Inquiring minds want to know...
people have been asking me if I know anything about the polygamists in arizona, the subject of a book by John Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven.
this group, is the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, FLDS. They claim that their adherance to polygamy is what separates them from the modern Mormans. And news reporters constantly reinforce this impression by repeating this claim. But this allegation fails to account for the bizarre oings on at their communities includingColorado City Arizona and Hillsdale Utah, as well as others in B.C. This group has all the earmarks of a cult- total control by the prohpet of money lives and resources, mind control and brainwashing, and a closed society where children have virtually no contact with the outside world.
A close reading of reports spells out the unilateral control excercised by the churches "Prophet" through the Untied Effort Trust. The church embers must give the trust all money and property- the trust owns all of the land in the communities, and failure to follow directives of the prophet can lead to excommunication and eviction from homes. Current Prophet, Warren Jeffs even 'redistributes' wives and children of men he excommunicates, treating them just like property.
Now, some have sought to defend polygamy as simply another lifestoyel choice. this would be one thing, if the participants actually had a choice. In fact, this cult grants ultimate aouthority to the prophet who is the only one who can decide who marries. Men are coopted as they marry more than one wife, and then af=re forced to allow their daughters to marry already married older men or face eviction of their multiple families. Women are virtually given away to older men as teenagers. Jeffs recently evicted a large group of younger men, ages 13-21, might have expected to marry the women their own age.
This IS NOT polygamy as a religious, sexual or lifestyle chouce. this is a cult.
Articles below provide details, for more, google on "FLDS united effort plan"

FLDS :: Lawsuits and Governmental Scrutiny Increase Pressure on Polygamist Sect: "FLDS members consider themselves fundamentalist practitioners because they continue to practice polygamy as Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commanded. Smith's teachings remain in Mormon scripture"