Free Republic

Last week, a Texas jury convicted Warren Jeffs, leader of the polygamist FLDS Church, of two counts of child sexual assault...For Americans who are increasingly interested in the religion of the two Mormons running for president, Jeffs' conviction raises what could appear to be difficult questions about modern Mormonism. There is no formal connection between Jeffs' FLDS Church and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints... From 1852 until 1890, however, the Mormon Church did publically teach and practice polygamy... Given that history, many Americans ask themselves whether Jeffs' cocktail of religious authority, polygamy and child sex represents some...

Gathering Joe Jessop’s brood together for a group photo is a challenge for even the most patient of snappers. After all, there are five wives, 46 children and – at the last count – 239 grandkids to squeeze into the frame. That’s because the 88-year-old is the bed-hopping patriarch of one of the world’s most extraordinary families. Joe and his clan live in Short Creek, Utah, a 6,000-strong community of members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a polygamous offshoot of the Mormon Church. Joe says: “My family came to Short Creek for the same reason...

  The Polygamists A sect that split from the Mormons allows multiple wives, expels The first church members arrive at the Leroy S. Johnson Meeting House in Colorado City, Arizona, at about 6 p.m. Within a half hour the line extends out the front doors, down the side of the building, and out into the parking lot. By seven, it stretches hundreds of yards and has grown to several thousand people—the men and boys dressed in suits, the women and girls in Easter egg–hued prairie dresses.The mourners have come for a viewing of 68-year-old Fo­neta Jessop, who died of...