The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Adherents believe that Joseph Smith was called to be a modern-day prophet through a visitation from God the Father and Jesus Christ.[lower-alpha 4]

Joseph Smith formally organized the church as the Church of Christ, on April 6, 1830, in western New York.[19] Smith later changed the name to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after he stated he had received a revelation to do so.[20] Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published Book of Mormon, a self-described chronicle of indigenous American prophets that Smith said he had translated from golden plates.[21]

Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion.[22] In 1831, the church moved to Kirtland, Ohio,[lower-alpha 5][23] and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri,[lower-alpha 6][24] where Smith planned to eventually move the church headquarters.[25] However, in 1833, Missouri settlers violently expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County.[26] The church attempted to recover the land through a paramilitary expedition, but did not succeed.[27] Nevertheless, the church flourished in Kirtland as Smith published new revelations and the church built the Kirtland Temple,[28] culminating in a dedication of the building similar to the day of Pentecost.[29] The Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections.[30] Smith regrouped with the remaining church in Far West, Missouri,[31] but tensions soon escalated into violent conflicts with the old Missouri settlers.[32] Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that the Saints be "exterminated or driven from the State".[33] In 1839, the Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the church's new headquarters.[34]

Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo.[35] Meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates.[36] He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow righteous people to become gods[lower-alpha 7][37][38] in the afterlife,[39] and a secular institution to govern the Millennial kingdom.[40] He also introduced the church to a full accounting of his First Vision, in which two heavenly "personages" appeared to him at age 14.[lower-alpha 8] This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in human history since the resurrection of Jesus.[41] Members believe Joseph Smith is the first modern-day prophet.[42]

On June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois,[43] while being held on charges of treason.[lower-alpha 9] Because Hyrum was Joseph's designated successor,[45] their deaths caused a succession crisis,[46] and Brigham Young assumed leadership over a majority of the church's membership.[47] Young had been a close associate of Smith's and was the senior apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve.[lower-alpha 10]

Other splinter groups followed other leaders around this time. These groups have no affiliation with the LDS Church,[48] however they share a common heritage in their early church history. Collectively, they are called the Latter Day Saint movement. The largest of these smaller groups is the Community of Christ,[lower-alpha 11] based in Independence, Missouri, followed by The Church of Jesus Christ, based in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. Like the LDS Church, these faiths believe in Joseph Smith as a prophet and founder of their religion. They also accept the Book of Mormon, and most, but not all, accept at least some version of the Doctrine and Covenants. However, they tend to disagree to varying degrees with the LDS Church concerning doctrine and church leadership.[49][50]

Brigham Young led the LDS Church from 1844 until his death in 1877.

For two years after Smith's death, conflicts escalated between Mormons and other Illinois residents. Brigham Young led his followers, later called the Mormon pioneers, westward to Nebraska and then in 1847 on to what later became the Utah Territory,[51] which at the time had been part of the indigenous lands of the Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone nations, and claimed by Mexico until 1848.[52][53] As groups of settlers[lower-alpha 12] arrived, they branched out and colonized a large region now known as the Mormon Corridor.

Young incorporated the LDS Church as a legal entity, and initially governed both the church and the state as a theocratic leader. He also publicized the practice of plural marriage in 1852. Modern research suggests that around 20 percent of Mormon families may have participated in the practice.[17]

By 1857, tensions had again escalated between Mormons and other Americans, largely as a result of accusations involving polygamy and the theocratic rule of the Utah Territory by Young.[54] The Utah Mormon War ensued from 1857 to 1858, which resulted in the relatively peaceful invasion of Utah by the United States Army. The most notable instance of violence during this war was the Mountain Meadows massacre, in which leaders of a local Mormon militia ordered the massacre of a civilian emigrant party who was traveling through Utah during the escalating military tensions.[55] After the massacre was discovered, the church became the target of significant media criticism for it.[56]

After the Army withdrew, Young agreed to step down from power and be replaced by a non-Mormon territorial governor, Alfred Cumming. Nevertheless, the LDS Church still wielded significant political power in the Utah Territory.[57] Coterminously, tensions between Mormon settlers and indigenous tribes continued to escalate as settlers began colonizing a growing area of tribal lands. While Mormons and indigenous peoples made attempts at peaceful coexistence, skirmishes ensued from about 1849 to 1873 culminating in the armed conflicts of Walkara's War, the Bear River Massacre, and the Black Hawk War.

At Young's death in 1877, he was followed by other church presidents, who resisted efforts by the United States Congress to outlaw Mormon polygamous marriages. In 1878, the United States Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. United States, decreed that "religious duty" to engage in plural marriage was not a valid defense to prosecutions for violating state laws against polygamy. Conflict between Mormons and the U.S. government escalated to the point that, in 1890, Congress disincorporated the LDS Church and seized most of its assets. Soon thereafter, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a manifesto that officially suspended the practice of polygamy.[58] Although this manifesto did not dissolve existing plural marriages,[lower-alpha 13] no new polygamous marriages were to be performed in the United States. Relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state in 1896. Relations further improved after 1904, when church president Joseph F. Smith again disavowed polygamy before the United States Congress and issued a "Second Manifesto", calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease. Eventually, the church adopted a policy of excommunicating its members found practicing polygamy.[59] Some fundamentalist groups with relatively small memberships have broken off and continue to practice polygamy, but the Church distances itself from them.[60][61]

The Washington D.C. Temple, completed in 1974, was the first built in the eastern half of the United States since 1846.

During the 20th century, the church grew substantially and became an international organization, due in part to the spread of missionaries around the globe. In 2000, the church reported 60,784 missionaries and global church membership stood at just over 11 million.[62] Worldwide membership surpassed 16 million in 2018. Slightly under half of church membership lives within the United States.[63][lower-alpha 14][lower-alpha 15]

The church has become a strong proponent of the nuclear family and at times played a prominent role in political matters, including opposition to MX Peacekeeper missile bases in Utah and Nevada,[67] the Equal Rights Amendment,[67] legalized gambling,[68] same-sex marriage,[69] and physician-assisted death.[70] Apart from issues that it considers to be ones of morality, however, the church maintains a position of political neutrality. Despite this it encourages its members to be politically active, to participate in elections, and to be knowledgeable about current political and social issues within their communities, states, and countries.[71]

A number of official changes have taken place to the organization during the modern era. In 1978, the church reversed its previous policy of excluding black men of African descent from the priesthood, which had been in place since 1852;[72] Members of all races can now be ordained to the priesthood. There are also periodic changes in the structure and organization of the church, mainly to accommodate the organization's growth and increasing international presence. For example, since the early 1900s, the church has instituted a Priesthood Correlation Program to centralize church operations and bring them under a hierarchy of priesthood leaders. During the Great Depression, the church also began operating a church welfare system, and it has conducted humanitarian efforts in cooperation with other religious organizations including Catholic Relief Services and Muslim Aid, as well as secular organizations such as the American Red Cross.[73][74]

During the second half of the 20th century and beginnings of the 21st, the church has responded to various challenges to its doctrine and authority. Challenges have included rising secularization,[75][76][77] challenges to the correctness of the translation of the Book of Abraham,[78] and primary documents forged by Mark Hofmann purporting to contradict important aspects of official early church history.[79] The church's positions regarding homosexuality, women, and black people have all been publicly debated during this timeframe.

In August 2018, the church's president, Russell M. Nelson, asked members of the church and others to cease using the terms "LDS", "Mormon", and "Mormonism" to refer to the church, its membership, or its belief system, and instead to call the church by its full and official name.[80][81]

LDS Church theology includes the belief in a Godhead composed of God the Father, his son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three separate Persons who share a unity of purpose or will; however, they are viewed as three distinct Beings making one Godhead. This is in contrast with the predominant Christian view, which holds that God is a Trinity of three distinct persons in one essence. The Latter-day Saint conception of the Godhead is similar to what contemporary Christian theologians call social trinitarianism.[102] The beliefs of the church also include the belief that God the Father and his son, Jesus Christ, are separate beings with bodies of flesh and bone, while the Holy Ghost lacks such a physical body.[103]

Statements by church leaders state that God, at the head of the human family, is married to a Heavenly Mother, who is the mother of human spirits.[104] However, church leaders have also categorically discouraged prayers to her and counseled against “speculation” regarding her.[105]

A couple after their marriage in the Manti Utah Temple

The Mormon cosmology and plan of salvation include the doctrines of a pre-mortal life, an earthly mortal existence, three degrees of heaven, and exaltation.

According to these doctrines, every human spirit is a spiritual child of a Heavenly Father, and each has the potential to continue to learn, grow, and progress in the eternities, eventually achieving eternal life,[lower-alpha 19] which is to become one with God in the same way that Jesus Christ is one with the Father, thus allowing the children of God to become divine beings – that is, gods – themselves.[106] This view on the doctrine of theosis is also referred to as becoming a "joint-heir with Christ".[96] The process by which this is accomplished is called exaltation, a doctrine which includes the reunification of the mortal family after the resurrection and the ability to have spirit children in the afterlife and inherit a portion of God's kingdom.[96][107] To obtain this state of godhood, the church teaches that one must have faith in Jesus Christ, repent of his or her sins, strive to keep the commandments faithfully, and participate in a sequence of ceremonial covenants called ordinances, which include baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, the endowment, and celestial marriage.[108][109]

This latter ordinance, known as a sealing ceremony, reflects a singular LDS view with respect to families. According to LDS Church theology, men and women may be sealed to one another so that their marital bond continues into the eternities.[111] Children may also be sealed to their biological or adoptive parents to form permanent familial bonds, thus allowing all immediate and extended family relations to endure past death.[112] The most significant LDS ordinances may be performed via proxy in behalf of those who have died, such as baptism for the dead. The church teaches that all will have the opportunity to hear and accept or reject the gospel of Jesus Christ, either in this life or the next.[113]

The LDS Church teaches that, subsequent to the death of Jesus and his original apostles, his church, along with the authority to act in Jesus Christ's name and the church's attendant spiritual gifts, were lost, due to a combination of external persecutions and internal heresies.[114] The restoration—as represented by the church began by Joseph Smith—refers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ.[115][116][117] This restoration is associated with a number of events which are understood to have been necessary to re-establish the early Christian church found in the New Testament, and to prepare the earth for the Second Coming of Jesus.[118] In particular, Latter-day Saints believe that angels appeared to Joseph Smith and a limited number of his associates, and bestowed various priesthood authorities on them.

The church is led by a president, who is considered a "prophet, seer, and revelator." He is considered the only person who is authorized to receive revelation from God on behalf of the whole world or entire church. As such, the church teaches that he is essentially infallible when speaking on behalf of God – although the exact circumstances when his pronouncements should be considered authoritative are debated within the church.[119][120] In any case, modern declarations with broad doctrinal implications are often issued by joint statement of the First Presidency;[lower-alpha 20] they may be joined by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as well.[lower-alpha 21][121][122][123]

The LDS Church asks its members to adhere to a dietary code called the Word of Wisdom, in which they abstain from the consumption of alcohol, coffee, tea, tobacco, and illicit or harmful substances.[124] The Word of Wisdom also encourages the consumption of herbs and grains along with the moderate consumption of meat.[17]

When Joseph Smith published the Word of Wisdom in 1833 it was considered only advice; violation did not restrict church membership. During the 1890s, though, church leaders started emphasizing the Word of Wisdom more. In 1921, church president Heber J. Grant made obeying the Word of Wisdom a requirement to engage in worship inside of the faith's temples. From that time, church leadership has emphasized the forbidding of coffee, tea, tobacco, and alcohol, but not the other guidelines concerning meat, grains, and herbs.[17]

Church members are expected to follow a moral code called the law of chastity, which prohibits adultery, homosexual behavior, and sexual relations before or outside of marriage.[125] As part of the law of chastity, the church strongly opposes pornography, and considers masturbation an immoral act.[126]

Church members are expected to donate one-tenth of their income to support the operations of the church, including construction of temples, meetinghouses, and other buildings, and other church uses.[127] Members are also encouraged to abstain from food and drink on the first Sunday of each month for at least two consecutive meals. They donate at least the cost of the two skipped meals as a fast offering, which the church uses to assist the poor and needy and expand its humanitarian efforts.[128]

Missionaries typically commit to 18–24 months of full-time service.

All able LDS young men are expected to serve a two-year, full-time proselytizing mission.[17][129] Missionaries do not choose where they serve or the language in which they will proselytize, and are expected to fund their missions themselves or with the aid of their families. Prospective male missionaries must be at least 18 years old and no older than 25, not yet married, have completed secondary school, and meet certain criteria for physical fitness and spiritual worthiness. Missionary service is not compulsory, nor is it required for young men to retain their church membership.

Unmarried women 19 years and older may also serve as missionaries,[130] generally for a term of 18 months. However, the LDS Church emphasizes that women are not under the same expectation to serve as male members are, and may serve solely as a personal decision. There is no maximum age for missionary service for women.[131]

Retired couples are also encouraged to serve missions, and may serve 6-, 12-, 18-, or 23-month terms.[132] Unlike younger missionaries, these senior missionaries may serve in non-proselytizing capacities such as humanitarian aid workers or family history specialists. Other men and women who desire to serve a mission, but may not be able to perform full-time service in another state or country due to health issues, may serve in a non-proselyting mission. They might assist at Temple Square in Salt Lake City or aid in the seminary system in schools.[133]

All proselyting missionaries are organized geographically into administrative areas called missions. The efforts in each mission are directed by an older adult male mission president. As of July 2020, there were 407 missions of the church.[134]

Meetings for worship and study are held at meetinghouses, which are typically utilitarian in character.[17] The main focus of Sunday worship is the Sacrament meeting, where the sacrament is passed to church members; sacrament meetings also include prayers, the singing of hymns by the congregation or choir, and impromptu or planned sermons by church laity. Also included in weekly meetings are times for Sunday School, or separate instructional meetings based on age and gender, including the Relief Society for women.

Church congregations are organized geographically. Members are generally expected to attend the congregation with their assigned geographical area; however, some geographical areas also provide separate congregations for young single adults, older single adults,[143] or for speakers of alternate languages. For Sunday services, the church is grouped into either larger congregations known as wards, or smaller congregations known as branches. Regional church organizations, encompassing multiple congregations, include stakes, missions, districts, and areas.

Additional meetings are also held at the meetinghouse. Church officers may conduct leadership meetings or host training sessions and classes. The ward or branch community may schedule social activities at the meetinghouse, including dances, dinners, holiday parties and musical presentations. The church's Young Men and Young Women organizations meet at the meetinghouse once a week, where the youth participate in activities. At the start of 2020, the church implemented a new initiative for children and youth worldwide, which replaced all other church youth programs.[144]

The Salt Lake Temple

In LDS theology, a temple is considered to be a holy building, dedicated as a "House of the Lord" and held as more sacred than a typical meetinghouse or chapel. In temples, church members participate in ceremonies that are considered the most sacred in the church, including marriage,[lower-alpha 23] and an endowment ceremony that includes a washing and anointing, receiving a temple garment, and making covenants with God. Baptisms for the dead[lower-alpha 24] are performed in the temples as well.

Temples are considered by church members to be the most sacred structures on earth, and as such, operating temples are not open to the public. Permission to enter is reserved only for church members who pass periodic interviews with ecclesiastical leaders and receive a special recommendation card, called a temple recommend, that they present upon entry.[18][138] Church members are instructed not to share details about temple ordinances with non-members or even converse about them outside the temple itself.[138] As of April 2021, there are 160 operating temples located throughout the world.[145]

In order to perform ordinances in temples on behalf of deceased family members, the church emphasizes genealogical research, and encourages its lay members to participate in genealogy.[146] It operates FamilySearch, the largest genealogical organization in the world.

Twice each year,[lower-alpha 25] general authorities address the worldwide church through general conference. General conference sessions are translated into as many as 80 languages and are broadcast from the 21,000-seat[147] Conference Center in Salt Lake City. During this conference, church members formally acknowledge, or "sustain", the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets, seers, and revelators.[139]

Interior of the Conference Center where the church holds its General Conferences twice a year.

Individual stakes also hold formal conferences within their own boundaries biannually; wards hold conferences annually.[148]

The church teaches that it is a continuation of the Church of Christ established in 1830 by Joseph Smith. This original church underwent several name changes during the 1830s, being called the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of God,[149] and then in 1834, the name was officially changed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints.[150] In April 1838, the name was officially changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.[151] After Smith died, Brigham Young and the largest body of Smith's followers incorporated the LDS Church in 1851 by legislation of the State of Deseret under the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints",[152] which included a hyphenated "Latter-day" and a British-style lower-case d.[153]

Common informal names for the church include the LDS Church, the Latter-day Saints, and the Mormons. The term Mormon Church is in common use.[154] The church requests that the official name be used when possible or, if necessary, shortened to "the Church", "the Church of Jesus Christ",[155] or "Latter-day Saints".[156] In August 2018, church president Russell M. Nelson asked members of the church and others to cease using the terms "LDS", "Mormon", and "Mormonism" to refer to the church, its membership, or its belief system, and instead to call the church by its full and official name.[80][81][lower-alpha 26] Subsequent to this announcement, the church's premier vocal ensemble, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, was officially renamed and became the "Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square".[160] Reaction to the name change policy has been mixed.[161]

In 1887, the LDS Church was legally dissolved in the United States by the Edmunds–Tucker Act because of the church's practice of polygamy.[162] For the next century, the church as a whole operated as an unincorporated entity.[163] During that time, tax-exempt corporations of the LDS Church included the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a corporation sole used to manage non-ecclesiastical real estate and other holdings; and the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which governed temples, other sacred buildings, and the church's employees. By 2021, the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop and Corporation of the President had been merged into one corporate entity, legally named The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[164]

Intellectual Reserve is a nonprofit corporation wholly owned by the church which holds the church's intellectual property, such as copyrights, trademarks, and other media.

Russell M. Nelson, current President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The LDS Church is organized in a hierarchical priesthood structure administered by its male members. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus leads the church through revelation and has chosen a single man as his spokesman on the earth called "the Prophet" or the "President of the Church." Normally, he and two counselors are ordained apostles and form the First Presidency, the presiding body of the church; twelve other apostles form the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.[165] When a president dies, his successor is invariably the most senior of the remaining apostles from the Quorum of the Twelve and the temporarily dissolved First Presidency,[lower-alpha 27] after which he reconstitutes a new First Presidency.[166] Following the death of church president Thomas S. Monson on January 2, 2018,[167] senior apostle Russell M. Nelson was announced as president on January 16.[168]

Members of the church-wide leadership[lower-alpha 28] are called general authorities. They exercise both ecclesiastical and administrative leadership over the church and direct the efforts of regional leaders down to the local level. General authorities and mission presidents work full-time for the church, and typically receive stipends from church funds or investments.[169] As well as speaking in general conference, general authorities speak to church members in local congregations throughout the world; they also speak to youth[170] and young adults[171] in special broadcasts and at the Church Educational System (CES) schools, such as Brigham Young University (BYU).[172]

At the local level, the church leadership is drawn from the laity and work on a part-time, volunteer basis without any form of financial compensation.[173] Like all members, they are asked to donate a tithe of 10 percent of their income to the church.[lower-alpha 29] Members volunteer general custodial work for local church facilities.[174]

All males who are living the standards of the church are generally considered for the priesthood and are ordained to the priesthood as early as age 11.[175][176] Ordination occurs by a ceremony where hands are laid on the head of the one ordained. The priesthood is divided into an order for young men aged 11 years and older (called the Aaronic priesthood) and an order for men 18 years of age and older (called the Melchizedek priesthood).[177][178]

Some church leaders and scholars have spoken of women holding or exercising priesthood power.[lower-alpha 30] However, women do not participate in functions administered by the priesthood,[lower-alpha 31] nor are they formally ordained to the priesthood, as young men and men are. From 2013 to about 2014, the Ordain Women organization actively sought formal priesthood ordination for women.

Under the direction of the local priesthood leadership, each active church member is expected to receive one or more callings, or positions of assigned responsibility within the church. Individual members are expected to neither ask for specific callings, nor decline callings that are extended to them by their leaders. Leadership positions in the church's various congregations are filled through the calling system, and the vast majority of callings are filled on a volunteer basis; most church members receive no compensation for serving in their callings.[lower-alpha 32][179][180]

Under the leadership of the priesthood hierarchy are five organizations that fill various roles in the church: Relief Society, [lower-alpha 33][181] the Young Men and Young Women organizations,[lower-alpha 34] Primary,[lower-alpha 35] and Sunday School.[lower-alpha 36] Women serve as presidents and counselors in the presidencies of the Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary, while men serve as presidents and counselors of the Young Men and Sunday School.[182] The church also operates several programs and organizations in the fields of proselytizing, education, and church welfare such as LDS Humanitarian Services. Many of these organizations and programs are coordinated by the Priesthood Correlation Program, which is designed to provide a systematic approach to maintain worldwide consistency, orthodoxy, and control of the church's ordinances, doctrines, organizations, meetings, materials, and other programs and activities.[183]

The carillon tower at Brigham Young University, one of several educational institutions sponsored by the church

The church operates CES, which includes BYU,[lower-alpha 37] BYU–Idaho, BYU–Hawaii, and Ensign College. The church also operates Institutes of Religion near the campuses of many colleges and universities. For high-school aged youth, the church operates a four-year Seminary program, which provides religious classes for students to supplement their secular education.[17] The church also sponsors a low-interest educational loan program known as the Perpetual Education Fund, which provides educational opportunities to students from developing nations.[4]

The church's Family History Library is the world's largest library dedicated to genealogical research

The church's welfare system, initiated in 1930 during the Great Depression, provides aid to the poor. Leaders ask members to fast once a month and donate the money they would have spent on those meals to help the needy, in what is called a fast offering.[17] Money from the program is used to operate Bishop's storehouses, which package and store food at low cost. Distribution of funds and food is administered by local bishops. The church also distributes money through its Philanthropies division to disaster victims worldwide.[184]

Other church programs and departments include Family Services, which provides assistance with adoption, marital and family counseling, psychotherapy, and addiction counseling; the LDS Church History Department, which collects church history and records; and the Family History Department, which administers the church's large family history efforts, including FamilySearch, the world's largest family history library and organization.[185] Other facilities owned and operated by the church include Temple Square, the Church Office Building, the Church Administration Building, the Church History Library and the Granite Mountain Records Vault.

For over 100 years, the church was also a major sponsor of Scouting programs for boys, particularly in the United States. The LDS Church was the largest chartered organization in the Boy Scouts of America, having joined the Boy Scouts of America as its first charter organization in 1913.[186] In 2020, the church ended its relationship with the BSA and began an alternate, religion-centered youth program.[187] Prior to leaving the Scouting program, LDS Scouts made up nearly 20 percent of all enrolled Boy Scouts,[188] more than any other church.[189]

Since 1941, the church is classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization and is therefore tax-exempt. Donations are tax-deductible in the United States.[190] The church has not released church-wide financial statements since 1959.[191] In the absence of official statements, people interested in knowing the church's financial status and behavior, including both members of the church and people outside the church, have attempted to estimate or guess.[192]

In 1997, Time magazine called the LDS Church one of the world's wealthiest churches per capita.[193] In a June 2011 cover story, Newsweek stated that the LDS Church "resembles a sanctified multinational corporation—the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion".[194] Its for-profit, non-profit, and educational subsidiary entities are audited by an independent accounting firm.[195][196] In addition, the church employs an independent audit department that provides its certification at each annual general conference that church contributions are collected and spent in accordance with church policy.[197]

The church receives significant funds from tithes and fast offerings. According to the church, tithing and fast offering money is devoted to ecclesiastical purposes and not used in for-profit ventures.[198] It has been estimated that the LDS Church received $33 billion in donations from its members in 2010, and that during the 2010s its net worth increased by about $15 billion per year. According to estimates by Bloomberg Businessweek, the LDS Church's net worth was $40 billion as of 2012.[199]

The church's assets are held in a variety of holding companies, subsidiary corporations, and for-profit companies including: Bonneville International, KSL, Deseret Book Company, and holding companies for cattle ranches and farms in at least 12 U.S. States,[lower-alpha 38][lower-alpha 39] Canada, New Zealand, and Argentina. Also included are banks and insurance companies, hotels and restaurants, real estate development, forestry and mining operations, and transportation and railway companies.[200][201] Investigative journalism from the Truth & Transparency Foundation in 2022 suggests the church may be the owner of the most valuable real estate portfolio in the United States, with a minimum market value of $15.7 billion.[202] The church has also invested in for-profit business and real estate ventures such as City Creek Center.[203]

In December 2019, a whistleblower alleged the church holds over $100 billion in investment funds through its investment management company, Ensign Peak Advisors; that it failed to use the funds for charitable purposes and instead used them in for-profit ventures; and that it misled contributors and the public about the usage and extent of those funds. According to the whistleblower, applicable law requires the funds be used for religious, educational or other charitable purposes for the fund to maintain its tax-exempt status.[205] Other commentators have argued that such expenditures may not be legally required as claimed.[206] In response to the allegations, the church's First Presidency stated that "the Church complies with all applicable law governing our donations, investments, taxes, and reserves," and that "a portion" of funds received by the church are "methodically safeguarded through wise financial management and the building of a prudent reserve for the future".[207] The church has not directly addressed the fund's size to the public, but third parties have treated the disclosures as legitimate.[208][lower-alpha 40]

In October 2022, The Sydney Morning Herald announced the results of an investigation it conducted together with multiple other media organizations - that while the church publicly claimed to have donated US$1.35 billion to charity between 2008 to 2020, its private financial reports showed that it actually donated only US$0.177 billion to charity in that period.[209]

The Church-sponsored Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square has received various awards and travelled extensively since its inception.

LDS-themed media includes cinema, fiction, websites, and graphical art such as photography and paintings. The church owns a chain of bookstores called Deseret Book, which provide a channel through which publications are sold; titles include The Work and the Glory and The Other Side of Heaven. Prominent church leaders have authored books and sold them through the publishing arm of the bookstore. BYU TV, the church-sponsored television station, also airs on several networks. The church also produces several pageants annually depicting various events of the primitive and modern-day church. Its Easter pageant Jesus the Christ has been identified as the "largest annual outdoor Easter pageant in the world".[211] The church encourages entertainment without violence, sexual content, or vulgar language; many church members specifically avoid rated-R movies.[212][213]

The church's official choir, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, was formed in the mid-19th century and performs in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. They have travelled to more than 28 countries,[214] and are considered one of the most famous choirs in the world.[215] The choir has received a Grammy Award, three Emmy Awards,[216] two Peabody Awards,[217] and the National Medal of Arts.[218]

Notable members of the church in the media and arts include: Donny Osmond,[219] an American singer, dancer, and actor; Orson Scott Card,[220] author of Ender's Game; Stephenie Meyer,[221] author of the Twilight series; and Glenn Beck,[222] a conservative radio host, television producer, and author. Notable productions related to the church[lower-alpha 41] include Murder Among the Mormons, a 2021 Netflix documentary;[223] and The Book of Mormon, a big-budget musical about Mormon missionaries that received nine Tony Awards.[224]

The church and its members consider marriage and family highly important, with emphasis placed on large, nuclear families.[13] In 1995, the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve issued "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", which stresses the importance of the family. The proclamation defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman, and stated that the family unit is "central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." The document further says that "gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose," that the father and mother have differing but equal roles in raising children, and that successful marriages and families, founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ, can last eternally.[225] The proclamation also promotes specific roles essential to maintaining the strength of the family unit – the roles of a husband and father as the family's breadwinner and spiritual leader and those of a wife and mother as a nurturing caregiver. Both parents are charged with the duties of childrearing. The proclamation was issued, in part, due to concerns in the United States about the eroding of family values and the growing social movement promoting same-sex marriages.[226]

LDS Church members are encouraged to set aside one evening each week, typically Monday, to spend together in "Family Home Evening." Family Home Evenings typically consist of gathering as a family to study the faith's gospel principles, and other family activities. Daily family prayer is also encouraged.[17]

The LDS Church takes no partisan role in politics, stating that it will not "endorse, promote or oppose political parties, candidates or platforms; allow its church buildings, membership lists or other resources to be used for partisan political purposes; attempt to direct its members as to which candidate or party they should give their votes to ... or attempt to direct or dictate to a government leader".[71] While the church takes an apolitical approach to candidates, it encourages its members to play an active role as responsible citizens in their communities, including becoming informed about issues and voting in elections, and maintains that the faith's values can be found among many political parties.[71]

A 2012 Pew Center on Religion and Public Life survey indicates that 74 percent of U.S. members lean towards the Republican Party.[227] Some liberal members say they feel that they have to defend their worthiness due to political differences.[228]

The official church stance on staying out of politics does not include if there are instances of what church leaders deem to be moral issues, or issues the church "believes ... directly affect [its] interests."[71] It has previously opposed same-sex marriage in California Prop 8,[229] supported a gay rights bill in Salt Lake City which bans discrimination against homosexual persons in housing and employment,[230][231] opposed gambling,[68] opposed storage of nuclear waste in Utah,[232][233] and supported an approach to U.S. immigration policy as outlined in the Utah Compact.[234] It also opposed a ballot initiative legalizing medicinal marijuana in Utah,[235] but supported a possible alternative to it.[lower-alpha 42] In 2019 and 2021, the church stated its opposition to the Equality Act, which would prohibit discrimination in the United States on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, but supports alternate legislation that it says would protect both LGBTQ rights and religious freedom.[236]

In the 117th United States Congress, there are nine LDS Church members, including all six members of Utah's congressional delegation, all of whom are Republicans.[237] Utah's current governor, Spencer Cox, is also a church member,[238] as are supermajorities in both houses of the Utah State Legislature.[239] Church member and current U.S. Senator Mitt Romney was the Republican Party's nominee in the U.S. 2012 presidential election. Jon Huntsman Jr. sought the Republican nomination until his withdrawal in early 2012.[240]

In 2016, following Donald Trump's proposed Muslim travel ban, many LDS Church members – who are one of the most consistently Republican voting groups – formed a significant faction of traditional Republican voters skeptical of Trump, with just 11% support in Utah. These voters saw parallels between Trump's anti-immigrant and anti-Islam rhetoric and the past persecution of Mormons in the United States. They expressed concern regarding his weak moral character evidenced by his denigration of women, extramarital involvements, questionable business scruples and personal affairs, and his general nescience regarding scripture and religion.[241][242] Nevertheless, by January 2018, many Republican church members in Utah had expressed their political support for Trump, in particular his policies on land and environmental issues, and his strongarm approach towards Democrats and other political opponents. His approval rating was 61%, higher than any other religious group.[243]

Democrats and those who lean Democrat made up 18% of church members surveyed in the 2014 Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Survey.[244][245] There has been at least one Democratic Senator and member of the church, Harry Reid. In addition, there have been groups of Latter-day Saints that support liberal candidates, including forming the organization Latter-day Saints for Biden-Harris in the 2020 presidential election season.[246] Other examples include the ward in Berkeley, California pushing back against 2008 California Proposition 8, a ballot proposition and a state constitutional amendment intended to ban same-sex marriage,[245] and other members of the church advocating for Mormon feminism (which the church has historically discouraged with blanket statements of policy, but recently advocated a more nuanced stance).[247][248]

The LDS Church does not release official statistics on church activity, but it is likely that only approximately 40 percent of its recorded membership in the United States and 30 percent worldwide regularly attend weekly Sunday worship services.[269][270][271] A statistical analysis of the 2014 Pew Religious Landscape Survey assessed that "about one-third of those with a Latter-day Saint background... left the Church", identifying as disaffiliated.[272] Activity rates vary with age, and disengagement occurs most frequently between age 16 and 25. Young single adults are more likely to become inactive than their married counterparts,[273] and overall, women tend to be more active than men.[274]

The first significant violent persecution against the LDS Church occurred in the early 1830s in Missouri. Mormons tended to vote as a bloc there, wielding "considerable political and economic influence," often unseating local political leadership and earning long-lasting enmity in the frontier communities.[288] These differences culminated in the Missouri Mormon War and the eventual issuing of an executive order (since called the extermination order within the LDS community) by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs, which declared that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State." Three days later, a renegade militia unit attacked a Mormon settlement at Haun's Mill, resulting in the death of 18 Mormons and no militiamen. The extermination order was not formally rescinded until 1976.

The church has been criticized for a number of alleged abuses perpetrated by local church leadership. In other cases, church leaders have been criticized for failing to properly report abuse to law enforcement.

In the late 1820s, criticism centered on the claim by Joseph Smith to have been led to a set of gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was reputedly translated.[299][300]

Mainstream academic scholarship does not conclude the Book of Mormon is of an ancient origin and considers the book to be a 19th-century composition.[301] Scholars have pointed out a number of anachronisms within the text. They argue that no evidence of a reformed Egyptian language has ever been discovered.[302][303] Also, general archaeological and genetic evidence has not supported the book's statements about any known indigenous peoples of the Americas.[304][305]

Since its publication in 1842, the Book of Abraham[lower-alpha 48] has also been a major source of controversy. Numerous non-Mormon Egyptologists, beginning in the late 19th century,[306] have disagreed with Joseph Smith's explanations of the book’s facsimiles. The translation of the original papyri[lower-alpha 49] does not match the text of the Book of Abraham as purportedly translated by Joseph Smith.[307] Indeed, the transliterated text from the recovered papyri and facsimiles published in the Book of Abraham contain no direct references, either historical or textual, to Abraham.[308][309][310] Scholars have also asserted that damaged portions of the papyri have been reconstructed incorrectly by Smith or his associates.

Polygamy (called plural marriage within the church) was practiced by church leaders for more than half of the 19th century,[311] and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families.[312][313] It was instituted privately in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith, and announced publicly in 1852 at the direction of Brigham Young.[313]

For over 60 years, the church and the United States were at odds over the issue: at one point, the Republican platform referenced "the twin relics of barbarism—polygamy and slavery."[314] The church defended the practice as a matter of religious freedom, while the federal government aggressively sought to eradicate it; in 1862, the United States Congress passed the Morrill Anti-Bigamy Act, which prohibited plural marriage in the territories.[313]

In 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially terminated the practice,[315] although it did not dissolve existing plural marriages. Some church members continued to enter into polygamous marriages, but these eventually stopped in 1904 when church president Joseph F. Smith disavowed polygamy before Congress and issued a "Second Manifesto," calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease. Several small fundamentalist groups, seeking to continue the practice, split from the LDS Church, but the mainline church now excommunicates members found practicing polygamy, and distances itself from those fundamentalist groups.[316]

From the administration of Brigham Young until 1978, the church did not allow black people to receive the priesthood[lower-alpha 50] or to enter the temple.[317][lower-alpha 51] Public pressure during the United States’ civil rights movement had preceded the priesthood ban being rescinded.[lower-alpha 52]

Church leadership and publications have previously taught that Native Americans are descendants of Lamanites, a dark-skinned and cursed people from the Book of Mormon.[323][324] More recently, claims by Mormon researchers and publications generally favor a smaller geographic footprint of Lamanite descendants.[325] Mainstream science and archaeology fail to provide any evidence for the existence of populations of Lamanites.[lower-alpha 53] Current church publications state that the exact extent and identity of Lamanite descendants is unknown.[328][lower-alpha 54]

The church ran an Indian Placement Program between the 1950s and the 1990s, wherein indigenous children were adopted by white church members. Criticism resulted during and after the program, including claims of improper assimilation and even abuse.[331][291] However, many of the involved students and families praised the program,[332]^{: 194–195} and positive outcomes were reported for many participants.[333]

Some Jewish groups, including the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors, criticized the LDS Church in 1995 after discovering that vicarious baptisms for the dead for victims of the Holocaust had been performed by members of the church.[334][335] After that criticism, church leaders put a policy in place to stop the practice, with an exception for baptisms specifically requested or approved by victims' relatives.[336] Jewish organizations again criticized the church in 2002, 2004, 2008, and 2012[337][338] stating that the church failed to honor the 1995 agreement.[336] The LDS Church says it has put institutional safeguards in place to avoid the submission of the names of Holocaust victims not related to Mormon members, but that the sheer number of names submitted makes policing the database of names impractical.[334]

The church's views on sexual minorities have been criticized, though these mostly conform to the teaching of conservative Christian Catholic and Protestant churches. In 2008, top leaders requested adherents to donate time and money in the campaign for California's Proposition 8 against same-sex marriage; this sparked heated debate and protest by gay-rights organizations and others.[339][340][341] In 2009 the church expressed support for a Salt Lake City ordinance protecting gay and lesbian people against discrimination in employment and housing, but wanted an exception for religious institutions from this ordinance.[342] Further controversy resulted when, in November 2015, the church adopted a policy considering those in same-sex unions apostates, and barring their children from receiving blessings or being baptized under most circumstances.[343][344] In April 2019, the church reversed this policy, citing efforts to be more accepting to people of all backgrounds.[345][346]

Protesters in front of the Newport Beach California Temple voicing their opposition to the church's support of Prop 8

In the 1830s, the church was criticized for Smith's handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio.[347] After the Mormons migrated west, there was fear and suspicion about the LDS Church's political and military power in Missouri,[348] culminating in the 1838 Mormon War and the Mormon Extermination Order (Missouri Executive Order 44) by Governor Lilburn Boggs. In the 1840s, criticism of the church included its theocratic aspirations in Nauvoo, Illinois. Criticism of the practice of plural marriage and other doctrines taught by Smith were published in the Nauvoo Expositor.[349] Opposition led to a series of events culminating in the death of Smith and his brother while jailed in 1844.[350]

The church's alleged lack of transparency about its finances has drawn criticism from commentators who consider its practices too secretive.[351][352][353] The disclosure of the $100 billion church-controlled fund has led to criticism that its wealth may be excessive.[354] Critical commentators have asserted that the church uses its corporate structure to "optimize its asset and capital management by moving money and assets between [its] tax-exempt and regular businesses as loans, donations or investments."[201][lower-alpha 55]

The church has been accused of "significant tax evasion" in Australia. According to an investigation by Australian newspapers, The Daily Age and The Sun Herald, the church’s corporation LDS Charities Australia was the recipient of nearly $70 million in donations annually (which is tax exempt under Australian law, as opposed to religious donations, which are not) but appeared to actually spend very little of it on charity. According to the investigation, tithing and other religious donations were routed through the corporation to ensure they would be tax exempt. The investigation does not reference any internal church documents to confirm their findings.[356][357] The church has previously fought to keep its internal financial information out of the public record.[358] In Canada, a total of more than 1 billion dollars collected through tithing has been transferred tax-free to Brigham Young universities over a 15-year period.[359]

Mormon apologetics organizations, such as the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS – now part of the Maxwell Institute) seek to counter criticisms of the church and its leaders. Most of the apologetic work focuses on providing and discussing evidence supporting the claims of Smith and the Book of Mormon. Scholars and authors such as Hugh Nibley,[360] Daniel C. Peterson,[361] and others are well-known apologists within the church.

• ChurchofJesusChrist.org – Official church website
• ComeUntoChrist.org – Official church website, with information about basic beliefs. (formerly Mormon.org)

• Works by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at Internet Archive