The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) is a separate denomination from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It practices polygamy and is part of the Mormon fundamentalism movement. The FLDS was excommunicated from the Mormon Church in 1935 and established communities in Utah and Arizona. The group’s spiritual leader, the prophet, governs the Law of Placement and has been criticized for placing underage girls with older men as plural wives. The FLDS also practices the United Order of Enoch. The group’s current prophet, Warren Jeffs, was arrested in 2006 on charges of sexual assault and conspiracy to commit rape.
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) is a denomination that is part of the Latter-day Saint family of churches. Entirely independent of any other Latter-day Saint church, the FLDS Church is neither ecclesiastically nor organizationally related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquartered in Salt Lake City. With a total membership of between six and ten thousand adherents, the fundamentalist sect is one of the smallest denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement.
The FLDS Church is part of a phenomenon within the Latter-day Saint religion that is called Mormon fundamentalism. According to legend, Mormon Church President John Taylor summoned and separated a group of men in 1877 for a special mission. Much pressure was being exerted on the Mormon Church to abandon the practice of polygamy, or plural marriage. Supposedly, this group of men were ordained by Taylor and given a mission to continue the practice, even if the institutional church should one day choose to give it up.
During the early years of the 20th century, what would become known as the FLDS established communities in the area of today’s Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City, Arizona. Called the community of Short Creek, the locality provided a refuge for all Latter-day Saints who remained convinced that plural marriage was a necessary point of doctrine and practice.
In 1935, the Mormon Church formally excommunicated the residents of Short Creek, thus completing the split that had begun so many years earlier. John Y. Barlow took up the cause of organizing the group, creating a central administration to oversee the spiritual and temporal welfare of the group. A Presidency Council was formed which, in conjunction with the prophet for the group, would interpret doctrine and arrange for the assignment of wives to the men in the group, as well as preside over the marriage or sealing ceremonies that were thought to make the spiritual union valid. The Council continued to function throughout most of Rulon Jeffs’ administration, although the Council would eventually be disbanded, placing all authority in the hands of the group’s prophet.
As the spiritual leader for the FLDS, the prophet is responsible for governing what is referred to as the Law of Placement, which simply means that the prophet will determine which females will be assigned which male as plural wives. The prophet also has the ability to cancel the placement and give the woman and her children to another man if her husband is found to be unfaithful to the leadership of the church. The church has come under attack for placing underage girls with older men as plural wives, a practice that is not part of the belief system of other Mormon polygamous groups. Along with polygamy, these fundamentalists practice what is known as the United Order of Enoch. Essentially a community where all things are held in common, the United Order owned all property occupied by church members, as well as buildings used for business. Currently, the United Order used to create the Short Creek community is administered by the Utah Attorney General’s office.
Early in the 21st century, the Church purchased property near Eldorado, Texas. Under the leadership of current Prophet and President Warren Jeffs, a number of members moved onto the property and established a growing community. Called YFZ Ranch (short for Yearning For Zion), the complex is also the site of the first FLDS temple ever built. Other communities currently remain in Utah and Arizona, as well as some members in Colorado and parts of Canada.
Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leader Warren Jeffs was arrested in Nevada in August of 2006. Among the formal charges against Jeffs were the 2002 sexual assault of a minor, conspiracy to commit rape sexual intercourse on a minor in the same year, and absconding to avoid prosecution. Additionally, the Church was placed on the list of hate groups maintained by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2005, based on remarks Jeffs made to his flock.
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