Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
The
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a sect of
Mormonism, and America's largest
polygamous group. The current leader of the church is
Warren Jeffs, who became leader on the death of his father, Rulon Jeffs in 2002. The headquarters are in
Hildale,
Utah, which is a
twin city with
Colorado City,
Arizona.
Membership and Headquarters
\nThe number of members of the church is unknown; however, their population is estimated at between 6,000 to 8,000 in the twin communities of Colorado City, Mohave County and Hildale, Washington County. The church also has a colony in Bountiful, Canada. In each of these towns, the church is the primary influence and reason for being.
Distinctive Doctrines
\nThe church teaches plurality of wives as a general requirement for the highest eternal salvation of men. It is generally believed in the church that a man should have three wives to fulfill this requirement. Leader and Prophet Rulon T. Jeffs married 22 women and fathered more than 60 children. Critics of this belief say that its practice leads unavoidably to bride shortages and likely to child marriages, incest, and child abuse.
The church currently practices "The Law of Placing" under which all marriages are assigned by the prophet of the church. Many outside of the church, and some inside, view this practice as unduly authoritarian though it helps address by edict the problem of wife shortages. Under the Law of Placing, the prophet elects to give or take wives to or from men according to their worthiness.
According to FLDS accounts, Brigham Young visited the site of Hildale and Colorado City and stated that "this is the right place [and it] will someday be the head and not the tail of the church [and]...the granaries of the Saints."
History
\nThe area of Hildale and Colorado City have a long history of polygamy, dating from the early decades of the 20th century. The cities were once known as Short Creek, founded in 1913 as a ranching community; however, it soon became a gathering place from polygamist members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1935, the LDS Church excommunicated Short Creek's polygamist residents who refused to sign an oath renouncing polygamy, after which the FLDS Church was organized by John Y. Barlow, who would be the leader, and his friend Joseph White Musser. The location on the Utah-Arizona border was ideal because the group could avoid raids by one state by moving across the invisible state line to the other.
In 1953, Arizona police authorities organized what became known as the "Short Creek Raid", in which numerous leaders were arrested and taken to Kingman, Arizona. However, public sentiment turned against the authorities after newsreels showed children being taken from their mothers and fathers being thrown in jail.
In 2003 the church received increased attention from the State of Utah when police officer Rodney Holm, a member of the church, was convicted of unlawful sexual conduct with a 16- or 17-year-old and one count of bigamy for his marriage to and impregnation of plural wife Ruth Stubbs. The conviction was the first legal action against a member of the church since an ill-fated 1953 raid from Arizona that doomed the political career of Governor Howard Pyle.
Allegations of welfare fraud, tax fraud, incest, statutory rape, physical, emotional and psychological abuse--hidden by a veil of secrecy, isolation, and deprivation--in the FLDS dominated communities have been widely reported in 2004 throughout United States media. It has been estimated that 33% of the men, women and children in the group are receiving state and federal aid, though 0% unemployment was reported in the 2000 census.
On January 10, 2004, the church suffered major upheaval when Dan Barlow, the mayor or Colorado City, and about 20 men were excommunicated from the church and stripped of their wives and children (who would be reassigned to other men), and the right to live in the town. As a result, a few teenage women reportedly fled the towns with the aid of anti-polygamy advocates. Two of the young women, Fawn Broadbent and Fawn Holm, soon found themselves in a broadly publicized dispute over their freedom and custody. They fled state custody together on February 15, and have been on the run in multiple states since.
In November 2003, members of the church purchased the 1,371 acre Isaacs ranch 4 miles northeast of Eldorado, Texas on Schleicher County Road 300 and sent 30 to 40 construction workers from Colorado City-Hildale to begin work on the property. Improvements soon included three 3-story houses--each 8,000 to 10,000 square feet (740 to 930 m²), a concrete plant and a plowed field. After seeing high-profile FLDS watchdog Flora Jessop on the ABC television program Primetime Live on March 4, 2004, concerned Eldorado residents contacted Jessop. She investigated and on March 25, 2004 held a press conference in Eldorado confirming that the new Eldorado neighbors were FLDS adherents. On May 18, 2004, Schleiser County Sheriff David Doran and his Chief Deputy visited Colorado City, and the FLDS church officially acknowledged that the Schleiser County property would be a new base for the church.
External Links
News / News Archive\n* ReligionNewsBlog.com archive of FLDS news articles
Category:Latter Day Saint denominations
