Polygamy in North America - Latter Day Saint Fundamentalism

Latter Day Saint Fundamentalism

Some sects that practice or at least sanction polygamy are the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Latter-day Church of Christ and the Apostolic United Brethren. Polygamy among these groups persists today in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, Canada, and other neighboring states, and the spin-off colonies, as well as up to 15,000 isolated individuals with no organized church affiliation. Polygamist churches of Latter Day Saint origin are often referred to as "Mormon fundamentalist"; however, the larger LDS church rejects polygamy today. They often use an ambiguous September 27, 1886 revelation to John Taylor as the basis for their authority to continue the practice of plural marriage.

The Salt Lake Tribune estimates there are as many as 37,000 fundamentalists, with less than half of them living in polygamous households. Most of the polygamy is believed to be restricted to about a dozen extended groups of polygamous fundamentalists. The LDS Church asserts that it is improper to call any of these splinter polygamous groups "Mormon."