the group moral delima

To muddy the watters a bit more on the question of the family 'offering up their teen daughter for whatever' in exchange for being taken in what if we make it a bit more subtle as has so often been done through history to form aliances. In stead of 'selling' her as a slave, they offer her hand in marriage to a bachlor in the group but once she is married into the group they are family even if only in laws and thus part of the group.

This senario has been played out through out history where children of 2 families were married to establish a union between the 2 families/groups/nations and especialy if things were at such a level that groups were widly scattered then the options for mates could be narrow enouph that his could well be revived.

 

Giving a little thought to this it seems it already been hashed out in the Good Book. You would do well to have a Government or leader and also a Church.

This way the Gov or leader has to live up to the same standards as everyone else. The Religious aspect of the group could be handling group cohesiveness and temporary stresses.

Both need to be respected and should be equal.

Electric-Amish

 

I could see value to haveing checks and balances but church for the group assumes that all the members are of the same faith and this may well not always be the case. At the least a lot of groups may have some who, while following the basic principals of Christianity are not the 'church type', others who may be Baptist, some Catholic, etc., etc. and may be even move varied as far as their own personal religious beliefs. So unless religion is a covered factor in setting up the group and accepting members then haveing a church that is in a sence a governing body for them may not work out well.