Bored in Vernal wrote:Nomomo,
The Bluffdale group does not teach nor generally practice participation in government welfare. As in all populations, there are certainly a small percentage who are on welfare. The Utah State attorney's office did a study a couple of years ago and concluded that the use of welfare among fundamentalist groups was less than the population as a whole. I become rather annoyed at the accusations in this vein.
As for "lost boys," the AUB are not a tightly closed community. There is a flow of people in and out, and there are female converts and marriages to nonmembers and plenty of monogamous marriages within the group. Thus a surplus of young men looking for marriage partners has not been seen, much less boys who are "forced to leave."
I hope this helps answer some of your misperceptions.
Ah, my source has arrived.
Thanks for coming, BiV. And welcome to MDB.