Religious sect’s Prophet wields absolute control
 
By Al Herron
Prescott Daily Courier Columnist
Al Herron

Polygamy is alive and flourishing within the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS).

This sect in Colorado City, AZ, and Hildale, Utah, is not affiliated with the mainstream Mormon church. In the latest column we reviewed their history; today we look at life, marriage, and making babies.

The FLDS members call their leader the Prophet, and he controls the members’ lives by allocating wives. The more wives and children a man has, the greater his stature in the community, and in heaven, so this is a big deal. The Prophet assigns a wife to a man without regard for her wishes. He also can remove wives and children from a man who disobeys the Prophet, and reassign them to someone else. (Spiritual control – you can’t get to heaven without the Prophet’s help.)

Members believe that the Prophet has direct communication with God, and they treat him like God. He controls all levels of local government, plus the public school system, and most of the land in town – just like a medieval fiefdom. He tells members how to vote, and controls property through an FLDS collective called the United Effort Plan.

Colorado City incorporated in 1985 because incorporation provides more tax income, but it has never had a contested election. Dan Barlow has been the one and only mayor. The City Council is still the same seven people. The population was 3,334 in 2000, but in 2002 only 86 people voted. School Board races sometimes have a contest, but the FLDS candidate always wins. Almost all of these officials are openly polygamous.

Nowhere else in the United States is there an incorporated town controlled by a religion whose leader performs polygamous marriages and has several dozen wives himself.

Anyone who is in the religion and then leaves is an “apostate,” consigned to eternal hellfire. Any outsider is considered a "heathen."

The church-controlled United Effort Plan owns most of the property. A worthy family can be assigned a building space but they pay for building their own house on it, and then it belongs to the U.E.P. People build homes piecemeal and expanded them as necessary – pay as you go, no mortgages. Since a home is rarely finished, the tax bill stays small. If a family leaves or the church evicts them, they own nothing. (Financial control – you stay "in harmony" with the Prophet or lose your home.)

FLDS girls rarely get more than an eighth-grade education. The sect forbids dating, and many girls like the idea of marrying early because it’s the only thing they know. They typically marry as teenagers and have 8 or 10 kids by the time they’re 30 – and a bloated body. Some are not eager to marry, but a father can ask the Prophet to assign his daughter to a husband anyhow, which may help that father get another wife for himself. (I am not making this up!)

They run young men they deem unworthy out of town so they can’t compete for wives. Older men want the girls.

A man’s first wedding is legal; after that it’s called a "spiritual union." The Prophet just does it, and then the girl disappears into the home of her new husband. Spiritual marriage is good enough to get them into heaven.

"Poofer" is FLDS slang for a girl who vanishes into her husband’s abode. "One day she’s here, the next day she’s gone. Poof!"

It’s extremely difficult for a girl to flee. She has no money, no transportation, the community is isolated, and the church will send out a posse to bring her back. She must adopt the "keep sweet" mantra that the religion pounds into women’s heads.

One Prophet admitted, "We are in the business of making babies here."

Next time: the schools, and how the FLDS has ripped us off for millions.
 
prescottaz.com
Originally published Tuesday, July 22, 2003
 
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