Other key components of belief also tied to the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: that the community must hold all assets in common, rather than tithing personal property individually; that believers are to "gather" to the same community; and, most importantly, that men are given authority from God — either directly, or passed from leader to leader — to perform marriages and exercise leadership in the group.

In many groups it is that leadership — whether outwardly charismatic or mundane — that dictates spiritual life or death for members. Jeffs demanded followers' adherence to his commands regarding even the most intimate details of their personal lives. Other leaders are reportedly less rigid in their approach. And independent Mormon fundamentalists, says Wilde, do not believe that they should organize under a leader or in a regimented group.

Irwin Altman, a psychologist at the U. who spent time living in both rural and urban polygamist communities for a study on the relationships between marriage partners, reports that "they repeatedly referred to trying to follow the traditions of the early church in a very strict way, and their homes were replete with religious symbolism — pictures, statues and icons, paintings and pictures of the temple and of early church leaders."

Worship services are "very serious business ... with large-scale attendance," and involve such traditional practices as sermons, prayers, singing and distribution of a sacrament or Eucharist, he says. Members are community-minded, planning youth activities and dances. Altman saw an expectation that young boys within the community would volunteer for community service projects like cleaning roadsides, grounded in the religious tenet of service to others.

Fundamentalism does not try to "spread the gospel" by proselytizing, notes author Hales. Joseph Smith's "restored church was to go to all the world. They don't do that, yet they claim to hold the same authority as Joseph Smith," he says. "Their message and work is just to keep polygamy alive and ignore the world. For me it's an incredibly narcissistic religion for a narcissistic era."

In the communities Altman studied, and which he agreed not to name, he said that only a relatively small percentage of men had more than one wife, and an even smaller number had more than two wives. Wilde says that among currently practicing polygamists the average number of wives is two or three.

Leaders wield power

Bradley says the current media emphasis on underage marriages and sexual practices fails to examine the reality of how "Jeffs has used the political power that comes with being a religious leader." The group's recent construction of a temple in Texas is "a display of wealth and political power in a way that's not typical of this group. That's as fascinating to me."