The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints emerged over the banning of plural marriage by the larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints denomination in 1890.

The separation didn't come about immediately, however. After the 1890 Manifesto against polygamy, many members continued and even entered into additional plural marriages. In 1904, a second Manifesto called for the excommunication of those who entered into polygamous marriages. Others who wished to continue the practice of polygamy began moving to what became known as the Short Creek Community, straddling the border of Utah and Arizona.

In 1935, the LDS Church excommunicated those who refused to sign an oath renouncing polygamy, and it was at that time that John Y. Barlow organized a group of seven high priests into what was known as the Council of Friends, which became the governing body over the Mormon fundamentalists at Short Creek.

During the first years of the movement, there were several schisms, some of which still exist today.

In the 1980s, there were additional separations, largely over leadership issue, creating the Centennial Park Group, also known as The Work of Jesus Christ. Winston Blackmore, the bishop of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada, and potential successor to the larger group, was excommunicated by Warren Jeffs upon the death of Rulon Jeffs in 2002, after which he founded the Church of Jesus Christ (Original Document).

The FLDS Church has been led by a series of men who are regarded as prophets, who members believe have been called to the leadership by God. These have included John Y. Barlow, the FLDS founder. He was followed by Joeseph White Musser, Rulon Allred, Charles Zitting, and Leroy S. Johnson. In 1986, Rulon Jeffs took control. In Jeffs' later years, his son, Warren Jeffs, ruled in his place.

Although Warren Jeffs is serving a sentence of life plus twenty years on charges of child sexual assault, and has other charges pending, he is generally recognized as the leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, as of this writing, in 2018. He has been incarcerated since 2006.

The FLDS Church insists that men and women dress plainly, including clothing that covers most of the body. Women are prohibited from wearing make-up or cutting their hair short. The church sells clothing that has been designated as acceptable.

Children are educated by the community, and there have been claims that boys are excommunicated for the most minor of infractions, a practice attributed to the potential problems resulting from having too many men in a plural marriage society.

In addition to polygamy, the leader of the church assigns brides to husbands in a practice known as placement marriage. When men are excommunicated from the church, their wives are reassigned to others.

The plural marriage doctrine of the FLDS Church goes beyond allowing for men to have more than one wife. FLDS teaching is that the practice of multiple wives is a commandment from God, and necessary in order for a man to attain the highest level of salvation. Women are also expected to be subordinate to their husbands.

The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is the focus of websites listed in this category. Websites whose central topics pertain largely to the FLDS Church are appropriate for this category. These may include denominational websites or those representing associated organizations, corporations, or publishing companies, as well as sites that have been put together for the purpose of criticism of the FLDS Church.

Given there are few, if any, denominational sites for the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, while there has been much criticism of the denomination, in practice, most of the sites listed here may be critical. We would welcome the submission of more positive, or even supportive, sites, as we would prefer to present a more balanced collection of resources on this subject.

Sites whose topics relate to breakaway denominations should be listed directly beneath the Mormonism category, unless there are enough of them to form their own categories, in which case they would be listed there. These may include the Church of Jesus Christ (Original Document), The Work of Jesus Christ, or others not discussed here.

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