Lost Boys of Polygamy

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Lost Boys of Polygamy are young men who have been excommunicated or pressured to leave polygamous groups such as the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) or the Latter-day Church of Christ. Most of the Lost Boys were between the ages of 13 and 21 when they were banished or pressured to leave.^[1] (Note: The FLDS church is not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from which it splintered around 1890.^[2])

Critics of the FLDS say that the practice of polygamy leads unavoidably to bride shortages and a surplus of boys. Lost Boys are the surplus boys who are removed from polygamous sects in order to reduce competition for wives, though they are ostensibly banished for misbehavior.^[1] There are also young women^[3] who have left or been pressured to leave because they did not want to be part of polygamous marriages.^[4]

One of the main difficulties that Lost Boys face is that they are raised not to trust the outside world. In fact, leaving their communities is considered a sin worse than murder.^[5]^[6] These boys and girls are usually left with little education or life skills and must learn to live in a world about which they know little, while dealing with the deep psychological pain of being shunned by their families and believing they are beyond spiritual redemption.

Dr. Dan Fischer, who was raised in the polygamous community of the FLDS, started a non-profit organization, Smiles for Diversity^[7], whose three-fold aim is to 1) provide dental products to disadvantaged people, 2) to encourage acceptance of diversity, and 3) to help the Lost Boys. Fischer left the polygamist environment of the FLDS church. Fischer is also a successful dentist and businessman. He is founder and President of Ultradent^[8], a dental supply manufacturing company. He started the company after inventing the tooth-bleaching product Opalesence. In addition to being a dentinst and running a company, he is working to help the Lost Boys who have been ejected from polygamist organizations in cities like Hildale, Utah or Colorado City, Arizona.

[edit] References

^ ^a ^b Henetz, Patty. "Krakauer still vexed by FLDS", Associated Press, 2004-07-31. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
^ Borger, Julian. "The lost boys, thrown out of US sect so that older men can marry more wives", The Guardian, 2005-06-14. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
^ "Man Accused Of Assaulting Kingston Polygamist Daughter Appears In Court", KSL-TV News, 2006-06-24. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
^ "Polygamy or abuse? Utah case stirs controversy", CNN, 1998-08-18. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
^ Wagner, Angie. "Religious sect's outcasts caught between worlds", Associated Press, 2004-09-04. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
^ Wagner, Angie. "Boys exiled from polygamist sect seek new life in the outside world", Associated Press. Retrieved on February 14, 2007.
^ Smiles for Diversity
^ Ultradent Products, Inc.

[edit] See also

Krakauer, Jon. Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (2003). A non-Mormon investigation into the ritual murder of a woman and child stemming from one man's prophetic delusions and his charismatic abuse of Mormon doctrine.
Emmett, Andrea Moore. God's Brothel: The Extortion of Sex for Salvation in Contemporary Mormon and Christian Fundamentalist Polygamy and the Stories of 18 Women Who Escaped (2004). Stories of women who have lived on the inside.
Bistline, Benjamin G. Colorado City Polygamists: An Inside Look for the Outsider (2004). A Colorado City historian presents the beginnings of the group and its original religious doctrine.
Bistline, Benjamin G. The Polygamists: A History of Colorado City, Arizona (2004)
Tracy, Kathleen. The Secret Story of Polygamy (2001). Centered around the trial of John Daniel Kingston, who was tried for assault on his 16-year-old daughter.
Llewellyn, John R. Polygamy Under Attack: From Tom Green to Brian David Mitchell (2004)