AP PHOTOS: Polygamous group’s control over small town wanes

AP Photo/Rick Bowmer

HILDALE, Utah (AP) — Members of a polygamous group that is losing its grip on a remote red rock community straddling the Utah-Arizona border that’s been its home for more than a century say they love their religion and won’t cower no matter what happens.

Government-ordered evictions have forced hundreds of them from their houses in Hildale, home to the Mormon offshoot religion called the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Other government crackdowns have led to a leadership void that’s created uncertainty.

Elections on Tuesday could deal a crushing blow if voters choose candidates for mayor and two city council seats who don’t belong to the FLDS.

Ex-FLDS members consider the changes progress. But group members believe the town they built is being destroyed amid cultural cleansing.