العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
EspañolFUNDAMENTALIST CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS
(Redirected from FLDS)
The 'Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' ('FLDS Church') is a Mormon fundamentalist denomination. It is the world's largest group of Mormon fundamentalists;[1] it is also one of America's largest practitioner of plural marriage.[2] The FLDS Church is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from which it split largely because of the LDS Church's continued renunciation of polygamy.
Since 2002, Warren Jeffs has led the church, succeeding his father, Rulon Jeffs. Its headquarters have been, for nearly the last century, in Hildale, Utah, which is a twin city with Colorado City, Arizona, although recent news reports indicate a shift of the church's main headquarters to Eldorado, Texas, where a temple has been built.[3]
Warren Jeffs, the leader of the FLDS Church, was arrested in southern Nevada on the evening of August 28, 2006, though news of his arrest wasn't broadcast until the following day. According to FBI spokesman David Staretz, Jeffs was taken into custody after he, one of his brothers, and one of his wives were pulled over shortly after 9 p.m. PDT by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas. The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was wanted for the alleged sexual assault of a minor in 2002 and for one count of conspiracy to commit sexual assault with a minor that same year, as well as federal charges of flight to avoid prosecution. The alleged offenses took place in the vicinity of Colorado City. Additionally, Jeffs is wanted in Utah as an accomplice to rape. For nearly two years Jeffs had been a fugitive and from May of 2004 until August 28, 2006, he was on the FBI's Ten Most-Wanted list, with a $100,000 reward offered for information leading to his capture.[4]
The number of members of the church is unknown due to the very closed nature of the religion; however, their population is estimated at between 6,000 to 10,000 in the twin communities of Colorado City, Mohave County, Arizona and Hildale, Washington County, Utah.[5] [6]After purchasing land now called the Yearning for Zion Ranch or YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, there appears to be a shift in the headquarters of the church along with a large exodus of Warren Jeffs' "most faithful" church members to the new, and rapidly growing, YFZ Ranch. This has left a large sense of uncertainty among the FLDS members in Colorado City and Hildale with a majority of their property rights and general livelihoods now in the hand of the Utah Attorney General's Office who filed a lawsuit freezing the assets of the 'United Effort Plan', the property holding and financial wing of the FLDS church.[7] The church also has a colony in Bountiful, British Columbia. In the British Columbia town, the church is the primary influence and reason for being.[8]
The FLDS church teaches the doctrine of plural marriage, which is a doctrine stating that polygamy, specifically polygyny and not polyandry, is god-ordained. This means that men in the religion are expected to marry more than one woman, but a woman may not marry more than one man. As part of the church's teachings on the plurality of wives, which is a requirement for the highest form of eternal salvation, women are required to be subordinate to their husbands. FLDS doctrine states that this highest form of eternal salvation includes godhood. It is generally believed in the church that a man should have three wives to fulfill this requirement.[9]
Both men and women must abide by a strict dress code. Women are generally forbidden to wear makeup, pants or any skirt above the knees, or to cut their hair. Men are usually seen wearing plain clothing, usually a collar shirt and pants. Men and women do not have any tattoos or body piercings. Women and girls usually wear homemade dresses and long stockings, keeping their hair coiffed.[10]
The church currently practices the Law of Placing, which was instituted by Leroy S. Johnson, under which when a young woman reaches marriageable age, she is taken to the prophet for a revelation as to whom she would marry.[11] Also under the Law of Placing, the prophet elects to take and give wives to and from men according to their worthiness. Taken wives are reassigned to men that are more worthy.
The FLDS Church also commonly prevents its members from owning property, instead being entirely held by the church itself. Within their doctrine, the Church views this as a form of the "Law of Consecration" or "United Order". This is most notable in the United Effort Plan (UEP) which held all FLDS church members' property, homes, and most businesses and therefore most jobs in the Colorado City and Hildale areas. There is an ongoing lawsuit brought by the Utah Attorney General's Office to protect the UEP for the current residents of Colorado City and Hildale, reassigning all assets of the UEP and its trustees, ultimately removing Warren Jeffs and the FLDS Church from control of this multi-million dollar asset. The FLDS Church did not defend this trust when seized by the Utah Attorney General's Office.
In 2000 the Colorado City Unified School District had more than 1,200 students. When Jeffs ordered FLDS members to pull their children out of public schools, the number declined to around 250.[12]
The FLDS is now the fifth Latter Day Saint denomination to build a Temple.
At the time of his death, former Leader and Prophet Rulon Jeffs was confirmed to have married 22 women and fathered more than 60 children, although ''Under the Banner of Heaven'' by Jon Krakauer cited him as having somewhere near 75 wives. Current estimates also state that Warren Jeffs may have upwards of 60 wives. Critics of this belief/lifestyle say that its practice inevitably leads to bride shortages and likely to child marriages, incest, child abuse, and banishment of ''surplus'' boys.
In its spring 2005 "Intelligence Report," The Southern Poverty Law Center named FLDS to its "Hate Group" listing because of the church's racist teachings, which include, among other things a fierce condemnation of interracial relationships. Warren Jeffs has said, among other things, "The black race is the people through which the devil has always been able to bring evil unto the earth."[13]
Former church member Robert Richter reported to the ''Phoenix New Times'' that Jeffs repeatedly alluded to the 19th-Century Mormon doctrine of "blood atonement", in which serious sins can only be atoned by the sinner's death, in church sermons. Richter also claims that he was asked to design a thermostat for a high temperature furnace that would be capable of destroying DNA evidence if such "atonements" were to take place.[14]
Allegations of welfare fraud, tax fraud, terrorism, paramilitary groups, 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.[15]
Allegations also have been made that in the four and a half years ending in 2004, the FLDS has excommunicated over 400 teenage boys, some as young as 13, for offenses such as dating and listening to rock music. Former members claim that the purpose of these excommunications is that in a polygamous society these young men present competition to the older men for multiple wives, and that the boys must go. Six such teenage boys have filed a conspiracy lawsuit against Jeffs and Sam Barlow, a former Mohave County deputy sheriff and close associate of Jeffs, for a "systematic excommunication" of young men to reduce competition for wives.[16][17]
Moreover, the Colorado City/Hildale, Utah area has the world's highest incidence of fumarase deficiency,[18] an extremely rare genetic condition which causes severe mental retardation. Geneticists attribute this to the prevalence of cousin marriage between descendants of two of the town's founders, Joseph Smith Jessup and John Yeates Barlow; one local historian reports that 75-80 percent of the double community's roughly 10,000 inhabitants are descended from one or both.[19]
The area of Hildale and Colorado City has a history of polygamy, dating from the early decades of the 20th century. Brigham Young visited the area and stated, "This will someday be the head and not the tail of the church. These will be the granaries of the Saints."[20]
The cities were once known as Short Creek, founded in 1913 as a ranching community; however, it soon became a gathering place for polygamist members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1935, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) excommunicated Short Creek's polygamist residents who refused to sign an oath renouncing polygamy, after which the Fundamentalists became more organized under the direction of John Y. Barlow. 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. The general area, known as the Arizona Strip, is also geographically separated from the rest of Arizona by the Grand Canyon.
In 1951, Joseph White Musser, the leader of the group following the death of Barlow, raised controversy with the call of Naturopath Rulon C. Allred to the presiding Priesthood Council (which governed the spiritual affairs of the Fundamentalists). This, along with his objections to the growing practice of arranged marriages to underage young women in Short Creek, led to a split between those loyal to that community and those loyal to Musser. Those who followed Musser are today known as the Apostolic United Brethren, Allred became their leader upon Musser's death, at which point the group in Short Creek instead followed Leroy S. Johnson, a Priesthood Council member. Rulon Jeffs succeeded Johnson upon his death. Rulon's son, Warren Jeffs, succeeded Rulon upon his death.
In 1953, Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle directed police authorities to undertake what became known as the "Short Creek Raid", in which numerous leaders were arrested and taken to Kingman, Arizona. Public sentiment turned against the authorities after newsreels showed children being taken from their mothers and fathers being thrown in jail. Pyle subsequently lost his 1954 re-election bid.
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 the ''Short Creek Raid''.
In November 2003, church member David Allred purchased "as a hunting retreat" the 1,371 acre (5.5 km²) 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 critic 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 neighbors were FLDS adherents. On May 18, 2004, Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran and his Chief Deputy visited Colorado City, and the FLDS church officially acknowledged that the Schleicher County property would be a new base for the church. It has been reported in the media that the Church is building a temple at the YFZ Ranch, which has been supported by evidence including aerial photographs of a large stone structure (approximately 88 feet wide) being built. Recent pictures now show the temple in a state of relative completion. A local newspaper, the ''Eldorado Success'', reported that the temple foundation was dedicated January 1, 2005 by Warren Jeffs.
On January 10, 2004, the church suffered major upheaval when Dan Barlow, the mayor of 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 activists who advocate the escape of polygamy. 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 October 2004, disaffected members of the church reported that David Allred purchased a 60-acre (240,000 m²) parcel of land near Mancos, Colorado (midway between Cortez and Durango) about the same time he bought the Schleicher County property. Allred told authorities the parcel is to be used as a hunting retreat.
On July 11, 2005, eight men of the church were indicted for sexual contact with minors. At least some of them surrendered to police in Kingman.
On July 29, 2005, Brent Jeffs filed suit accusing three of his uncles, including Warren Jeffs, of sexually assaulting him when he was a child. The suit also named the FLDS Church as a defendant. His lawyers are representing the six plaintiffs in Friday's suit. On Aug. 10, former FLDS member Shem Fischer, Dan Fischer's brother, added the church and Warren Jeffs as defendants to a 2002 lawsuit claiming he was illegally fired because he no longer adhered to the faith. Fischer, who was a salesman for a wooden cabinetry business in Hildale, claims church officials interfered with his relationship with his employer and blacklisted him.
In July 2005, a half-dozen lost boys who say they were cast out of their homes on the Utah-Arizona border to reduce competition for wives filed suit Friday against the polygamous church that controls the community. "The [boys] have been excommunicated pursuant to that policy and practice and have been cut off from family, friends, benefits, business and employment relationships, and purportedly condemned to eternal damnation," their suit says. "They have become 'lost boys' in the world outside the FLDS community."
On May 7, 2006, the FBI named Warren Jeffs to their Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on charges of sexual misconduct with minors.
Colorado City's Mayor Terrill C. Johnson was arrested on May 26, 2006 for eight fraudulent vehicle registration charges (providing false registration and title papers eight separate times) - a felony. He was booked in to Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah and was released after paying the $5,000 bail in cash.
On August 28, 2006, Jeffs was captured on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas, Nevada, after a routine traffic stop. He was captured with his brother, Isaac Steve Jeffs, and one of his wives, Naomi Jeffs, both 32. Isaac and Naomi were both released.
★ Rulon Jeffs
★ Warren Jeffs
★ Leroy S. Johnson
★ Lost Boys of Polygamy
1. Krakauer, Jon. ''Under the Banner of Heaven''. New York:Random House, 2003. ISBN 1400032806
2. http://www.principlevoices.org/article.php?story=20050828124239994
3. http://www.myeldorado.net/YFZ%20Aerial%20Tour/yfztour1.html
4. http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/29/polygamist.arrest.ap/index.html
5. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2005-04-04.csv
6. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2006-04-49.csv
7. www.ueptrust.com/UEPTImages/UEP-AnswerstoQuestions.pdf
8. http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_poly1.htm
9. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/19/wmorm19.xml
10. http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy10.html
11. Sixth of Seven Wives
12. State officials prepare to seize control of Colorado City school district
13. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=342
14. http://phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2005-11-10/news/feature.html
15. http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy94.html
16. http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy250.html
17. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20040828/ai_n11472255
18. Birth defect is plaguing children in FLDS towns John Hollenhorst
19. Polygamist community faces rare genetic disorder. Yahoo! News. Accessed June 14, 2007.
20. Polygamy: Throughout history
#Southern Poverty Law Center: ''In His Own Words''; ''Intelligence Report'' (Spring 2005)
#Dougherty, John: ''Wanted: Armed and Dangerous''; ''Phoenix New Times'' (10 Nov. 2005)
#[1] and [2]: Information on Utah Attorney General's Lawsuit against the United Effort Plan
#Krakauer, Jon: '' (July 15, 2003)
#.
★ Warren Jeffs: ''Dear Wives'' (Jeffs about the role of wives; soundclip)
★ The Eldorado Success: ''Audio clips reveal FLDS leader's racist teachings'' (soundclip)
★ Over the Moon Productions: ''Banking on Heaven'' ''(a film "exploring" the FLDS)''
★ Religion News Blog Current and archived news articles on the FLDS, collected by Apologetics Index
★ FLDS El Dorado, Texas Current and archived aerial photographs of the community and new temple
★ The Eldorado Success "YFZ Ranch" archives page Current and archived articles from the local newspaper "The Eldorado Success" of Eldorado, Texas (articles require a subscription fee)
★ Warren Jeffs' Wanted Poster
★ Shield & Refuge: A Christian Ministry to Mormon fundamentalists
★ Rick Ross Institute Section
★ http://www.lds.org/newsroom/showrelease/0,15503,3881-1-23938,00.html
★ Doughery, John. "Polygamy in Arizona: A ''New Times'' Special Report", ''Phoenix New Times'', 2005.
★ Egan, Timothy. "Polygamous Community Defies State Crackdown", ''New York Times'', October 25, 2005.
★ "Meet the New Neighbors", ''The Austin Chronicle'', July 29, 2005
★ "The lost boys, thrown out of US sect so that older men can marry more wives", ''The Guardian'', June 14, 2005
★ "Sect's secrets contained within compound walls". ''Dallas Morning News'', February 18, 2006
★ "FLDS temple appears complete". ''Deseret Morning News'', Salt Lake City, January 31, 2006
★ "Birth defect is plaguing children in FLDS towns". ''Deseret Morning News'', Salt Lake City, February 9, 2006
★ "Property Tax Dispute Threatens Band of Polygamists".''New York Times'', April 21, 2006
★ "Jeffs on FBI's Top Ten". ''Deseret Morning News'', Salt Lake City, May 7, 2006
★ "Warren Jeffs waives extradition, will face rape charges in Utah". ''CourtTVnews.com'', Las Vegas, August 31, 2006
★ "Escape from Polygamy"
The FLDS Temple near Eldorado, Texas
The 'Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints' ('FLDS Church') is a Mormon fundamentalist denomination. It is the world's largest group of Mormon fundamentalists;[1] it is also one of America's largest practitioner of plural marriage.[2] The FLDS Church is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from which it split largely because of the LDS Church's continued renunciation of polygamy.
Since 2002, Warren Jeffs has led the church, succeeding his father, Rulon Jeffs. Its headquarters have been, for nearly the last century, in Hildale, Utah, which is a twin city with Colorado City, Arizona, although recent news reports indicate a shift of the church's main headquarters to Eldorado, Texas, where a temple has been built.[3]
Warren Jeffs, the leader of the FLDS Church, was arrested in southern Nevada on the evening of August 28, 2006, though news of his arrest wasn't broadcast until the following day. According to FBI spokesman David Staretz, Jeffs was taken into custody after he, one of his brothers, and one of his wives were pulled over shortly after 9 p.m. PDT by a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas. The leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was wanted for the alleged sexual assault of a minor in 2002 and for one count of conspiracy to commit sexual assault with a minor that same year, as well as federal charges of flight to avoid prosecution. The alleged offenses took place in the vicinity of Colorado City. Additionally, Jeffs is wanted in Utah as an accomplice to rape. For nearly two years Jeffs had been a fugitive and from May of 2004 until August 28, 2006, he was on the FBI's Ten Most-Wanted list, with a $100,000 reward offered for information leading to his capture.[4]
| Contents |
| Membership and headquarters |
| Distinctive doctrines |
| Criticisms of the church |
| History |
| Recent Events |
| See also |
| References |
| General references |
| External links |
| Audio and Video Documents |
| Diverse |
| News articles |
Membership and headquarters
The number of members of the church is unknown due to the very closed nature of the religion; however, their population is estimated at between 6,000 to 10,000 in the twin communities of Colorado City, Mohave County, Arizona and Hildale, Washington County, Utah.[5] [6]After purchasing land now called the Yearning for Zion Ranch or YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas, there appears to be a shift in the headquarters of the church along with a large exodus of Warren Jeffs' "most faithful" church members to the new, and rapidly growing, YFZ Ranch. This has left a large sense of uncertainty among the FLDS members in Colorado City and Hildale with a majority of their property rights and general livelihoods now in the hand of the Utah Attorney General's Office who filed a lawsuit freezing the assets of the 'United Effort Plan', the property holding and financial wing of the FLDS church.[7] The church also has a colony in Bountiful, British Columbia. In the British Columbia town, the church is the primary influence and reason for being.[8]
Distinctive doctrines
The FLDS church teaches the doctrine of plural marriage, which is a doctrine stating that polygamy, specifically polygyny and not polyandry, is god-ordained. This means that men in the religion are expected to marry more than one woman, but a woman may not marry more than one man. As part of the church's teachings on the plurality of wives, which is a requirement for the highest form of eternal salvation, women are required to be subordinate to their husbands. FLDS doctrine states that this highest form of eternal salvation includes godhood. It is generally believed in the church that a man should have three wives to fulfill this requirement.[9]
Both men and women must abide by a strict dress code. Women are generally forbidden to wear makeup, pants or any skirt above the knees, or to cut their hair. Men are usually seen wearing plain clothing, usually a collar shirt and pants. Men and women do not have any tattoos or body piercings. Women and girls usually wear homemade dresses and long stockings, keeping their hair coiffed.[10]
The church currently practices the Law of Placing, which was instituted by Leroy S. Johnson, under which when a young woman reaches marriageable age, she is taken to the prophet for a revelation as to whom she would marry.[11] Also under the Law of Placing, the prophet elects to take and give wives to and from men according to their worthiness. Taken wives are reassigned to men that are more worthy.
The FLDS Church also commonly prevents its members from owning property, instead being entirely held by the church itself. Within their doctrine, the Church views this as a form of the "Law of Consecration" or "United Order". This is most notable in the United Effort Plan (UEP) which held all FLDS church members' property, homes, and most businesses and therefore most jobs in the Colorado City and Hildale areas. There is an ongoing lawsuit brought by the Utah Attorney General's Office to protect the UEP for the current residents of Colorado City and Hildale, reassigning all assets of the UEP and its trustees, ultimately removing Warren Jeffs and the FLDS Church from control of this multi-million dollar asset. The FLDS Church did not defend this trust when seized by the Utah Attorney General's Office.
In 2000 the Colorado City Unified School District had more than 1,200 students. When Jeffs ordered FLDS members to pull their children out of public schools, the number declined to around 250.[12]
The FLDS is now the fifth Latter Day Saint denomination to build a Temple.
Criticisms of the church
A view of the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas
At the time of his death, former Leader and Prophet Rulon Jeffs was confirmed to have married 22 women and fathered more than 60 children, although ''Under the Banner of Heaven'' by Jon Krakauer cited him as having somewhere near 75 wives. Current estimates also state that Warren Jeffs may have upwards of 60 wives. Critics of this belief/lifestyle say that its practice inevitably leads to bride shortages and likely to child marriages, incest, child abuse, and banishment of ''surplus'' boys.
In its spring 2005 "Intelligence Report," The Southern Poverty Law Center named FLDS to its "Hate Group" listing because of the church's racist teachings, which include, among other things a fierce condemnation of interracial relationships. Warren Jeffs has said, among other things, "The black race is the people through which the devil has always been able to bring evil unto the earth."[13]
Former church member Robert Richter reported to the ''Phoenix New Times'' that Jeffs repeatedly alluded to the 19th-Century Mormon doctrine of "blood atonement", in which serious sins can only be atoned by the sinner's death, in church sermons. Richter also claims that he was asked to design a thermostat for a high temperature furnace that would be capable of destroying DNA evidence if such "atonements" were to take place.[14]
Allegations of welfare fraud, tax fraud, terrorism, paramilitary groups, 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.[15]
Allegations also have been made that in the four and a half years ending in 2004, the FLDS has excommunicated over 400 teenage boys, some as young as 13, for offenses such as dating and listening to rock music. Former members claim that the purpose of these excommunications is that in a polygamous society these young men present competition to the older men for multiple wives, and that the boys must go. Six such teenage boys have filed a conspiracy lawsuit against Jeffs and Sam Barlow, a former Mohave County deputy sheriff and close associate of Jeffs, for a "systematic excommunication" of young men to reduce competition for wives.[16][17]
Moreover, the Colorado City/Hildale, Utah area has the world's highest incidence of fumarase deficiency,[18] an extremely rare genetic condition which causes severe mental retardation. Geneticists attribute this to the prevalence of cousin marriage between descendants of two of the town's founders, Joseph Smith Jessup and John Yeates Barlow; one local historian reports that 75-80 percent of the double community's roughly 10,000 inhabitants are descended from one or both.[19]
History
The area of Hildale and Colorado City has a history of polygamy, dating from the early decades of the 20th century. Brigham Young visited the area and stated, "This will someday be the head and not the tail of the church. These will be the granaries of the Saints."[20]
The cities were once known as Short Creek, founded in 1913 as a ranching community; however, it soon became a gathering place for polygamist members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1935, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) excommunicated Short Creek's polygamist residents who refused to sign an oath renouncing polygamy, after which the Fundamentalists became more organized under the direction of John Y. Barlow. 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. The general area, known as the Arizona Strip, is also geographically separated from the rest of Arizona by the Grand Canyon.
In 1951, Joseph White Musser, the leader of the group following the death of Barlow, raised controversy with the call of Naturopath Rulon C. Allred to the presiding Priesthood Council (which governed the spiritual affairs of the Fundamentalists). This, along with his objections to the growing practice of arranged marriages to underage young women in Short Creek, led to a split between those loyal to that community and those loyal to Musser. Those who followed Musser are today known as the Apostolic United Brethren, Allred became their leader upon Musser's death, at which point the group in Short Creek instead followed Leroy S. Johnson, a Priesthood Council member. Rulon Jeffs succeeded Johnson upon his death. Rulon's son, Warren Jeffs, succeeded Rulon upon his death.
In 1953, Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle directed police authorities to undertake what became known as the "Short Creek Raid", in which numerous leaders were arrested and taken to Kingman, Arizona. Public sentiment turned against the authorities after newsreels showed children being taken from their mothers and fathers being thrown in jail. Pyle subsequently lost his 1954 re-election bid.
Recent Events
The compound of FLDS leader Warren Jeffs in Colorado City
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 the ''Short Creek Raid''.
In November 2003, church member David Allred purchased "as a hunting retreat" the 1,371 acre (5.5 km²) 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 critic 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 neighbors were FLDS adherents. On May 18, 2004, Schleicher County Sheriff David Doran and his Chief Deputy visited Colorado City, and the FLDS church officially acknowledged that the Schleicher County property would be a new base for the church. It has been reported in the media that the Church is building a temple at the YFZ Ranch, which has been supported by evidence including aerial photographs of a large stone structure (approximately 88 feet wide) being built. Recent pictures now show the temple in a state of relative completion. A local newspaper, the ''Eldorado Success'', reported that the temple foundation was dedicated January 1, 2005 by Warren Jeffs.
On January 10, 2004, the church suffered major upheaval when Dan Barlow, the mayor of 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 activists who advocate the escape of polygamy. 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 October 2004, disaffected members of the church reported that David Allred purchased a 60-acre (240,000 m²) parcel of land near Mancos, Colorado (midway between Cortez and Durango) about the same time he bought the Schleicher County property. Allred told authorities the parcel is to be used as a hunting retreat.
On July 11, 2005, eight men of the church were indicted for sexual contact with minors. At least some of them surrendered to police in Kingman.
On July 29, 2005, Brent Jeffs filed suit accusing three of his uncles, including Warren Jeffs, of sexually assaulting him when he was a child. The suit also named the FLDS Church as a defendant. His lawyers are representing the six plaintiffs in Friday's suit. On Aug. 10, former FLDS member Shem Fischer, Dan Fischer's brother, added the church and Warren Jeffs as defendants to a 2002 lawsuit claiming he was illegally fired because he no longer adhered to the faith. Fischer, who was a salesman for a wooden cabinetry business in Hildale, claims church officials interfered with his relationship with his employer and blacklisted him.
In July 2005, a half-dozen lost boys who say they were cast out of their homes on the Utah-Arizona border to reduce competition for wives filed suit Friday against the polygamous church that controls the community. "The [boys] have been excommunicated pursuant to that policy and practice and have been cut off from family, friends, benefits, business and employment relationships, and purportedly condemned to eternal damnation," their suit says. "They have become 'lost boys' in the world outside the FLDS community."
On May 7, 2006, the FBI named Warren Jeffs to their Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on charges of sexual misconduct with minors.
Colorado City's Mayor Terrill C. Johnson was arrested on May 26, 2006 for eight fraudulent vehicle registration charges (providing false registration and title papers eight separate times) - a felony. He was booked in to Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah and was released after paying the $5,000 bail in cash.
On August 28, 2006, Jeffs was captured on Interstate 15 just north of Las Vegas, Nevada, after a routine traffic stop. He was captured with his brother, Isaac Steve Jeffs, and one of his wives, Naomi Jeffs, both 32. Isaac and Naomi were both released.
See also
★ Rulon Jeffs
★ Warren Jeffs
★ Leroy S. Johnson
★ Lost Boys of Polygamy
References
1. Krakauer, Jon. ''Under the Banner of Heaven''. New York:Random House, 2003. ISBN 1400032806
2. http://www.principlevoices.org/article.php?story=20050828124239994
3. http://www.myeldorado.net/YFZ%20Aerial%20Tour/yfztour1.html
4. http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/29/polygamist.arrest.ap/index.html
5. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2005-04-04.csv
6. http://www.census.gov/popest/cities/tables/SUB-EST2006-04-49.csv
7. www.ueptrust.com/UEPTImages/UEP-AnswerstoQuestions.pdf
8. http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_poly1.htm
9. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/10/19/wmorm19.xml
10. http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy10.html
11. Sixth of Seven Wives
12. State officials prepare to seize control of Colorado City school district
13. http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=342
14. http://phoenixnewtimes.com/Issues/2005-11-10/news/feature.html
15. http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy94.html
16. http://www.rickross.com/reference/polygamy/polygamy250.html
17. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4188/is_20040828/ai_n11472255
18. Birth defect is plaguing children in FLDS towns John Hollenhorst
19. Polygamist community faces rare genetic disorder. Yahoo! News. Accessed June 14, 2007.
20. Polygamy: Throughout history
General references
#Southern Poverty Law Center: ''In His Own Words''; ''Intelligence Report'' (Spring 2005)
#Dougherty, John: ''Wanted: Armed and Dangerous''; ''Phoenix New Times'' (10 Nov. 2005)
#[1] and [2]: Information on Utah Attorney General's Lawsuit against the United Effort Plan
#Krakauer, Jon: '' (July 15, 2003)
#.
External links
Audio and Video Documents
★ Warren Jeffs: ''Dear Wives'' (Jeffs about the role of wives; soundclip)
★ The Eldorado Success: ''Audio clips reveal FLDS leader's racist teachings'' (soundclip)
★ Over the Moon Productions: ''Banking on Heaven'' ''(a film "exploring" the FLDS)''
Diverse
★ Religion News Blog Current and archived news articles on the FLDS, collected by Apologetics Index
★ FLDS El Dorado, Texas Current and archived aerial photographs of the community and new temple
★ The Eldorado Success "YFZ Ranch" archives page Current and archived articles from the local newspaper "The Eldorado Success" of Eldorado, Texas (articles require a subscription fee)
★ Warren Jeffs' Wanted Poster
★ Shield & Refuge: A Christian Ministry to Mormon fundamentalists
★ Rick Ross Institute Section
News articles
★ http://www.lds.org/newsroom/showrelease/0,15503,3881-1-23938,00.html
★ Doughery, John. "Polygamy in Arizona: A ''New Times'' Special Report", ''Phoenix New Times'', 2005.
★ Egan, Timothy. "Polygamous Community Defies State Crackdown", ''New York Times'', October 25, 2005.
★ "Meet the New Neighbors", ''The Austin Chronicle'', July 29, 2005
★ "The lost boys, thrown out of US sect so that older men can marry more wives", ''The Guardian'', June 14, 2005
★ "Sect's secrets contained within compound walls". ''Dallas Morning News'', February 18, 2006
★ "FLDS temple appears complete". ''Deseret Morning News'', Salt Lake City, January 31, 2006
★ "Birth defect is plaguing children in FLDS towns". ''Deseret Morning News'', Salt Lake City, February 9, 2006
★ "Property Tax Dispute Threatens Band of Polygamists".''New York Times'', April 21, 2006
★ "Jeffs on FBI's Top Ten". ''Deseret Morning News'', Salt Lake City, May 7, 2006
★ "Warren Jeffs waives extradition, will face rape charges in Utah". ''CourtTVnews.com'', Las Vegas, August 31, 2006
★ "Escape from Polygamy"
This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.
psst.. try this: add to faves
