Ambassadors

I recently heard NPR's Wade Goodwyn interview Jackie Carter, director of the High Sky Children's Ranch in Midland, Texas. Her facility served as a two-month foster home to 15 girls taken from families living on the Yearning for Zion ranch in Eldorado, Texas. The latter ranch, you might recall, was raided by Texas authorities after a report of child abuse. Its rulers, adherents to a fundamentalist strain of Mormonism, practice polygamy, and help themselves to girls under the age of 16 as part of the package.

I'm immediately skeptical of any religious deviation which consists of the physical gratification of the men running it. I'm fairly certain these cults whose members kill themselves must have gotten sidetracked in the Bible somewhere around Genesis 1:1, but at least they were earnestly misguided. When a religious leader announces that his interpretation of the Bible requires that he have carnal knowledge of numerous young women, I can't help but roll my eyes.

While much media attention has focused on the men running this racket, and on the Texas state bureaucrats who increasingly look like incompetent thugs, the aforementioned NPR interview focused on what these girls removed from the Mormon compound were like. The reporter seemed intent on eliciting proof from High Sky director Collins that the girls were backward and ill-educated, but she wouldn't take the bait. On the contrary, she explained, they were very well-behaved, and highly skilled at cooking and sewing. A state education specialist found them to be well-educated. They don't watch television, however, Collins explained.

The NPR reporter saw his opening, and began pushing the line that these girls were technologically backward. You could almost read his thoughts: I can tolerate the long dresses and the polygamy stuff, but what kind of freaks don't watch television? The irony of an NPR radio reporter finding lack of television an oddity was certainly rich. But even this angle didn't pay off, because the home director explained that each girl has her own Ipod. So much for technological backwardness.

There is the bigger picture, of course, that these girls are being trained to place their faith in a cult. But I couldn't help but wondering, what sort of impression would a sampling of children from my church, or your church, leave on outsiders? Would they be remembered for their gentle spirits, their literacy, and their various skills, as the home director remembered these girls?

It certainly gives one pause. Of course this needn't be a thought experiment, because the world does see our children, every day, in schools and stores and on ball fields. I hope we're leaving a good impression. Or if not that, I hope at the very least we aren't leaving an impression that makes them think: Whatever church that kid goes to, I don't want any part of it.