Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several groups following different leaders; the majority followed Brigham Young, while smaller groups followed Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Most of these smaller groups eventually merged into the Community of Christ, and the term Mormon typically refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), as today, this branch is far larger than all the others combined. People who identify as Mormons may also be independently religious, secular, and non-practicing or belong to other denominations. Since 2018, the LDS Church has emphasized a desire for its members be referred to as "members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", or more simply as "Latter-day Saints".[a][14]
Mormons have developed a strong sense of community that stems from their doctrine and history. One of the central doctrinal issues that defined Mormonism in the 19th century was the practice of plural marriage, a form of religious polygamy. From 1852 until 1904, when the LDS Church banned the practice, many Mormons who had followed Brigham Young to the Utah Territory openly practiced polygamy. Mormons dedicate significant time and resources to serving in their churches. A prominent practice among young and retired members of the LDS Church is to serve a full-time proselytizingmission. Mormons have a health code that eschews alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and addictive substances. They tend to be very family-oriented and have strong connections across generations and with extended family, reflecting their belief that families can be sealed together beyond death. They also have a strict law of chastity, requiring abstention from sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage and fidelity within marriage.
Mormons self-identify as Christian,[15] but some non-Mormons consider Mormons non-Christian[16][17] because some of their beliefs differ from those of Nicene Christianity. Mormons believe that Christ's church was restored through Joseph Smith and is guided by living prophets and apostles. Mormons believe in the Bible and other books of scripture, such as the Book of Mormon. They have a unique view of cosmology and believe that all people are literal spirit children of God. Mormons believe that returning to God requires following the example of Jesus Christ and accepting his atonement through repentance and ordinances such as baptism.
During the 19th century, Mormon converts tended to gather in a central geographic location, a trend that reversed somewhat in the 1920s and 1930s. The center of Mormon cultural influence is in Utah, and North America has more Mormons than any other continent, although about 60% of Mormons live outside the United States. As of December 31, 2021, the LDS Church reported a membership of 16,805,400.[18]
The terminology preferred by the church itself has varied over time. At various points, the church has embraced the term Mormon and stated that other sects within the shared faith tradition should not be called Mormon.[19]
The word Mormon was initially coined to describe any person who believes in the Book of Mormon as a scripture volume. Mormonite and Mormon were originally descriptive terms used both by outsiders to the faith, church members, and occasionally church leaders.[20][bettersourceneeded] The term Mormon later was sometimes used derogatorily; such use may have developed during the 1838 Mormon War,[21] although church members and leaders "embraced the term", according to church historian Matthew Bowman, and by the end of the 1800s it was broadly used.[22]
The LDS Church has made efforts, including in 1982, in 2001 prior to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, in 2011 after The Book of Mormon appeared on Broadway, and again in 2018, to encourage the use of the church's full name, rather than the terms Mormon or LDS.[14] According to Patrick Mason, chair of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University and Richard Bennett, a professor of church history at Brigham Young University, this is because non-church members have historically been confused about whether it represents a Christian faith, which concerns church leaders, who want to emphasize that the church is a Christian church.[14][22] The term Mormon also causes concern for church leaders because it has been used to include splinter groups such as Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, who practice polygamy, which the LDS Church does not; Mason said "For more than 100 years, the mainstream LDS Church has gone to great pains to distance itself from those who practice polygamy. It doesn't want to have any confusion there between those two groups."[14]
In 2018, the LDS Church published a style guide that encourages the use of the terms "the Church", the "Church of Jesus Christ" or the "restored Church of Jesus Christ" as shortened versions after an initial use of the full name.[23][22][24] According to church historian Bowman, 'the term "restored" refers to the idea that the original Christian religion is obsolete, and Mormons alone are practicing true Christianity.'[22]
The 2018 style guide rejects the term Mormons along with "Mormon Church", "Mormonism", and the abbreviation LDS.[22] The second-largest sect, the Community of Christ, also rejects the term Mormon due to its association with the practice of polygamy among Brighamite sects.[25] Other sects, including several fundamentalist branches of the Brighamite tradition, embrace the term Mormon.
The history of the Mormons has shaped them into a people with a strong sense of unity and commonality.[26] From the start, Mormons have tried to establish what they call "Zion", a utopian society of the righteous.[27] Mormon history can be divided into three broad periods: (1) the early history during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, (2) a "pioneer era" under the leadership of Brigham Young and his successors, and (3) a modern era beginning around the turn of the 20th century. In the first period, Smith attempted to build a city called Zion, where converts could gather. Zion became a "landscape of villages" in Utah during the pioneer era. In modern times, Zion is still an ideal, though Mormons gather together in their individual congregations rather than in a central geographic location.[28]
The Mormon movement began with the publishing of the Book of Mormon in March 1830, which Smith claimed was a translation of golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient American civilization that the ancient prophet-historian Mormon had compiled. Smith stated that an angel had directed him to the golden plates buried in the Hill Cumorah.[29] On April 6, 1830, Smith founded the Church of Christ.[30] In 1832, Smith added an account of a vision he had sometime in the early 1820s while living in Upstate New York.[31] Some Mormons regarded this vision as the most important event in human history after the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.[32]
The early church grew westward as Smith sent missionaries to proselytize.[33] In 1831, the church moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where missionaries had made a large number of converts[34] and Smith began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri,[35] where he planned to eventually build the city of Zion (or the New Jerusalem).[36] In 1833, Missouri settlers, alarmed by the rapid influx of Mormons, expelled them from Jackson County into the nearby Clay County, where local residents were more welcoming.[37] After Smith led a mission, known as Zion's Camp, to recover the land,[38] he began building Kirtland Temple in Lake County, Ohio, where the church flourished.[39] When the Missouri Mormons were later asked to leave Clay County in 1836, they secured land in what would become Caldwell County.[40]
The Kirtland era ended in 1838 after the failure of a church-sponsored anti-bank caused widespread defections,[41] and Smith regrouped with the remaining church in Far West, Missouri.[42] During the fall of 1838, tensions escalated into the Mormon War with the old Missouri settlers.[43] On October 27, the governor of Missouri ordered that the Mormons "must be treated as enemies" and be exterminated or driven from the state.[44] Between November and April, some eight thousand displaced Mormons migrated east into Illinois.[45]
Joseph Smith preaching to the Sac and Fox Indians who visited Nauvoo on August 12, 1841
In 1839, the Mormons purchased the small town of Commerce, converted swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River, renamed the area Nauvoo, Illinois,[46] and began constructing the Nauvoo Temple. The city became the church's new headquarters and gathering place, and it grew rapidly, fueled in part by converts immigrating from Europe.[47] Meanwhile, Smith introduced temple ceremonies meant to seal families together for eternity, as well as the doctrines of eternal progression or exaltation[48] and plural marriage.[49] Smith created a service organization for women called the Relief Society and the Council of Fifty, representing a future theodemocratic "Kingdom of God" on the earth.[50] Smith also published the story of his First Vision, in which the Father and the Son appeared to him when he was about 14 years old.[51] This vision would come to be regarded by some Mormons as the most important event in human history after the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.[32]
In 1844, local prejudices and political tensions, fueled by Mormon peculiarity, internal dissent, and reports of polygamy, escalated into conflicts between Mormons and "anti-Mormons" in Illinois and Missouri.[52] Smith was arrested, and on June 27, 1844, he and his brother Hyrum were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois.[53] Because Hyrum was Smith's logical successor,[54] their deaths caused a succession crisis,[55] and Brigham Young assumed leadership over most Latter Day Saints.[56] Young had been a close associate of Smith's and was the senior apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve.[57] Smaller groups of Latter-Day Saints followed other leaders to form other denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement.[58]
For two years after Joseph Smith's death, conflicts escalated between Mormons and other Illinois residents. To prevent war, Brigham Young led the Mormon pioneers (constituting most of the Latter Day Saints) to a temporary winter quarters in Nebraska and then, eventually (beginning in 1847), to what became the Utah Territory.[59] Having failed to build Zion within the confines of American society, the Mormons began to construct a society in isolation based on their beliefs and values.[60] The cooperative ethic that Mormons had developed over the last decade and a half became important as settlers branched out and colonized a large desert region now known as the Mormon Corridor.[61] Colonizing efforts were seen as religious duties, and the new villages were governed by the Mormon bishops (local lay religious leaders).[62] The Mormons viewed land as a commonwealth, devising and maintaining a cooperative system of irrigation that allowed them to build a farming community in the desert.[63]
From 1849 to 1852, the Mormons greatly expanded their missionary efforts, establishing several missions in Europe, Latin America, and the South Pacific.[64] Converts were expected to "gather" to Zion, and during Young's presidency (1847–77), over seventy thousand Mormon converts immigrated to America.[64] Many of the converts came from England and Scandinavia and were quickly assimilated into the Mormon community.[65] Many of these immigrants crossed the Great Plains in wagons drawn by oxen, while some later groups pulled their possessions in small handcarts. During the 1860s, newcomers began using the new railroad that was under construction.[66]
In 1852, church leaders publicized the previously secret practice of plural marriage, a form of polygamy.[67] Over the next 50 years, many Mormons (between 20 and 30 percent of Mormon families)[68] entered into plural marriages as a religious duty, with the number of plural marriages reaching a peak around 1860 and then declining through the rest of the century.[69] Besides the doctrinal reasons for plural marriage, the practice made some economic sense, as many of the plural wives were single women who arrived in Utah without brothers or fathers to offer them societal support.[70]
Mormon pioneers crossing the Mississippi on the ice
By 1857, tensions had again escalated between Mormons and other Americans, primarily due to accusations involving polygamy and the theocratic rule of the Utah Territory by Brigham Young.[71] In 1857, U.S. President James Buchanan sent an army to Utah, which Mormons interpreted as open aggression against them. Fearing a repeat of Missouri and Illinois, the Mormons prepared to defend themselves, determined to torch their own homes if they were invaded.[72] The relatively peaceful Utah War ensued from 1857 to 1858, in which the most notable instance of violence was the Mountain Meadows massacre when leaders of a local Mormon militia ordered the killing of a civilian emigrant party that was traveling through Utah during the escalating tensions.[73] In 1858, Young agreed to step down from his position as governor and was replaced by a non-Mormon, Alfred Cumming.[74] Nevertheless, the LDS Church still wielded significant political power in the Utah Territory.[75]
At Young's death in 1877, he was followed by other LDS Church presidents, who resisted efforts by the United States Congress to outlaw Mormon polygamous marriages.[76] In 1878, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. United States that religious duty was not a suitable defense for practicing polygamy. Many Mormon polygamists went into hiding; later, Congress began seizing church assets.[76] In September 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially suspended the practice of polygamy.[77] Although this Manifesto did not dissolve existing plural marriages, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state in 1896. After the Manifesto, some Mormons continued to enter into polygamous marriages, but these eventually stopped in 1904 when church president Joseph F. Smithdisavowed polygamy before Congress and issued a "Second Manifesto" calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease. Eventually, the church adopted a policy of excommunicating members found practicing polygamy, and today actively seeks to distance itself from "fundamentalist" groups that continue the practice.[78]
During the early 20th century, Mormons began reintegrating into the American mainstream. In 1929, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir began broadcasting a weekly performance on national radio, becoming an asset for public relations.[79] Mormons emphasized patriotism and industry, rising in socioeconomic status from the bottom among American religious denominations to the middle class.[80] In the 1920s and 1930s, Mormons began migrating out of Utah, a trend hurried by the Great Depression, as Mormons looked for work wherever they could find it.[81] As Mormons spread out, church leaders created programs to help preserve the tight-knit community feel of Mormon culture.[82] In addition to weekly worship services, Mormons began participating in numerous programs such as Boy Scouting, a Young Women organization, church-sponsored dances, ward basketball, camping trips, plays, and religious education programs for youth and college students.[83] During the Great Depression, the church started a welfare program to meet the needs of poor members, which has since grown to include a humanitarian branch that provides relief to disaster victims.[84]
During the later half of the 20th century, there was a retrenchment movement in Mormonism in which Mormons became more conservative, attempting to regain their status as a "peculiar people".[85] Though the 1960s and 1970s brought changes such as Women's Liberation and the civil rights movement, Mormon leaders were alarmed by the erosion of traditional values, the sexual revolution, the widespread use of recreational drugs, moral relativism, and other forces they saw as damaging to the family.[86] Partly to counter this, Mormons put an even greater emphasis on family life, religious education, and missionary work, becoming more conservative in the process. As a result, Mormons today are probably less integrated with mainstream society than they were in the early 1960s.[87]
Although black people have been members of Mormon congregations since Joseph Smith's time, before 1978, black membership was small. From 1852 to 1978, the LDS Church enforced a policy restricting men of black African descent from being ordained to the church's lay priesthood.[88] The church was sharply criticized for its policy during the civil rights movement, but the policy remained in force until a 1978 reversal that was prompted in part by questions about mixed-race converts in Brazil.[89] In general, Mormons greeted the change with joy and relief.[89] Since 1978, black membership has grown, and in 1997 there were approximately 500,000 black church members (about 5 percent of the total membership), mostly in Africa, Brazil, and the Caribbean.[90] Black membership has continued to grow substantially, especially in West Africa, where two temples have been built.[91] Some black Mormons are members of the Genesis Group, an organization of black members that predates the priesthood ban and is endorsed by the church.[92]
Global distribution of LDS Church members in 2009
The LDS Church grew rapidly after World War II and became a worldwide organization as missionaries were sent across the globe. The church doubled in size every 15 to 20 years,[93] and by 1996, there were more Mormons outside the United States than inside.[94] In 2012, there were an estimated 14.8million Mormons,[95] with roughly 57 percent living outside the United States.[96] It is estimated that approximately 4.5million Mormons – approximately 30% of the total membership – regularly attend services.[97] A majority of U.S. Mormons are white and non-Hispanic (84 percent).[98] Most Mormons are distributed in North and South America, the South Pacific, and Western Europe. The global distribution of Mormons resembles a contact diffusion model, radiating out from the organization's headquarters in Utah.[99] The church enforces general doctrinal uniformity, congregations on all continents teach the same doctrines, and international Mormons tend to absorb a good deal of Mormon culture, possibly because of the church's top-down hierarchy and missionary presence. However, international Mormons often bring pieces of their own heritage into the church, adapting church practices to local cultures.[100]
As of December 2019, the LDS Church reported having 16,565,036 members worldwide.[101]Chile, Uruguay, and several areas in the South Pacific have a higher percentage of Mormons than the United States (which is at about 2 percent).[102] South Pacific countries and dependencies that are more than 10 percent Mormon include American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa, and Tonga.
Isolation in Utah had allowed Mormons to create a culture of their own.[103] As the faith spread worldwide, many of its more distinctive practices followed. Mormon converts are urged to undergo lifestyle changes, repent of sins, and adopt sometimes atypical standards of conduct.[103] Practices common to Mormons include studying scriptures, praying daily, fasting regularly, attending Sunday worship services, participating in church programs and activities on weekdays, and refraining from work on Sundays when possible. The most important part of the church services is considered to be the Lord's Supper (commonly called sacrament), in which church members renew covenants made at baptism.[104] Mormons also emphasize standards they believe were taught by Jesus Christ, including personal honesty, integrity, obedience to the law, chastity outside marriage, and fidelity within marriage.[105]
In 2010, around 13–14 percent of Mormons lived in Utah, the center of cultural influence for Mormonism.[106]Utah Mormons (as well as Mormons living in the Intermountain West) are on average more culturally and politically conservative than those living in some cosmopolitan centers elsewhere in the U.S.[107] Utahns self-identifying as Mormon also attend church somewhat more on average than Mormons living in other states. (Nonetheless, whether they live in Utah or elsewhere in the U.S., Mormons tend to be more culturally and politically conservative than members of other U.S. religious groups.)[108] Utah Mormons often emphasize pioneer heritage more than international Mormons, who generally are not descendants of the Mormon pioneers.[100]
A Mormon meetinghouse used for Sunday worship services in Brazil
Mormons have a strong sense of communality that stems from their doctrine and history.[109] LDS Church members have a responsibility to dedicate their time and talents to helping the poor and building the church. The church is divided by locality into congregations called "wards", with several wards or branches to create a "stake".[110] Most church leadership positions are lay positions, and church leaders may work 10 to 15 hours a week in unpaid church service.[111] Observant Mormons also contribute 10 percent of their income to the church as tithing.[112] Paying tithing is one of the prerequisites for entrance into Mormon temples. Many LDS young men, women, and elderly couples choose to serve a proselytizingmission, during which they dedicate all of their time to the church without pay.[113] Members are often involved in humanitarian efforts.
Mormons adhere to the Word of Wisdom, a health law or code that is interpreted as prohibiting the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, coffee and tea,[114] while encouraging the use of herbs, grains, fruits, and a moderate consumption of meat.[115] The Word of Wisdom is also understood to forbid other harmful and addictive substances and practices, such as the use of illegal drugs and abuse of prescription drugs.[116] Mormons are encouraged to keep a year's supplies, including food and financial reserves.[117] Mormons also oppose behaviors such as viewing pornography and gambling.[105]
The concept of a united family that lives and progresses forever is at the core of Latter-day Saint doctrine, and Mormons place a high importance on family life.[118] Many Mormons hold weekly Family Home Evenings, in which an evening is set aside for family bonding, study, prayer, and other activities they consider to be wholesome. Latter-day Saint fathers who hold the priesthood typically name and bless their children shortly after birth to formally give the child a name. Mormon parents hope and pray that their children will gain testimonies of the "gospel"[vague] so they can grow up and marry in temples.[119]
Mormons have a strict law of chastity, requiring abstention from sexual relations outside opposite-sex marriage and strict fidelity within marriage. All sexual activity (heterosexual and homosexual) outside marriage is considered a grave sin, with marriage recognized as only between a man and a woman.[120]Same-sex marriages are not performed or supported by the LDS Church. Church members are encouraged to marry and have children, and Latter-day Saint families tend to be larger than average. Mormons are opposed to abortion, except in some exceptional circumstances, such as when pregnancy is the result of incest or rape or when the life or health of the mother is in serious jeopardy.[121] Many practicing adult Mormons wear religious undergarments that remind them of covenants and encourage them to dress modestly. Latter-day Saints are counseled not to partake in any form of media that is obscene or pornographic in any way, including media that depicts graphic representations of sex or violence. Tattoos and body piercings are generally discouraged.[122]
LGBT Mormons remain in good standing in the church if they abstain from homosexual relations and obey the law of chastity.[123] While there are no official numbers, LDS Family Services estimates that, on average, four or five members per LDS ward experience same-sex attraction.[124] Gary Watts, former president of Family Fellowship, estimates that only 10 percent of homosexuals stay in the church.[125] Many of these individuals have come forward through different support groups or websites discussing their homosexual attractions and concurrent church membership.[126][127][128]
Note that the categories below are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
Latter-day Saints ("LDS")
Members of the LDS Church, also known as Latter-day Saints, constitute over 95 percent of Mormons.[129] The beliefs and practices of LDS Mormons are generally guided by the teachings of LDS Church leaders. However, several smaller groups substantially differ from "mainstream" Mormonism in various ways.
LDS Church members who do not actively participate in worship services or church callings are often called "less-active" or "inactive" (akin to the qualifying expressions non-observant or non-practicing used in relation to members of other religious groups).[130] The LDS Church does not release statistics on church activity, but it is likely that about 40 percent of Mormons in the United States and 30 percent worldwide regularly attend worship services.[131] Reasons for inactivity can include rejection of the fundamental beliefs, history of the church, lifestyle incongruities with doctrinal teachings or problems with social integration.[132] Activity rates tend to vary with age, and disengagement occurs most frequently between age 16 and 25. In 1998, the church reported that most less active members returned to church activity later in life.[133] As of 2017, the LDS Church was losing millennial-age members,[134] a phenomenon not unique to the LDS Church.[135] Former Latter-day Saints who seek to disassociate themselves from the religion are often referred to as ex-Mormons.
Fundamentalist Mormons
Members of sects that broke with the LDS Church over the issue of polygamy have become known as fundamentalist Mormons; these groups differ from mainstream Mormonism primarily in their belief in and practice of plural marriage. There are thought to be between 20,000 and 60,000 members of fundamentalist sects (0.1–0.4 percent of Mormons), with roughly half of them practicing polygamy.[136] There are many fundamentalist sects, the largest two being the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS Church) and the Apostolic United Brethren (AUB). In addition to plural marriage, some of these groups also practice a form of Christian communalism known as the law of consecration or the United Order. The LDS Church seeks to distance itself from all such polygamous groups, excommunicating their members if discovered practicing or teaching it,[137] and today, a majority of Mormon fundamentalists have never been members of the LDS Church.[138]
Liberal Mormons
Liberal Mormons, also known as Progressive Mormons, take an interpretive approach to LDS teachings and scripture.[130] They look to the scriptures for spiritual guidance, but may not necessarily believe the teachings to be literally or uniquely true. For liberal Mormons, revelation is a process through which God gradually brings fallible human beings to greater understanding.[139] A person in this group is sometimes mistakenly regarded by others within the mainstream church as a Jack Mormon, although this term is more commonly used to describe a different group with distinct motives to live the gospel in a non-traditional manner.[140] Liberal Mormons place doing good and loving fellow human beings above the importance of believing correctly.[141] In a separate context, members of small progressive breakaway groups have also adopted the label.
Cultural Mormons
Cultural Mormons are individuals who may not believe in certain doctrines or practices of the institutional LDS Church yet identify as members of the Mormon ethnic identity.[142][130][143] Usually, this is a result of having been raised in the LDS faith or having converted and spent a large portion of one's life as an active member of the LDS Church.[144] Cultural Mormons may or may not be actively involved with the LDS Church. In some cases, they may not be members of the LDS Church.
Mormons have a scriptural canon consisting of the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), the Book of Mormon, and a collection of revelations and writings by Joseph Smith known as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. Mormons, however, have a relatively open definition of scripture. As a general rule, anything spoken or written by a prophet, while under inspiration, is considered to be the word of God.[145] Thus, the Bible, written by prophets and apostles, is the word of God, so far as it is translated correctly. The Book of Mormon is also believed to have been written by ancient prophets and is viewed as a companion to the Bible. By this definition, the teachings of Smith's successors are also accepted as scripture, though they are always measured against and draw heavily from the scriptural canon.[146]
Mormons see Jesus Christ as the premier figure of their religion.
Mormons believe in "a friendly universe" governed by a God whose aim is to bring his children to immortality and eternal life.[148] Mormons have a unique perspective on the nature of God, the origin of man, and the purpose of life. For instance, Mormons believe in a pre-mortal existence where people were literal spirit children of God[149] and that God presented a plan of salvation that would allow his children to progress and become more like him. The plan involved the spirits receiving bodies on earth and going through trials in order to learn, progress, and receive a "fullness of joy".[149] The most important part of the plan involved Jesus, the eldest of God's children, coming to earth as the literal Son of God to conquer sin and death so that God's other children could return. According to Mormons, every person who lives on earth will be resurrected, and nearly all of them will be received into various kingdoms of glory.[150] To be accepted into the highest kingdom, a person must fully accept Christ through faith, repentance, and through ordinances such as baptism and the laying on of hands.[151]
According to Mormons, a deviation from the original principles of Christianity, referred to by them as The Great Apostasy, occurred after the ascension of Jesus Christ,[152] marked by the corruption of Christian doctrine by Greek and other philosophies,[153][154] Mormons claim the martyrdom of the apostles[155] led to a loss of priesthood authority to administer the church and its ordinances.[156] Mormons believe that God restored the early Christian church through Joseph Smith. In particular, Mormons believe that angels such as Peter, James, John, John the Baptist, Moses, and Elijah appeared to Smith and others and bestowed various priesthood authorities on them. Mormons believe that their church is the "only true and living church" because of the divine authority restored through Smith. Mormons self-identify as being Christian,[157] while many Christians, particularly evangelical Protestants, disagree with this view.[158] Mormons view other religions as having portions of the truth, doing good works, and having genuine value.[159]
The LDS Church has a top-down hierarchical structure with a president–prophet dictating revelations for the entire church. Lay Mormons are also believed to have access to inspiration and are encouraged to seek their own personal revelations.[160] Mormons see Joseph Smith's First Vision as proof that the heavens are open and that God answers prayers. They place considerable emphasis on "asking God" to find out if something is true. Most Mormons do not claim to have had heavenly visions like Smith's in response to prayers but feel that God talks to them in their hearts and minds through the Holy Ghost. Though Mormons have some beliefs that are considered strange in a modernized world, they continue to hold onto their beliefs because they feel God has spoken to them.[161]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is the largest Latter Day Saint denomination. Founded by Joseph Smith during the Second Great Awakening, the church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, as of 2023, it has over 17.2 million members of which over 6.8 million live in the U.S. The church also reports over 99,000 volunteer missionaries and 350 temples.
The history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has three main periods, described generally as:
the early history during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, which is in common with most Latter Day Saint movement churches;
the "pioneer era" under the leadership of Brigham Young and his 19th-century successors;
the modern era beginning in the early 20th century as the practice of polygamy was discontinued and many members sought reintegration into U.S. society.
The word Mormon most colloquially denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism in restorationist Christianity. Mormon also commonly refers, specifically, to a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is often colloquially, but imprecisely, referred to as the Mormon Church. In addition, the term Mormon may refer to any of the relatively small sects of Mormon fundamentalism, and any branch of the Latter Day Saint movement that recognizes Brigham Young as the successor to founder Joseph Smith. The term Mormon applies to the religion of Mormonism, as well as its culture, texts, and art.
Mormonism is the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement of Restorationist Christianity started by Joseph Smith in Western New York in the 1820s and 1830s. As a label, Mormonism has been applied to various aspects of the Latter Day Saint movement, although since 2018 there has been a push from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to distance itself from this label. One historian, Sydney E. Ahlstrom, wrote in 1982 that, depending on the context, the term Mormonism could refer to "a sect, a mystery cult, a new religion, a church, a people, a nation, or an American subculture; indeed, at different times and places it is all of these."
Polygamy was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for more than half of the 19th century, and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families.
The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.
Emma Hale Smith Bidamon was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and a prominent member of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints as well as the first wife of Joseph Smith, the movement's founder. In 1842, when the Ladies' Relief Society of Nauvoo was formed as a women's service organization, she was elected by its members as the organization's first president.
Mormon fundamentalism is a belief in the validity of selected fundamental aspects of Mormonism as taught and practiced in the nineteenth century, particularly during the administrations of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and John Taylor, the first three presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mormon fundamentalists seek to uphold tenets and practices no longer held by mainstream Mormons. The principle most often associated with Mormon fundamentalism is plural marriage, a form of polygyny first taught in the Latter Day Saint movement by the movement's founder, Smith. A second and closely associated principle is that of the United Order, a form of egalitarian communalism. Mormon fundamentalists believe that these and other principles were wrongly abandoned or changed by the LDS Church in its efforts to become reconciled with mainstream American society. Today, the LDS Church excommunicates any of its members who practice plural marriage or who otherwise closely associate themselves with Mormon fundamentalist practices.
The 1890 Manifesto is a statement which officially advised against any future plural marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Issued by Church President Wilford Woodruff in September 1890, the Manifesto was a response to mounting anti-polygamy pressure from the United States Congress, which by 1890 had disincorporated the church, escheated its assets to the U.S. federal government, and imprisoned many prominent polygamist Mormons. Upon its issuance, the LDS Church in conference accepted Woodruff's Manifesto as "authoritative and binding."
Polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or plural marriage, is generally believed to have originated with the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. According to several of his associates, Smith taught that polygamy was a divine commandment and practiced it personally, by some accounts marrying more than 30 women, some of whom had existing marriages to other men. Evidence for Smith's polygamy is provided by the church's "sealing" records, affidavits, letters, journals, and diaries. However, until his death, Smith and the leading church quorums denied that he preached or practiced polygamy. Smith's son Joseph Smith III, his widow Emma Smith, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints challenged the evidence and taught that Joseph Smith had opposed polygamy. They instead claimed that Brigham Young, the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, introduced plural marriage after Smith's death. In 1852, leaders of the Utah-based LDS Church publicly announced the doctrine of polygamy.
The Mormon colonies in Mexico are settlements located near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico which were established by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints beginning in 1885. The colonists came to Mexico due to federal attempts to curb and prosecute polygamy in the United States. Plural marriage, as polygamous relationships were called by church members, was an important tenet of the church—although it was never practiced by a majority of the membership.
The "Second Manifesto" was a 1904 declaration made by Joseph F. Smith, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which Smith stated the church was no longer sanctioning marriages that violated the laws of the land and set down the principle that those entering into or solemnizing polygamous marriages would be excommunicated from the church.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been subject to criticism and sometimes discrimination since its inception.
Possibly as early as the 1830s, followers of the Latter Day Saint movement, were practicing the doctrine of polygamy or "plural marriage". After the death of church founder Joseph Smith, the doctrine was officially announced in Utah Territory in 1852 by Mormon leader Brigham Young. The practice was attributed posthumously to Smith and it began among Mormons at large, principally in Utah where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had relocated after the Illinois Mormon War.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, privately taught and practiced polygamy. After Smith's death in 1844, the church he established splintered into several competing groups. Disagreement over Smith's doctrine of "plural marriage" has been among the primary reasons for multiple church schisms.
In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, marriage between a man and a woman is considered to be "ordained of God". Marriage is thought to consist of a covenant between the man, the woman, and God. The church teaches that in addition to civil marriage, which ends at death, a man and woman can enter into a celestial marriage, performed in a temple by priesthood authority, whereby the marriage and parent–child relationships resulting from the marriage will last forever in the afterlife.
The Council of Friends was one of the original expressions of Mormon fundamentalism, having its origins in the teachings of Lorin C. Woolley, a courier and bodyguard for polygamous leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who was excommunicated in 1924.
↑ The LDS Church has taken the position that the term Mormon should only apply to the LDS Church and its members, and not other adherents who have adopted the term. (See: "Style Guide – The Name of the Church". LDS Newsroom. April 9, 2010. Archived from the original on June 13, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2011.) The Church cites the AP Stylebook, which states, "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other Latter Day Saints churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith's death." ("Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The", Associated Press, The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, 2002, ISBN0-7382-0740-3, p.48) Despite the LDS Church's position, the term Mormon is widely used by journalists and non-journalists to refer to adherents of Mormon fundamentalism.
↑ On August 18, 2018, church president Russell M. Nelson asked followers and non-followers to characterize the denomination with the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" instead of "Mormons", "Mormonism" or the shorthand of "LDS". "Latter Day Saints church leader rejects 'Mormon' label". BBC News. August 18, 2018. Archived from the original on August 19, 2018. Retrieved August 19, 2018.
↑ A Mormon scripture describing the ancient city of Enoch became a model for the Saints. Enoch's city was a Zion "because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there were no poor among them" Bushman (2008, pp.36–38); (Book of Moses 7:18).
↑ "In Missouri and Illinois, Zion had been a city; in Utah, it was a landscape of villages; in the urban diaspora, it was the ward with its extensive programs." Bushman (2008, p.107).
↑ Scholars and eye-witnesses disagree as to whether the church was organized in Manchester, New York at the Smith log home, or in Fayette at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr.Bushman (2005, p.109); Marquardt (2005, pp.223–23) (arguing that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements).
↑ Smith said in 1831 that God intended the Mormons to "retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland, for the space of five years." (Doctrine and Covenants 64:21); Bushman (2005, p.122).
↑ Bushman (2005, pp.222–27); Brodie (1971, p.137) (noting that the brutality of the Jackson Countians aroused sympathy for the Mormons and was almost universally deplored by the media); O'Dea (1957, pp.43–45) (The Mormons were forced out in a November gale, and were taken in by Clay County residents, who earned from non-Mormons the derogative title of "Jack Mormons").
↑ Brodie (1971, p.101); Arrington (1992, p.21) (by summer of 1835, there were 1500 to 2000 Saints in Kirtland); Desert Morning News 2008 Church Almanac p. 655 (from 1831 to 1838, church membership grew from 680 to 17,881); (Bushman 2005, pp.310–19) (The Kirtland Temple was viewed as the site of a new Pentecost); (Brodie 1971, p.178). Smith also published several new revelations during the Kirtland era.
↑ O'Dea (1957, p.45) (In December 1836, the Missouri legislature granted the Mormons the right to organize Caldwell County).
↑ Bushman (2005, pp.328–38); Brooke (1994, p.221) ("Ultimately, the rituals and visions dedicating the Kirtland temple were not sufficient to hold the church together in the face of a mounting series of internal disputes.")
↑ Roberts (1905, p.24) (referring to the Far West church as the "church in Zion"); (Bushman 2005, p.345) (The revelation calling Far West "Zion" had the effect of "implying that Far West was to take the place of Independence.")
↑ (Bushman 2005, p.367) (Boggs' executive order stated that the Mormon community had "made war upon the people of this State" and that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace"). (Bushman 2005, p.398) (In 1976, Missouri issued a formal apology for this order) O'Dea (1957, p.47).
↑ O'Dea (1957, p.47) ("the Saints, after being ravaged by troops, robbed by neighbors, and insulted by public officials from February to April, crossed over into Illinois").
↑ Widmer (2000, p.119) (Smith taught that faithful Mormons may progress until they become co-equal with God); Roberts (1909, pp.502–03); Bushman (2005, pp.497–98) (the second anointing provided a guarantee that participants would be exalted even if they sinned).
↑ Initially, Smith introduced plural marriage only to his closest associates.Brodie (1971, pp.334–36); Bushman (2005, pp.437, 644) The practice was acknowledged publicly in 1852 by Brigham Young.
↑ Shipps (1985, p.30) The first extant account of the First Vision is the manuscript account in Joseph Smith, "Manuscript History of the Church" (1839); the first published account is Orson Pratt, An Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions and of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records (Edinburgh: Ballantyne and Hughes, 1840); and the first American publication is Smith's letter to John Wentworth in Times and Seasons, 3 (March 1842), 706–08. (These accounts are available in Vogel, Dan, ed. (1996). Early Mormon Documents. Vol.1. Salt Lake City: Signature Books. ISBN978-1-56085-072-4..) As the LDS historian Richard Bushman wrote in his biography of Smith, "At first, Joseph was reluctant to talk about his vision. Most early converts probably never heard about the 1820 vision." Bushman (2005, p.39).
↑ Encyclopedia of Latter-Day Saint History, p. 824; Brodie (1971, pp.393–94); Bushman (2005, pp.539–50); Many local Illinoisans were uneasy with Mormon power, and their unease was fanned by the local media after Smith suppressed a newspaper containing an exposé regarding plural marriage, theocracy, and other sensitive and oft misinterpreted issues. The suppression resulted in Smith being arrested, tried, and acquitted for "inciting a riot". On June 25, Smith let himself be arrested and tried for the riot charges again, this time in Carthage, the county seat, where he was incarcerated without bail on a new charge of treason. Bentley, Joseph I. (1992), "Smith, Joseph: Legal Trials of Joseph Smith", in Ludlow, Daniel H (ed.), Encyclopedia of Mormonism, New York: Macmillan Publishing, pp.1346–1348, ISBN978-0-02-879602-4, OCLC24502140, archived from the original on November 15, 2014, retrieved July 10, 2014.
↑ Brigham Young later said of Hyrum, "Did Joseph Smith ordain any man to take his place. He did. Who was it? It was Hyrum, but Hyrum fell a martyr before Joseph did. If Hyrum had lived he would have acted for Joseph." Times and Seasons, 5 [October 15, 1844]: 683.
↑ Smith's position as President of the Church was originally left vacant, based on the sentiment that nobody could succeed Smith's office. Years later, the church established the principle that Young, and any other senior apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve, would be ordained President of the Church as a matter of course upon the death of the former President, subject to unanimous agreement of the Quorum of the Twelve.
↑ In 2004, the State of Illinois recognized the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints as the "largest forced migration in American history" and stated in the adopted resolution that, "WHEREAS, The biases and prejudices of a less enlightened age in the history of the State of Illinois caused unmeasurable hardship and trauma for the community of Latter-day Saints by the distrust, violence, and inhospitable actions of a dark time in our past; therefore, be it RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we acknowledge the disparity of those past actions and suspicions, regretting the expulsion of the community of Latter-day Saints, a people of faith and hard work." Illinois General Assembly (April 1, 2004). "Official House Resolution HR0793 (LRB093 21726 KEF 49525 r)". Archived from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved April 4, 2011.; "The great Mormon migration of 1846–1847 was but one step in the Mormons' quest for religious freedom and growth." "Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail: History & Culture", NPS.gov, National Park Service, archived from the original on December 8, 2014, retrieved July 9, 2014.
↑ O'Dea (1957, p.86) ("Having failed to build Zion within the confines of American society, the Latter-day Saints found in the Great Basin the isolation that would enable them to establish a distinctive community based upon their own beliefs and values").
↑ O'Dea (1957, p.84) (From 1847 to 1857 ninety-five Mormon communities were established, most of them clustering around Salt Lake City); Hunter, Milton (June 1939). "The Mormon Corridor". Pacific Historical Review. 8 (2): 179–200. doi:10.2307/3633392. JSTOR3633392..
↑ Bushman (2008, p.88) (Plural marriage originated in a revelation that Joseph Smith apparently received in 1831 and wrote down in 1843. It was first publicly announced in a general conference in 1852); Embry, Jessie L. (1994), "Polygamy", in Powell, Allan Kent (ed.), Utah History Encyclopedia, Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, ISBN978-0-87480-425-6, OCLC30473917, archived from the original on April 17, 2017, retrieved October 31, 2013 The Mormon doctrine of plural wives was officially announced by one of the Twelve Apostles, Orson Pratt, and Young in a special conference of the elders of the LDS Church assembled in the Mormon Tabernacle on August 28, 1852, and reprinted in an extra edition of the Deseret News"Minutes of conference: a special conference of the elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assembled in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, August 28, 1852, 10 o'clock, a.m., pursuant to public notice". Deseret News Extra. September 14, 1852. p.14.. See also The 1850s: Official sanction in the LDS Church
↑ Bushman (2008, p.88) (If asked why they entered these relationships, both plural wives and husbands emphasized spiritual blessings of being sealed eternally and of submitting to God's will. According to the federal censuses, the highest percentage of the population in polygamous families was in 1860 (43.6 percent) and it declined to 25 percent in 1880 and to 7 percent in 1890).
↑ Bushman (2008, p.88) ("The close study of the marriages in one nineteenth-century Utah community revealed that a disproportionate number of plural wives were women who arrived in Utah without fathers or brothers to care for them...Since better-off men more frequently married plurally, the practice distributed wealth to the poor and disconnected").
↑ Bushman (2008, pp.96–97) (calling the Mountain Meadows massacre the greatest tragedy in Mormon history).
↑ To combat the notion that rank-and-file Mormons were unhappy under Young's leadership, Cumming noted that he had offered to help any to leave the territory if they desired. Of the 50,000 inhabitants of the state of Utah, the underwhelming response—56 men, 33 women, and 71 children, most of whom stated they left for economic reasons—impressed Cumming, as did the fact that Mormon leaders contributed supplies to the emigrants. Cumming to [Secretary of State Lewis Cass], written by Thomas Kane, May 2, 1858, BYU Special Collections.
↑ "Style Guide – The Name of the Church: Topics and Background", MormonNewsroom.org, LDS Church, April 9, 2010, archived from the original on June 13, 2019, retrieved July 9, 2014, When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, it should be stated that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not affiliated with polygamous groups.. The church repudiates polygamist groups and excommunicates their members if discovered: Bushman (2008, p.91); Mormons seek distance from polygamous sects, NBCNews.com, June 26, 2008, archived from the original on October 21, 2014, retrieved July 10, 2014{{citation}}: Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help).
↑ Mauss (1994, p.22). "With the consistent encouragement of church leaders, Mormons became models of patriotic, law-abiding citizenship, sometimes seeming to "out-American" all other Americans. Their participation in the full spectrum of national, social, political, economic, and cultural life has been thorough and sincere".
↑ The term peculiar people is consciously borrowed from 1 Peter 2:9, and can be interpreted as "special" or "different", though Mormons have certainly been viewed as "peculiar" in the modern sense as well. Mauss (1994, p.60).
↑ "Developments mitigating traditional racial, ethnic, and gender inequality and bigotry were regarded in hindsight by most Americans (and most Mormons) as desirable .... On the other hand, Mormons (and many others) have watched with increasing alarm the spread throughout society of 'liberating' innovations such as the normalization of non-marital sexual behavior, the rise in abortion, illegitimacy, divorce, and child neglect or abuse, recreational drugs, crime, etc." Mauss (1994, p.124).
↑ "[T]he church appears to have arrested, if not reversed, the erosion of distinctive Mormon ways that might have been anticipated in the 60s." Mauss (1994, p.140). "However, in partial contradiction to their public image, Mormons stand mostly on the liberal side of the continuum on certain other social and political issues, notably on civil rights, and even on women's rights, except where these seem to conflict with child-rearing roles." Mauss (1994, p.156).
↑ Mauss, Armand L. (2003). All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage. University of Illinois Press. pp.213–215. ISBN978-0-252-02803-8.; Bushman (2008, pp.111–12) ("The origins of this policy are not altogether clear. "Passages in Joseph Smith's translations indicate that a lineage associated with Ham and the Egyptian pharaohs was forbidden the priesthood. Connecting the ancient pharaohs with modern Africans and African Americans required a speculative leap, but by the time of Brigham Young, the leap was made.")
↑ "1999–2000 Church Almanac". Adherents.com: 119. 1998. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2011.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) "A rough estimate would place the number of Church members with African roots at year-end 1997 at half a million, with about 100,000 each in Africa and the Caribbean, and another 300,000 in Brazil."
↑ In 2011, approximately 6.2million of the church's 14.4million members lived in the U.S. "Facts and Statistics: United States". LDS Newsroom. December 2011. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved April 29, 2018..
↑ Early Mormons had practiced the law of consecration in Missouri for two years, in an attempt to eliminate poverty. Families would return their surplus "income" to the bishop, who would then redistribute it among the saints. Though initial efforts at "consecration" failed, consecration has become a more general attitude that underlies Mormon charitable works. Bushman (2008, pp.36–39).
↑ Bushman (2008, p.53) (The name "stake" comes from a passage in Isaiah that compares Zion to a tent that will enlarge as new stakes are planted); See Isaiah 33:20 and Isaiah 54:2.
↑ Bushman (2008, p.59) (In the temple, husbands and wives are sealed to each other for eternity. The implication is that other institutional forms, including the church, might disappear, but the family will endure); Mormons in America (Report). Pew Research Center. January 2012. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012. (A 2011 survey of Mormons in the United States showed that family life is very important to Mormons, with family concerns significantly higher than career concerns. Four out of five Mormons believe that being a good parent is one of the most important goals in life, and roughly three out of four Mormons put having a successful marriage in this category); "New Pew survey reinforces Mormons' top goals of family, marriage". Deseret News. January 12, 2012. Archived from the original on January 16, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012.; See also: "The Family: A Proclamation to the World".
↑ "Chastity". True to the Faith. 2004. pp.29–33.; Mormons in America (Report). Pew Research Center. January 2012. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012. (79% of Mormons in the US say that sex between unmarried adults is morally wrong, far higher than the 35% of the general public who hold the same view).
↑ "Topic: Abortion". churchofjesuschrist.org. November 8, 2012. Archived from the original on October 6, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020..
↑ Homosexual acts (as well as other sexual acts outside the bonds of marriage) are prohibited by the law of chastity. Violating the law of chastity may result in excommunication. Gordon B. Hinckley (1998). "What Are People Asking about Us?". Archived from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2011..
↑ "Style Guide". LDS Newsroom. April 9, 2010. Archived from the original on June 13, 2019. Retrieved November 11, 2011. When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, it should be stated that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not affiliated with polygamous groups.; The church repudiates polygamist groups and excommunicates their members if discovered – Bushman (2008, p.91); "Mormons seek distance from polygamous sects". NBC News. 2008. Archived from the original on November 2, 2022. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
↑ Murphy, Thomas W. (1999). "From Racist Stereotype to Ethnic Identity: Instrumental Uses of Mormon Racial Doctrine". Ethnohistory – Duke University Press. 46 (3): 451–480. JSTOR483199.
↑ Campbell, David E. (2014). Mormons and American politics: seeking the promised land: Part I – Mormons as an Ethno-Religious Group. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. pp.1–2. ISBN9781139227247. OCLC886644501.
↑ Bushman (2008, p.8) ("As the name of the church ... suggests, Jesus Christ is the premier figure. Smith does not even play the role of the last and culminating prophet, as Muhammad does in Islam"); "What Mormons Believe About Jesus Christ". LDS Newsroom. Retrieved November 11, 2011.; In a 2011 Pew Survey a thousand Mormons were asked to volunteer the one word that best describes Mormons. The most common response from those surveyed was "Christian" or "Christ-centered".
↑ Bushman (2008, p.78); In Mormonism, an ordinance is a formal act, in which people enter into covenants with God. For example, covenants associated with baptism and the Eucharist involve taking the name of the Son upon themselves, always remembering him, and keeping his commandments; "Atonement of Jesus Christ". True to the Faith: A Gospel Reference: 14. 2004.; Bushman (2008, pp.60–61) Because Mormons believe that everyone must receive certain ordinances to be saved, Mormons perform vicarious ordinances such as baptism for the dead on behalf of deceased persons. Mormons believe that the deceased may accept or reject the offered ordinance in the spirit world.
↑ Mormonism in America (Report). Pew Research Center. January 2012. Archived from the original on January 15, 2012. Retrieved January 15, 2012. (Mormons are nearly unanimous in describing Mormonism as a Christian religion, with 97% expressing this point of view); Robinson, Stephen E. (May 1998), "Are Mormons Christians?", New Era, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
↑ "Have the Presbyterians any truth? Yes. Have the Baptists, Methodists, etc., any truth? Yes. They all have a little truth mixed with error. We should gather all the good and true principles in the world and treasure them up, or we shall not come out true 'Mormons'." Joseph Fielding Smith (1993). Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith. p.316.; Mormons take an inclusivist position that their religion is correct and true but that other religions have genuine value. Palmer; Keller; Choi; Toronto (1997). Religions of the World: A Latter-day Saint View. Brigham Young University..
↑ Bushman (2008, pp.15, 35–35) (Outside observers sometimes react to Mormonism as "nice people, wacky beliefs." Mormons insist that the "wacky" beliefs pull them together as a people and give them the strength and the know-how to succeed in the modern world).
May, Dean (1980). "Mormons". In Thernstrom, Stephan (ed.). Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p.720.
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