with roaches, mice and rats. We had blow- up mattresses and blankets and cooked with propane stoves and brought water to wash dishes and bathe.

I was told I could stay. A couple days later, I got a message from Tony that I could chose either to go back to Arkansas and live in Moffet or go to Colorado Springs with Tony's wives. I chose to go back and live in Moffet. My message back was that God wanted me to go to Colorado. Having no chose I was flown along with my two children from LAX to Colorado Springs, Colorado where I was escorted to Tony's house where all his wives lived. To my surprise, one of my sisters, Katrinna, (only 11 years old ), was living there along with the other €˜wives Katrinna told me she was married to Tony.

That was the beginning to the end. After I got there Tony requested pictures of me. I thought that was really strange but I did as instructed and allowed pictures to be taken. Shortly after my arrival my daughter, Varina, only 9 months, old became very sick with pneumonia. She could barely breathe one night. I thought she was going to die. I rushed her to the hospital were she was hospitalized for several days. During my stay at the hospital I got a phone call from one of the wives. She told me that Tony had called and that the Lord told him that I was to be one of the wives. She said one of us as she was being discreet over the phone. The news was overwhelming. I told her that I would like to pray about this. I didn't understand. I thought it was against Gods Word to marry sisters as it causes confusion. When Tony heard my response he was furious. His message back to me was if I didn't become one of the wives my daughter, Varina, would die. In my state of mind, (brainwashed) I believed him. I agreed to become one of the wives. Shortly after, I was sent a pass to the prison.

Ill never forget how confused I was. In a blink I was one of the wives and now on my way to visit Tony in prison. On my first visit I sat next to him. The whole time he was getting an erection as he was being turned on by telling me all the things he was going to do to me when he got out. He said he would spend four straight nights with me. He also shared in graphic detail how it was with each wife on the first night. While at the prison, the wives would take turns sitting on the each side of him throughout the visit. I sat next to him the whole time on the first visit since I was the new wife. The other wives would watch the security cameras and when they would turn Tony would fondle the wife on the other side of him. He only rubbed my leg on the first visit but the other wives he fondled.

I came to the conclusion that there was only one way out. One day I decided after arriving at the prison that I wasn't going to go in. I told Sharon (one of the wives) that I refused to go in and to please give a note that I had written to Tony. In the note I explained that it wasn't in my heart to be one of the wives and begged for Tony to let me go.

I thank God to this day that he answered my prayers. Tony let me go. I was flown back to Saugus, California with my two children. I asked Tony for money, as I had nowhere to go and had two babies and was pregnant. He gave me $ 500 and told me to keep my mouth shut about everything."

This testimony was shortened for brevity. The whole thing can be read at. (the links to the "factnet dot org" board regarding Alamo, are no longer available. You may still be able to find it with an advanced search.)