That persona has been pushed by the AUB’s best-known members: the Brown family from the reality television show “Sister Wives.” First living in Lehi, Utah, and now near Las Vegas, the Browns portray themselves as a suburban American family - just one that happens to include four wives and 18 children. They report sexual abuse to law enforcement.
They don’t assign marriages or permit underage brides. While the FLDS and other polygamous groups have reputations as isolationists, the AUB has been known as the church for more mainstream polygamists and Mormon fundamentalists. Bigamy is a misdemeanor in Montana, and state statutes do not forbid living with spiritual wives as they do in Utah, where bigamy is a felony. Rulon lived in Salt Lake City, but he wanted the brethren to have a place where polygamy could be practiced without fear of prosecution. Others on that council formed what would become the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or FLDS, on the Utah-Arizona line. Doctrinal differences emerged, and Rulon formed the AUB. In Utah during the early 1950s, he served on a council with other polygamists. Pinesdale can even credit its creation to a difference of opinion among polygamists.ĪUB is also known as “The Allred Group,” largely because of its first leader, Rulon C. Lynn and AUB leaders did not return messages from The Salt Lake Tribune seeking comment. “There’s too much water under the bridge now,” said Vilate Stoker, the principal at Pines Academy. Yet, people in Pinesdale don’t see an easy resolution to the dispute. That would allow the AUB to sell the lots. Lynn has not visited, they say, since he was installed as president in 2014.Įven before he ascended, the AUB, which owns the land where most of Pinesdale’s houses sit, was considering subdividing the properties. These members and others also worry that the AUB is divesting itself of its Montana outpost. Marriages in both plural and monogamous households have been strained and some spouses have separated, Second Ward members say. Those in Pinesdale who still want to worship in the Mormon fundamentalist way have started attending their own service that they call the Second Ward.Įnrollment at the private school, called Pines Academy, has declined. They all resigned their church callings and stopped paying tithes.
That includes two from the AUB Priesthood Council, two Melchizedek Priesthood leaders, two bishops, the president of the all-female Relief Society, the Sunday school president, the elders quorum president, Seventies quorum president and the youth leaders. Some prominent people in this mountain town have stood against the AUB leader. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Pinesdale, Mont., as seen from a truck bed, Saturday September 30, 2017. In Montana, the AUB is localized to Pinesdale, population 967, where the divisions over Lynn are most evident. The structure of the church mirrors that of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which abandoned polygamy more than a century ago. The AUB has its headquarters in Bluffdale, Utah, and thousands of members have blended into life across the Salt Lake Valley. “At the end of six months,” Kimberly, now 21, said, “he came back and said, ‘I don’t feel that I can pursue this relationship if you don’t support Lynn Thompson.’” The couple decided to take a break in early 2016 to evaluate their beliefs and whether they would support Lynn. That led to some tough conversations between Kimberly and her boyfriend. Some residents who would not follow Lynn were denied what Mormons of all varieties call a temple recommend - a card from their bishop saying the person has followed the steps of the faith and are worthy to enter the temple. (Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Kimberly Herbert, in Pinesdale, Mont.