Despite differing in many respects now from its earlier teachings and practices, the LDS Church still has much in common with fundamentalist Mormons (which is founded in early Mormonism).
Both groups share a belief in the same set of scriptures - the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.
They revere many of the same prophets, including Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and John Taylor. They accept their teachings notwithstanding the LDS Church’s later denunciation of many of those teachings. They both believe in the necessity of Priesthood authority.
Fundamentalist Mormons are not one homogeneous group, but are comprised of many smaller groups, or independents who are not affiliated with any group (or church). These groups/independents have their own beliefs/practices which differ from each other, similar to the various Christian denominations (i.e. Catholic, Baptist, Protestant, Episcopalian, Protestant, Lutheran) that all consider themselves “Christian”. For further explanation, refer to our page explaining the different groups:
Diversity of fundamentalist Mormons
Fundamentalist Mormons
*They can be found in every level of society and in almost all communities. They include doctors, dentists, teachers, lawyers, accountants, nurses, secretaries and college professors.
* Many celebrate public holidays, serve in their respective military services and actively interact with and respect those of other beliefs and faiths.
* Many wear regular modern clothing and have contemporary hairstyles, while others wear distinctive clothing (just as do other religious groups such as the Hutterites or Amish). In either case, most fundamentalist Mormons adhere to high standards of modesty.
Family
* Fundamentalist Mormonism teaches that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God, and that a man’s having more than one such marriage is ordained of God.
* The majority of fundamentalist Mormons do not believe in arranged marriages, and those groups who do recommend possible spouses to their members still ultimately leave the decision to the individual. The decision of whom to marry is an individual choice.
* Men and women are co-equal in their relationship. There are, however, divine patriarchal and matriarchal roles as emphasized in the standard works of scripture.
* Child and spousal abuse are seen as serious sins, and are not tolerated by the doctrines of fundamentalist Mormonism or amongst the majority of those who consider themselves fundamentalist Mormons.
Polygamy
* Contrary to the assertions of the LDS Church, one can be a polygamist and a Mormon. Joseph Smith, the first president of the Church was a polygamist and arguably the first ‘Mormon’, as were his successors, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and the next three successive Church presidents. Joseph Smith taught that, if a Hindu or Muslim converted to Mormonism, he would be welcome, along with his wives. Sadly, the LDS Church now excludes such families from fellowship and the saving ordinances of God.
* The standard doctrine of the Church has evolved into monogamy, and yet the Church still embraces polygamy for the after-life. LDS men can be sealed to more than one woman in the temple, with the expectation that they will have multiple wives after this life. In fact, some of the current LDS general authorities have been sealed to multiple women (Apostle Dallin Oaks among them).
* Fundamentalist Mormons practice polygamy today in much the same way Mormons practiced polygamy in 19th-century Utah. Women still choose whom they wish to marry, when to marry or not, and are entirely free to leave. The majority of fundamentalist Mormons are actually not living polygamously at all (hence, they are not polygamists), and most who do practice polygamy have only two wives.
Education
* Fundamentalist Mormonism teaches that adherents should seek out both spiritual and secular knowledge. However, spiritual knowledge is considered of greater value.
* Fundamentalist Mormons take full part in public and private education, both at the school and university level. Some fundamentalist Mormons also home-school their children (as do some LDS Church members) to ensure a high level of education is imparted and that good values are taught.
* Fundamentalist Mormon communities own and/or operate private schools, charter schools and colleges. Some of these are notable for their academic achievements.
* Many fundamentalist Mormon groups offer scholarships and assistance where possible to students.
Church Government
* Historically there is a great deal of affiliation between members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and fundamentalist Mormons. The majority of Fundamentalist Mormons trace their ancestors to Mormon pioneers.
* Some fundamentalist Mormon groups are governed by a lay clergy at the congregational level.
* Fundamentalist Mormon groups have governing councils which seek inspiration from God to serve their fellow members.
* Several Fundamentalist Mormon groups have women’s organizations and youth groups.
Community Involvement
* Fundamentalist Mormons living in the United Stated believe in the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and endeavor to uphold its ideals and protections.
* Fundamentalist Mormons may exercise their personal convictions independent of a group, or work together in groups, to promote industry and morality, and they advocate civil rights.
* Fundamentalist Mormons have run for various political offices, and have served as mayors, city councilors, judges, firemen and police officers.
Service
* Fundamentalist Mormons believe in being good Samaritans and in helping those in need.
* Many fundamentalist Mormons have volunteered their assistance, resources and skills in times of disaster.
* Fundamentalist Mormons have also made monetary and other donations to a variety of non-profit organizations (worldwide), charities and other good causes, for the relief of suffering of God’s children around the world.
We regret that others would - in an attempt to try and distance themselves from fundamentalist Mormons - promote misconceptions about them.
We acknowledge the good the LDS Church does. Its members remain our fellow Mormons, and we their brothers and sisters in the Gospel.
A coalition of polygamous groups is taking issue with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ objections to the term “fundamentalist Mormon.”In a statement issued Wednesday, the group Principle Voices said it strenuously objects to what it calls “efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing.”
Last month, the LDS Church appealed to the news media and the public to make the distinction between it and the Fundamentalist LDS Church, whose YFZ Ranch in Texas has been the subject of widespread media attention.
“Mormons have nothing whatsoever to do with this polygamous sect in Texas,” said Elder Quentin L. Cook, a member of the LDS Church’s Quorum of the Twelve. “The fact is that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890: 118 years ago. It’s a significant part of our distant past, not of our present.”
“People have the right to worship as they choose, and we aren’t interested in attacking someone else’s beliefs,” Elder Cook said. “At the same time, we have an obligation to define ourselves rather than be defined by events and incidents that have nothing to do with us. It’s obvious we need to do more to help people understand the enormous differences that exist between our Church which is a global faith and these small polygamous groups.”
Principle Voices said that the term has been used since the 1930s.
“We are proud of our Mormon heritage,” the group said. “Plural marriage is only one of the tenets of our religion, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as restored through Joseph Smith.”
Principle Voices is comprised of representatives of the various polygamous sects in Utah and Arizona, including the Bluffdale-based Apostolic United Brethren, the Davis County Cooperative Society, the Work of Jesus Christ in Centennial Park, Ariz., and independent groups.
There are an estimated 37,000 people in Utah and surrounding states who refer to themselves as “fundamentalist Mormons,” according to an unofficial census conducted by the group. While most do not practice polygamy, they adhere to doctrine that allows it.
A recent survey commissioned by the LDS Church found that there is confusion about the two groups. The survey said that 36 percent erroneously believed the FLDS Church was part of the LDS Church, while 29 percent correctly said the two groups were not related at all and 29 percent were unsure.
The FLDS Church is legally incorporated as the “Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.” The LDS Church excommunicates anyone who is a practicing polygamist today.
In a point-by-point statement published on the LDS Church’s Web site, the church noted the differences between the two faiths, including members who “wear regular modern clothing and have contemporary hairstyles.”
“Mormons practiced polygamy in 19th century Utah, but it differed in important ways from the way polygamous groups practice it today,” the LDS Church said. “A woman could choose to marry or not, and could leave such a relationship. Educational pursuits were valued. Two-thirds of plural marriages involved just two wives.”
Similar statements are made by Principle Voices about polygamous groups today.
“We regret that others would — in an attempt to try and distance themselves from fundamentalist Mormons — promote misconceptions about them,” said Mary Batchelor, the pro-polygamy group’s director. “We acknowledge the good the LDS Church does. They remain our fellow Mormons and we their brothers and sisters in the Gospel.”
E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com
SALT LAKE CITY — By JENNIFER DOBNER
Associated Press Writer
http://www.myfoxutah.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6945983&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageId=3.2.1
Polygamy-practicing fundamentalists with religious roots in early Mormon theology are rankled by the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ campaign to direct the way news organizations define those sects.
“We strenuously object to any efforts to deprive us and others of the freedom to name and describe ourselves by terms of our own choosing,” the Principle Voices Coalition said in a statement issued Wednesday.
“Fundamentalist Mormons have been referred to by that name since the 1930s, often by the church itself. We are proud of our Mormon heritage.”
Fundamentalists revere the same prophets as the mainstream Mormon church, including founder Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, both of whom practiced polygamy. They also share the mainline church’s use of the Book of Mormon as a primary text, along with the Doctrine & Covenants, in which plural marriage remains part of scriptural teachings.
On June 24, a Mormon church attorney sent a letter to newspaper, magazine and broadcast media outlets asking that the term “fundamentalist Mormon” be dropped from news reports.
The letter is primarily aimed at drawing a hard line between the Salt Lake City-based faith and the Utah/Arizona-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which practices polygamy and has been prominent in news reports since authorities in April raided the sect’s west Texas ranch and seized more than 400 children during an investigation of child abuse allegations.
“I don’t know how you can’t call them fundamentalist Mormons,” said John Walsh, a Mormon and religious scholar, who served as an expert witness for the state of Texas during the FLDS case. “A Mormon is someone who believes in the Book of Mormon … who has a belief that Joseph Smith was called of God in some way.”
From the fundamentalist point of view, they are the “real Mormons” because they continue to adhere to Smith’s original teaching that polygamy brought exaltation in heaven, said B. Carmon Hardy, a polygamy expert and retired history professor at California State University-Fullerton.
A Mormon church spokeswoman did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the coalition’s statement.
In 1890, a Mormon church manifesto denounced polygamy and opened the door for Utah’s statehood. But church leaders continued to privately sanction plural marriage for decades, scattering some Mormons to Mexico and other locations to continue the practice. The author of two volumes on polygamy, Hardy said it wasn’t until the 1920s that church leadership began to actively excommunicate known polygamists.
“These fundamentalists had good reason to look upon themselves as the most faithful,” Hardy said.
The raid on the FLDS’ Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado, Texas, led to two months of news reports that cast negative publicity on the 13 million-member mainstream Mormon church. A Mormon church-paid survey of 1,000 Texans found 36 percent believed the two churches were directly connected. That prompted the Mormons to launch a campaign of videos, stories and bullet-point explainers that seek to better define differences between Mormons and polygamous groups.
Among the difference the church outlines:
– The Mormon church excommunicates members found practicing it;
– Members wear regular, modern clothes and have contemporary hairstyles;
– The church encourages both secular and religious education;
– The church doesn’t practice or condone arranged marriages; and
– One cannot be a polygamist and be Mormon.
Principle Voices co-founder Mary Batchelor said fundamentalists take exception to the church’s list.
“The inference is that the differences are wide,” said Batchelor, an independent who is not currently in a plural marriage. “We have a lot of those same values, we may not have millions of members, so we don’t have the same reach, but we are not that different.”
Batchelor said two pages of enumerated differences show a lack of understanding on the part of the Mormons.
“It stereotypes everybody based on what’s been printed in some newspapers,” she said. “We think that’s unfair. It generalizing.”
A survey by Principle Voices conducted in 2006 found roughly 37,000 self-described Mormon fundamentalists living across the West, including Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, South Dakota and Texas. The majority do not belong to any organized church.
Most fundamentalists live in average neighborhoods, wear modern clothes and hairstyles, encourage education and don’t practice arranged marriages, Batchelor said. Many engage in the wider community and trace their family roots to the early Mormon pioneers who founded Utah, she said.
In the statement, the coalition says what distinguishes fundamentalists from the mainstream church is their commitment to “original, fundamental” teachings that the Mormon church has repudiated in the last century.
“There is a disingenuous quality to what the Mormon church is doing now because they are having to deny so much of their history,” Hardy said.
From his studies, Walsh concludes that the main differences between Mormons and their fundamentalist cousins really boils down to differences in daily living, not theology.
“Obviously, Joseph Smith would be excommunicated today for practicing polygamy,” Mormon scholar Newell Bringhurst said. “That’s the supreme irony.”
——
On the Net:
www.lds.org
www.principlevoices.org
Those who worship with The Work of Jesus Christ in Centennial Park have to be prepared to preach on a moment’s notice.
During a priesthood meeting for male members of the church on June 21 the men were told to wear their “preaching clothes” to church the next day. And true to the announcement, church leaders called on random male members of the congregation the next day to come to the stand and deliver a message to the entire body at the Centennial Park church, located just across the highway and south of Colorado City.
Jonathan Dutson was among those to speak that Sunday. He says it’s common for church leaders to call on members of the congregation to speak because it reminds them that they must be ready at any time to explain their beliefs.
Those belonging to the Work of Jesus Christ believe they maintain the true Christian gospel as taught by Joseph Smith and as practiced in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However they believe the mainstream LDS Church has deviated from the teachings of Smith, including the abandonment of plural marriage. Leaders in The Work of Jesus Christ - the priesthood council- say they have the true authority from God on earth.
Although they share a common origin with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the polygamist group based in Colorado City and Hildale, The Work of Jesus Christ and the group that became the FLDS parted ways in 1986.
While many outsiders may focus on the practice of polygamy, members of The Work say their beliefs all come down to legitimate authority from God. Like members of both the LDS Church and the FLDS Church, they do not believe that authority continued after the death of the apostles Christ called when he walked the earth. Instead they believe the authority was restored in the early 1800s to Joseph Smith, a man they all revere as a prophet.
Among the principles Smith taught was the doctrine of plural marriage as described in the Old Testament. The LDS Church officially abandoned that practice in the late 1800s, citing a revelation from then prophet Wilford Woodruff that God wanted the practice to cease. But members of some current polygamous groups - including The Work - say Woodruff’s predecessor John Taylor authorized a few men to carry on the practice of plural marriage underground, organizing them as a priesthood council in 1886.
When the mainstream church began excommunicating those who practiced plural marriage in the 1930s, the underground priesthood council and its followers broke away from the LDS Church and created a congregation of their own on the Utah/Arizona border in what was known as Short Creek.
In the priesthood council, the most senior member serves as president of the church, the man who holds the “keys” and authority from God to lead the church. The Work and the FLDS Church began to split in the late 1970s and early 1980s because of a difference on this subject.
The two groups were united under Leroy S. Johnson as leader of the priesthood council. But a rift formed in the council and Johnson asked two members of the council, J. Marion Hammon and Alma A. Timpson, to step down.
Following Johnson’s death in 1986, Rulon T. Jeffs assumed the prophetic leadership position of the FLDS Church, saying Johnson had taken the priesthood authority away from Hammon, the most senior member of the council. The group that became known as The Work believed that Hammon retained his authority so they chose to follow him and Timpson. They split from Jeffs’ followers and formed the community of Centennial Park in recognition of the 100 years since the formation of the priesthood council that enabled plural marriage to continue.
Although The Work split from the FLDS Church many years before Rulon T. Jeffs’ son Warren S. Jeffs assumed the leadership in 2002, most members of The Work have sought to distance themselves even further from the post-Johnson FLDS Church and the allegations of underage marriages and other criminal behavior.
Hammon and Timpson have both passed away but members of The Work believe they passed on their authority to a new priesthood council that currently leads the church. The names of these leaders are not publicly known.
Church services
With the recent attention given to polygamous groups that claim to practice Mormon fundamentalism, some might expect church services at one of these sects to be some sort of fantastical event led by a charismatic, law-defying prophet type. But the weekly services of The Work of Jesus Christ are not all that different from many other Christian religions.
As the members gather in the modest church building at the southern edge of Centennial Park they greet each other with warm “hellos” and handshakes. A 25-voice choir sings hymns common to the Christian world and those that share a history with the LDS Church. “Welcome, Welcome Sabbath Morning” and “Come Listen To A Prophet’s Voice” are among the selections they sing, accompanied by Marlyne Hammon, who also serves as the church’s spokeswoman, on the piano.
While members of The Work still dress modestly, most have more of a contemporary look than their neighbors across the highway in Colorado City. While some of the women pull their hair back in either buns or braids, many would not stand out in a crowd of women in the middle of St. George. And in recognition of the announcement made in the previous day’s priesthood meeting, the men and boys all wear dark suits.
Portraits of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and other church leaders hang on the walls. A U.S. flag stands on the podium. The words “Holiness to the Lord” are printed on the lectern.
The choir sings “Secret Prayer” and “Did You Think To Pray?” as the benches fill and families begin to sit in overflow seating in the adjoining cultural hall. A group of men, who are apparently priesthood leaders, sit at the front of the chapel on the podium.
The services begin with announcements about community game nights and water shortages before the entire congregation sings “I Stand All Amazed” as the opening song. A leader conducting the service asks another man from the congregation to offer an opening prayer. As the man begins to pray he raises his right arm to a square, asking for blessings on the priesthood council and a sister congregation in Salt Lake City.
Following the prayer the leader mentions the previous night’s announcement about wearing “preaching clothes” and begins to call men from the audience.
As one of the speakers, Dutson references his gratitude for worshipping at the feet of the priesthood leaders. He then mentions a quote he heard on ESPN radio that the biggest lie ever told was that the devil is not real.
“I hope and pray that we will not be caught in that lie,” Dutson says.
Nathan Burnham, the next speaker, follows Dutson’s remarks by mentioning that the devil is “constantly picking at us.” He says those who are parents need to step up and be responsible for they all will have to face in the afterlife the consequences of their actions in this life.
Later in the meeting an older member of the church, Walter Dixon, also talks of the devil, saying he uses science to battle religion. Dixon says that true science is a search for the truth.
Dixon also talks about how he first began to follow the priesthood council decades earlier while living in Salt Lake City. He says he was in darkness before discovering the light found in The Work of Jesus Christ.
“Nothing else is of any importance,” he says. “Priesthood is everything. Without it there is nothing of value to me.”
Following the meeting Burnham says he was born in Bountiful and raised in Hildale. He was a child at the time of the 1986 split between groups and has an older brother who remained a member of the FLDS Church. Despite their differing beliefs, Burnham says he is on friendly terms with family members in the FLDS Church.
“We all still have Thanksgiving dinner together,” he says. “We still love each other.”
He says his faith teaches him how to treat others and explains the purpose of life.
“The gospel explains to my mind where we came from, why we’re here on this earth and where we’re going,” he says. “My parents showed me by example how beautiful the gospel is.”
by BRIAN PASSEY • bpassey@thespectrum.com • June 28, 2008
They believe in plural marriage. They live near the Utah/Arizona border. But they have nothing to do with Warren Jeffs and his FLDS Church.
Those belonging to the Work of Jesus Christ in Centennial Park, just across the highway from Colorado City, believe they maintain the true gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by Joseph Smith and as practiced in the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However they believe the mainstream LDS Church has deviated from the teachings of Smith and that they — through the priesthood of The Work of Jesus Christ — have the true authority from God on Earth.
Joanne Yarrish says she is fascinated by religion. She owns a Koran, a Torah, a Bible and a Book of Mormon. But she says the fullest gospel of Jesus Christ that she has found is within the belief system of The Work of Jesus Christ.
“I go to church on Sunday and listen to the brethren (priesthood leaders) and that’s what I receive,” she says. “That’s my manna.”
The practice of plural marriage, or polygamy, is a major element of their faith that sets members of this group apart. Marlyne Hammon, who often acts as a spokeswoman for the group with the media, is in a plural marriage. She is her husband’s first wife and she has “sister wives” as they are called.
“I’m converted to what I am,” Hammon says. “I’ve chosen that and it’s worked well for me.”
Hammon often touts the blessings and advantages of polygamy. The group in Centennial Park, which numbers about 1,000 people, places a strong value on education, especially for women, so you might find many women among the group with Master’s degrees. Because of that education, there are more people in a household to contribute to a higher standard of living.
There are often allegations of welfare fraud among members of polygamous sects but those in Centennial Park say the allegations are false. On a drive through the community you’ll find plenty of large and beautiful homes — the fruits, they believe, of their faith.
“The people are hard working,” says Al Yarrish, a former Catholic from the East Coast who was baptized as a member of The Work. “I don’t know anyone on welfare.”
Because they are so well trained in many industries, Al says they don’t use welfare, they get jobs.
Joanne, Al’s only wife, runs the local health clinic and says all the welfare programs offered by the state of Arizona are underutilized.
“People are very proud of being self sufficient,” she says. “The more ladies that come into a family, the higher the income and the better standard of living that family has.”
Polygamy
Not all who live in Centennial Park and worship at the group’s Sunday meetings practice polygamy. However, they still believe in the practice as a gospel principle.
Al says his friends accused him of joining the group so he could have more than one wife. Yet he’s been married to Joanne for 13 years and does not feel he’s worthy to have another wife, even though Joanne would be open to it. However, he has come to appreciate his wife’s culture and beliefs.
“They’re really, truly dedicated to what they believe,” he says. “It has opened my eyes. The people here are honest. They’re certainly very proud of where they live. They love their kids.”
He says anyone who thinks all polygamists abuse children or marry underage girls needs to “have their head examined.” Members of The Work believe that only consenting women of legal age can enter into a marriage.
Hammon says she does not feel as if she was forced to stay in the Short Creek area and enter into a plural marriage. She said the group does not believe it is right to force the idea of plural marriage on anyone. But she acknowledges the practice might seem odd to outsiders.
“People don’t understand it,” she says. “So they fear.”
Joanne grew up in Colorado City as a member of what was then a unified group of people that would later split into two groups: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and The Work of Jesus Christ.
Although she is not a plural wife, she grew up in that family structure. Joanne says she saw many things improve in her family when other wives came into it. She said she has seen similar blessings for those who believe in the principle in Centennial Park.
“We really feel very blessed,” she says. “We feel God smiles on us.”
Joanne notes that some might wonder how a father can love 60 children. She replies with a question of her own: How does God love billions of children?
“Love is not a finite amount … it’s limitless,” she says.
Yet Joanne acknowledges that for many it is a “constant crisis of faith” and some are on the losing side of that struggle. What will make sense to one person will not make sense to another. So she believes there needs to be understanding of those who chose to leave the sect.
Unlike the allegations of being trapped in polygamous marriages made against members of the FLDS Church, Al says the women in Centennial Park are not trapped there.
“They’re not slaves,” he says. “It’s their choice.”
Joanne agrees.
“To be told we are subservient … that’s so far out of reality … that’s negating us completely,” she says.
Al even says, with a laugh, that his wife is so liberated that he does all of the cooking.
And the women agree that the men who have plural wives are honorable men who take their beliefs seriously.
Community
Other than plural marriages, Hammon says members of The Work are not that different from others. She mentions how they encourage the young people to get an education. They want the girls to have confidence to face life, and that is not something they can do if they are marrying at age 15.
She also says the group does not believe the U.S. government is the enemy, as has been alleged about the neighboring FLDS group. A U.S. flag hangs at the front of the chapel in Centennial Park. Additionally, Hammon says many have served in the armed forces. Her husband served in Vietnam and her uncle died in Saipan during World War II.
“We’re a country together,” she says. “We’re very patriotic.”
She even sees polygamy as patriotic. Because it encourages large families, Hammon says the people of Centennial Park are creating many good citizens for the nation that follow the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Joanne says “bleeding the beast” — a term associated with allegations that members of the FLDS church rely on welfare to take money from the U.S. government — is not a problem in Centennial Park. However, she believes it is not a problem with most members of the FLDS church either.
Because of shared cultural and family ties there are still many connections with the two groups. Joanne believes healing the rift between the two groups could bring positive results but the FLDS members became increasingly hostile to those in Centennial Park under the leadership of Warren Jeffs.
The two groups split in 1986 after the passing of Leroy Johnson, who was regarded as the prophet by those who practiced plural marriage in the Hildale/Colorado City area. Rulon Jeffs, Warren’s father, then became the prophet and leader of what became the FLDS church but many believed he did not have the authority to lead.
Others belonging to the church’s ruling priesthood council — Jonathan Hammon and Alma Timson — split from Jeffs’ followers and created Centennial Park to provide a place for those who felt they couldn’t live in Hildale and Colorado City.
“That split rocked the world,” says Jonathan Dutson, Joanne’s brother-in-law. “It’s good to get back to that sense of community.”
His wife, Guinevere, says she loves the community and the safe environment it offers. All those who live in Centennial Park look out for each other’s children, she says.
Jonathan says the community is religious-based, yet they allow people be who they are.
“We might be considered odd because we’re a very religious-oriented community, but that would be the only reason to call us odd,” he says. “We truly believe that the gospel and what it can give you is beyond anything this earth can give you.”
“We’re willing to pay a price to be odd,” Guinevere, adds, referring to the modest way of dressing among the members. “If modesty is going to be odd in the community then we’re going to be odd.”
When it comes down to it, Guinevere says, it’s not how you dress but how you act that is important.
Hi everyone, we had a great visit to the YFZ Ranch. I, for one, was very impressed. I will be sharing some feelings about the experience soon. One thing I did notice, as Amanda Chisolm says in the article I posted below, these FLDS families are not zombies or drones or without personality. We were welcomed with smiles and hugs. Their personalities were not smothered, some exhibit a great deal of spunk, some have hearty senses of humor. One thing we saw everywhere we went: grace and genuine kindness. These people are genuine.
I’ll be blogging more about it later. I will say this: it is a very different experience to meet these people in person, and see the ranch in person…and hear directly from them what they went through, and what they think.
http://www.bigbendgazette.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/1/3771392.html
Publish Date: July 1, 2008 | Permanent Link
Two Alpine attorneys help win back custody of hundreds of children taken by Texas’ Department of Family and Protective Services in the April raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch in West Texas.
By Marlys Hersey, Editor
“I am…an attorney with Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid…currently representing forty-eight mothers in the child custody proceedings that began as a result of the raid of the YFZ [Yearning for Zion] Ranch in early April.
Last month, TRLA filed a Writ of Mandamus with the Third Court of Appeals in Austin, Texas, on behalf of the mothers, where we argued the state did not follow Texas law when they took these children without providing any evidence that these households were creating abusive environments.
The Third Court ruled on this matter, and stated that Child Protective Services had no evidence that these children were in imminent danger and that CPS acted hastily in removing them from their families. According to the Court, the existence of the FLDS [Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints] belief system, as described by the department’s witnesses, by itself does not put children of FLDS parents in physical danger.
As you can imagine, both TRLA attorneys and the parents we represent are ecstatic about this news. In ruling this way, the Third Court of Appeals has stood up for the legal rights of these families and given the mothers hope that their families will be brought back together very soon.
It is a great day for families in the state of Texas.”
– Julie Balovich, attorney for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, speaking at press conference on May 22 in front of the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, TX
While many of you have probably followed the drama of this intriguing story of national interest as it unfolded in the news, you may not know that two of the key players in the case are locals. In fact, Julie Balovich and Amanda Chisolm, lawyers for TRLA and residents of Alpine, are two of the ten attorneys responsible for the return of the children to their parents after six weeks in state custody.
To recap: In late March, a woman called a domestic violence shelter, claiming to be a 16-year-old who lived at the “Yearning for Zion” ranch, near the town of Eldorado, TX in Schleicher County (about a 225-mile drive northeast of Alpine), reporting that she was sexually and physically abused by her 50-year-old “husband.” The shelter contacted the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services’ Child Protective Services (CPS), and the investigation of this community of fundamentalist Mormons began, resulting in a raid, beginning on April 3, in which CPS and law enforcement officials “took possession of all 468 children at the Ranch without a court order,” as the Supreme Court of Texas decision reads, ostensibly to protect the children from an immediate threat to their physical health and safety.
In what CPS has called “the largest child protection case documented in the history of the United States,” the agency claimed to have ample evidence of a “pervasive pattern and practice” of abuse in the YFZ community.
Two weeks later, in a hearing in State District Court in San Angelo on April 17 and 18 – the courtroom so jam-packed with attorneys for both parties, attorneys ad litem (“for the suit,” appointed to protect underage clients), guardians, and others that an additional auditorium was filled with the overflow – Judge Barbara Walther ordered that the children remain in the department’s temporary custody, and mandated DNA testing of each child to determine maternity and paternity.
All of the children older than 12 months were then separated from their mothers and relocated to foster homes and other state-overseen facilities in various and sometimes far-flung parts of the Lone State.
Thirty-eight of the mothers petitioned the court of appeals seeking a return of their 126 children; on May 22, the Third District Court of Appeals ruled that CPS failed to meet its burden of proof under Texas law (as detailed in Balovich’s statement above) and “vacated the temporary orders” which granted CPS custody.
CPS then petitioned the Supreme Court of Texas for a review. On May 29, the Supreme Court of Texas, “In Re Texas Department of Family and Protective Services Realtor On Petition for Mandamus (No. 08-0391)” issued its opinion: “We are not inclined to disturb the court of appeals decision.” Included in the court’s relatively brief, 905-word decision was this unambiguous statement: “On the record before us, removal of the children was not warranted.” The argument put forth by ten TRLA public defense attorneys prevailed in the court of appeals and in the state’s highest court.
By June 3, all of the children were released back into the custody of their parents; some of the families have since returned to the YFZ Ranch, some remain in different homes rented during the time their children were in state custody.
What got extensive coverage in the media was:
• YFZ parents and children are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) which practices polygamy, in which a man has multiple wives. Many individuals who have left the sect claim that the FLDS’ brand of polygamy is not amongst consenting adults, and results in rampant physical, mental, and sexual abuse, and that the marriages or “spiritual unions” often involve girls being forced to wed much older men, under the threat of “eternal damnation” if they don’t cooperate, and that many girls and women who do comply willingly with such arrangements have been indcotrinated or brainwashed since birth.
• FLDS women have weird hairdos and wear “prairie dresses” and are often portrayed as “brainwashed drones.”
• In late 2003, some members of the FLDS group left their base on the Utah-Arizona border to relocate in West Texas, creating the YFZ “ranch,” a 1,700-acre complex where hundreds of FLDS members live; it also contains gardens, an orchard, a dairy, a quarry, well-manicured and irrigated lawns, and many buildings, including a multi-story, stunningly bright white temple. Its members are said to be “reclusive” and anti-outsider, and the complex is most often referred to as a “compound.”
*The group’s leader (since 2002) is Warren Jeffs, currently in jail in Kingman, Arizona, convicted in September of last year for being an accomplice to rape. He had evidently married a 19-year-old man to a 14-year-old girl against her will. (Jeffs was sentenced to two terms of five years to life in prison.) He is also charged in Arizona as an accomplice with four counts of sexual conduct with a minor and awaits trial for these charges. (In late May, investigators from the Texas Attorney General’s office took DNA from Jeffs, saying they were looking for evidence of relationships between him and four girls from the Yearning For Zion ranch.)
What did not get much (if any) media coverage was most of what I learned from phone conversations and email exchanges in late June with Alpine attorneys Chisolm and Balovich, who several times each referred to their experience in the case as “surreal.”
Balovich would see how the story was being portrayed on TV, she said, and “it didn’t seem like we were talking about the same thing.”
It’s important to note that while the news media, perhaps understandably, largely focused on the sensational aspects of the “outsider” FLDS culture and the elaborate infrastructure of the ranch itself (often it seemed, with the zeal of some 19th and 20th Century anthropologists who’d discovered a “lost” civilization in the South Pacific), at issue for Chisolm, Balovich and the other attorneys hard at work for the YFZ parents was the legality of the state removing the children from their homes while it conducts its investigation of possible child abuse.
As their successful appeal clarifies, “Even if one views the FLDS belief system as creating a danger of sexual abuse by grooming boys to be perpetrators of sexual abuse and raising girls to be victims of sexual abuse, as [CPS] contends, there is no evidence that this danger is ‘immediate’ or ‘urgent’ as contemplated by section 262.201 with respect to every child in the community…. The simple fact, conceded by the Department, that not all FLDS families are polygamous or allow their female children to marry as minors demonstrates the danger of removing the children form their homes based on the broad-brush ascription of every aspect of a belief system to every person living among followers of the belief system or professing to follow the belief system.”
While CPS agents repeatedly insisted (and the media largely regurgitated this insistence) that the agency had no choice but to pull children from the YFZ ranch, that it was acting out of extreme concern for the safety and well-being of those individuals, Chisolm and Balovich found the actions of the state in the ensuing weeks “unbelievably horrible.”
For starters, said Chisolm, the initial investigation by CPS to question YFZ members was instigated at 9 pm, and subjects, including young children, were questioned well into the night, while armed agents (and a tank) surrounded them.
Then, once YFZ children were taken into custody, those under five years old were initially allowed to remain with their mothers, albeit all housed in a sports coliseum in San Angelo (anyone reminded of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina?). Mothers’ mobile phones were confiscated, said Chisolm, and the coliseum entrances/exits were barricaded and guarded by Department of Public Safety (DPS) agents. CPS maintained that it was not preventing mothers from leaving the premises; if a mother left, however, CPS would not allow her back in. “If you had a child in there, what would you do?” asked Chisolm, who represents 4 of the mothers.
Further, after being blocked for an entire day by DPS from access to her clients into the coliseum, Balovich was forced to file a motion for a lawsuit before agents relented.
Those of you following the story may have noted that the number of children taken into state custody kept changing. The reason? Apparently caught up in the inertia of the case, some state officials accused many of the FLDS women of lying about their age, insisting that the women looked younger than 18; those who didn’t pass the “eyeball test” were proclaimed minors – often despite birth certificates and driver’s licenses with information to the contrary – and told they were no longer allowed to speak to their (original) lawyers (though each child is assigned an attorney ad litem).
Then CPS separated all children older than one year from their parents, causing untold stress for everyone involved and in particular for breastfeeding children who were suddenly and involuntarily weaned; breastfeeding mothers forced to pump breast milk many times a day, and worry exponentially more.
“Amanda and I both had clients who were breastfeeding,” said Balovich, who represents 7 of the mothers, “yet in one case [for example] my client was only seeing her daughter for only an hour a week.”
In another case, Chisolm learned from one of the ad litem attorneys that a breastfeeding baby just separated from its mother (one of her clients) would not feed from the surrogate, something that could quickly turn into a life-or-death crisis. Further, Chisolm and the mother were unsure where the baby was. When the baby was finally located, the CPS caseworker, says Balovich, refused to allow the baby to nurse with or see its mother, instead merely retrieving bottled breastmilk from the child’s mom to bring back to the child.
Sibling groups were split up, special needs and medical histories were for the most part ignored. “We kept saying ‘How can you do this with this little information, just ship them out?’” said Balovich. One child of a client of Balovich’s did not receive his essential daily physical therapy for the three weeks he was separated from his mother in state custody.
Perhaps most frustrating in the midst of these constant crises was the bureaucratic wall. “A lot of our day was spent pinpointing Who’s calling the shots? Who’s making the decisions? Who can fix this situation?” said Balovich. “A lot of our day was spent on the phone, trying to track people down.”
In many cases, children from the same family were split up, creating logistical and emotional nightmares for parents trying to locate their children, much less visit each of them. In one family Balovich represented, “there were five kids placed in three different facilities.” And the assigned caseworkers kept being switched.
Plus, it turned out that the CPS list of where each child went was not always accurate. Balovich told the story of being “called by one of my moms at 11 pm on a Friday night, saying ‘Julie, you must find my son!’”
Some children, separated suddenly and forcibly from their parents, were in shock and dehydrated from the trauma.
“It didn’t seem like there was any sort of thoughtfulness to the plan. Nobody would listen. [CPS] just would not negotiate. It seems to me,” noted Balovich, “that for their proported purpose, this had to be the worst way of going about it.”
For these two public defenders, this kind of case is the very reason they work for Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, a non-profit organization started in 1970 which “provides free legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area that covers the southwestern third of the state, including the entire Texas-Mexico border region,” from El Paso to Austin to Corpus Christi, and everything in between, south of I-10. (Lone Star Legal Aid covers east Texas; Legal Aid of Northwest Texas covers Dallas and the Panhandle.)
“This is exactly why I work for Legal Aid,” said Balovich, 34, raised in Lake Dallas, and a ’99 graduate of University of Texas-Austin, who has worked for TRLA for her entire law career. Celebrating great support from the whole TRLA staff, Balovich cited in particular their boss, David Hall: “His thinking is If there’s an injustice, go out and bite it.”
Chisolm, 32, a native of Louisiana with an undergraduate degree in English literature from Nicholls State University, has been practicing law since 2003 when she graduated from UT-Austin. “CPS has a job to do – an important one. They need to follow up on allegations of abuse. But to go into a community and remove every single child…is a huge violation. It’s in everybody’s best interest that we have some sort of checks on government.”
If CPS did more harm than good to the YFZ families it temporarily broke up, the custody battle had a profound ripple effect on hundreds, probably thousands of others as well, including the 500+ lawyers involved in the case, and their families.
“It literally took over our lives for six weeks solid,” said Balovich. Besides having to de-prioritize nearly every everything else in their professional lives – in any given week, Chisolm, for example might have 35 open cases and a slew of applications for legal aid to review – the YFZ custody case took a huge toll on their personal lives.
“We were gone for days at a time,” said Balovich “The first week we were in San Angelo from Monday to Saturday; the second week we were there from Monday ‘til Wednesday morning. A day later, I had to go to Austin for a conference; I ended up skipping the conference to work on the mandamus, and I was gone until Saturday morning. The third week I had to go to San Angelo to pick up the court reporter’s record then drive to Austin to work on the mandamus and to San Antonio to meet with clients….We were gone a lot!”
“I slept three or four hours a night, for weeks and weeks,” said Chisolm. “I don’t know if Julie slept at all…. Clients were calling constantly. Understandably. We were having to talk to them over and over, them asking ‘When are we going to see our children again?’”
For Chisolm, who has a two-and-a-half year old son, Owen, witnessing such heartbreak was excruciating. “It was heartbreaking as a mother to see children separated from their parents – and as a lawyer to see the legal system flop…. It was hard on lots and lots of levels.”
Chisolm credits her “wonderful” husband, Jim Thompson, and her parents, Susan and Clayton Chisolm, who also live in Alpine, for picking up the slack. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through without them…. [Jim] understood what I was going through emotionally. I was terrified he wouldn’t get it.”
Balovich told of one point in the midst of this when her husband, Jim Saunders, Education Coordinator at the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Fort Davis, called her to discuss a medical issue about one of their dogs: “I just couldn’t deal with it. My poor husband…. I sort of shut down.”
When she learned that she’d be involved in the case, Balovich called Chisolm to say “If I’m going, you’re going.” Balovich is particularly pleased to work with Chisolm, whom she lauds as “fantastic” lawyer and writer. “We were each other’s saving grace.”
In dealing with the YFZ case, says Balovich, “We were in total crisis mode. There was a fire to put out every single day. I remember thinking This is never going to end.”
Thankfully, the custody ordeal, at least, did end. “These suits can last 12 months – and in some instances, up to 18 months,” noted Chisolm.
So why did this one end so relatively soon?
“Honestly?” said Balovich. “We were right. There were three things the state had to prove*, and there was no evidence of these.”
Initially the TRLA attorneys representing the FLDS mothers thought their appeal would be “a shot in the dark.” Once it was written, however, they realized that “legally, it is the only way the court could have ruled,” said Balovich.
Then there was the media frenzy.
“We generally would not allow our clients to talk to the media. We were in the middle of a lawsuit,” explained Chisolm, who was concerned that her clients would be exploited. “Then we began to realize we were losing this case in the media.”
“I started to figure the media game out pretty quickly,” mused Balovich. “I’d get calls saying ‘Julie Balovich! I need to put you on The Today Show. Are you ready?’ And I’d think, ‘Oh! My gosh! They need me.’ I didn’t really want to be on The Today Show, but I remember thinking ‘This is the only way they’re going to cover [this side of] the story.’ I felt an obligation to our clients.”
Though Balovich never made it onto The Today Show, she did have a one-minute cameo on Dateline, after not having eaten all day, having gotten only 3 hours of sleep, and wearing no makeup.
One of the pair’s favorite recollections from the media frenzy is a Dateline producer remarking to Chisolm “Hey, I like your lawyer suit!”
Balovich has learned “You can never judge a case by what you get from the media…. I mean, I love NPR [National Public Radio]…. I talked to this NPR reporter, and it was clear he had a story angle in mind [from the start]. He would ask me questions, and I would just answer them – and then he would cut the quote to fit his angle.”
Finally Balovich learned to be a politician, it seems. “By the third time [talking to same NPR reporter], I was savvy…. His angle was ‘CPS had to do this.’ So when he asked me ‘What was bad about the court’s decision [regarding the appeal]?’ I just kept saying ‘We’re just glad the children are going home.’”
Most infuriating for Balovich was the way most news outlets, including CNN and the New York Times, she claims, would simply take the CPS press releases and run with them, not question, not dig deeper. “It would make me so angry. Over and over, CPS talked about how our clients were lying. As far as I was concerned, that’s what CPS was doing: bald-faced lying.”
With the May 29 TX Supreme Court decision, the media pretty much stopped calling.
Since June 3, when the children were released from state custody back to their parents, noted Balovich, “ wecould finally breathe again.”
“There’s a huge weight off my shoulders,” explained Balovich. “I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I just wanted my moms to be with their kids. I got a voicemail message, this little chorus of [my client’s] twins saying, ‘Hi Julie!’… I had never even spoken to those kids that I’d spent all this time fighting for…. I took some time out, just veg-ed. My husband and I went to Balmorhea for a day.”
“I slept a bunch. And ate a lot of cake,” mused Chisolm. “We tried to celebrate the night the [Texas Supreme Court] decision came down by going to Reata for a nice dinner, but we were so exhausted.”
Perhaps more profound for the two was not what happened after the TX Supreme Court decision, but what stopped happening. “Everything changed so suddenly with the Supreme Court decision, it was kind of eerie,” said Chisolm. “Of course, there was still work to do; Julie went to San Angelo that week to work on getting the judge to sign new temporary orders. But the type of stress and work and constant telephone calls and e-mails that we had become accustomed to – all of that stopped, or at least decreased to a normal level. It felt weird and quiet and it took a while for us to come all the way up for air, for our bodies to release all of the stress and adrenaline and for us to really believe that all of this was true.”
Decompression from the ordeal will evidently not be as easy for the YFZ families. “My clients are really happy to have their children home,” wrote Balovich. Yet they “are trying to help their children feel secure again. It’s going to be a process.”
Normally in cases of traumatic separation of children from their parents, Balovich would recommend professional counseling, she said. But in this case, “I don’t think these kids can see another stranger without thinking they might get taken away.”
Requests from the Gazette to speak directly with their FLDS clients were denied. “As you would expect,” wrote Chisolm, “our clients are preoccupied with their children right now and not doing any media interviews at the moment.”
Though the original phone call which launched the investigation is now believed to be a hoax, CPS and the Texas Attorney General are continuing an investigation of the YFZ ranch. According to the San Angelo Standard Times, on June 26, a Schleicher County grand jury opened its investigation into the FLDS Church “with a marathon day of evidence that produced no indictments as yet.”
On Friday, June 27, the Commissioner of Texas’ Department of Family Protective Services, Carey Cockerell, announced that he is retiring August 31, offering no specific reason for his departure except that he’s “been thinking about retirement since late last year.” As Commissioner since 2005, Cockerell said he’s “proud of the improvements we made in our programs, but I’m even prouder of the thousands of caseworkers and other staff who made it all possible. They really came together and supported the rebuilding of the agency into one that was stronger and better equipped to protect Texans.” The release includes a list of Cockerell’s accomplishments – with no mention of the Department’s April raid of the Yearning For Zion ranch.
Requests from the Gazette for information and comment from Marleigh Meisner, CPS spokesperson, were not returned by press time.
According the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the cost for “operations related to the roundup” has already cost the state $14 million – “and a chunk of invoices for such expenses as overtime, travel and professional services have yet to be submitted.” $7 million of that will go to litigation expenses alone. And another $110,000 is charged to the Texas Attorney General’s office for the cost of “DNA testing on adults and children from the sect in an effort to positively identify the parents of every child who had been taken into custody.”
Both attorneys were unequivocal in their responses to questions about their impressions of the FLDS women and the safety of the children in their care.
“They are really great mothers. They are sweet and caring. Their children are very well-behaved,” commented Chisolm. Further, she marveled, in the midst of this crisis, “they were a lot kinder than me…. They had faith, they didn’t have the screaming fits I would have had.”
“I feel confident that my clients can follow the laws of the state of Texas,” said Balovich.
When asked about her clients’ connection to their leader, Warren Jeffs, Balovich is equally clear. “Let’s assume he is their spiritual leader, and he is guilty: people who believe in [him] are not necessarily implicated…. All of these parents are individuals…. This case is about government accountability…. CPS gets all this deference granted to them…. Before they take a child away, they’re supposed to meet the standards. The courts held them to the law. They can continue their investigation cautiously….I think our moms are good moms.”
Although they have not personally met him, Willie Jessop, spokesperson for the FLDS Church, apparently agrees, and lauded the attorneys’ work on behalf of the YFZ families.
“When we’d given up hope on the system,” Jessop proclaimed at a press conference just after the TX Supreme Court decision was issued, “it ends up being some kind-hearted attorneys that were willing to take up this fight.”
Ultimately, at issue for these attorneys is not whether the state has the right to investigate the sect, but rather whether it has the right to invade the citizens’ homes and abscond with their children with insufficient evidence of abuse.
“The state [of Texas] alleges that the FLDS culture and parents allowed [underage pregnancies] to happen. Underage pregnancies happen in the general public,” insisted Chisolm, “yet I don’t know of any other cases in which the state takes the mother from the family, or the baby from the underage mom….I don’t know about you, but I don’t want the state determining my mindset.”
*To read the Writ of Mandamus other court documents, and for more in-depth coverage of this ongoing story, please visit the San Angelo Standard Times (click on “Mandamus Decision” under “Court Documents” for TRLA appeal).
“After I got to know [the FLDS women] and spend time with them… they’re not ‘Stepford Wives,’ they’re not these brainwashed zombies,” said Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorney and Alpine resident Amanda Chisolm (above, on right, with FLDS client, at Yearning For Zion ranch near Eldorado, TX). “They’re all very intelligent. Some are very funny. They have individual personalities.” (Photographer unknown)
An “ecstatic” Texas RioGrande Legal Aid attorney Julie Balovich (above, left) with FLDS client addressed a crowd outside the Tom Green County Courthouse in San Angelo, TX on May 22 after the public defenders won the appeal in the Third District Court which forced the state to release hundreds children back to the custody of their FLDS parents from the Yearning For Zion ranch. The decision was upheld on May 29 by the TX Supreme Court. (Brian Connelly, photo, courtesy of San Angelo Standard-Times)
Note: A “mandamus” (Latin for “we command”) is a writ from a superior court to an inferior court or to an officer, corporation, etc., commanding that a specified thing be done – or commanding that something be refrained from, required by law. A writ or order of mandamus is an “extraordinary” court order, as it is made without full judicial process, or before a case has concluded.
Go to this website: www.fldsdress.com and check them out. They’re really cute. The long underwear reminds me of the thermal underwear we had when I was growing up. We had them for those cold winters in Park City, and then we lived in Alaska for over a year, and boy did we need them!!!
