.
December 7th, 2012
12:07 AM ET

Warren Jeffs child labor?

Gary Tuchman reports on a tip about convicted polygamist Warren Jeffs's sect having FLDS children harvest pecans instead of attending school.

 Post by:
Filed under: Anderson Cooper • FLDS • Gary Tuchman
soundoff (6 Responses)
  1. keri1217

    as an adult if you choose to work all the time,believe a certain religion and practice witch craft ect,use alcohol.drugs,change your body by modification,sex addict,ect-within the laws you can do what you want,but why can't children be children?having routines,playing with toys,being innocent and precious,looking forward to things,enjoying being a child?it's so sadd kids grow up too fast now a days as it is.

    December 10, 2012 at 12:07 pm |
  2. keri1217

    dss should remove all the kids from these familys and give them to people who will raise them right

    December 10, 2012 at 11:59 am |
  3. Dan (Atlanta)

    Score one for HomeSchooling in America!

    December 10, 2012 at 10:57 am |
  4. jennifer

    While I think a lot of Jeff's practices are truly objectionable (isolating congregants from society, performing underage marriages, restricting clothing/hairstyle/higher-ed options, etc.) this is not one of those practices. The families aren't setting the kids up in sweat shops in lieu of school; they are pulling their kids out of school for one week each year to do light labor - possibly to financially benefit their church. I'd classify this as a field trip/career shadowing/volunteering event that possibly violates some child labor laws. If it's really only one week a year, it's unlikely to have a long-term negative impact on the kids; accusing LDS of "forced child labor" blows the crime out of proportion.

    December 8, 2012 at 4:34 pm |
  5. Leala

    Though Mr. Harris' statement above about Donating time to churches may be true AFTER school or on weekends, this story is about children being removed from school for A WEEK to pick pecans. These poor people need some help. I hear their only grocery store in town has now closed because their jailed prophet is now telling them what they can or cannot eat from his jail cell. More awareness and news stories need to be done about them to help these poor children. It's one thing to be a consenting adult in this situation but child labor is constant and continuous for them. Just ask any house framers in Southern Utah.

    December 8, 2012 at 12:36 am |
  6. Martin Harris

    I'm not a practicing Mormon anymore, but growing up in rural Utah, families always donated their time to work on church farms, clean chapels and do all sorts of things. It's not uncommon to see this activity in mainstream Mormon church today. Families, including their young children working together on church farms, cleaning chapels, mowing lawns and picking up litter. The sacrifice of one's own time in service of the church is part of what Mormons call the Law of Consecration. It's a sacred oath Mormons make in temples today, including the FLDS.

    December 7, 2012 at 7:40 am |
« Back to main

Team AC360°