Latest Stories

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  10 Arizona-Based Religions

  March 8 at 5 a.m.

  With the recent debate over the possible expansion of "religious freedom" laws in Arizona, it's worth noting that the state has a great deal of religious . . . creativity.Check out 10 religions (or spiritual organizations, or sects, or in some cases, cults) that were born in Arizona:...

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  Phoenix Federal Court Jury Finds Northern Arizona Polygamist Towns Guilty of Discrimination

  March 7 at 4:54 p.m.

  After four days of deliberation in a landmark federal trial, a jury has sided with the U.S. Department of Justice in its historic case against the leadership of two polygamist towns on the Arizona-Utah border by finding them guilty of religious discrimination against non-adherents of the prevailing fundamentalist faith.. The...

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  Phoenix Federal Court Verdict Could Cripple Abusive Polygamist Church Hierarchy on Arizona-Utah Border

  March 7 at 6 a.m.

  The future of the long-tortured enclave of Colorado City, Arizona and Hildale, Utah, hinges on a Phoenix federal court verdict in the U.S. Department of Justice’s historic lawsuit alleging that a fundamentalist polygamous sect controls local governments and the community's police force. A seven-week trial before U.S. District Court Judge...

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  Colorado City Sued by Justice Department; Child Rapist Warren Jeffs Still Running the Joint

  June 21 at 3:13 p.m.

  Colorado City -- the town on the Utah/Arizona border that child rapist Warren Jeffs used to call home -- is being sued by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division for religious and housing discrimination.The feds say the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and Jeffs are still...

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  Persecution Complex

  October 4 at 4 a.m.

  The recent conviction of Mormon polygamist leader Warren Steed Jeffs on two felony counts of rape as an accomplice is a huge public relations victory for Utah and Arizona authorities who have been under intense pressure to crack down on so-called "spiritual" marriages of underage girls. But it is doubtful...

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  Polygamy in Arizona: The Wages of Sin

  April 10 at 4 a.m.

  Deloy Bateman begins each school day long before dawn. He rousts five of his teenage children from bed at 2 a.m. An hour later, the clan arrives at the Colorado City public school. Soon, a few other kids join the group in Bateman's well-stocked science laboratory. After two hours of...