When belief defies law

Edwin Baxter is in prison for trying to circumcise his son, which he says was an act of obedience to God.

VANCOUVER — Edwin Baxter was devout even as a youngster.

He was an inquisitive boy, said his father, and he found answers in the Bible.

But as an adult, Baxter wasn’t satisfied with mainstream religion. He formed a home church using pieces of various religions, preaching to his wife and nine children, and leading them in prayer, song and Bible studies in their Ridgefield home.

It was during one of the Bible study sessions on Sept. 3 that the state said Edwin Baxter committed a legal sin. Based on his interpretation of a biblical passage, Baxter attempted to circumcise one of his 8-year-old twins with a hunting knife. The act landed him in prison.

During his trial, Baxter, 33, said he was simply following Scripture through a God-commanded ritual performed innumerable times in history. But in the courtroom and in some public opinion, he has been branded a reckless fanatic, and spiritual leaders say his behavior follows a pattern of those who consider their acts to be in accordance with God’s law — despite being outside of the state’s law.

David Frankfurter, a University of New Hampshire professor of religious studies and history, said believers who venture outside conventional religion typically live in seclusion following traditional, scripture-based roles for men and women, including dress, and the father sees himself as the conduit between family and God. Baxter likely had a revelation of some sort that led him to start his own church, said Frankfurter, a specialist in religion, cults and charismatic leaders.

“Most of the ways people who have a divine revelation reorganize themselves is through clothing, separation and through marriage rules,” he said. The structure of the family is one of “obedience and submission.”

Many who know the truck driver, however, defended him as hard-working and honest. Letters written by his employer and friends to the judge supported him. And family members, while not approving of the circumcision, called him a loving father and husband.

“He’s not what a lot of people think,” said his wife, Tammy Baxter. “He’s not anti-government, Nazi-government. He’s strived to seek what God wanted of him.”

A ritual’s implications

Sept. 3 was family night at home, and Tammy Baxter said she was watching movies with some of the children. She thought her husband of 13 years was holding Bible study with the others.

But, according to court testimony, Edwin Baxter was in the bathroom, laying blankets and towels in the bathtub for one son. Tammy Baxter said her husband came out of the bathroom, his face pale. He expressed concern about the amount of blood and called 9-1-1. A urologist who worked on the boy said it took five to 10 sutures to close the wound.

“My son was so relaxed and so calm,” she said of their wait for the ambulance, a detail supported by emergency workers.

Edwin Baxter had talked with their five sons about the circumcision, his wife said, and they had studied it in the Bible. It was not forced, she said. “I know the boys were in agreement with it.”

But when it hit the news, many reacted with horror and made judgments about Edwin Baxter’s mental state.

Frankfurter, the religion professor, said typically the father in such situations is not mentally ill.

Indeed, the mental-health evaluation presented during Baxter’s trial found no evidence of illness, but it noted he was narcissistic, immature and suffered from low self-esteem and impulse control.

During his sentencing, Baxter acknowledged making a mistake, but at his trial he told the judge he was following God’s laws.

“I felt it was an act of obedience that was spoken from the mouth of the self-existent creator,” he said. “It breaks my heart to think . . . this state thinks it’s child abuse when I was doing what other godly men . . . did.”

Baxter was referring to Abraham and Joshua, who in the Old Testament were directed to ensure all males were circumcised.

Pastor Mike Blondino of Vancouver’s Lighthouse Christian Church said he has seen people leave his 200-member congregation because they want to create a more zealous church of their own. He blamed it on pride.

“They believe they are above accountability,” he said. Baxter attended a different church and then visited others before forming his own at-home church about five years ago.

Blondino, who was familiar with the case, called the circumcision attempt a “sacrifice for God.”

“The man was completely misguided in his theology,” Blondino said.

Family misinterpreted

After her husband’s arrest, Tammy Baxter hid with her children out of fear the state would take them, especially because the state Department of Social and Health Services had previously investigated the family but taken no action.

She recently returned home and talked with The Oregonian, saying she hoped to dispel the family’s negative image.

“It was a very immature decision,” Tammy Baxter said. But “I’m not angry at my husband because I know his love for the family.”

Letters given to the judge during Baxter’s sentencing Dec. 15 described him as a loving father who made a mistake.

“He is guilty of using some extremely poor judgment,” wrote James Helser, Baxter’s boss and owner of Helser Bros. Transfer Co. in Portland, where Baxter was a truck driver. But he is a “loving, caring husband and father who is adored by his wife and children and has worked hard to provide for their . . . well-being.”

A co-worker wrote that Baxter is an “honest family man,” adding, “He does, however, need some help understanding how to live in this century.”

The Baxters’ nine children, ages 2 to 13, gathered in the living room of the worn but tidy home during the interview with their mother. They played with action figures, read books, colored pictures and teased each other until one cried out for Mom. The older children were well-spoken, and all were courteous and respectful of adults, never interrupting their mother.

Unlike most children, however, only four of the nine have birth certificates. The girls wear only dresses. The youngsters read mostly religious books, and the Baxters don’t aspire for their children to have professional careers. They would rather the girls were homemakers and the boys had home businesses.

Tammy Baxter, who is due with their 10th child in February, said she gave birth to several of their children at home with the help of a midwife. One was born in the family van that broke down on the trip to the hospital. Those born in a hospital have birth certificates.

Their goal, she said, would be to own a large parcel of land where their children could live in their own houses and raise their own families, similar to the Amish.

“We want to be self-sufficient,” she said. “We want to raise our children the way we want. That’s why we had a farm with animals for milk, eggs” and meat.

The family wants the least amount of government intervention in their lives as possible, a remnant of a time when they belonged to a survivalist group in Idaho and Southern Oregon several years ago, Edwin’s father, Bruce Baxter, said of his son’s family. The family left the group in the mid-1990s, he said.

Dealing with the fallout

Edwin Baxter has begun his three-year prison term. Tammy Baxter said that because she still fears losing her children, the family is trying to mainstream itself. Enrolling the children in a Christian school is one of those steps.

The deputy prosecuting attorney in her husband’s case said he is considering pursuing obstruction of justice charges against her for hiding the victim.

Tammy Baxter said the boy has been checked by a doctor and is doing well, and the 8-year-old said he isn’t mad at his father.

“I like him,” he said shyly. Cuddled against his mother for support, he added, “I want him to come back home.”

She intends to have all the boys circumcised by a doctor.

Meanwhile, the family misses their father.

His 9-year-old daughter summed up their feelings with a colorful crayon drawing. It depicts her, her siblings and her mother standing in row next to their house with tears rolling down their faces, watching police lead their father to a black-and-white squad car.

“We whant daddy and my daddy whants us,” she wrote in red, purple and blue letters.

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