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In Reply to: That really was excellent! posted by Donny on February 16, 2003 at 20:41:08:
You've hit the nail on the head yourself with your point about using pregnancy to control. That is of course why they tried to marry their kids off so young or simply get them to procreate. I actually see parallels to the war crimes where the soldiers of one ethnicity rape the women of another to impregnate them and weaken the religion/race of their enemy. The Family used (or uses) rape (like other characters such as Saddam Hussein also use it for political ends) as well as their control of sexuality as a means of perpetuating their beliefs/religion (because you pretty much have to have their beliefs if you live in the Family). When used on people who were rebelling or questioning, this amounts to religious persecution.
The fascinating thing is that so many of their offspring actually left after they had kids of their own. Parenthood awoke in them a protectiveness they did not get the benefit of growing up because it was deemed not part of "One Wife," and new doctrines (such as Loving Jesus) precipitated their departure. The second generation is so far proving to be largely braver than the Family predicted.
