The ancient Olympics, the largest event in the ancient world, were held in Olympia which was one of the oldest religious centres in the ancient Greek world and was easily accessible to other areas by water.  Any free-born Greek in the world could compete in the games and there were separate divisions for men and boys.  Women could not compete, however, they could enter events through ownership such as owning a chariot or horse that was competing.

Married women were not allowed to attend any of the events although unmarried women were.  Women would disguise themselves as men in order to watch the Olympics.  Priestess were present at all the games as the games involved religious ceremonies.

Victors at the games were given a crown of olive branches and were entitled to have their statue erected at Olympia.  In addition when they returned to their native cities they were treated like celebrities and often given rewards.

A truce was declared throughout the Greek world and all wars had to stop during the games.  No weapons were allowed in Olympia.

For the first 13 Olympic games the only event was a footrace called a stade which was about 192 metres long.  In the 18^th game the pentathlon and wrestling were added.

The ancient games were first recorded in 776 BC but they may have began even earlier.  They were held every 4 years and the reason they were started is unknown although there are many myths surrounding their origin.  One school of thought is that the rise of city-states in different locations created a need of supremacy within each and that athletics were the means to gain that supremecy.  Each city-state would send athletes to Olympia to become supreme in physical competition.   Another school of thought is that the games were an excellent way to get men fit especially with the development of military training.  The athletes had to prove that they had trained for 10 months prior to the games in order to qualify to be a participant although most athletes trained from the time they were children.

Any athlete caught cheating at the games was disqualified and were fined.  Those fines were used to erect statues of Zeus along the passageway that led to the stadium.  All athletes had to pass the statues on their way into the stadium and would be reminded or the consequences of cheating.

As time went by the power of Greece diminished and that of Rome increased .  Gradually the lists of victors started being incomplete as the games were discouraged by the Roman emperors who had become Christians and considered the games to be a pagan religious event. Greece still had the prestige of holding the Olympic games until or 394AD when they were abolished by the Roman emperor Theodosius.

Nationalism, politics, commercialism were all part of the ancient games.  Have the games actually changed that much?

There are approximately 5000 religious police or clerical police in Saudi Arabia and they are also known as the Mutaween.  The role of the Mutaween is to enforce the ancient religious laws.

They have the power to arrest unrelated males and females caught socializing or arrest anyone engaged in homosexual behaviour or prostitution.  They enforce Islamic dress-codes and store closures during the prayer time.  They enforce Muslim dietary laws and seize banned consumer products.

It seems extreme to be sending notice to shop owners that no cats or dogs can be sold leaving children and families without  pets.  All of it is being done in the name of religion.

The practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Saudi Arabia. Meetings held privately in people’s homes, among friends, are also banned.

As the town’s population of 2800 might be affected by the newcomers there were concerns about the church and the impact it might have on the community of Eldorado. The FLDS member believed that a man must marry at least three wives so they could go to heaven.  The women believed they must be subservient to their husband.

The gated compound 5 miles off the highway contains an eighty foot high temple covered in limestone from the property, log cabins, dormitories, doctors office, school, grain silo, sewage treatment plant and factories including a cheese making plant and a cement plant. It also includes watchtowers with sentries, infrared night-vision cameras to monitor the entrances and 10 foot high walls topped with spikes.

There are accusations that the church uses young children in construction in order to underbid other contractors and that these children helped construct the buildings in the compound.  One man who testified at the Warren Jeffs trial stated that he had left school at eight years old to join his father’s construction crew.

There are also accusations that the church ‘throws out’ some of the boys when they reach their early teens in order to keep the male population within the compound low in order that the older men can have multiple wives.  These boys who are left to fend on their own have little education, social skills or survival skills.

The women have a dress code set by the church elders and have to wear several layers of clothing including a long dress.  They aren’t allowed to cut their hair but usually braid it.  They are taught at a very early age to be subservient to men and these teachings are passed down through generations. Young girls were married to older men chosen by the church elders and weren’t allowed to refuse the marriage.  Jeff Warrens was accused of ‘marrying off’ girls as young as 13.

In 2005 State Rep. Harvey Hilderbran pushed into law a bill that raised the legal of consent to marry in Texas from 14 to 16.

On April 3, 2008 the compound was raided by hundreds of agents including a SWAT team, FBI agents, Texas Rangers, San Angelo police, highway patrol and sheriff’s department officers from four counties.  They were backed by an armored personnel carrier, K9 dog units and ambulances.  They took away 416 children and 139 women. The men aren’t allowed to visit the women and the women had their cell phones taken away so they couldn’t contact their husbands even though the women weren’t under arrest.  Now some of the the children may be put into foster homes and will never see their parents again.

One telephone call started the process which led to the removal  by the police of 416 children from the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church Of The Latter Day Saints) near Eldorado Texas.  Most of the ones taken away had never been outside the compound and had in fact been trained to believe the ‘outside’ world was a place of sin.  The children must have been terrified.  They were taken to Fort Concho but had to be removed from there to the San Angelo Coliseum when approximately 20 of the children were found to have chicken pox.  Now they have to wait for the courts to decide their future.  Will they be allowed to return to their parents?  Will they be allowed to be returned to their mothers if their mothers leave the compound and give up their religious lifestyle?  What will be the fate of these children some of whom are still babies?

Polygamy is not a lifestyle that most of us condone but there must have been a better way to handle this situation in which the children who were taken because they were thought to be the victims of sexual abuse appear to now be the victims of society.

Darrell Azar (Texas Department of Family and Protective Services) has stated that although the mothers and children are being kept together right now at the coliseum the mothers are not being allowed back in if they leave to see their husbands in Eldorado.

There are a lot of issues for both sides of this situation and it’s further complicated by the fact that some of the children may not even be Americans but are Canadian citizens who are now in ‘state custody’ as a result of the ruling of Judge Barbara Walther. No one knows how long it will take to sort out the situation.  Under Texas law, the state has to hold a custody hearing within 14 days of when a child is removed from a parent’s custody and care. The raid occurred April 3, 2008 and the judge has said the custody hearings for these children must be finished by June 5, 2008.  Meanwhile they will be put in foster care.  Bruce Perry, senior fellow at the ChildTrauma Academy, an organization that works in cooperation with a multitude of state government agencies to counsel traumatized children, stated under cross-examination, “the traditional foster care system would be destructive to these kids.”

Now the authorities think the original telephone call may have been a hoax.  Apparently there hasn’t been any concrete evidence of sexual abuse.  It seems as though there is something very wrong going on here.

Today’s CNN news had a story about refuges going to Thailand disappearing after they arrive there.   People are sailing from  Myanmar, also known as Burma are arriving in Thailand   These  refuges are Rohingya refugees — members of a Muslim minority group.

There are growing reports that the Thai military was secretly detaining Rohingya  refugees before towing them out to sea and setting them adrift.  Tourist have complained to the news media who investigated the situation and have found witnesses who have photographs of refugees being forced to lie prone on the beach.  The witnesess have said  the guards whip these people if they rise their head or moved. Another witness said he was on one of six large  refugee boats that arrived in Thailand and was towed back out to sea by Thailand authorities where 5 of the 6 boats sank.

Photos show a boat holding approximately 190 refugees being towed out to sea and there are growing reports that the Thai military was secretly detaining Rohingya refugees before towing them out to sea and setting them adrift.

The government of Thailand denies the reports of such occurrences but plans to investigate the situation.

If this story is true it is a blow to Thailand as it prides itself on freedom of religion.