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Originally Posted by ben voyonsdonc
The stories about the families that are broken apart are unbearably sad.
They are so cultish that it almost seems unbelievable that the American govt has done nothing about it. Billions of dollars can buy some pretty good lobbyists...one would think.
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They actually explained this in the last episode about Mark Headley who sued the church. Because of the first ammendment the government and the courts cannot entwine themselves in the religious practices. Basically the govenment feels that if you as a member of the religion don't like the practices of the religion (ie abortions etc) that you are free to leave your religion and go elsewhere for your spiritual needs and the government doesn't need to be involved.
Basically because of the first amendment religions can get away with odious practices and abusive practices because the ecclesial practices of a church are protected.
The only way that the government could intervene would be around the tax free status of the church, but there aren't grounds for a review of it as the Church seems to follow the letter of the law in terms of acting as a religion and a profit free structure.