But it wasn't the patch of Americana that it seemed: Corneau and her husband are members of a clannish religious sect that calls itself a "sovereign nation."

The group of a dozen or so adults from three interrelated families rejects most aspects of mainstream society and governmental authority, adhering strictly to what they interpret as the tenets of the Old Testament. They home school their 13 children. The men sport long beards while the women often wear dresses that cover them from neck to toe. And perhaps most significantly, they don't believe in conventional medicine, regarding it as blasphemous. "Only one holds the key to life and death, and that's God Almighty himself," Rebecca's husband, David, was quoted as saying by the Washington Post.

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