re: Christian attempts to set up fundamentalist settlements have always failed
Not necessarilly true...
the Amana colonies prospered in New York and later Iowa.
Although they eventually decided to secularize their societies...
They were not really "Communist Communal" societies though, they were more like the Amish in that they were "Communal Capitalist" societies...And even the communal part gave way to more of a "thoecratic coop" form of Capitalism.
Still, they were very successful for a time.