Elissa Wall was only 14 when she was forced to marry an older man she disliked. During her ordeal, she was forced to have sexual relations with her husband and subjected to abuse until the marriage was called off. Her story had a happy ending when she testified against Warren Jeffs, the man who arranged the marriage and was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list.

No one should have their innocence violated in a manner similar to Wall’s and many others in the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch by Texas Rangers and the rescue of 440 children there was a moral action that was justified.

To return the children to their parents and back into the arms of the cult is nothing short of a disgusting joke, and the punch line is human suffering.

So why did the Texas Supreme Court rule that the children must be returned to their parents? The decision is basically opening the way for these children to experience the same nightmare that Wall and so many others have gone through.

The actions of the Texas Rangers were both justified and heroic, especially in the eyes of past victims. The law was trying to save the children from a horror that the judges have failed to notice.

The church has established a community where residents worship Jeffs and are bound to his will. Families are torn apart and young women are forced to marry much older men.

To allow this cult to continue its existence with such power over people who have been brainwashed into slavery is a sin against the principles of our nation. It also gives a bad image to the honest and more mainstream Mormon church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Such a cult, which terrorizes its followers into false worship, needs to be dealt with using the iron hammer of the law. It could involve local law enforcement or even the military; all possible action need to be taken against the polygamist cult.

However, by returning the children back to the environment they were taken from, the Texas court has completely undermined the efforts of law enforcement and has dealt a deadly blow to opponents of the cult like the Hope Organization. While the criminal investigation into the cult continues, the judges have given them hostages to use in the event of any future raids.

The raid, along with the conviction of Jeffs, is one of many steps that need to be taken to break up this cult. While taking children away from their parents may have been a heartless act, it was a better alternative than provoking another Waco.