While there have been several cases in the news lately of religious cults sexually abusing minors, one of them is thirty miles from my parents’ house and my high school. In the attached article it describes a scenario where a cult leader, Wayne Bent, also known as Michael Travesser, has been arrested for laying naked with minor girls. Bent and his group of about 60 followers live in encampment in rural northeastern New Mexico, where Bent is their spiritual leader. In fact Bent believes that he is the Messiah, and the second coming of Jesus, and his followers agree on this belief as well. Two young sisters both initially admitted to laying naked with Bent on his bed, and that he touched and kissed their breasts. Later they denied that there was anything illegal in the encounters, and one girl reported that he kissed her clavicle not her breast. In an interview with the girls on National Geographic’s “Inside a Cult,” the girls spoke enthusiastically about the encounter and indicated that they found called to lay with their leader and felt it was a spiritual experience – the will of God. It does not appear that they were forced to do so, but came to him in their own free will. However perhaps because the allegations came to light shortly after the more famous case in Texas where many children were removed from a cult due to other sexual allegations, charges were filed. The charges filed against Bent include, 2 counts of criminal sexual contact with a minor, and contributing to a delinquency of a minor. Several times since the charges were filed Bent has stopped eating food and on occasion has even refused juice or water. He has stated that he will continue this fast barring an intervention from God or a dismissal of charges. Bent and his followers, which are now down to 45 adults, expected to ascend to Heaven the past two Halloweens. The trial was scheduled for November, but now has been moved out of Union County after his attorney argued he would not be able to receive an impartial jury.
Wayne Bent did break the law, and the charges being brought against him are valid. To me criminal sexual conduct does not have a defense. Some might argue that this incident happened in a spiritual manner and should be protected by free exercise. However I feel that these matters definitely cross a line. Cult leaders have a significant amount of power and control in general, but also concerning sexual matters. As a leader he was responsible for the breakup of marriages among some of his believers, taking sexual control over other man’s wives. He even slept with his own daughter in-law, and she did not believe that this was wrong, but was glad that she “consummated with him. While the sexual acts with adults may be legal, they certainly are alarming. However when it deals with sexual control over minors, matters are more serious and become illegal. Yes the girls may have claimed to do so under their own free will, however if it weren’t for his teachings they never would have done so. This is one of those areas where the well-being of minors takes precedence over any manner of free expression. The law is in place to protect minors from sexual acts of any nature from adults, and especially from those who may have undue influence over them – like parents or spiritual leaders – and so it must be taken very seriously, and invoked in any situation. Even if it were a spiritual act, which I highly doubt, the girls should at least be of age before invoking their right of free expression. I am glad the charges have been pressed, and I will be interested in seeing how the case is decided. I also wonder how much of a difference the change of venue will make, considering the new jury will know there were reasons for the trial to be moved, but I definitely agree that the jury would have been biased in Union County.
http://www.abqjournal.com/north/211129306943north10-21-08.htm
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6 comments:
Like Lisa, I find this disturbing. In no way are the actions of Bent justifiable in regards to the underage girls. While I may disagree with his other choices, such as having a sexual relationship with his daughter-in-law, taking advantage of minors while being in a position of authority is goes beyond the “rights” that religious organizations have. In this sense, the idea of religious freedom has been manipulated to justify illegal and immoral acts. I hope that the authorities take the proper steps to assure that these girls do not face more abuse.
I agree that in this case, it was a clear-cut abuse of power. Bent was in a position of undue influence over these young women, and used that power and "religious calling" to justify the sexual abuse. As others have noted, you cannot stop adults from believing that Bent is some sort of messiah, and some of the relationships with adult women may have been consensual (though I would argue that the women were not really in a position where they could freely consent; since Bent was in a position of authority, there was likely a degree of coercion), but when children are involved there is no defense. Even if the children were not directly forced to lay with Bent, they were under his influence; I doubt they came up with the idea on their own... A person's free exercise rights do not extent to criminal sexual abuse.
I agree with all posts on this article. Wayne Bent needs to face a jury that is going to put him behind bars for what he has done. He says that he did not coerce these girls into bed with him but when you are the authority child will comply. I hate to say this but I truly feel girls will comply more often than boys because it is what we are taught to do. Going against a figure that is supposed to be your God or Messiah is thought to be a horrible thing. If everyone in this cult believed that he was in fact their God, I understand why the women has consentual relations with him even though I do think it is wrong. However, the girls that were targeted was just wrong and I really want this man to be found guilty.
I feel obligated to begin this post by agreeing with the assertions made in previous posts. What happened in this cult was unacceptable and such abuse in completely wrong.
Having said that, I feel as if there is a place for playing devil's advocate. Who sets the parameters of what is acceptable under the first amendment? If we are to take the Constitution seriously, should we limit religion at all? My goal is not to promote child abuse or anything of the sort, but instead to point out that our system for deciding what is Constitutional is incredibly arbitrary. All the Supreme Court enthusiasts may be shaking their heads about my saying this, but it seems that to take our Constitution seriously, the government would not have the ability to override what is written in it.
I think that what happened to the young girls was definitely wrong. It may be true that they were under his influence and therefore saw nothing wrong with the situation. However, in this country we are obligated to protect those young kids who are underage from adults taking advantage of them in this manner. So, for any adult to sleep with an underage child is not only wrong, but illegal until they are legally considered adults by the law. Therefore, what this man did was clearly illegal and the law needed to step in to protect the kids.
Just an update, Bent was found guilty today, December 15. He was convicted of one count of criminal sexual contact with a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Although he was allowed to return to the compound pending sentencing, which is set for December 29th.
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