This fLDS generation was NEVER LDS -- so they're not renegade Mormons. They just take Lds Doctrine & Covenants 132 -- still Mormon "scripture" -- the same way Brigham Young and other Lds leaders take it.
And just as Young ruled territorial Utah with an iron fist, that's the way Warrn Jeffs is still ruling -- from prison.
From the article: Tewell said she has heard of as many as 50 people a month leaving the polygamous border towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz.
With the deadline coming, that may be increase.
From the article: Warren Jeffs is serving a life sentence in a Texas prison for child sex assault related to underage marriages. Since he's been imprisoned, he's released a steady stream of "revelations" he claims are from God to lawmakers across the country. They include demands that he be released or the wrath of the Almighty will destroy the earth. The most recent revelations sent to Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff claimed they were a "final warning."
Well, that's the interesting part here: The Utah AG serves as the "news filter" for Jeffs' "final warning." (I guess, in Utah, the AG office is the "PR" Division for Jeffs)
Here's an article from earlier this month: FLDS community said to be purging itself of outside influence
Yay! Refugees! How many you gonna get???
A coalition of government agencies, social service agencies and polygamists?
Religion almost makes me as sick as politics . . . almost!
All on food stamps..... What a scam. I bet those polygamists on TLC collect food stamps as well.
The religion of the pervert prophet strikes again.... This works on Muslims too!
Where’s Myth???? He could fix this, just like the Olympics and Massachusetts healthcare....
Polygamy isn't just against the law in Utah and Arizona. It's prohibited by the State Constitutions of both Utah (Article Three, Section 1") and Arizona (Article 2, Section 20. Why? Because of the wide-spread illegal polygamy by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints at this time Utah and Arizona became states. In fact, in the case of Utah, the LDS Church had to give up polygamy for Utah to become a state (we won't get into the deceptive 1890 Manifesto, and the following Second Manifesto of 1904).
The anti-polygamy provision of the Utah Constitution may be unique among all provision of any kind among all the fifty states. It specifically states that the people of Utah can't change that provision of their own constitution without permission of the United States. That's how much the United States trusted the people of Utah at the time of statehood:
"The following ordinance shall be irrevocable without the consent of the United States and the people of this State . . . No inhabitant of this State shall ever be molested in person or property on account of his or her mode of religious worship; but polygamous or plural marriages are forever prohibited
Utah Constitution Article Three, Section 1.
Bigamy is a crime under Utah law (Utah Criminal Code Section 76-7-101, which includes purporting to marry another or cohabitating with another when one is married - specifically to address post-Manifesto 'polygamy,' where a party can be legally married only once. Polygamous co-habitation is illegal under the Arizona Constitution.
One might assume that the Attorneys General of the States of Utah and Arizona would have been enforcing the anti-polygamy laws - because we're not just talking in the recent past, after recent Supreme Court rulings. But they don't enforce them. And they haven't enforced them. Why? I'll let you hold your finger to the prevailing religious winds in Utah and northern Utah and take an educated guess.
Am I presuming that the laws are not enforced? No. I'm taking the Attorney General of Utah at his word. The official website of the Utah State Attorney General, Mark Shurleff, states that:
Polygamy is illegal in Utah and forbidden by the Arizona constitution. However, law enforcement agencies in both states have decided to focus on crimes within polygamous communities that involve child abuse, domestic violence and fraud.
Which means: "we're not going to prosecute any polygs. They're everywhere. They've always been everywhere. Do you actually think we meant to honor that commitment to the United States? Oh, c'mon."
I know that many people will say the government shouldn't be involved in marriage, but this situation goes further than that. It's not a case of the government staying out of religion, it's a case of the government being told not embarrass the prevailing state religion. The Attorneys General aren't going to take actions that put a spotlight on polygamy because . . .
Why isn’t SLC lds, down there taking these people in. I mean really we hear daily how generous and giving they are. How much money they put out towards charity.
Those who LEAVE the Salt Lake City branch of MORMONism have quite similar experiences.