Going The Distance

Mike and I were lucky enough to attend an all day conference given by a government body, designed to promote better understanding of the Fundamentalist culture to help social workers involved withthose communities.  

A few years ago, the Attorney General of Utah, a great guy called Mark Shurtleff who we managed to interview on the matter, realised that prosecuting the felony of bigamy in the state of Utah required resources way beyond his budget. What he realised was that if he did not chase after consenting adult polygamists, he could instead free up the state’s resources to find and punish – hard – incidences in polygamist communities of child abuse, domestic violence and welfare fraud. An effort which has been hugely successful, and because of his efforts, representatives from all Fundamentalist groups (including the hugely reclusive and highly publicised FLDS) have agreed to put an end to the practice of underage marriages (those under 18).

• What I had no idea about was that there are many different types of Fundamentalist Mormons, and the stereotypes which abound – of oppressed women, archaic dresses, braids, child brides – are, for the most part, not true at all.
• There are around 37,000 Fundamentalist Mormons in total. (There are over 13 million Mormons worldwide – not the same thing AT ALL) And though there are that many who believe  in the practice of polygamy, there are far far fewer who practice it.
• There are four main groups of Fundamentalists -
• The FLDS, 8-10,000 members. This is the Fundamentalist group which we hear about the most – their prophet is Warren Jeffs, recently incarcerated for rape of a minor and forcing an incestuous marriage. It was on their community that the raids in Texas happened in April 2008 (sending shock waves of terror through the other Fundamentalist communities, and undoing much of the positive work which many had been doing to build bridges into the culture) There is frustration amongst other groups that the stereotypes from this, the most extreme of the subgroups, are applied to all Fundamentalists.
• The Apostolic United Brethren (the AUB or “Allred Group”)., 7,500 members. They don’t see themselves in opposition to, or in competition with, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (mainstream Mormons) and the member are generally integrated in most ways into mainstream society.
• Centennial Park, 2.000. A large group of Fundamentalist Mormons left Colorado City in 1985 due to a disagreement over leadership succession. A year later, they established Centennial Park where around 1,500 people now live. The community is led by a council, and once again, bears almost no resemblance to the FLDS stereotype.
• The Kingstons, 2,000 (also known as the Davis County Cooperative). Formed during the Great Depression, it was set up deliberately as a non-religious organisation with the belief that people could work together regardless of their beliefs. A few of the founders included men who had been excommunicated from the LDS church for believing polygamy, though not necessarily practicing it, was a true principle.
• The biggest ‘group’ is the Independents, making up 15,000 of the 37,000 Fundamentalists. They do not subscribe to any of the individual groups’ practices or particular beliefs, choosing instead to practice in their own way – gathering in small study groups, and not being unified in any broad sense. They are usually well integrated into society.

I will write with more thoughts on polygamy from what I have seen and learnt – but they are the bare facts. (Many thanks to Anne Wilde and the Utah Attorney General’s office’s Primer booklet, handed out at the conference we attended)

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