the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

{{Main|History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

File:Joseph Smith, Jr. portrait owned by Joseph Smith III.jpg, the first president of the Church of Christ]]

{{See also|History of the Latter Day Saint movement|Joseph Smith#Life}}

Joseph Smith formally organized the church as the Church of Christ, on April 6, 1830, in western New York;{{efn|Scholars and eyewitnesses disagree whether the church was organized in Manchester, New York at the Smith log home, or in Fayette at the home of Peter Whitmer;{{Cite book|last=Bushman|first=Richard Lyman|author-link=Richard Bushman|title=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling|year=2005|place=New York|publisher=Knopf|isbn=978-1-4000-4270-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mz3tpz4eRBQC| via=Google Books}}{{rp|109}} Marquardt states that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements.{{rp|223}}{{Cite journal |last=Marquardt |first=H. Michael |date=2013 |title=Manchester as the Site of the Organization of the Church on April 6, 1830 |journal=The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=152–153 |jstor=43200317 |issn=0739-7852 }} The LDS Church officially favors organization in Fayette.{{Cite news |last=Ayala |first=Leonor |date=July 13, 2004 |title=Mormon conversions surge in Latin America |work=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5378318 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220918022609/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna5378318 |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 18, 2022 |access-date=June 30, 2023}}}} the church's name was later changed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.{{rp|627 n. 73}} 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.{{refn|{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=November 9, 2007 |title=The Book of Mormon: Minor edit stirs major ruckus |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=&itype=NGPSID |access-date=June 26, 2023}}{{rp|57, 72, 90}}}}

Smith intended to establish the New Jerusalem in North America, called Zion.{{rp|122}}{{lds|D&C|dc|57|1|3}}{{lds|D&C|dc|84|4}} "[T]he city New Jerusalem shall be built by the gathering of the saints, beginning at [Jackson County, Missouri], even the place of the temple, which temple shall be reared in this generation". In 1831, the church moved to Kirtland, Ohio,{{efn|In 1834, Smith designated Kirtland as one of the "stakes" of Zion, referring to the tent–stakes metaphor of Isaiah.{{rp|175}}{{Cite news |date=April 11, 2023 |title=Stake Conference held for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |newspaper=News-Topic |via=Yahoo! News |url=https://news.yahoo.com/stake-conference-held-church-jesus-181600805.html |access-date=June 25, 2023 |location=Lenoir, North Carolina}}}}{{Cite book|last=Brodie|first=Fawn M.|author-link=Fawn M. Brodie|title=No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith|publisher=Knopf|location=New York|edition=2nd|year=1971|isbn=978-0-394-46967-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nbBMEAAAQBAJ}}{{rp|97}} and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri,{{rp|162}}{{rp|109}} where Smith planned to eventually move the church headquarters.{{efn|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".{{lds|D&C|dc|64|21}}}} However, in 1833, Missouri settlers violently expelled the Latter Day Saints from Jackson County.{{rp|222–227}}{{efn|Brodie stated that the brutality of the Jackson Countians aroused sympathy for the Mormons and was almost universally deplored by the media.{{rp|137}}}} The church attempted to recover the land through a paramilitary expedition, but did not succeed.{{refn|{{rp|141, 146–159}}{{rp|322}}}} Nevertheless, the church flourished in Kirtland as Smith published new revelations and the church built the Kirtland Temple,{{efn|By summer of 1835, there were 1500 to 2000 Saints in Kirtland, and from 1831 to 1838, church membership grew from 680 to 17,881.}}{{refn|{{Cite book |last=Waterman |first=Bryan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZ7tAAAAMAAJ |title=The Prophet Puzzle: Interpretive Essays on Joseph Smith |date=1999 |publisher=Signature Books |isbn=978-1-56085-121-9 |page=120}}{{cite book|title=Desert Morning News 2008 Church Almanac|page=655|publisher=Deseret News|date=2008}}{{rp|101}}{{Cite book |last1=Arrington |first1=Leonard J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oMQgrBcI998C |title=The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-Day Saints |last2=Bitton |first2=Davis |date=1992 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-06236-0 |page=21}}}} culminating in a dedication of the building similar to the day of Pentecost.{{refn|{{rp|310–319}}{{rp|178}}}} The Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections.{{rp|328–338}}{{Cite book |last=Brooke |first=John L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eyvftt-1F_kC |title=The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644–1844 |date=1994 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-56564-6 |page=221|quote=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}} Smith regrouped with the remaining church in Far West, Missouri,{{efn|Smith referred to the Far West church as the "church in Zion".{{Cite book |last= Roberts |first= B. H. |author-link= B. H. Roberts |title= History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |volume= 3 |publisher= Deseret News |year= 1905 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=m2bEVgSvbS8C |access-date= September 27, 2020 |archive-date= November 2, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201102121407/https://books.google.com/books?id=m2bEVgSvbS8C |url-status= live |via=Google Books}}{{rp|24}} His statement calling Far West "Zion" had the effect of "implying that Far West was to take the place of Independence".{{rp|345}}}} but tensions soon escalated into violent conflicts with the Missouri settlers.{{refn|{{rp|357–364}}{{rp|227–230}}{{Cite book |last=Remini |first=Robert Vincent |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u3nzkbb2ha8C |title=Joseph Smith |date=2002 |publisher=Penguin Books |isbn=978-0-670-03083-5 |page=134}}{{Cite book|last=Quinn|first=D. Michael|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|title=The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power|publisher=Signature Books|location=Salt Lake City|year=1994|isbn=978-1-56085-056-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AnfZAAAAMAAJ}}{{rp|97–98}}}} Believing the Latter Day Saints to be an insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that they be "exterminated or driven from the State".{{efn|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".{{rp|367}} In 1976, Missouri issued a formal apology for this unconstitutional order.{{rp|398}}}} In 1839, the Latter Day Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the church's new headquarters.{{rp|383–384}}

File:Carthage Jail from southwest.jpg, where Joseph Smith was killed in 1844]]

Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who flooded into Nauvoo.{{refn|{{rp|409}}{{rp|258, 264–65}}}} Meanwhile, Smith introduced polygamy to his closest associates.{{refn|{{rp|334–336}}{{rp|437}}}} He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow righteous people to become gods in the afterlife,{{efn|The second anointing ordinance provides a guarantee that recipients will be exalted.{{r|name=High|q=On 10 March 1844 Smith delivered a discourse on the subject of Elijah in which he gave his most complete explanation of the second anointing. He said ... [t]he function of the ordinance was to assure salvation ... Other ordinances considered essential for exaltation were generally held to be conditional—that is, the ordinance enabled exaltation, but the subsequent righteousness of the recipient secured it. By contrast, the second anointing guaranteed one's exaltation, and thus may be viewed as the crowning ordinance of Smith's ministry.|pp=189, 191}}{{cite journal| last= Buerger|first= David John| title='The Fulness of the Priesthood': The Second Anointing in Latter-day Saint Theology and Practice| journal=Dialogue| volume=16| year=1983| url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V16N01_12.pdf|issue=1|doi= 10.2307/45225125|jstor= 45225125|quote=Godhood was therefore the meaning of this higher ordinance, or second anointing ... Most of the earliest nineteenth-century comments ... clearly imply that the ordinance was then held to be unconditional. ... The unconditional promise of exaltation in the highest degree of the celestial kingdom as gods and goddesses inherent in this priesthood sealing ordinance of Elijah was weighty indeed ....|pages=21, 36–37 | issn=0012-2157}}{{cite book |last1=Buerger |first1=David J. |url={{google books | plainurl=y | id=P08mAQAAIAAJ }} |title=The Mysteries of Godliness: A History of Mormon Temple Worship |chapter= Joseph Smith's Ritual |year= 2002 |publisher=Signature Books|url-access=limited |isbn=978-1-56085-176-9 |quote=Brother Brigham Young, I [Heber Kimball] pour this holy consecrated oil upon your head and anoint thee a king and a priest of the most high God ... And I seal thee up unto eternal life, that thou shalt ... attain unto the eternal Godhead and receive a fulness of joy, and glory, and power; and that thou mayest do all things ... even if it be to create worlds and redeem them.|page=89}} Authors have stated that Smith's words were similar to those of Paul that faithful saints may become co-heirs with Jesus.{{lds|Romans|romans|8|17}}{{Cite book |last=Widmer |first=Kurt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TYHZAAAAMAAJ |title=Mormonism and the Nature of God: A Theological Evolution, 1830–1915 |date=2000 |publisher=McFarland Publishing |isbn=978-0-7864-0776-7 |page=119}}{{rp|502–503}}}} and a secular institution to govern the Millennial kingdom.{{rp|120–122}}{{efn|Bushman described the Council of Fifty noting that Smith prophesied "the entire overthrow of this nation in a few years", at which time the Kingdom of God would be prepared to lead.{{rp|519–521}}}} He also introduced the church to a full accounting of his First Vision, in which he claimed that two heavenly "personages" appeared to him at age 14.{{efn|In this account, the personages in question are inferred—though never expressly stated—to be God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ.{{Cite journal |last1=Lambert |first1=Neal E. |last2=Cracroft |first2=Richard H. |date=1980 |title=Literary Form and Historical Understanding: Joseph Smith's First Vision |journal=Journal of Mormon History |volume=7 |issn=0094-7342 |page=38|jstor=23285961 }}}} This vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in human history since the resurrection of Jesus.{{Citation |last=Allen |first=James B. |author-link=James B. Allen (historian) |title=The Significance of Joseph Smith's First Vision in Mormon Thought |journal=Dialogue |year=1966 |volume=1 |issue=3 |doi=10.2307/45223817 |jstor=45223817 |s2cid=222223353 |doi-access=free |page=29}}

On June 27, 1844, Smith and his brother, Hyrum, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois,{{rp|393–394}} while being held on charges of treason.{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4208 |contribution= Smith, Joseph: Legal Trials of Joseph Smith |first= Joseph I. |last= Bentley |pages= 1346–1348 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= September 23, 2014 |archive-date= November 15, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141115202830/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4208 |url-status= live }} Because Hyrum was Joseph's designated successor, their deaths caused a succession crisis,{{rp|143}}{{rp|398}} and Brigham Young assumed leadership over a majority of the church's membership.{{rp|556–557}}

Other splinter groups followed other leaders around this time. These groups have no affiliation with the LDS Church,{{rp|198–211}} 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, 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 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.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Columbia Encyclopedia|edition=6th|title=Community of Christ|publisher=Columbia University Press|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/community-christ|access-date=July 3, 2021|quote=The doctrines of the church are derived from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the Doctrine and Covenants (recognized revelations to church leaders). Brigham Young and his position on polygamy are rejected; there are other beliefs and practices they do not share with the Mormons, including the ordination of women.|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604051911/https://www.encyclopedia.com/reference/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/community-christ|url-status=live}}{{cite encyclopedia|title=Other Mormons|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of American Religions|publisher=Gale|url= https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/other-mormons |access-date=June 3, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604051909/https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/other-mormons|url-status=live}}

File:BrighamYoung1.jpg 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,{{cite web|title=Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail: History & Culture|url=https://www.nps.gov/mopi/learn/historyculture/index.htm |access-date=June 23, 2023 |publisher=U.S. National Park Service|quote=The great Mormon migration of 1846–1847 was but one step in the LDS' quest for religious freedom and growth.}} which at the time had been part of the lands of the Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone nations, and claimed by Mexico until 1848.{{refn|{{cite book|last=Farmer|first=Jared|title=On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians, and the American Landscape|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eoMI5YWu1gsC |year=2008|publication-place=Cambridge, MA|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-03671-0 |author-link=Jared Farmer |via=Google Books |url-access=limited}}{{rp|28, 249–250, 365}}{{Citation | last = Defa | first = Dennis R. | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = Goshute Indians | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/g/GOSHUTE_INDIANS.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240222140154/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/g/GOSHUTE_INDIANS.shtml | archive-date = February 22, 2024 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = April 9, 2024}}}} Around 80,000 settlers arrived between 1847 and 1869, who then branched out and colonized a large region now known as the Mormon Corridor. Meanwhile, efforts to globalize the church began in earnest around this time, with missionaries being sent off to the Sandwich Islands (present-day Hawaii), India, Chile, Australia, China, South Africa, and all over Europe.{{cite book |last= |first= |author-link= |date= 2020|title= The Palgrave Handbook of Global Mormonism|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=YbwIEAAAQBAJ |location= |publisher=Springer International Publishing|editor= A. Gary Shepherd |editor2=R. Gordon Shepherd |editor3=Ryan T. Cragun |pages= 5–6|isbn= 9783030526160}}

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.

File:Pioneers Crossing the Plains of Nebraska by C.C.A. Christensen.png crossing the plains of Nebraska]]

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.{{cite book|last=Tullidge |first=Edward W. |title=History of Salt Lake City| pages=132–135|date=1886 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fNkBAAAAMAAJ |publisher=Star Printing Company |location=Salt Lake City, Utah}} 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 Mormon violence during this conflict 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.{{Cite book|last=Bowman|first=Matthew|url=https://archive.org/details/mormonpeoplemaki00bowm_0/|title=The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith | publisher=Random House|year=2012|isbn=978-0-679-64490-3|location=New York|url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive}}{{rp|120–123}} After the massacre was discovered, the church became the target of significant media criticism for it.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=American Eras|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mormons|title=The Mormons|access-date=June 15, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624195425/https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/mormons|url-status=live|via=Encyclopedia.com}}

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.{{Cite book| last1=Firmage| first1=Edwin Brown| last2=Mangrum| first2=Richard Collin| title=Zion in the Courts: A Legal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1830–1900| page=140| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9AimifP2a-4C&pg=PR7| isbn=0-252-06980-3| publisher=University of Illinois Press| year=2002| access-date=September 27, 2020| archive-date=October 24, 2021| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211024045953/https://books.google.com/books?id=9AimifP2a-4C&pg=PR7| url-status=live |via=Google Books}} 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 Wakara's War,{{Cite thesis |last=Wimmer |first=Ryan |title=The Walker War Reconsidered |date=2010-12-13 |degree=Master of History |publisher=Brigham Young University |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2461}} ([https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3460&context=etd PDF.]) the Bear River Massacre.,{{Cite journal |last=Woodworth-Ney |first=Laura |date=2008 |title=Review of 'The Bear River Massacre and the Making of History'|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/17/article/231175 |journal=The American Indian Quarterly |publisher=University of Nebraska Press|volume=32 |issue=1 |page=113 |doi=10.1353/aiq.2008.0010 |issn=1534-1828|url-access=subscription }} and the Black Hawk War[https://blackhawkproductions.com The Black Hawk War in Utah, by Phillip B. Gottfredson] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070406170908/http://www.blackhawkwarutah.com/Indian%20Depredations%20In%20Utah2.html|date=April 6, 2007}}

After Young's death in 1877, he was followed in the church presidency by John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff successively, 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, Woodruff issued a manifesto that officially suspended the performance of new polygamous marriages in the United States.{{lds|Official Declaration —|od|1}} 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. Some fundamentalist groups with relatively small memberships have broken off and continue to practice polygamy, but the Church distances itself from them.{{cite encyclopedia |contribution =Fundamentalists |last=Anderson|first=J. Max|date=1992|access-date=June 3, 2021|contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/%22Fundamentalists%22|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604053452/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/%22Fundamentalists%22|url-status=live |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 }}{{cite encyclopedia|title=Polygamy-Practicing|encyclopedia=Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions|publisher=Gale|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/polygamy-practicing-0|access-date=June 3, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604053442/https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/polygamy-practicing-0|url-status=live|via=Encyclopedia.com}}

File:Washington_D.C._Temple_At_Dusk.jpg 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. In 2000, the church reported over 60,000 missionaries and global church membership stood at just over 11 million.{{Cite web |last=Bailey |first=Michael |date=March 23, 2001 |title=God's Army: Mormon Missionaries| publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/2001/08/03/august-3-2001-gods-army-mormon-missionaries/12527/ |access-date=June 25, 2023 }} Nominal worldwide membership surpassed 16 million in 2018. Slightly under half of church membership lives within the U.S.{{cite news |author-link= Peggy Fletcher Stack |first= Peggy |last= Fletcher Stack |url= http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50253113-76/church-lds-says-news.html.csp |title= LDS Church ramps up on global stage |newspaper= The Salt Lake Tribune |date= September 14, 2010 |access-date= March 15, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110629054321/http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50253113-76/church-lds-says-news.html.csp |archive-date= June 29, 2011 |url-status= live }} Academics have called the denomination a Restorationist church,{{Cite journal |last=Morris |first=Paul |date=2019 |title=Temporal and Spiritual Self-Reliance: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Development in the South Pacific |url=https://sites.otago.ac.nz/Sites/article/view/429 |journal=Sites: A Journal of Social Anthropology and Cultural Studies |series=New Series |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=70–94 |doi=10.11157/sites-id429}} a new religious movement,{{Cite book |last=Chryssides |first=George D. |title=Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements |publisher=Scarecrow Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-8108-6194-7 |pages=90–91 |language=en |chapter=Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}} and a potential world religion.{{Cite book |last=Stark |first=Rodney |author-link=Rodney Stark |title=Mormons and Mormonism: An Introduction to an American World Religion |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2001 |isbn=0-252-02609-8 |editor-last=Eliason |editor-first=Eric A. |pages=207–242 |language=en |chapter=The Basis of Mormon Success: A Theoretical Application}}

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,{{cite web |url= https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/mormon-political-clout |title= Mormon Political Clout |publisher= Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs |agency=Georgetown University |location=Washington, D.C.|date= August 14, 2018 |access-date= June 9, 2021 |archive-date= June 9, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210609165317/https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/mormon-political-clout |url-status= live }} the Equal Rights Amendment, legalized gambling, same-sex marriage,{{rp|2}} and physician-assisted death.{{cite web |title=Religious Groups' Views on End-of-Life Issues |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/11/21/religious-groups-views-on-end-of-life-issues/ |publisher=Pew Research Center |date=November 21, 2013}}

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;{{rp|70}} members of all races can now be ordained to the priesthood. Also, 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 such as Catholic Relief Services, as well as secular organizations like Care International.{{cite news|url=http://www.icatholic.org/article/catholic-relief-services-recognizes-church-of-jesus-5673287| publisher=Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City |newspaper=Intermountain Catholic|date=June 15, 2007|title=Catholic Relief Services recognizes Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with Deus Caritas Est Award|access-date=June 9, 2021|archive-date=June 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609172831/http://www.icatholic.org/article/catholic-relief-services-recognizes-church-of-jesus-5673287|url-status=live}} From 1913 to 2020 the church was 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,{{Cite news |last=Eckholm |first=Erik |date=October 18, 2012 |title=As Partners, Mormons and Scouts Turn Boys Into Men |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/us/mormons-and-scouts-act-as-partners-in-molding-boys.html |access-date=June 25, 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221124025336/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/us/mormons-and-scouts-act-as-partners-in-molding-boys.html |archive-date=November 24, 2022 |url-status=live |via=Internet Archive}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/09/mormon-church-breaks-all-ties-with-boy-scouts-ending-100-year-relationship/|newspaper=The Washington Post|title=Mormon Church breaks all ties with Boy Scouts, ending 100-year relationship|access-date=January 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109223112/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/05/09/mormon-church-breaks-all-ties-with-boy-scouts-ending-100-year-relationship/|archive-date=January 9, 2020|url-status=live}} (LDS Scouts made up nearly 20 percent of all enrolled Boy Scouts) but in 2020, the church ended its relationship with the BSA and began an alternate, religion-centered youth program, which replaced all other youth programs.{{Cite news |last=Harkens |first=Paighten |date=May 8, 2018 |title=Mormon church to cut ties with Boy Scouts and start its own gospel-driven youth program |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/05/09/mormon-church-to-cut-ties-with-boy-scouts-and-start-its-own-gospel-driven-youth-program/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307202414/https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/05/09/mormon-church-to-cut-ties-with-boy-scouts-and-start-its-own-gospel-driven-youth-program/ |archive-date=March 7, 2023 |via=Internet Archive}}

During the second half of the 20th century and early 21st, the church has responded to various challenges to its doctrine and authority. Challenges have included rising secularization,{{cite journal|title=The Secular Transition: The Worldwide Growth of Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Seventh-day Adventists|journal=Sociology of Religion|publisher=Oxford University Press |date=April 9, 2010| citeseerx=10.1.1.1024.4345|url= https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1024.4345&rep=rep1&type=pdf|access-date=June 18, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200752/https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.1024.4345&rep=rep1&type=pdf|url-status=live}}{{cite web|work=Psychology Today|first=Phil|last=Zuckerman|title=Secularization Hits the Mormons|url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-secular-life/201905/secularization-hits-the-mormons|date=May 6, 2019|access-date=June 18, 2021|archive-date=September 24, 2019|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20190924012644/https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the%2Dsecular%2Dlife/201905/secularization%2Dhits%2Dthe%2Dmormons|url-status=live}} challenges to the correctness of the translation of the Book of Abraham,{{cite journal|journal=Dialogue |date=Winter 1989|first=Karl C.|last=Sandberg|title=Knowing Brother Joseph Again: The Book of Abraham, and Joseph Smith as Translator|volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=17–37 |doi=10.2307/45228258 |jstor=45228258 |s2cid=254389117 |doi-access=free}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/podcasts/dialogue-topic-pages-5-the-book-of-abraham/ |title=Dialogue Topic Pages #5: The Book of Abraham |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624200242/https://www.dialoguejournal.com/podcasts/dialogue-topic-pages-5-the-book-of-abraham/ |archive-date=June 24, 2021|publisher=Dialogue}} and primary documents forged by Mark Hofmann purporting to contradict important aspects of official early church history.{{cite book |last=Lindsey |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Lindsey (journalist) |title=A Gathering of Saints: A True Story of Money, Murder, and Deceit |year=1988 |publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=0-671-65112-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gatheringofsai00lind |via=Internet Archive}}

{{Main|Beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

{{See also|Articles of Faith (Latter Day Saints)|List of proclamations of the First Presidency}}

File:Christus statue temple square salt lake city.jpg of Jesus, as depicted in this replica of Bertel Thorvaldsen's Christus statue located in the North Visitors' Center on Temple Square in Salt Lake City.]]

{{see also|God in Mormonism|Heavenly Mother (Mormonism)}}

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. 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.{{Cite book|last1=Paulsen|first1=David L.|url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199778362.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199778362|title=The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism|last2=Boyd|first2=Hal R.|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2015|isbn=978-0-19-977836-2|editor-last=Givens|editor-first=Terryl L.|editor-link=Terryl Givens|location=New York|page=253 |chapter=The Nature of God in Mormon Thought|doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199778362.001.0001|quote=Therefore, the Mormon conception of the Godhead is more akin to what contemporary Christian theologians call Social Trinitarianism.|editor-last2=Barlow|editor-first2=Philip L.|editor-link2=Philip Barlow|chapter-url=https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199778362.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199778362-e-18|url-access=subscription}} The church also believes 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.{{Cite encyclopedia|last=Dahl|first=Paul E. |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |pages=552–553|contribution=Godhead|contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Godhead}}

According to statements by church leaders, God sits at the head of the human family and is married to a Heavenly Mother, who is the mother of human spirits.{{cite book |last1=Wilcox |first1=Linda |title=Sisters in Spirit: Mormon Women in Historical and Cultural Perspective |chapter=The Mormon Concept of a Mother in Heaven |year=1992 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Champaign |isbn=0-252-06296-5 |pages=64–66 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T6bHN1Ka12cC&pg=PA64 |via=Google Books}} However, church leaders have also categorically discouraged prayers to her and counseled against speculation regarding her.{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |date=March 26, 2022 |title='I wish we knew more' – As LDS leaders warn against praying to Heavenly Mother, questions persist |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/03/26/i-wish-we-knew-more-lds/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230322195413/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/03/26/i-wish-we-knew-more-lds/ |archive-date=March 22, 2023 |url-access=limited |via=Internet Archive}}

Church members believe in Jesus Christ as the literal Son of God and Messiah, his crucifixion as a conclusion of a sin offering, and his subsequent resurrection.{{Cite news |date=October 2, 2009 |title=God: An explantation of Mormon beliefs about God |work=BBC |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/beliefs/god_1.shtml#h3 |access-date=June 25, 2023}}{{rp|171–172}} However, Latter-day Saints reject the ecumenical creeds and the definition of the Trinity.{{Cite news |last=Willingham |first=A. J. |date=April 29, 2023 |title=What do Mormons believe? |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/29/us/mormon-beliefs-explained-cec/index.html |access-date=June 25, 2023}} Jesus is also seen as the elder brother of all who live in this world.{{Cite book |last=Turner |first=John G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GZK-CwAAQBAJ |title=The Mormon Jesus: A Biography |date=2016|publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-73743-3}}{{rp|155}}

The church teaches that Jesus performed a substitutionary atonement.{{cite web |date=October 5, 2009 |title=Salvation and Atonement |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/beliefs/salvation_1.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210422202351/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/beliefs/salvation_1.shtml |archive-date=April 22, 2021 |access-date=April 23, 2021 |website=bbc.co.uk/religion}} In contrast with other Christian denominations, the church teaches this atonement began in the garden of Gethsemane and continued to his crucifixion (rather than the orthodox belief that the crucifixion alone was the physical atonement).{{rp|178, 291}} The church also teaches that Jesus appeared to other peoples after his death, including spirits of the dead in the spirit world,{{rp|211}} and Indigenous Americans.{{Cite news |last=Harris |first=Dan |date=August 22, 2012 |title=What Do Mormons Believe? |work=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/mormons-/story?id=17057679 |access-date=June 25, 2023}}

The church also teaches that Jesus is the true founder and leader of the church itself."Today members preach that the Lord has indeed restored His Church with living apostles and prophets, starting with the founding prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Joseph Smith." [https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-101 Latter-day Saints 101: What Church Members Believe. Newsroom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. N.d. Accessed July 29, 2023.] The physical establishment of the church by Smith in 1830 is seen as simply the reestablishment of the same primitive church that existed under Jesus and his Apostles.{{rp|37}} Similarly, the church teaches that Jesus leads the church presently through its apostles and prophets,[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2020/03/the-lord-leads-his-church-through-prophets-and-apostles?lang=eng The Lord Leads His Church through Prophets and Apostles.] Dallin H. Oaks. Ensign, March 2020. especially its current president.{{rp|38}}

{{main|Mormonism and Nicene Christianity}}

The LDS Church shares various teachings with other branches of Christianity. These include a belief in the Bible,{{cite encyclopedia|title=Mormonism|last=Mason|first=Patrick Q.|encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion|series=Oxford Research Encyclopedias |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=2015|doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.75|isbn=978-0-19-934037-8}} the divinity of Jesus, his atonement and resurrection, and a form of apostolic succession.{{efn|However, the Catholic Church considers doctrinal differences between the two groups to be so great that it will not accept a prior LDS baptism as evidence of Christian initiation, as it will baptism by other Christian groups, such as the Eastern Orthodox and Protestant churches.{{Cite news |last=Stammer |first=Larry B. |date=July 20, 2001 |title=Vatican Will Not Accept Mormon Baptisms |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-jul-20-mn-24451-story.html |access-date=June 23, 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/question-of-validity-of-baptism-conferred-in-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latterday-saints-10098 |title=The Question of the Validity of Baptism Conferred in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints|first=Luis|last=Ladaria |publisher=EWTN|access-date=June 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706222609/https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/library/question-of-validity-of-baptism-conferred-in-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latterday-saints-10098 |archive-date= July 6, 2022|url-status=live}} The LDS Church, in its turn, does not accept baptisms performed in any other churches, as it teaches that baptism is only valid when it is conducted through proper priesthood authority.{{Cite book |last=MacKay |first=Michael Hubbard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T9fTDwAAQBAJ |title=Prophetic Authority: Democratic Hierarchy and the Mormon Priesthood |date=2020|publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-05187-6 |pages=32–34}}{{cite book |last1=Prince |first1=Greg |author-link=Gregory Prince |title=Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood |date=1995 |publisher=Signature Books |chapter=Ordinances: The Second Anointing |location=Salt Lake City |isbn=978-1-56085-071-7 |chapter-url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/power-from-on-high-06/|via=Internet Archive|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817204045/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/power-from-on-high-06/|archive-date=August 17, 2022}}{{rp|41}}}}

Nevertheless, the LDS Church differs from other churches within contemporary Christianity in other ways. Differences between the LDS Church and most of traditional Christianity include disagreement about the nature of God, belief in a theory of human salvation that includes three heavens, a doctrine of exaltation which includes the ability of humans to become gods and goddesses in the afterlife, a belief in continuing revelation and an open scriptural canon, and unique ceremonies performed privately in temples, such as the endowment and sealing ceremonies. A number of major Christian denominations view the LDS Church as standing apart from creedal Christianity.{{efn|Examples include the Catholic Church,{{Cite web |url= https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20010605_battesimo_mormoni_en.html |title="Response to a 'dubium' on the validity of baptism conferred by 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints', called 'Mormons{{'"}}|publisher=Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith|date=June 5, 2001|first=Joseph|last=Ratzinger|access-date=August 15, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060814140809/http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20010605_battesimo_mormoni_en.html|archive-date=August 14, 2006|url-status=live}} Eastern Orthodox Church,{{Cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/cultswithinwithout.aspx|title=Cults Within & Without|work=Orthodox America|first=Alexey|last=Young|date=March–April 1996|access-date=June 19, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100929151046/http://orthodoxinfo.com/praxis/cultswithinwithout.aspx|archive-date=September 29, 2010|url-status=live}} U.S. Presbyterian Church,{{Cite book |last1=Ankerberg |first1=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tNHK6NkTk8IC |title=Fast Facts on Mormonism |last2=Weldon |first2=John |year=2003 |publisher=Harvest House Publishers |isbn=978-0-7369-3579-1 |via=Google Books|page=90|quote=Mormonism is a new and emerging religious tradition distinct from the historic apostolic tradition of the Christian Church}} US Evangelical Lutheran Church,{{Cite web|url=https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Do_Lutherans_rebaptize_former_Mormons_who_are_joining_the_congregation.pdf |publisher=Evangelical Lutheran Church in America |title=Do Lutherans re-baptize former Mormons who are joining the congregation? |access-date=June 23, 2023|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230620042936/https://download.elca.org/ELCA%20Resource%20Repository/Do_Lutherans_rebaptize_former_Mormons_who_are_joining_the_congregation.pdf |archive-date=June 20, 2023 |quote=[LDS doctrine on the Trinity is] substantially different from that of orthodox, creedal Christianity ....}} and the U.S. Episcopal Church.{{Cite web|url=http://www.getreligion.org/?p=847|title=Latter-day politics|first=Douglas|last=LeBlanc|work=GetReligion|publisher=Terry Mattingly|date=June 13, 2005|access-date=November 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928222845/http://www.getreligion.org/?p=847|archive-date=September 28, 2007|url-status=live}}}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/february/14.18.html |title=Winning them softly|first=John W.|last=Kennedy|date=February 2004|volume=48|issue=2|magazine=Christianity Today|access-date=October 7, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061014024052/http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/february/14.18.html|archive-date=October 14, 2006|url-status=live |url-access=subscription}} However, church members self-identify as Christians.{{cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/01/12/mormons-in-america-executive-summary/ |title=Mormons in America: Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521004033/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/01/12/mormons-in-america-executive-summary/ |archive-date=May 21, 2023 |publisher=Pew Research Center |url-status=live |date=September 24, 2015 |quote=Mormons are nearly unanimous in describing Mormonism as a Christian religion, with 97% expressing this point of view.|page=10}}

The faith itself views other modern Christian faiths as having departed from true Christianity by way of a general apostasy and maintains that it is a restoration of 1st-century Christianity and the only true and authorized Christian church. Church leaders assert it is the only true church and that other churches do not have the authority to act in Jesus' name.{{efn|According to Joseph Smith, Jesus told him that the other churches claiming to be Christian creeds "were an abomination in the Lords sight; that those professors [of religion] were all corrupt".{{Cite news |last=O'Hehir |first=Andrew |date=December 6, 2007 |title=This is not Romney's Kennedy moment |url=https://www.salon.com/2007/12/06/romney_ohehir/ |website=Salon.com }}{{Cite magazine |last=Wright |first=Lawrence |date=January 22, 2002 |title=Mormonism's Troubled Legacy |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/01/21/lives-of-the-saints |magazine=The New Yorker |issn=0028-792X |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230409054004/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/01/21/lives-of-the-saints |archive-date=April 9, 2023| url-status=live |via=Internet Archive}}}}

{{main|Mormon cosmology|Plan of salvation in Mormonism}}

{{see also|Degrees of Glory|Exaltation (Mormonism)|Premortal life (Latter Day Saints)}}

The church's cosmology and plan of salvation include the doctrines of a pre-existence,{{Cite journal |journal=Dialogue |publisher=University of Illinois Press |title=Premortal Spirits: Implications for Cloning, Abortion, Evolution, and Extinction |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/premortal-spirits-implications-for-cloning-abortion-evolution-and-extinction/ |page=47 |last=Condie |first=Kent C. |volume=39 |issue=1 |date=Spring 2006}}{{cite journal|last=Ostler|first=Blake|author-link=Blake Ostler|year=1982|title=The Idea of Pre-Existence in the Development of Mormon Thought|url=https://dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V15N01_61.pdf|journal=Dialogue|publisher=University of Illinois Press|volume=15|issue=1|pages=59, 73–74}} 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, 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.{{cite book |last=Bushman |first=Richard | author-link=Richard Bushman |year=2008 |series=Very Short Introductions|title=Mormonism: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-531030-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6m059lR04IoC}}{{rp|74}} This view on the doctrine of theosis is also referred to as becoming a "joint-heir with Christ".{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last1=Ludlow |editor-first1=Daniel H. |editor-link=Daniel H. Ludlow |last1=Carter |first1=K. Codell | encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |date=1992 |publisher=Macmillan Publishers |contribution=Godhood | location=New York |isbn=978-0-02-904040-9 |pages=553, 555 |contribution-url=https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/3734|quote=They [resurrected and perfected mortals] will dwell again with God the Father, and live and act like him in endless worlds of happiness ... above all they will have the power of procreating endless lives. ... Those who become like him will likewise contribute to this eternal process by adding further spirit offspring to the eternal family. |via=BYU}} 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.

According to LDS Church theology, men and women may be sealed to one another so that their marital bond continues into the eternities.{{efn|A man may be sealed to more than one wife if his previous wives are either dead or legally divorced from him; a living woman, however, may only be sealed to one husband.{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |date=November 24, 2019 |title=Polygamy lives on in LDS temples, spurring agony, angst and a key question: Who will be married to whom in heaven? |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/11/24/polygamy-lives-lds/ |access-date=June 25, 2023 |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |url-access=limited |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230321042757/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/11/24/polygamy-lives-lds/ |archive-date=March 21, 2023 |url-status=live |via=Internet Archive}} Thus, there is a common view within the LDS Church that though prohibited by the LDS Church in mortality, polygamy or "plural marriage" will exist in the afterlife.{{Cite book |last=Burge |first=Charles Ormsby |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YfEDAAAAMAAJ |title=The Adventures of a Civil Engineer: Fifty Years on Five Continents |date=1909 |publisher=Alston Rivers |via=Google Books |pages=235–236}} "In the case of a man marrying a wife in the everlasting covenant who dies while he continues in the flesh and marries another by the same divine law, each wife will come forth in her order and enter with him into his glory." Joseph Fielding Smith, then an apostle, stated in 1939 "my wives will be mine in eternity" in reference to his two deceased and one living partners.{{cite book|title=Aaronic Priesthood: Manual 3|chapter=Celestial Marriage – A Preparation for Eternity|page=138 |publisher=LDS Church |date=1995 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/34822_eng.pdf?lang=eng}}}} 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.{{efn|Children born to biological parents who have been sealed to each other are considered "born in the covenant" and need not be sealed to their parents.{{cite encyclopedia |last= Cottrell |first= Ralph L. |contribution= Born in the Covenant |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5557 |page= 218 |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= January 20, 2016 |archive-date= March 14, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160314031732/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5557 |url-status= live }}}}{{cite encyclopedia |last= Hyer |first= Paul V. |author-link= Paul Hyer |contribution= Sealing: Temple Sealings |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4177 |pages= 1289–1290 |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= January 20, 2016 |archive-date= April 18, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160418185507/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4177 |url-status= live }}{{cite encyclopedia |last= Thomas |first= Ryan L. |contribution= Adoption of Children |contribution-url= http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5451 |pages= 20–21 |editor-last= Ludlow |editor-first= Daniel H |editor-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |year= 1992 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= January 20, 2016 |archive-date= April 18, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160418130020/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/5451 |url-status= live }} 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.{{Cite web |date=October 8, 2009 |title=Baptism for the Dead |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/ritesrituals/baptismdead.shtml |publisher=BBC}}{{Cite book |last=Jackson |first=Andrew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pIMACOruWRoC&pg=PA189 |title=The Mormon Faith of Mitt Romney: What Latter-Day Saints Teach and Practice |year=2012 |publisher=Kudu Publishing |isbn=978-0-9849294-1-2 |pages=189–190}}

Within church cosmology, the fall of Adam and Eve is seen positively. The church teaches that it was essential to allow humankind to experience separation from God, to exercise full agency in making decisions for their own happiness.{{Cite book |last=Givens |first=Terryl L. |author-link=Terryl Givens |chapter-url=http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794928.001.0001/acprof-9780199794928 |chapter=Wrestling the Angel |title=The Foundations of Mormon Thought: Cosmos, God, Humanity |year=2014|publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-979492-8 |doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199794928.003.0018 |page=176}}{{Cite journal |last=Morgan |first=Jacob |date=April 1, 2006 |title=The Divine-Infusion Theory: Rethinking the Atonement |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V39N01_65.pdf |journal=Dialogue |volume=39 |issue=1 |page=76 |doi=10.2307/45227309 |jstor=45227309 |s2cid=254388672 |issn=0012-2157}}{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/5455 |contribution= Agency |first= C. Terry |last= Warner |pages= 26–27 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= September 23, 2014 |archive-date= November 15, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141115202830/http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/EoM/id/4208 |url-status= live |via=BYU}}

{{main|Restoration (Mormonism)}}

File:Joseph Smith first vision stained glass.jpg was called to be a modern-day prophet through a visitation from God the Father and Jesus Christ.]]

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.{{cite book|title=Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service|publisher= LDS Church|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/36617_eng.pdf|access-date=May 14, 2021|archive-date=March 10, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210310070216/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/36617_eng.pdf|url-status=live}}{{rp|33}} The "Restoration"—as begun by Joseph Smith and embodied in the church itself—refers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ.{{Cite web |title=American Prophet, The Church: Beliefs and Doctrines |url=https://www.pbs.org/americanprophet/core-beliefs.html |access-date=June 30, 2023 |website=PBS}}{{cite news|last1=Shipps|first1=Jan|editor1-last=Hughes|editor1-first=Richard T.|date=1988|title=The Reality of the Restoration and the Restoration Ideal in the Mormon Tradition|work=The American Quest for the Primitive Church|publisher=University of Illinois Press |location= Champaign|isbn= 978-0-252-06029-8|url= https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/76agz7nq9780252060298.html |pages=181–195|access-date=April 16, 2021|archive-date=April 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416192825/https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/76agz7nq9780252060298.html|url-status=live}} 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.{{cite book|last=Russell |first=Thomas A. |date=2010 |title=Comparative Christianity: A Student's Guide to a Religion and Its Diverse Traditions |location=Irvine, CA |publisher= Universal Publishers| quote=Mormon Restorationism is the largest indigenous religious movement found in North America. Among its member churches are the approximately 100 or so groups that trace their roots |chapter=Joseph Smith, Jr. and Mormon Restorationism| page=151 |isbn=978-1-59942-877-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FmMarHDbglgC |via=Google Books}}

{{see also|President of the Church (LDS Church)|First Presidency (LDS Church)|Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (LDS Church)|Seventy (LDS Church)|Presiding Bishop (LDS Church)|Relief Society|Sunday School (LDS Church)|Young Women (organization)|Young Men (organization)|Primary (LDS Church)}}

File:Russell M Nelson (cropped).jpg, president of the church since 2018.]]

The church is led by a president. Within the church, he is referred to as "the Prophet." He is considered to be a "prophet, seer and revelator," and is 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.{{Cite news|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=51489143&itype=CMSID|title=Infallible? Mormons told to 'follow the prophet'|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date=June 4, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604063323/https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=51489143&itype=CMSID|url-status=live}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://religiondispatches.org/the-mormon-version-of-infallibility/|title=The Mormon Version of Infallibility|first=Holly|last=Welker|date=March 24, 2014|magazine=Religion Dispatches|access-date=June 4, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604063332/https://religiondispatches.org/the-mormon-version-of-infallibility/|url-status=live}} In any case, modern declarations with broad doctrinal implications are often issued by joint statement of the First Presidency; they may be joined by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as well.{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lineuponlineessa0000unse/page/n8/mode/1up |title=Line Upon Line: Essays on Mormon Doctrine |date=1989 |publisher=Signature Books |isbn=978-0-941214-69-8 |editor-last=Bergera |editor-first=Gary James |pages=vii–ix |url-access=registration |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite encyclopedia | contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Proclamations_of_the_First_Presidency_and_the_Quorum_of_the_Twelve_Apostles | contribution= Proclamations of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles |last=Matthews |first=Robert J. |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date=June 4, 2021 |archive-date=June 4, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604061553/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Proclamations_of_the_First_Presidency_and_the_Quorum_of_the_Twelve_Apostles |url-status=live }} Church members believe Joseph Smith was the first modern-day prophet.{{cite journal|last1=Lyon|first1=Stephanie J.|title=Psychotherapy and the Mormon Faith|journal=Journal of Religion & Health |volume=52|issue=2|year=2013|pages=622–630|issn=0022-4197|doi=10.1007/s10943-013-9677-2|pmid=23337975|s2cid=29536957 |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |location=Berlin|url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10943-013-9677-2|url-access=subscription}} Following the death of church president Thomas S. Monson on January 2, 2018,{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/obituaries/thomas-monson-dies.html|title=Thomas Monson, President of the Mormon Church, Dies at 90|first=Robert D.|last=McFadden|newspaper=The New York Times |date=January 3, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2021|archive-date=June 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190614202751/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/obituaries/thomas-monson-dies.html|url-status=live}} senior apostle Russell M. Nelson was announced as president on January 16.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/16/578311260/mormon-church-names-russell-m-nelson-as-new-leader|work=NPR|title=Mormon Church Names Russell M. Nelson As New Leader|date=January 16, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604070249/https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/16/578311260/mormon-church-names-russell-m-nelson-as-new-leader|url-status=live}}

Normally, the president chooses two other ordained apostles to serve alongside him in the First Presidency, the presiding body of the church; twelve other apostles form the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.{{Cite web |date=November 10, 2009 |title=Mormon: Leadership |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/organisation/org.shtml |access-date=June 26, 2023 |website=BBC}} When a president dies, his successor is chosen from the remaining apostles. By longstanding convention, the longest-tenured apostle becomes the next president of the church.{{cite journal |last1=Heath |first1=Steven H. |title=Notes on Apostolic Succession |journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought |date=1987 |volume=20 |issue=2 |pages=44–57 |doi=10.2307/45216003 |jstor=45216003 |url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/215f495b34155569fb014a0512c2f8f2/1?cbl=48252&pq-origsite=gscholar |access-date=14 March 2025}} In recent years, this process has contributed to the church's leadership being of increasingly advanced age.{{cite journal |last1=Prince |first1=Gregory A. |last2=Bush Jr |first2=Lester E. |last3=Rushforth |first3=Brent N. |title=Gerontocracy and the Future of Mormonism |journal=Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought |date=2016 |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=89–108 |doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.49.3.0089 |url=https://scholarlypublishingcollective.org/uip/dial/article/49/3/89/249268/Gerontocracy-and-the-Future-of-Mormonism |access-date=14 March 2025|url-access=subscription }}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/us/for-mormons-succession-monson.html|newspaper=The New York Times|title=For Mormons, Succession Drama is Against their Religion|date=January 3, 2018|access-date=June 4, 2021|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604070833/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/us/for-mormons-succession-monson.html|url-status=live}}

New apostles are chosen by the church president after the death of an existing apostle.{{Cite news|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/10/01/how-a-new-mormon-apostle-is-chosen/|title=How a new Mormon apostle is chosen|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=October 1, 2017|access-date=December 27, 2023}} The First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, first two Quorums of Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric make up the general authorities of the church. The general presidencies of the church-wide Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Women, Young Men, and Primary organizations make up the general officers of the church.{{cite web |title=General Church Leadership |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/global-leadership-of-the-church?lang=eng |website=Gospel Topics and Questions |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |access-date=14 March 2025}} 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 Sunday School and Young Men.

{{See also|Marriage in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Gender minorities and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

File:Phil and Marlene.jpg in the Manti Utah Temple. The church teaches that marriages, or sealings, performed in their temples may continue after death.]]

The church and its members consider marriage and family highly important, with emphasis placed on large, nuclear families. In 1995, the church's First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve issued "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", which asserts the importance of a heterosexual, nuclear 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 roles as "equal partners" in raising children, that "children are entitled to birth within the bonds of matrimony", and that successful marriages and happy families are most likely established when founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ.{{refn|{{Cite book |last1=Petrey |first1=Taylor G.|author1-link=Taylor G. Petrey |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6XgDwAAQBAJ |title=The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender |last2=Hoyt |first2=Amy |year=2020 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-18158-7 |pages=11, 61, 435}}{{rp|52–54}}{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=October 14, 2015 |title=After 20 years, Mormonism's family proclamation is quoted, praised, parsed and politicked |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/mormon/2015/10/14/after-20-years-mormonisms-family-proclamation-is-quoted-praised-parsed-and-politicked/ |access-date=June 26, 2023}}}} The proclamation also promotes specific roles essential to maintaining the strength of the family unit—the traditional roles of a husband and father as the family's breadwinner and those of a wife and mother as a nurturing caregiver. It concludes by inviting its audience to "promote those measures designed to maintain and strengthen the family as the fundamental unit of society".{{cite web|publisher=Encyclopedia.com|title=Mormons|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/christianity/protestant-denominations/mormons|access-date=June 22, 2023 |date= 2018|archive-date=March 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307052950/https://www.encyclopedia.com/philosophy-and-religion/christianity/protestant-denominations/mormons|url-status=live}} Senior church leaders have continued to emphasize conservative teachings on marriage and gender to the present time.[https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2023/10/02/mormon-general-conference-gender-marriage-eternity Mormon leaders double down on gender and marriage. Axios Salt Lake City. October 2, 2023. Accessed October 5, 2023.]

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

{{See also|Standard works}}

File:Latter-day Saint Scripture Quadruple Combination.jpg

The theology of the LDS Church consists of a combination of biblical doctrines with modern revelations and other commentary by LDS leaders, particularly Joseph Smith. The most authoritative sources of theology are the faith's canon of four religious texts, called the "standard works". Included in the standard works are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the D&C and the Pearl of Great Price.{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Standard_Works|contribution=Standard Works|last=Williams |first=Clyde J.|access-date=June 18, 2021|archive-date=June 24, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624203822/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Standard_Works|url-status=live}}

The Book of Mormon is a foundational sacred book for the church; the terms "Mormon" and "Mormonism" come from the name of the book itself. The LDS Church teaches that the Angel Moroni told Smith about golden plates containing the record, guided him to find them buried in the Hill Cumorah, and provided him the means of translating them from Reformed Egyptian. It claims to give a history of the inhabitants from a now-extinct society living on the American continent and their distinct Judeo-Christian teachings. The Book of Mormon is very important to modern Latter-day Saints, who consider it the world's most correct text.{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/legal-and-political-magazines/book-mormon|encyclopedia=Contemporary American Religion|isbn=9780028658803 |publisher=Gale|via=Encyclopedia.com |access-date=April 25, 2021|first=Jana |last=Riess |author-link=Jana Riess|title=Book of Mormon|archive-date=April 26, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210426014056/https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/legal-and-political-magazines/book-mormon|url-status=live}}

The Bible, also part of the church's canon, is believed to be the word of God—subject to an acknowledgment that its translation may be incorrect, or that authoritative sections may have been lost over the centuries. Most often, the church uses the Authorized King James Version. Two extended portions of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible have been canonized and are thus considered authoritative.{{efn|Joseph Smith–Matthew and the Book of Moses, containing translations and revelatory expansions of Matthew 24 and Genesis 1–7, respectively, are contained in the Pearl of Great Price.}} Additionally, over 600{{cite book|author1-link=Scott H. Faulring|author1-first=Scott H.|author1-last=Faulring|author2-link=Kent P. Jackson |author2-first=Kent P.|author2-last=Jackson| author3-link=Robert J. Matthews|author3-first=Robert J.| author3-last=Matthews| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u2RCAQAAIAAJ|title=Joseph Smith's New Translation of the Bible: Original Manuscripts |location=Provo|publisher =Religious Studies Center at BYU |date=2004 |page=39|isbn=978-1-59038-328-5 }} of the more doctrinally significant verses from the translation are included as excerpts in the current LDS Church edition of the Bible.{{Cite journal |last=Wayment |first=Thomas A. |date=2020 |title=Joseph Smith, Adam Clarke, and the Making of a Bible Revision |journal=Journal of Mormon History |volume=46 |issue=3 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.5406/jmormhist.46.3.0001 |issn=0094-7342 |jstor=10.5406/jmormhist.46.3.0001 |s2cid=219813091 }} Other revelations from Smith are found in the D&C, and in the Pearl of Great Price.

Another source of authoritative doctrine is the pronouncements of the current Apostles and members of the First Presidency. The church teaches that the First Presidency and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles are prophets{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Brent |date=March 18, 2022 |title=The Word – The foundation of apostles and prophets |url=https://www.farmvilleherald.com/2022/03/the-word-the-foundation-of-apostles-and-prophets/ |access-date=June 26, 2023 |newspaper=The Farmville Herald |location=Farmville, Virginia}} and that they are therefore authorized teachers of God's word.{{cite book|author-link=John A. Widtsoe|last=Widtsoe|first=John A.|date=1960|title=Evidences and Reconciliations|location=Salt Lake City|publisher=Bookcraft|pages=256–258|url=https://archive.org/details/evidencesreconci03widt |url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive}}

In addition to doctrine given by the church as a whole, individual members of the church believe that they can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives,{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/EoM/id/4134 |contribution= Revelation |first= Chauncey C. |last= Riddle |pages= 1226–1227 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= June 23, 2023 }} and in revealing truth to them, especially about spiritual matters. Generally, this is said to occur through thoughts and feelings from the Holy Ghost, in response to prayer.{{Cite journal |last=Mould |first=Tom |date=2009 |title=Narratives of Personal Revelation Among Latter-day Saints |volume=68 |pages=435–439 |journal=Western Folklore |issue=4 |jstor=25735256 |issn=0043-373X}} Similarly, the church teaches its members may receive individual guidance and counsel from God through blessings from priesthood holders. In particular, patriarchal blessings are considered special blessings that are received only once in the recipient's life, which are recorded, transcribed, and archived.{{rp|239}}

{{Main|Beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

{{main|Ordinance (Latter Day Saints)}}

{{Annotated image| image = Mormon baptism circa 1850s.png| image-width = 600| image-left = -280| image-top = -425| width = 250| height = 250| float = left

| annotations = | caption = Baptism by immersion is considered highly important in the LDS Church. This depiction from circa 1850 shows the all-white clothing used in the ordinance.}}

In the church, an ordinance is a sacred rite or ceremony that has spiritual and symbolic meanings, and is performed under priesthood authority.[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/ordinances?lang=eng Ordinances. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. N.D. Accessed March 31, 2025.] For some ordinances, the act is tied to a covenant between the ordinance recipient and God.{{cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/temples/ordinances-and-covenants?lang=eng|title=Why Ordinances and Covenants Matter|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|access-date=March 31, 2025 |quote=With each essential ordinance, we enter into solemn commitments with the Lord. The commitments we make when we receive an ordinance are called covenants.}}

The ordinance of baptism is believed to bind its participant to Jesus Christ, who saves them in their imperfection if they continually keep their promises to him.{{Cite web|title=Mormon: Baptism |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/ritesrituals/baptism.shtml|access-date=November 12, 2021| publisher=BBC News Online}} Baptism is performed by immersion, and is typically administered to children starting at age eight.

Church members believe that through the ordinances of temple sealing and temple endowment, anyone can reach the highest level of salvation in the celestial kingdom and eternally live in God's presence, continue as families, become gods, create worlds, and make spirit children over whom they will govern.{{cite journal |last1=Hales |first1=Brian |title='A Continuation of the Seeds': Joseph Smith and Spirit Birth |journal=Journal of Mormon History |publisher=University of Illinois Press |date=Fall 2012 |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=105–130 |doi=10.2307/23292634 |jstor=23292634 |s2cid=254493140 |quote=Today, an accepted doctrine of the [LDS Church] interprets verses in Doctrine and Covenants 132 as references to the birth of spirit offspring by exalted married couples in the celestial kingdom}}{{cite book |title=Gospel Fundamentals |year=2002 |publisher=LDS Church |location=Salt Lake City |page=201 |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/shared/content/english/pdf/language-materials/31129_eng.pdf#page=210|quote=They [the people who will live in the celestial kingdom] will receive everything our Father in Heaven has and will become like Him. They will even be able to have spirit children and make new worlds for them to live on, and do all the things our Father in Heaven has done.}}

Other ordinances performed in the church include confirmation, the sacrament (analogous to the Eucharist or holy communion{{cite book |last1=Millet |first1=Robert L. |last2=Hopkin |first2=Shon D. |title=Mormonism: A Guide for the Perplexed |date=2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=145 |isbn=978-1-4411-3214-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hzQ1CgAAQBAJ |access-date=1 April 2025}}), priesthood ordination, patriarchal blessing, anointing of the sick, and priesthood blessings.{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=James W |last2=Wind |first2=James |title=American Congregations, Volume 1: Portraits of Twelve Religious communities |date=1994 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |pages=311–314 |isbn=978-0-226-90186-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EMeseCxq-FUC |access-date=1 April 2025}}{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Ordinances |contribution= Ordinances |first= Immo |last= Luschin |page= 1032 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= April 1, 2025}}

{{main|Word of Wisdom (Latter Day Saints)}}

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.{{Cite news|url=https://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-clarifies-word-of-wisdom-on-vaping-green-tea-coffee-marijuana-opioids|title=LDS Church clarifies 'Word of Wisdom' on vaping, green tea, coffee, marijuana, opioids|first=Adam|last=Forgie|date=August 14, 2019|publisher=KUTV|access-date=June 10, 2021|archive-date=June 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609225451/https://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-clarifies-word-of-wisdom-on-vaping-green-tea-coffee-marijuana-opioids|url-status=live}} The Word of Wisdom also encourages the consumption of herbs and grains along with the moderate consumption of meat.

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. In 2019, the church further clarified that the usage of marijuana and opioids is prohibited except as prescribed by a competent physician for medical purposes.{{cite news |last=Williams |first=Carter |date=August 15, 2019 |title= Latter-day Saint magazine clarifies Word of Wisdom on coffee, tea, vaping and medical marijuana |url= https://www.ksl.com/article/46618755/latter-day-saint-magazine-clarifies-word-of-wisdom-on-coffee-tea-vaping-and-medical-marijuana |work= KSL-TV|location=Salt Lake City |access-date=January 30, 2024}}

{{main|Sexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Law of chastity}}

{{see also|Views on masturbation in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Homosexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

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.{{r|name=Mason2015|q=Observant Mormons... adhere to the 'law of chastity,' meaning that they engage in no premarital or extramarital sexual relations and confine sex only to monogamous heterosexual marriages.|p=1}} As part of the law of chastity, the church strongly opposes pornography, and considers masturbation an immoral act.{{cite news|url=https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/latter-day-saint-sex-therapist-faces-excommunication-over-controversial-views|title=Latter-day Saint sex therapist faces excommunication over views on sexuality|date=April 16, 2021|access-date=April 20, 2021|archive-date=April 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210420051328/https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/latter-day-saint-sex-therapist-faces-excommunication-over-controversial-views|url-status=live |publisher=KSTU}} Law of chastity violations can be grounds for church discipline; resulting penalties may include having access to the temple and sacrament revoked, as well as excommunication.{{cite book |last= Riess|first=Jana |author-link=Jana Riess |date=2019|title=The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPiFDwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher= Oxford University Press|page= |chapter=Chapter 4: Single Mormons in a Married Church – Sex and the Single Mormon |isbn=9780190885229}} The church discourages romantic dating until around the age of 16.{{cite book |last1=Hoyt |first1=Amy |last2=Petrey |first2=Taylor G. |author2-link=Taylor G. Petrey |date=2020 |title=The Routledge Handbook of Mormonism and Gender |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e6XgDwAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page= |isbn=9781351181587}}{{Cite magazine |last=Frandsen |first=Jake |date=October 3, 2022 |title=What are the Biggest Changes to the New For the Strength of Youth Booklet? |url=https://www.ldsliving.com/whats-new-in-the-for-the-strength-of-youth-booklet/s/11043 |magazine=LDS Living}}

{{main|Tithing in Mormonism|Fast offering}}

Church members are expected to donate one-tenth of their income to support the operations of the church. After initially relying on a communal lifestyle known as the law of consecration throughout most of the 1830s, the church created the law of tithing in July 1838 when the membership was concentrated in Missouri.{{cite book |last=Givens |first=Terryl |author-link= |date=2020 |title=Mormonism: What Everyone Needs to Know |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-RP0DwAAQBAJ|location= |publisher= Oxford University Press|page=170 |isbn=9780190885113}} Church members would frequently tithe by giving ten percent of their livestock and produce; nowadays donations are generally done with money.

Annual donations were estimated to total $7 billion{{Cite news |last=Henderson |first=Peter |date=August 13, 2012 |title=Mormon church earns $7 billion a year from tithing, analysis indicates |work=NBC News |url=http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/mormon-church-earns-7-billion-year-tithing-analysis-indicates-flna939844 |access-date=June 26, 2023}}{{Cite news |last=Curtis |first=Larry D. |date=December 20, 2019 |title=LDS Church releases explanation of its use of tithes, donations after $100B fund revealed |publisher=KUTV |url=https://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-releases-explanation-of-its-use-of-tithes-donations-after-100b-fund-revealed |access-date=June 26, 2023}} to $33 billion USD donated in 2012 (equivalent to ${{Inflation|US|7|2012|r=1}} billion to ${{Inflation|US|33|2012|r=1}} billion in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}). To qualify for participation in temple ordinances (which Latter-day Saints believe are necessary for their salvation), paying a full tithe is a requirement, regardless of one's temporal circumstances.{{refn|{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |date=March 26, 2018 |title=Does tithing requirement for entry into LDS temples amount to Mormons buying their way into heaven? |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/03/26/does-tithing-requirement-for-entry-into-lds-temples-amount-to-mormons-buying-their-way-into-heaven/ |access-date=June 27, 2023 |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack}}{{Cite book |last=Shields |first=Steven L. |url=https://archive.org/details/latterdaysaintbe0000shie/page/90/mode/1up |title=Latter Day Saint Beliefs: A Comparison Between the RLDS Church and the LDS Church |publisher=Herald Publishing House |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-8309-0437-2 |page=90 |via=Internet Archive |url-access=registration}}{{Cite news |last=Ronquillo |first=John C. |date=May 8, 2015 |title=Op-ed: There's another option besides online LDS tithing: confidential payments |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/commentary/2015/05/08/op-ed-theres-another-option-besides-online-lds-tithing-confidential-payments/ |access-date=June 27, 2023}}}} Members are also encouraged to fast (abstain from food and drink) on the first Sunday of each month for two consecutive meals. They donate at least the cost of the two skipped meals of the fast as a "fast offering", which the church uses to assist people in need and expand its humanitarian efforts.{{Cite web |date=October 5, 2009 |title=Mormon: Fasting |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/mormon/customs/fasting.shtml |access-date=June 27, 2023 |website=BBC}}

Local leadership is not paid, and is expected to tithe as well. Full-time missionaries, however, are not expected to pay tithing as they are usually paying to be a missionary.{{Cite web|title=Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/missionary-standards-for-disciples-of-jesus-christ/_manifest?lang=eng|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=May 6, 2024}}

{{main|Mormon missionary|Mission (LDS Church)}}

File:MISSIONNAIRES MORMONS.JPG typically commit to 18–24 months of full-time service.]]

All able-bodied LDS young men are expected to serve a two-year, full-time proselytizing mission.{{Cite book |author-link=Joanna Brooks |last1=Brooks |first1=Joanna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IgvCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA298 |title=Mormon Feminism: Essential Writings |last2=Steenblik |first2=Rachel Hunt |last3=Wheelwright |first3=Hannah |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-024803-1 |page=298 |via=Google Books}}{{Cite book |last=Mason |first=Patrick Q. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zDaEDgAAQBAJ&pg=PT311 |title=What is Mormonism?: A Student's Introduction |date=2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-63825-4 |page=131}}{{Cite magazine |last=Carter |first=Stephen |date=May 4, 2022 |title=The LDS Proselytizing Mission as Hazing |url=https://sunstone.org/mission-as-hazing/ |magazine=Sunstone}} 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 between the ages of 18 and 25 and have completed secondary school.{{Cite news|url=https://www.ksl.com/article/22445486/lds-church-announces-historic-changes-to-missionary-age-requirements|title=LDS Church announces historic changes to missionary age requirements|first1=David Self |last1=Newlin |date=October 6, 2012|publisher=KSL.com}} All proselytizing 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|2024|7}}, there are 450 missions of the LDS church.{{Cite news |type=News release |date=November 1, 2023 |title=The Church of Jesus Christ Will Create 36 New Missions in 2024 |website=newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/36-new-missions-church-of-jesus-christ |access-date=January 27, 2025}}

Although missionary service is expected for men, it is not compulsory and is not a requirement for retaining church membership.{{Cite news |title='Huge' jump in LDS missionary numbers as a new teaching approach is unveiled |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/06/22/missionaries-mtc-latter-day-saints/ |date=June 22, 2023|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune}}{{Cite news |last=Riess |first=Jana |author-link=Jana Riess |title=No mission? Then young LDS men are in 'No-Mormon's Land' |url=https://religionnews.com/2016/07/11/no-mission-then-young-lds-men-are-in-no-mormons-land/ |publisher=Religion News Service|date=July 11, 2016}}{{Cite web|url=http://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/topic/missionary-program|title=Missionary Program|date=August 24, 2021|publisher=LDS Church}} Unmarried women between the ages of 19 and 29 may also serve as missionaries,{{Cite web |title=Serve a Mission |url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/callings/missionary?lang=eng |access-date=April 9, 2024|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org |language=en}} generally for a term of 18 months. Retired couples are also encouraged to serve missions, with terms ranging from six to 23 months.{{Cite journal |last1=Merrill |first1=Ray M. |last2=Baker |first2=Randy K. |last3=Gren |first3=Lisa H. |last4=Lyon |first4=Joseph L. |date=2009 |title=Health and Missionary Service Among Senior Couples in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints |journal=Review of Religious Research |publisher=Religious Research Association |volume=51 |issue=2 |issn=0034-673X |pages=157–158|jstor=20697331 }} 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 wish to serve a mission but are unable to perform full-time service in another state or country due to health issues, may serve in a non-proselytizing mission. They might assist at Temple Square in Salt Lake City or aid in the seminary system in schools.{{Cite news |title=LDS missionaries with autism helping to hasten church's work |url= https://www.heraldextra.com/special-section/2016/apr/04/lds-missionaries-with-autism-helping-to-hasten-churchs-work/ |access-date=June 27, 2023 |newspaper=Daily Herald| location=Provo, Utah}}

{{See also|Sabbath in Christianity#Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

Church members are expected to set aside Sundays as a day of rest and worship. Typically, weekly worship meetings occur solely on Sundays. Shopping and recreation are discouraged on Sundays as well.{{Cite book |last1=Riess |first1=Jana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Al2-XsN1HdUC&pg=PT456 |title=Mormonism For Dummies |last2=Bigelow |first2=Christopher Kimball |date=2011 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-118-05427-7 |page= |author-link=Jana Riess}}{{rp|456}}

{{main|Worship services of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

File:LDS Church services (33407609075).jpg]]

Meetings for worship and study are held at meetinghouses, which are typically utilitarian in character. 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 members.[https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/what-to-expect-at-church-services What to Expect at Church Services. Church Newsroom. N.D. Accessed March 31, 2025.] 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.[https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/content/ldsorg/general-conference/16435_000_FAQ.pdf A New Balance between Gospel Instruction in the Home and in the Church. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. October 6, 2018. Accessed March 31, 2025.]

Church congregations are organized geographically.{{rp|150}} Members are generally expected to attend the congregation within their assigned geographical area; however, some geographical areas also provide separate congregations for young single adults, older single adults, or for speakers of alternate languages.{{rp|151}} For Sunday services, the church is grouped into either larger congregations known as wards, or smaller congregations known as branches.{{rp|152}} Regional church organizations, encompassing multiple congregations, include stakes,{{rp|175}} missions, districts and areas.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Ol3M5NiZkUC |title=Religious Bodies, 1936: Volume 2, Part 2, Denominations K to Z |date=1941 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |page=812 |via=Google Books}}

File:Salt Lake Temple, Utah - Sept 2004-2.jpg]]

{{main|Temple (LDS Church)}}

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, and an endowment ceremony that includes a washing and anointing, receiving a temple garment, and making covenants with God. Baptisms for the dead—as well as other temple ordinances on behalf of the dead—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.{{cite book |last= Grubiak|first= Margaret M. |author-link= |date= 2020|title=Monumental Jesus: Landscapes of Faith and Doubt in Modern America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ohm1DwAAQBAJ |location= |publisher= University of Virginia Press|page= |isbn=9780813943756}} Then after the temple is dedicated, 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. Church members are instructed not to share details about temple ordinances with non-members or even converse about them outside the temple itself.

{{As of|2023|5}}, there are over 200 dedicated temples worldwide.{{Cite news |last=Green |first=Thad |date=March 21, 2023 |title=New Richmond Virginia Temple to serve 34,000 |work=Richmond Times-Dispatch |url=https://richmond.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/richmond-virginia-temple-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-glen-allen/article_08d119b0-be9a-11ed-9f12-43916f5fd918.html |access-date=June 27, 2023}}{{LDS Temple status}}

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.{{Cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/mormons/etc/genealogy.html |title=Genealogy and Mormon Archives |website=PBS |access-date=October 13, 2021 |archive-date=September 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210906195957/http://www.pbs.org/mormons/etc/genealogy.html |url-status=live }}

It operates FamilySearch, the largest genealogical organization in the world.{{cite news |last1=Noyce |first1=David |title=Mormon genealogy library unveils a fun new way to discover your roots |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/mormon/2017/03/02/mormon-genealogy-library-unveils-a-fun-new-way-to-discover-your-roots/ |access-date=June 26, 2019 |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=August 3, 2017}}

{{main|General Conference (LDS Church)}}

Twice each year (the first weekend of April and October), general authorities and general officers 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{{Cite news |last=Nelson |first=Rett |date=March 31, 2018 |title=LDS church expected to announce two new apostles this weekend |work=East Idaho News |url=https://www.eastidahonews.com/2018/03/lds-church-expected-to-announce-two-new-apostles-this-weekend/ |access-date=June 24, 2023}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Pugmire |first=Genelle |date=March 30, 2018 |title=The covenant nature of solemn assemblies in the LDS Church |work=Daily Herald |url=https://www.heraldextra.com/special-section/2018/mar/30/the-covenant-nature-of-solemn-assemblies-in-the-lds-church/ |location=Provo, Utah |access-date=June 26, 2023}}

File:LDS Conference Center interior panoramic.jpg 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.{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Conferences|contribution=Conferences|editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date=September 30, 2021|archive-date=September 30, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930143115/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Conferences|url-status=live}}

{{main|Name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

The church teaches that it is a continuation of the Church of Christ restored in 1830 by Joseph Smith. This original church underwent several name changes during the 1830s, being changed to "The Church of the Latter Day Saints",{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Name_of_the_Church |contribution= Name of the Church |first= Susan Easton |last= Black |page= 979 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= September 23, 2014}} "The Church of Jesus Christ",{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|title=LDS Church wants everyone to stop calling it the LDS Church and drop the word 'Mormons' – but some members doubt it will happen|url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/08/16/lds-church-wants-everyone/|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=August 16, 2018|access-date=June 23, 2023|url-status=live|archive-date=April 20, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420203816/https://www.sltrib.com/news/2018/08/16/lds-church-wants-everyone/ |via=Internet Archive}} "The Church of God", "The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints" and "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (by an 1838 revelation).{{Cite book| year=1994|title=Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record| location=Salt Lake City| publisher=Signature Books| editor1-last=Marquardt|editor1-first=H. Michael| editor2-last=Walters| editor2-first=Wesley P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IXRAAAAACAAJ |via=Google Books| isbn=978-1-56085-108-0}}{{rp|160}} Finally, after Smith died, Brigham Young and the largest body of Smith's followers incorporated the church in 1851 by legislation of the Utah Territory{{efn|The initial legislation was made by the non-existent State of Deseret, thus was not legally valid, but was soon ratified by the Utah Territory in 1851{{cite book |url=https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=716954 |title=Acts Resolutions and Memorials Passed by the First Annual and Special Sessions of the Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah, 1851 |date=1851|publisher=Utah Territorial Legislative Assembly |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522165624/http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=%2Futhisstat&CISOPTR=448&REC=3&CISOBOX=church+of+jesus+christ+of+latter-day+saints |archive-date=May 22, 2008 |url-status=live |via=University of Utah}} and 1855.{{cite court |litigants=Late Corporation of the [LDS Church] v. US |court=U.S. Supreme Court |date=1890 |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ll/usrep/usrep136/usrep136001/usrep136001.pdf}}}} under the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", which included a hyphenated "Latter-day" and a British-style lower-case d.{{cite book |chapter-url=https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=718227 |page=66 |chapter=State of Deseret: An Ordinance, incorporating the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |date=February 4, 1851 |access-date=June 22, 2023 |title= Laws and Ordinances of the State of Deseret: Compilation 1851 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623010831/https://collections.lib.utah.edu/file?id=718262 |archive-date=June 23, 2023 |url-status=live |publisher=Shepard Book Company |location=Salt Lake City |via=University of Utah}}

Common informal names for the church include the LDS Church, the Mormon Church, and the Latter-day Saints Church.{{Cite news |last=Noyce |first=David |date=March 8, 2019 |title=AP changes its style on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but 'Mormon' is not entirely out |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230325173628/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/03/08/ap-changes-its-style/ |archive-date=March 25, 2023 |url-access=limited |via=Internet Archive |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/03/08/ap-changes-its-style/ |access-date=June 25, 2023}} The church requests that the official name be used when possible or, if necessary, shortened to "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ". 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.{{cite news | title=Don't use 'Mormon' or 'LDS' as church name, president says | newspaper=NBC News | url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/don-t-use-mormon-or-lds-church-name-president-says-n901491 | date=August 16, 2018 | access-date=July 27, 2020 | archive-date=September 15, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915210811/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/don-t-use-mormon-or-lds-church-name-president-says-n901491 | url-status=live }}{{cite news | title=Stop calling the Mormon Church 'Mormon,' says church leader. 'LDS' is out, too |last=Chiu |first=Allyson |newspaper=Washington Post | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/17/stop-calling-the-mormon-church-mormon-says-church-leader-lds-is-out-too/ | date=August 17, 2018 | access-date=July 27, 2020 | archive-date=July 28, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728135750/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2018/08/17/stop-calling-the-mormon-church-mormon-says-church-leader-lds-is-out-too/ | url-status=live }}{{efn|During the Church's October 2018 General Conference, Nelson declared that the use of nicknames such as Mormon represented "a major victory for Satan."{{cite web |last1=Fletcher Stack |first1=Peggy |last2=Pierce| first2=Scott D. |author1-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |first3=David |last3= Noyce |title=Members 'offend' Jesus and please the devil when they use the term 'Mormon,' President Nelson says |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/10/07/members-offend-jesus/ |publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=October 9, 2018 |date=October 7, 2018}}}} 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".{{cite news | title=Mormon Tabernacle Choir renamed in church shift | url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/mormon-tabernacle-choir-renamed-in-church-shift | publisher=PBS | date=October 5, 2018 | access-date=July 28, 2020 | archive-date=July 28, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728025252/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/mormon-tabernacle-choir-renamed-in-church-shift | url-status=live }} Reaction to the name change policy has been mixed.{{cite news | title=A year later, how successful is the war on the word 'Mormon'? | url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/08/20/jana-riess-year-later-how/ | last=Riess | first=Jana |author-link=Jana Riess |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune | date=August 20, 2019 | access-date=July 28, 2020 | archive-date=July 28, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200728015841/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/08/20/jana-riess-year-later-how/ | url-status=live }}

Legally, the church currently functions as a corporation sole, incorporated in Utah.

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2016/02/not-mormonr-still-mormon|title=Not Mormon®, But Still Mormon|first=Vera|last=Ranieri|date=February 9, 2016|publisher=Electronic Frontier Foundation}}

Utah Property Management Associates (UPMA), formerly Zions Securities Corporation (ZSC), is a subsidiary of Property Reserve Inc.,{{Cite news |title=DMC announces division merger|date=October 23, 2009 |url=https://www.ksl.com/article/8421389/dmc-announces-division-merger |publisher=KSL-FM}} which manages property owned by the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mostly in Salt Lake City, Utah.Winter, Caroline and Burton, Katherine. [https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=54478720&itype=cmsid "The money behind the Mormon message"], The Salt Lake Tribune, 5 October 2012. Retrieved on 12 March 2020.Riddle, Isaac. [https://www.buildingsaltlake.com/church-wants-add-history-inspired-signs-regent-street/ "Church wants to add history-inspired signs on Regent Street"], Building Salt Lake, 14 July 2016. Retrieved on 12 March 2020. They manage major corporate, residential, and retail spaces along with parking lots and plazas.Lockhart, Ben. [https://www.deseret.com/2013/5/1/20518917/one-tap-can-pay-for-parking-in-some-downtown-lots#shoppers-walk-to-their-cars-in-a-city-creek-center-parking-lot-in-salt-lake-city-march-22-2012-four-downtown-lots-near-city-creek-now-offer-the-option-of-paying-for-parking-with-one-tap-of-a-cellphone "One tap can pay for parking in some downtown lots"], Deseret News, 1 May 2013. Retrieved on 12 March 2020.

{{see also|Priesthood (LDS Church)}}

The LDS Church is organized in a hierarchical priesthood structure administered by its male members. Members of the church-wide leadership 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, general officers and mission presidents work full-time for the church, and typically receive stipends from church funds or investments. As well as speaking in general conference, general authorities and general officers speak to church members in local congregations throughout the world; they also speak to youth{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/nelson?lang=eng|title=Face to Face with President and Sister Nelson|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=March 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190717034624/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/face-to-face/nelson?lang=eng|archive-date=July 17, 2019|url-status=live}} and young adults{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults?lang=eng|title=Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults|website=www.churchofjesuschrist.org|access-date=March 13, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190606070525/https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/broadcasts/worldwide-devotional-for-young-adults?lang=eng|archive-date=June 6, 2019|url-status=live}} in broadcasts and at the Church Educational System (CES) schools, such as Brigham Young University (BYU).{{Cite web|url=https://speeches.byu.edu/posts/popular-general-authorities-speeches-decades/|title=Most Popular General Authority Speeches Through the Decades|publisher=BYU}} Local congregations are typically led by bishops, who perform similar functions to pastors in the Protestant tradition, or parish priests in the Roman Catholic Church."A bishop is the leader of a local congregation (known as a ward) with duties similar to those of a pastor, priest or rabbi." [https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/bishop Bishop. Newsroom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. N.d. Accessed July 29, 2023.]

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.{{Cite news |last1=Hanson |first1=Kurt |last2=Pugmire |first2=Genelle |date=December 14, 2018 |title=LDS Church announces age changes for youth progression and ordination |work=Daily Herald (Utah) |url=https://www.heraldextra.com/news/2018/dec/14/lds-church-announces-age-changes-for-youth-progression-and-ordination/ |access-date=June 27, 2023}} 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).{{rp|26}}

Some church leaders and scholars have spoken of women holding or exercising priesthood power.{{cite book| last= Quinn| first= D. Michael| author-link= D. Michael Quinn| chapter= Mormon Women Have Had the Priesthood Since 1843| editor-first= Maxine| editor-last= Hanks| editor-link= Maxine Hanks| title= Women and Authority: Re-emerging Mormon Feminism| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W2vZAAAAMAAJ | year=1992| publisher=Signature Books| location= Salt Lake City| chapter-url= http://signaturebookslibrary.org/women-and-authority-17/| isbn = 1-56085-014-0|page=377|quote=Currently some women have received this 'fullness of the priesthood' with their husbands. In the Salt Lake temple, the second anointing still occurs in the 'Holy of Holies' room which James E. Talmage wrote 'is reserved for the higher ordinances in the Priesthood...'|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220209011516/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/women-and-authority-17/|archive-date=February 9, 2022|via=Internet Archive}} However, women are not formally ordained to the priesthood, and they do not participate in public functions administered by the priesthood—such as passing the Sacrament, giving priesthood blessings, or holding leadership positions over mixed-gender congregations. Since 2013, the Ordain Women organization has sought formal priesthood ordination for women.{{cite news |last1=Little |first1=Jane |title=Push to ordain Mormon women leads to excommunication |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-28890069 |access-date=June 2, 2023 |publisher=BBC News Online |date=August 26, 2014}} In 2019, church leadership authorized LDS women to serve as witnesses for baptisms, a ceremonial role previously reserved for male priesthood holders.{{cite news |last1= Noyce|first1=David|last2=Stack |first2=Peggy Fletcher |date=October 2, 2019 |title=In a major change, LDS Church to allow women to be witnesses at baptisms and temple sealings, functions previously reserved for males |url= https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/10/02/major-change-latter-day/|work= The Salt Lake Tribune|location= |access-date=January 30, 2024}}

Each active church member is expected to receive a calling, or position of assigned responsibility within the church. Church members are expected to neither ask for specific callings, nor decline callings that are extended to them by their leaders.{{failed verification|date=May 2025}} 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.{{efn|The only paid positions in the Church are general authorities, general officers and mission presidents.{{Cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=August 3, 2017 |title=How much do top Mormon leaders make? Leaked pay stubs may surprise you. |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/mormon/2017/02/02/how-much-do-top-mormon-leaders-make-leaked-pay-stubs-may-surprise-you/ |access-date=June 23, 2023}}{{cite encyclopedia|first=Brian L.|last= Pitcher |contribution-url=https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Callings |contribution=Callings |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20211002055316/https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Callings |archive-date=October 2, 2021 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140}}}}{{efn|For a time, the church had a paid local clergy (e.g. stake presidents, bishops, patriarchs). However, that practice was discontinued in the early 1900s.{{Cite magazine |last=Quinn |first=D. Michael |author-link=D. Michael Quinn |date=June 1996 |title=LDS Church Finances from the 1830s to the 1990s |url=https://sunstone.org/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/102-17-29.pdf |magazine=Sunstone |page=21 |access-date=June 23, 2023}}{{cite book|author-link=D. Michael Quinn|last=Quinn| first=D. Michael |date=1997 |title=Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VnbZAAAAMAAJ |via=Google Books|location=Salt Lake City| publisher=Signature Books| chapter=Church Finances |page=207|isbn=978-1-56085-060-1 }}}} Members volunteer general custodial work for local church facilities.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.net/lifestyle/faith/lds-congregation-members-still-clean-own-meetinghouses/article_ef1665c3-919c-53eb-bae7-69fba3d1a913.html|newspaper=Ogden Standard-Examiner |title=LDS congregation members still clean own meetinghouses|date=February 14, 2015|access-date=March 28, 2021|archive-date=November 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201115004125/https://www.standard.net/lifestyle/faith/lds-congregation-members-still-clean-own-meetinghouses/article_ef1665c3-919c-53eb-bae7-69fba3d1a913.html|url-status=live}}

{{See also|Organization (LDS Church)}}

File:BYU mountain view.JPG, in Provo, Utah, one of several educational institutions sponsored by the church]]

The church 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.{{cite encyclopedia |contribution-url= https://eom.byu.edu/index.php/Correlation_of_the_Church_Administration |contribution= Correlation of the Church Administration |first= Frank O. |last= May Jr. |page= 323 |editor1-last= Ludlow |editor1-first= Daniel H |editor1-link= Daniel H. Ludlow |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia of Mormonism |location= New York |publisher= Macmillan Publishers |year= 1992 |isbn= 0-02-879602-0 |oclc= 24502140 |access-date= September 23, 2014}}{{rp|184–215}}

The church also operates CES, which includes BYU, 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. 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.{{Cite web |date=2001 |title=LDS Perpetual Education Fund |url=https://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/almanac/lds-perpetual-education-fund/ |access-date=June 27, 2023 |website=Philanthropy Roundtable}}{{Cite journal |last=Newton |first=Michael R. |date=2011 |title=The Perpetual Education Fund: A Model for Educational Microfinance? |url=http://www.ssrn.com/abstract=1822669 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |page=1 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1822669 |issn=1556-5068 |publisher=Social Science Research Network|s2cid=153356848 |url-access=subscription }}

File:LDS genealogy library slc utah.jpg 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. 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.

Other church programs and departments include Family Services, which provides adoption resource referrals, marital and family counseling, psychotherapy, and addiction counseling;{{cite book|last1= Swedin|first1=Eric G.|title=Healing Souls: Psychotherapy in the Latter-day Saint Community|year=2003|publisher=University of Illinois Press|isbn= 0-252-02864-3|pages= 164–165| edition=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPu6ngqY9R0C|access-date=November 14, 2016|via=Google Books}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Dobner |first=Jennifer |date=June 11, 2010 |title='Genealogy tourists' flock to Salt Lake City |publisher=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna37556270 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210125115807/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna37556270 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 25, 2021 |access-date=June 24, 2023}} Other facilities owned and operated by the church include Temple Square, the Church Office Building,Taylor, Scott. [https://www.deseret.com/2010/4/1/20105834/for-35-years-church-office-building-has-been-symbolic-mormon-headquarters-operational-center-for-chu#the-28-story-lds-church-office-building-soars-above-north-temple-street "For 35 years, Church Office Building has been symbolic Mormon headquarters, operational center for church growth"], Deseret News, 1 April 2010. Retrieved on 15 March 2020. the Church Administration Building,[https://rsc.byu.edu/sites/default/files/pub_content/pdf/SLC%2012%20Richardson.pdf A House for the Presidency: The History of the Church Administration Building. Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. Matthew O. Richardson. N.D. Accessed March 31, 2025.] the Church History Library{{cite news |author= Arave, Lynn |title= New Church History Library: 48 years in the making |work= Mormon Times |publisher= Deseret News |date= October 23, 2008 |url= http://mormontimes.com/around_church/general_authority/?id=4739 |accessdate= 2008-12-08 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081024070438/http://mormontimes.com/around_church/general_authority/?id=4739 |archive-date= October 24, 2008 |url-status= dead }} and the Granite Mountain Records Vault.[https://www.smh.com.au/national/how-our-personal-records-ended-up-in-a-mormon-mountain-vault-in-utah-20250304-p5lgur.html How our personal records ended up in a Mormon mountain vault in Utah. The Sydney Morning Herald. March 6, 2025. Accessed March 31, 2025.]

{{Main|Finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

{{See also|List of wealthiest religious organizations}}

Since 1941, the church has been classified by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) organization and is therefore tax-exempt. Donations are tax-deductible in the United States.{{Cite web|url=https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/870234341|title=Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints| publisher=Charity Navigator }} The church has not released church-wide financial statements since 1959.{{cite news|author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack|last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=6364841&itype=NGPSID |title=Order to release financial data has LDS Church, courts on collision course|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune| date=July 13, 2007| access-date=July 13, 2007}} 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.{{cite journal|last=Brunson |first=Samuel|date=Spring 2015|title=The Present, Past, and Future of LDS Financial Transparency|url= https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/4804_taxdaysb.pdf|url-status=live|journal=Dialogue |volume=8 |issue=1|pages=1–44|doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.48.1.0001|s2cid=181493367|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604054822/https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/4804_taxdaysb.pdf|archive-date=June 4, 2021|quote=In 1915, though, and continuing until 1959, the church made an annual public disclosure of its finances. As part of the annual April General Conference, somebody—often the president of the LDS Church or one of his counselors—would inform the assembled congregation of how much money the Church had spent in a variety of categories. In 1959, in the wake of significant deficit spending by the church and of massive investment losses, it ended its detailed public financial disclosure, and instead limited its financial disclosure to the Auditing Department report. As a result of its silence about the details of its finances, members, critics, and the interested public have been left to guess at the Church's wealth and the scope of its charitable spending, among other things.}}

In 1997, Time magazine called the LDS Church one of the world's wealthiest churches per capita.{{cite web|last=Van Biema|first=David|title=Kingdom Come|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,986794,00.html|magazine=Time|date=August 4, 1997|access-date=June 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525113937/https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,986794,00.html|archive-date=May 25, 2023|url-status=live}} The church has stated that its for-profit, non-profit, and educational subsidiary entities are all audited by professionals independent from other church entities.{{Cite news |last=Noyce |first=David |date=April 1, 2023 |title=LDS Church's auditing report makes no mention of SEC fine, offers no dollar figures |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/04/01/lds-churchs-auditing-report-makes/ |url-status=live |access-date=June 25, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230526060646/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/04/01/lds-churchs-auditing-report-makes/ |archive-date=May 26, 2023 |url-access=limited |via=Internet Archive |quote=Jared B. Larson, managing director of the church's Auditing Department ... also reported Saturday, as has been the practice in the past, that church auditing 'consists of credentialed professionals and is independent of all other church departments and entities' ....}}

File:Deseret Book HQ 1.JPG headquarters in Salt Lake City]]

The church receives significant funds from tithes and fast offerings. It has been estimated that during the 2010s its net worth increased by about $15 billion per year (${{Inflation|US|15|2015|r=1}} billion in {{Inflation/year|US}}{{Inflation/fn|US}}),{{cite news |last=Fletcher Stack |first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |url=http://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/10/14/historian-digs-into-the-hidden-world-of-mormon-finances-shows-how-church-went-from-losing-money-to-making-money-lots-of-it/ |title=Historian digs into the hidden world of Mormon finances, shows how church went from losing money to making money – lots of it |publisher=The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date=October 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016012000/http://www.sltrib.com/religion/local/2017/10/14/historian-digs-into-the-hidden-world-of-mormon-finances-shows-how-church-went-from-losing-money-to-making-money-lots-of-it/ |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |url-status=live }} and by $22 billion during the COVID-19 pandemic.{{Cite news |last=Semerad |first=Tony |date=February 15, 2022 |title=How the LDS Church made $22B during the pandemic |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/02/15/see-how-lds-church-stock/ |access-date=June 27, 2023}} According to a 2020 estimate by The Wall Street Journal, the LDS Church's investment fund had a net worth of around $100 billion.

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 twelve U.S. States, 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.{{Cite news |last=Semerad |first=Tony |date=April 5, 2022 |title=New database gives widest look ever at LDS Church landholdings. See what it owns and where. |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/04/05/new-database-gives-widest/ |access-date=June 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230528135002/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/04/05/new-database-gives-widest/ |archive-date=May 28, 2023 |url-status=live| via=Internet Archive |url-access=limited}} 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. The church has also invested in for-profit business and real estate ventures such as City Creek Center.{{cite magazine|last=Winter|first=Caroline|title=How the Mormons Make Money|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-07-18/how-the-mormons-make-money|magazine=Bloomberg Businessweek|date=July 10, 2012 |access-date=June 23, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150113080029/http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-07-10/how-the-mormons-make-money|archive-date=January 13, 2015|url-status=live}} In 2020, the church-owned investment firm Ensign Peak Advisors publicly reported management of $37.8 billion of financial securities.{{Cite web |last=Countryman |first=Vanessa A. |date=February 21, 2023 |title=Administrative Proceeding, File No. 3-21306 |url=https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2023/34-96951.pdf |publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission |access-date=February 23, 2023}} By summer 2023 assets including "international shares as well as bonds, hybrid investments, real estate and major stakes in private equity" were estimated to exceed $163 billion.{{Cite web |title=LDS Church sees its billions grow even as it dumps stocks worth millions |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/08/25/lds-church-sees-its-billions-grow/ |access-date=February 8, 2024 |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |language=en-US}}

{{Main|Culture of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

Due to the differences in lifestyle promoted by church doctrine and history, members of the church have developed a distinct culture. It is primarily concentrated in the Mormon corridor of the Intermountain West.{{cite journal |title=The Mormon Culture Region: Strategies and Patterns in the Geography of the American West, 1847–1964|date=June 1965|journal=Annals of the Association of American Geographers| publisher=American Association of Geographers| jstor=2561754 |last1=Meinig |first1=D. W. |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=191–220 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-8306.1965.tb00515.x }}

Many of the church's more distinctive practices follow from their adherence to the Word of Wisdom—which includes abstinence from tobacco, alcohol, coffee, and tea—and their observance of Sabbath-day restrictions on recreation and shopping. Common, distinctive cuisine includes funeral potatoes and Jello salad.{{cite news |first= Julia |last= Moskin |date= January 24, 2012 |title= Not Just for Sundays After Church: A New Generation Redefines Mormon Cuisine|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/25/dining/a-new-generation-redefines-mormon-cuisine.html?_r=0 |newspaper=The New York Times |quote= The basic dinner was meat in cream-of-something soup on mashed something... No one comes to Utah for the food... 'Mormon food' should be seen as part of a larger Western tradition of hearty meals, seasonal eating and food preservation that is in keeping with modern farm-to-table ideals .... As the church becomes more international, that Utah Mormon food is no longer the standard... Mormon home cooks are unusually adept in the kitchen by modern standards .... In the 1960s, Mormon women (like most Americans) enthusiastically embraced inexpensive convenience foods like canned fruit, instant potatoes and, of course, Jell-O. For some reason, the Utah Mormons took longer to come out of that phase... Powdered milk and eggs; dried beans; canned vegetables, fruit, and even canned meat and cheese are staples of many kitchens. (This may have something to do with the stereotypical blandness of traditional Mormon food.) ... For most Mormons over 40, two standard dishes sum up the tradition: green Jell-O and funeral potatoes.}} Cultural taboos exist on piercings{{efn|Leaders state women should only have a maximum of one piercing in each ear, and men should not have any.{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Drew |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-EEvHH-EFIC |title=The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Mormonism |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-02-864491-2 |page=198}}}} and tattoos and the church counsels against the use of crosses as symbols of worship.{{cite book |last= Reed |first= Michael |title= Banishing the Cross: The Emergence of a Mormon Taboo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NE3LygAACAAJ |via=Google Books |year= 2012 |publisher= John Whitmer Books |location= Independence, Missouri |isbn= 978-1-934901-35-9 |oclc= 844370293 |pages=67–122 }}

File:Mtchoirandorchestra ConferenceCenter (cropped).jpg has received various awards and has traveled 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.[https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/09/29/more-bad-news-tim-ballard-lds/ More bad news for Tim Ballard: LDS Church-owned Deseret Book yanks his books. Salt Lake Tribune. September 29, 2023. Accessed March 31, 2025.] 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".{{Cite news|url=https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_out/mesa-mormon-temple-prepares-for-easter-pageant/article_2a9e847e-9dae-5aa2-923b-66621fd1cc10.html |title=Mesa Mormon temple prepares for Easter pageant |newspaper=East Valley Tribune |date=March 24, 2007 |first=Lawn |last=Griffiths |access-date=June 23, 2023 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404132056/https://www.eastvalleytribune.com/get_out/mesa-mormon-temple-prepares-for-easter-pageant/article_2a9e847e-9dae-5aa2-923b-66621fd1cc10.html |archive-date=April 4, 2023 }} The church encourages entertainment without violence, sexual content, or vulgar language; many church members specifically avoid rated-R movies.{{cite news|title= Here's how the R rating, which turns 50 this year, became off-limits to many Mormon moviegoers – and why it may not be the case anymore|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|url= https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2018/10/03/heres-how-r-rating-which/|

quote= For many LDS faithful, though, the R rating—which is marking its 50th anniversary this fall—is a line they will not cross. While the rule is rigid in the minds of many members, its origins come from a handful of comments made by church leaders through the years.|date=October 3, 2018}}

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 traveled to more than 28 countries,{{Cite news |last=Cook |first=Steven |date=October 9, 2014 |title=Mormon Tabernacle Choir to return to SPAC |work=The Daily Gazette |url=https://dailygazette.com/2014/10/09/mormon-tabernacle-choir-return-spac/ |access-date=June 27, 2023 |location=Schenectady, New York |archive-date=June 27, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627215541/https://dailygazette.com/2014/10/09/mormon-tabernacle-choir-return-spac/ |url-status=dead }} and are considered one of the most famous choirs in the world.{{cite news |last1=Montero |first1=David |title=One of the most famous singing groups in the world is changing its name. So long, Mormon Tabernacle Choir |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-mormon-choir-name-change-20181005-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=September 27, 2019 |date=October 5, 2018 |archive-date=November 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201109032902/https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-mormon-choir-name-change-20181005-story.html |url-status=live }} The choir has received a Grammy Award, four Emmy Awards,{{Cite web |date=2020 |title=Christmas with The Tabernacle Choir |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/christmas-tabernacle-choir/about/the-choir/ |access-date=June 27, 2023 |website=PBS}} two Peabody Awards,{{cite web |url=http://peabodyawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/PeabodyWinnersBook2013.pdf |title=George Foster Peabody Award Winners |last=Williams |first=Danna |date=July 12, 2013 |publisher=George Foster Peabody Awards |location=Athens, GA |page=23 |access-date=March 17, 2014 |archive-date=October 22, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201022150513/http://peabodyawards.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/PeabodyWinnersBook2013.pdf |url-status=live }} and the National Medal of Arts.{{cite web |url= https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031112-5.html |title= National Medal of Arts Recipients for 2003 |access-date= January 14, 2009 |date= November 12, 2002 |publisher= White House |archive-date= June 24, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210624201858/https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/11/20031112-5.html |url-status= live }}

{{Main|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and politics in the United States}}

{{See also|LGBTQ rights and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

File:Dallin Oaks.jpg (left) and apostle Dallin H. Oaks (right) presenting U.S. president Barack Obama with his genealogy at the Oval Office in July 2009]]

The LDS Church states it generally takes no partisan role in politics,{{Cite news |last1=Noyce |first1=David |date=June 1, 2023 |title=Why the LDS Church hasn't condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/06/01/why-lds-church-hasnt-condemned/ |access-date=June 28, 2023 |last2=Fletcher Stack| first2=Peggy |author2-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack}} but encourages its members to play an active role as responsible citizens in their communities, including becoming informed about issues and voting.{{Cite news |last=Schott |first=Bryan |date=June 6, 2023 |title=Straight-party voting a 'threat to democracy,' top LDS leaders warn |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/06/06/straight-party-voting-threat/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}} The church maintains that the faith's values can be found among many political parties. It also generally does not take sides in global conflicts.{{Cite news|url=https://www.deseret.com/2023/6/1/23745581/latter-day-saints-update-and-expand-policy-on-political-neutrality-and-participation-mormon|title=Latter-day Saints update and expand policy on political neutrality and participation|work=Deseret News|date=June 1, 2023|access-date=December 27, 2023}}

A 2012 Pew Center on Religion and Public Life survey indicated that 74 percent of U.S. members lean towards the Republican Party.{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/pew-survey-most-mormons-feel-they-are-misunderstood-not-viewed-as-mainstream/|title=Majority of Mormons Lean Republican; Half Cite Discrimination Against Their Faith|date=January 12, 2012|publisher=ABC News|access-date=November 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120928081107/https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/01/pew-survey-most-mormons-feel-they-are-misunderstood-not-viewed-as-mainstream/|archive-date=September 28, 2012|url-status=live}} Some liberal members say they feel that they have to defend their worthiness due to political differences.{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/10/30/mormon-liberals-minority/1669155/|title=Liberal Mormons: A Minority Within a Minority|date=October 30, 2012|newspaper=USA Today|access-date=November 13, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121112125041/http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/10/30/mormon-liberals-minority/1669155/|archive-date=November 12, 2012|url-status=live}} Democrats and those who lean Democrat made up 18 percent of church members surveyed in the 2014 Pew Research Center{{'s}} Religious Landscape Survey.{{Cite web |date=2014 |title=Religious Landscape Study |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525045337/https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/ |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |access-date=May 24, 2022 |website=Pew Research Center's Religion & Public Life Project |publisher=Pew Research Center |url-status=live }}{{cite news |first=Emily |last=Kaplan |title=The Rise of the Liberal Latter-day Saints: And the battle for the future of Mormonism |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/09/27/rise-liberal-latter-day-saints/ |access-date=January 28, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=September 27, 2021}}

The church sometimes involves itself in politics when it believes the issues at hand to have moral implications or that they "directly affect [its] mission, teachings or operations." The church played an important role in defeating same-sex marriage legalization in Hawaii, Alaska, Nebraska, Nevada, California, and Utah.{{cite book |last1=Prince |first1=Gregory A. |author-link=Gregory Prince|title=Gay Rights and the Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences |date=2019 |publisher=University of Utah Press |location=Salt Lake City |isbn=9781607816638 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfnQuQEACAAJ|pages=2, 65, 69, 71, 78, 85|via=Google Books}}{{cite news|url=https://movies.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/movies/18eight.html|access-date=May 11, 2022|title=Marching in the War on Gay Marriage|first=Stephen |last=Holden|date=June 18, 2010|newspaper=The New York Times | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100620213520/http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/06/18/movies/18eight.html| archive-date= June 20, 2010 | url-status= live}} It supported a gay rights bill in Salt Lake City which bans discrimination against homosexual persons in housing and employment,{{cite news |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/12utah.html |title= Mormon Support of Gay Rights Statute Draws Praise |newspaper= The New York Times |date= November 11, 2009 |first= Kirk |last= Johnson |access-date= February 18, 2017 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161022060015/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/12/us/12utah.html |archive-date= October 22, 2016 |url-status= live }}{{cite press release |url= https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/statement-given-to-salt-lake-city-council-on-nondiscrimination-ordinances |title= News Story: Statement Given to Salt Lake City Council on Nondiscrimination Ordinances |date= January 1, 2009 |work= MormonNewsroom.org |publisher= LDS Church |access-date= July 18, 2019 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190630092319/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/statement-given-to-salt-lake-city-council-on-nondiscrimination-ordinances |archive-date= June 30, 2019 |url-status= live }} opposed gambling,{{cite news|date=August 19, 1992|title=Utah's Gambling Referendum Sparks Emotional Debate in Mormon 'Zion'|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/08/19/utahs-gambling-referendum-sparks-emotional-debate-in-mormon-zion/739ae2ad-acf5-4436-a89e-40b714d1bae8/}} opposed storage of nuclear waste in Utah,{{cite news |url= http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/ci_3787890 |title= LDS joins N-storage foes |date= May 5, 2006 |newspaper= The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date= May 9, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160307032659/http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=%2Fci_3787890 |archive-date= March 7, 2016 |url-status= live }} and supported an approach to U.S. immigration policy as outlined in the Utah Compact.{{cite news|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=51695854&itype=CMSID|date=April 27, 2011|title=Immigration: Shurtleff can't find support for Compact|access-date=June 3, 2021|quote=The LDS Church did not sign, but has endorsed, the Utah Compact.|archive-date=June 4, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604043820/https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=51695854&itype=CMSID|url-status=live}} It also opposed a ballot initiative legalizing medicinal marijuana in Utah,{{Cite news |last=Osborne |first=Mark |date=May 12, 2018 |title=Mormon church comes out in opposition to Utah's medical marijuana ballot initiative |work=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/mormon-church-opposition-utahs-medical-marijuana-ballot-initiative/story?id=55115518 |access-date=June 28, 2023}} but supported a possible alternative to it.{{Cite news |last=Anderson |first=Taylor W. |date=August 23, 2018 |title=LDS Church announces opposition to Utah medical marijuana initiative – but says it does not object to medical pot with proper safeguards |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2018/08/23/lds-church-announces/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}} 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 supported alternate legislation that it said would protect both LGBTQ rights and religious freedom.{{cite news|first=Sara|last=Tabin|title=LDS Church says it supports Rep. Chris Stewart's alternative to the Equality Act|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/02/27/lds-church-says-it/|date=February 27, 2021|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|access-date=February 28, 2021|archive-date=February 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227231941/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/02/27/lds-church-says-it/|url-status=live}} In 2022, the church stated its support for the Respect for Marriage Act—which codified same-sex marriage as legal in the United States—due to the "protections for religious freedom" it included.{{cite web|url= https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2023/02/14/mormon-church-support-marriage-equality|title= LDS church "clarifies" support for marriage equality law|date= February 14, 2023|website= axios.com|publisher= Axios|access-date= February 14, 2023}}

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.{{Cite news |last=Davidson |first=Lee |date=January 10, 2021 |title=New Congress has fewest Latter-day Saints in 32 years. How might that impact the church?|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/01/10/new-congress-has-fewest/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}} Utah's current governor, Spencer Cox, is a church member,{{Cite news |last=McEvers |first=Kelly |date=June 15, 2016 |title='My Heart Has Changed': Utah Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox Apologizes To LGBT Community |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2016/06/15/482206214/my-heart-has-changed-utah-lt-gov-spencer-cox-apologizes-to-lgbt-community}} as are supermajorities in both houses of the Utah State Legislature.{{Cite news|title=Latter-day Saints are Overrepresented in Utah's Legislature, Holding 9 of Every 10 Seats|url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/01/14/latter-day-saints-are/|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210609170601/https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/01/14/latter-day-saints-are/|archive-date=June 9, 2021|access-date=June 9, 2021|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune}}

{{main|Demographics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Membership statistics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Membership history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

{{see also|Less-active Mormon|Ex-Mormon}}

The church reports a worldwide membership of 17 million,{{Cite news |last=Noyce |first=David |date=April 1, 2023 |title=Global LDS membership reaches a new high. See how it got a post-COVID boost. |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/04/01/global-lds-membership-reaches-new/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}}{{cite web |title=2023 Statistical Report of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/2023-statistical-report-church-jesus-christ |website=Newsroom |date=April 6, 2024 |publisher= LDS Church|access-date=April 21, 2024 }} of which over 6.8 million live in the U.S.{{cite web |title=Facts and Statistics – United States |url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states |access-date=April 21, 2024 |website=Newsroom |publisher=LDS Church}} The church's definition of "membership" includes all persons who were ever baptized, or whose parents were members while the person was under the age of eight (called "members of record"),{{cite book |title=Church Handbook of Instructions |year=2006 |location=Salt Lake City |publisher= LDS Church |title-link=Church Handbook of Instructions }}{{rp|145–146}} who have neither been excommunicated nor asked to have their names removed from church records.{{rp|116, 148–149}} {{As of|2019|9}}, approximately 9.6 million members reside outside the United States.{{efn|Subtracting U.S. membership of 6,681,829 from total worldwide membership of 16,313,735, results in 9,631,906 members outside the U.S. (September 24, 2019).{{cite news |title=Facts and Statistics – United States|date=September 24, 2019|url=https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states|website=Newsroom |publisher= LDS Church|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190924132559/https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/facts-and-statistics/country/united-states |via=Internet Archive|access-date=April 21, 2024 |archive-date=September 24, 2019 }}}}

According to its statistics, the church is the fourth largest religious body in the United States.{{cite web |title=Mainline Protestant churches no longer dominate NCC Yearbook's list of top 25 U.S. religious bodies |url=https://www.ncccusa.org/news/050330yearbook.html |publisher=National Council of Churches of Christ |access-date=May 9, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314143924/http://www.ncccusa.org/news/050330yearbook.html |archive-date=March 14, 2019 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title= Largest U.S. Churches, 2005 |url= http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001481.html |website= Information Please Database |publisher= Pearson Education |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141208223209/http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0001481.html |archive-date= December 8, 2014 |url-status=live}} Although the church does not publish attendance figures, researchers estimate that attendance at weekly LDS worship services globally is around 4 million.{{Cite news |url= http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2890645 |title= Keeping members a challenge for LDS church |newspaper= The Salt Lake Tribune |date= July 26, 2005 |last= Fletcher Stack |first= Peggy |author-link= Peggy Fletcher Stack |access-date= December 3, 2011 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120204215609/http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2890645 |archive-date= February 4, 2012 |url-status= live }} Members living in the U.S. and Canada constitute 46 percent of membership, Latin America 38 percent, and members in the rest of the world 16 percent. The 2012 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, found that approximately 2 percent of the U.S. adult population self-identified as Mormon.

Membership is concentrated geographically in the Intermountain West, in a specific region sometimes known as the Mormon corridor.{{Cite book |editor1-last=Silk |editor1-first=Mark |editor2-last=Shipp| editor2-first=Jan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9VwnAAAAQBAJ |title=Religion and Public Life in the Mountain West: Sacred Landscapes in Transition |last2=Shipps |first2=Jan |date=2004 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-0-7591-1559-0 |location=Hartford, Connecticut |last1=Flake |first1=Kathleen | chapter=The Mormon Corridor: Utah and Idaho|chapter-url=https://mormonstudies.as.virginia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Rel-by-Region-Mormon-Corridor.pdf |via=University of Virginia |page=91}} Church members and some others from the U.S. colonized this region in the mid-to-late 1800s, dispossessing several Indigenous tribes.{{refn|{{rp|28, 249–250, 365}}}}

File:LDS Church Membership 1830-2021.png

The church experienced rapid numerical growth in the 20th century, especially in the 1980s and 1990s.{{cite book |last=Bushman |first=Claudia L. |author-link=Claudia Lauper Bushman |year=2006 |title=Contemporary Mormonism: Latter-day Saints in Modern America |location=Westport, CN |publisher=Praeger Publishers |isbn=0-275-98933-X |oclc=61178156 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tGF7LdsbatoC |access-date=June 28, 2023 }}{{rp|1}} In the 21st century, however, church membership growth has slowed.{{Cite news |last=Riess |first=Jana |author-link=Jana Riess |date=April 7, 2022 |title=Is Mormonism still growing? Five facts about Latter-day Saint growth and decline |work=Religion News Service |url=https://religionnews.com/2022/04/07/is-mormonism-still-growing-five-facts-about-latter-day-saint-growth-and-decline/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}}{{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=David |year=2023 |title=The End of Growth? Fading Prospects for Latter-day Saint Expansion |url=https://jmssa.org/wp-content/uploads/JMSSA-VOLUME01-STEWART.pdf |journal=Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association |publisher=Mormon Social Science Association |volume=1|issue=1|page=21|doi=10.54587/JMSSA.0102 |s2cid=251330999 }} In 2022, eight of the top ten nations with the highest LDS membership growth rate were in Africa,{{Cite news |last=Noyce |first=David |date=May 18, 2023 |title=Latest from Mormon Land |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/05/18/latest-mormon-land-what-if-church/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}} and Latino people are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups with millions of LDS adherents in Latin American countries.{{Cite news |last=Bojórquez |first=Kim |date=August 25, 2022 |title=The rise of Latino Latter-day Saints |work=Axios|url=https://www.axios.com/2022/08/25/latino-mormons-religion-lds-utah}}

In the United States, church members tend to be more highly educated than the general population.{{cite journal|last=Heaton |first=Tim B. |date=2023 |title=Education, Religious Participation, and Conservatism Among Mormons in the United States| journal= Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association |publisher=Mormon Social Science Association|volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.54587/JMSSA.0101 |s2cid=251205199 |url=https://jmssa.org/wp-content/uploads/JMSSA-VOLUME01-HEATON.pdf }} The racial and ethnic composition of membership in the United States is one of the least diverse in the country.{{Cite web|url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/27/the-most-and-least-racially-diverse-u-s-religious-groups/|title=The most and least racially diverse U.S. religious groups| publisher=Pew Research Center|date=July 27, 2015}} Black membership is significantly lower than the general U.S. population.

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 U.S. and 30 percent worldwide regularly attend weekly Sunday worship services.{{cite news|last=Fletcher Stack|first=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |date=January 17, 2014|title=New Almanac Offers Look at the World of Mormon Membership|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57369318&itype=CMSID|url-status=live|access-date=January 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210429045818/https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=57369318&itype=CMSID|archive-date=April 29, 2021}}{{efn|Reporting on a presentation given by the church's chief information officer, a Deseret News article indicated that one of Maxfield's statistics was that "about 36% [of church members] attend weekly sacrament meetings". The article was retracted with following disclaimer: "some of the statistics originally reported in this article have been removed because they have not been verified by the LDS Church. The information was removed at the request of the speaker."{{cite web|date=October 14–17, 2014|title=Mormon News|url=http://signaturebooks.com/2014/10/mormon-news-october-13-17/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150420215900/http://signaturebooks.com/2014/10/mormon-news-october-13-17/|archive-date=April 20, 2015|access-date=April 20, 2015|publisher=Signature Books}}}} A 2016 survey found a majority (54%) of millennials raised in the church had disaffiliated.{{Cite news |title=Judgment, trust, LGBT issues driving millennials from Mormon church |publisher=United Press International |url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/05/22/Judgment-trust-LGBT-issues-driving-millennials-from-Mormon-church/9431558542861/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}} 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,{{Cite news|last=Riess|first=Jana |author-link=Jana Riess |date=October 5, 2016|title=Worldwide, Only 25% of Young Single Mormons Are Active in the LDS Church|work=Religion News Service|url=https://religionnews.com/2016/10/05/leaked-worldwide-only-25-of-young-single-mormons-are-active-in-the-lds-church/|url-status=live|access-date=January 2, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210530060613/https://religionnews.com/2016/10/05/leaked-worldwide-only-25-of-young-single-mormons-are-active-in-the-lds-church/|archive-date=May 30, 2021}} and women tend to be more active than men.{{rp|55}}

{{See also|Philanthropies|LDS Humanitarian Services}}

File:USN sailors at Beirut pier with aid cargo Aug 4 2006.jpg sailors moving LDS Church-donated humanitarian supplies to Beirut, Lebanon, in 2006]]

The LDS Church is widely known for providing worldwide humanitarian service.{{cite web|title=The Mormons: Humanitarian Programs|url=https://www.pbs.org/mormons/themes/humanitarian.html|work=American Experience |publisher=PBS|access-date=March 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140705162308/http://www.pbs.org/mormons/themes/humanitarian.html|archive-date=July 5, 2014|url-status=live}}{{cite journal|last=Riley|first=Naomi Schaefer|title=A Welfare System That Works|url=http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/a_welfare_system_that_works|journal=Philanthropy|date=Fall 2012|publisher=Philanthropy Roundtable|access-date=March 18, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513083729/http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/topic/excellence_in_philanthropy/a_welfare_system_that_works|archive-date=May 13, 2014|url-status=live}} The church's welfare and humanitarian efforts are coordinated by Philanthropies, a church department under the direction of the Presiding Bishopric.{{Cite web|date=July 18, 2016|title=LDS Church has Spent 1.2 Billion on Welfare and Humanitarian Efforts|url=https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/lds-church-has-spent-1-2-billion-on-welfare-and-humanitarian-efforts|access-date=July 14, 2020|website=World Religion News|archive-date=April 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210416160538/https://www.worldreligionnews.com/religion-news/lds-church-has-spent-1-2-billion-on-welfare-and-humanitarian-efforts|url-status=live}} Welfare efforts, originally initiated during the Great Depression, provide aid for the poor, financed by donations from church members. Donations are also used to operate bishop's storehouses, which package and store food for lower-income people at low cost.{{cite web |url= https://providentliving.churchofjesuschrist.org/bc/providentliving/content/english/welfareoperationstraining/bishopsstorehouses/pdf/Storehouse%20Overview.pdf?lang=eng |title= Overview of Bishops' Storehouses |publisher= LDS Church |access-date= June 22, 2023}}{{cite web|url=https://www.deseret.com/faith/2020/3/20/21188511/coronavirus-mormon-latter-day-saint-charities-covid-19/|publisher=Deseret News|title=Coronavirus: Church is helping Iran, Italy, China and 13 other countries with medical supplies, ramps up food production|date=March 20, 2020|access-date=May 14, 2024}} In 2016, the church reported that it had spent a total of $1.2 billion on humanitarian aid over the previous 30 years.

Church humanitarian aid includes organizing food security, clean water, mobility, and healthcare projects, operating Deseret Industries thrift stores, and funding other organizations. The church reports that the value of all charitable donations in 2021 was $906 million.{{Cite news |title=What in the world is the LDS Church doing to help those in need? |last=Noyce |first=David |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/05/18/what-world-is-lds-church/ |access-date=May 21, 2022 |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune}} Independent reporting has found that the Church's charity organization, LDS Charities, gave a total of $177 million from 2008 to 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2022/11/02/mormon-finances-scrutiny-australia-canada|title=LDS Church finances are under scrutiny abroad|first=Erin|last=Alberty|date=November 2, 2022|website=Axios}}

The church also distributes money and aid to disaster victims worldwide.{{Cite magazine |title= Mormon Helping Hands Make a Difference |magazine= Meridian Magazine |url= http://www.meridianmagazine.com/articles/051020helpinghands.html |date=October 20, 2005 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100201225231/http://meridianmagazine.com/articles/051020helpinghands.html |archive-date= February 1, 2010}} In 2017, the church partnered with Catholic Relief Services and other organizations to provide aid to several African and Middle Eastern nations.{{Cite news |last=Mims |first=Bob |date=September 27, 2017 |title=Mormon church adds $11M to famine relief in Africa, Middle East |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2017/09/27/mormon-church-adds-11m-to-famine-relief-in-africa-middle-east/ |access-date=June 30, 2023}} In 2010, it partnered with Islamic Relief to help victims of flooding in Pakistan.{{Cite news |date=August 17, 2010 |title=Bay Area residents raise money for Pakistan flood victims |work=ABC7 |location=San Francisco, California |url=https://abc7news.com/archive/7613688/ |access-date=June 30, 2023}} Latter-day Saint Charities increased the conversion of stockpiled raw foods into finished food products during the COVID-19 pandemic and donated healthcare supplies to 16 countries affected by the crisis.{{Cite news |url=https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/03/24/how-latter-day-saint/ |title=How Latter-day Saint Charities is helping during coronavirus crisis – in Utah and around the world |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200326234823/https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/03/24/how-latter-day-saint/ |archive-date=March 26, 2020 |url-status=live |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune}}{{Cite news |url=https://kutv.com/news/local/gallery/lds-church-donates-thousands-of-masks-goggles-to-china-amid-coronavirus-outbreak |title=LDS Church donates thousands of masks, goggles to China amid coronavirus outbreak |date=January 29, 2020 |access-date=April 17, 2020 | publisher=KUTV |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227122321/https://kutv.com/news/local/gallery/lds-church-donates-thousands-of-masks-goggles-to-china-amid-coronavirus-outbreak |archive-date=February 27, 2020 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |url=https://fox13now.com/2018/09/27/lds-church-announces-hefty-food-donation-throughout-the-u-s/ |title=LDS Church announces hefty food donation throughout the U.S. |date=September 28, 2018 | publisher=KSTU |access-date=April 17, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181013085625/https://fox13now.com/2018/09/27/lds-church-announces-hefty-food-donation-throughout-the-u-s/ |archive-date=October 13, 2018 |url-status=live }} The church has donated $4 million to aid refugees fleeing from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.{{cite news|url=https://www.abc4.com/news/the-church-donates-millions-to-aid-displaced-ukrainian-refugees/|title=The LDS Church donates millions to aid displaced Ukrainian refugees|date=March 14, 2022|publisher=KTVX}} In 2022, the church gave $32 million to the United Nations World Food Programme, in its largest known one-time donation to a humanitarian organization so far.{{Cite news |last=Pierce |first=Scott D. |date=September 14, 2022 |title=LDS Church makes its biggest one-time charitable donation ever |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/09/14/lds-church-makes-its-biggest-one/ |access-date=June 30, 2023}}

{{Main|Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints}}

Modern criticism of the church includes disputed claims, allegations of historical revisionism by the church,{{cite web|url= https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2019/02/05/brown-race-relations-and-the-lds-church-a-problematic-history-of-revisionism/|title= Brown: Race Relations and the LDS Church: A Problematic History of Revisionism|date= February 5, 2019|publisher= Daily Utah Chronicle |access-date= August 29, 2021|archive-date= August 29, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210829152849/https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2019/02/05/brown-race-relations-and-the-lds-church-a-problematic-history-of-revisionism/|url-status= live}} child sexual abuse, sexism,{{cite web|url=https://religionnews.com/2019/09/10/mormon-men-are-groomed-not-to-listen-to-women/|title=Mormon men are groomed not to listen to women|date=September 10, 2019|first=Jana|last=Reiss|author-link=Jana Reiss|publisher=Religion News Service|access-date=August 29, 2021|archive-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829154621/https://religionnews.com/2019/09/10/mormon-men-are-groomed-not-to-listen-to-women/|url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|title= Latter-day Saints Take a Stand on Feminism…and It Isn't Pretty|date= January 29, 2020|url= https://nonprofitquarterly.org/latter-day-saints-take-a-stand-on-feminismand-it-isnt-pretty/| magazine=Nonprofit Quarterly|access-date= August 29, 2021|archive-date= August 29, 2021|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210829154621/https://nonprofitquarterly.org/latter-day-saints-take-a-stand-on-feminismand-it-isnt-pretty/|url-status= live}} racism,{{cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-blackmormons-story.html|title=Mormon past steeped in racism|date=July 26, 2005|newspaper=Chicago Tribune |access-date=August 29, 2021|archive-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829151528/https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-blackmormons-story.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Mormons Grapple With Church's History Of Discrimination Amid Wider Racial Reckoning|date=September 22, 2020|publisher=WBUR-FM|work=Here and Now| location=Boston, Massachusetts|url= https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/09/22/mormon-church-lds-black-racism|access-date=October 13, 2021|archive-date=August 13, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210813183934/https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2020/09/22/mormon-church-lds-black-racism|url-status=live}} and anti-LGBTQ+ teachings.{{refn|{{rp|4, 288–301}}{{cite web|url=https://religionandpolitics.org/2016/02/23/mormons-anglicans-and-why-global-churches-struggle-over-lgbt-rights/|title=Mormons, Anglicans, and Why Global Churches Struggle Over LGBT Rights|date=February 23, 2016|website= Religion and Politics |publisher=Washington University in St. Louis |access-date=August 29, 2021|archive-date=August 29, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829150229/https://religionandpolitics.org/2016/02/23/mormons-anglicans-and-why-global-churches-struggle-over-lgbt-rights/|url-status=live}}}} Notable 20th-century critics included Jerald and Sandra Tanner{{cite news|url=https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/the-notorious-tanners/Content?oid=2129013| title=The Notorious Tanners |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624203532/https://www.cityweekly.net/utah/the-notorious-tanners/Content?oid=2129013|archive-date=June 24, 2021|newspaper=Salt Lake City Weekly|date=June 11, 2007}} and historian Fawn Brodie.{{cite journal|title= Fawn Brodie and Her Quest for Independence |url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V22N02_81.pdf | journal=Dialogue | volume=22 |issue=2 |date=Summer 1989 |pages=79–95 |last1= Bringhurst |first1= Newell G. |author1-link=Newell G. Bringhurst}}

{{see also|Mormon abuse cases}}

The church has been criticized for a number of abuses allegedly perpetrated or covered up by local church leadership; several cases have been settled out of court.{{cite news|url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/862366/Lawyer-blasts-LDS-Church.html?pg=all|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305113717/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/862366/Lawyer-blasts-LDS-Church.html?pg=all|url-status=dead|archive-date=March 5, 2016|title=Lawyer blasts LDS Church|work=Deseret News|date=September 5, 2001}}[https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-04-27/riverside-woman-to-receive-2-3-billion-in-sex-abuse-lawsuit-that-also-accused-the-mormon-church Jury awards Riverside woman $2.3 billion in a sex abuse lawsuit involving the Mormon church. LA Times. April 27, 2023.] In other cases, church leaders have been criticized for: allegedly failing to report abuse to law enforcement;{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/Mormon-church-sexual-abuse-investigation-e0e39cf9aa4fbe0d8c1442033b894660|title=Seven years of sex abuse: How Mormon officials let it happen|date=August 4, 2022|publisher=Associated Press}} improperly invoking clergy–penitent privilege in so doing;{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/mormon-church-investigation-child-sex-abuse-9c301f750725c0f06344f948690caf16 |title=Recordings show how the Mormon church protects itself from child sex abuse claims|first1=Michael|last1=Rezendes|first2=Jason|last2=Dearen|publisher=Associated Press|date=December 12, 2023|access-date=January 23, 2024}} and failing to keep records of sexual abuse claims which were reported through its Helpline phone number.

{{see also|Criticism of the Book of Mormon|Historicity of the Book of Mormon|Origin of the Book of Mormon|Archaeology and the Book of Mormon|Genetics and the Book of Mormon|Book of Mormon anachronisms|Criticism of the Book of Abraham}}

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.{{refn|{{rp|116–118}}{{rp|80–82, 87}}}}

Mainstream archaeological, historical, and scientific communities have discovered little to support the existence of the civilizations described in the Book of Mormon, and do not consider it to be an actual record of historical events.{{r|Lost|p=xv|q=. "Anthropologists and archaeologists, including some Mormons and former Mormons, have discovered little to support the existence of [Book of Mormon] civilizations. Over a period of 150 years, as scholars have seriously studied Native American cultures and prehistory, evidence of a Christian civilization in the Americas has eluded the specialists... These [Mesoamerican] cultures lack any trace of Hebrew or Egyptian writing, metallurgy, or the Old World domesticated animals and plants described in the Book of Mormon."}} 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;{{rp|91}}{{efn|Standard language references such as Peter T. Daniels and William Bright, eds., The World's Writing Systems (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996) (990 pages); David Crystal, The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language (Cambridge University Press, 1997); and Roger D. Woodard, ed., The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the World's Ancient Languages (Cambridge University Press, 2004) (1162 pages) contain no reference to "reformed Egyptian." "Reformed Egyptian" is also ignored in Andrew Robinson, Lost Languages: The Enigma of the World's Undeciphered Scripts (New York: McGraw Hill, 2002). Smith's discussion of it is mentioned in Fantastic Archaeology.{{Cite book |last=Williams |first=Stephen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ekybHamEW8C |title=Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory |date=1991 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |isbn=978-0-8122-8238-2 |pages=161–163}}}} the Book of Mormon explicitly says it was written in a Reformed Egyptian text.{{Cite journal |last=Shields |first=Steven L. |date=2021 |title=The Quest for 'Reformed Egyptian' |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27112676 |journal=The John Whitmer Historical Association Journal |publisher=John Whitmer Historical Association |volume=41 |issue=2 |page=101 |jstor=27112676 |issn=0739-7852}} Also, general archaeological and genetic evidence has not supported the book's statements about any known Indigenous peoples of the Americas.{{Cite magazine | last=Duffy | first=John-Charles | title=Defending the Kingdom, Rethinking the Faith: How Apologetics is Reshaping Mormon Orthodoxy | magazine=Sunstone | volume=132 | issue=May | year=2004 | page=37 | url=https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/132%2022-55.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716163827/https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/132%2022-55.pdf |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |url-status=live |via=Internet Archive |url-access=limited}}{{cite book | last= Abanes | first= Richard | year= 2003 | title= One Nation Under Gods: A History of the Mormon Church | publisher= Thunder's Mouth Press | isbn= 1-56858-283-8 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=jYVItAEACAAJ |pages= 74–77}}

Since its publication in 1842, the Book of Abraham (currently published as part of the canonical Pearl of Great Price) has also been a major source of controversy. Numerous non-Mormon Egyptologists, beginning in the late 19th century,{{cite book | last=Ritner | first=Robert K. | title=The Joseph Smith Egyptian Papyri: A Complete Edition| isbn=978-1-56085-220-9| publisher=Signature Books | date=2013 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=08hVtwAACAAJ}}{{rp|61}} have disagreed with Joseph Smith's explanations of the book's facsimiles. Translations of the original papyri—by both Mormon and non-Mormon Egyptologists—do not match the text of the Book of Abraham as purportedly translated by Joseph Smith.{{cite book | last=Larson | first=Charles M. | title=By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus | publisher=Institute of Religious Research | year=1992 | edition=2nd | isbn=978-0-9620963-2-7 |url=https://archive.org/details/ByHisOwnHandUponPapyrusByCharlesB.Larson/mode/1up |via=Internet Archive}}{{rp|61}} Indeed, the transliterated text from the recovered papyri and facsimiles published in the Book of Abraham contain no direct references to Abraham.{{refn|{{cite book|editor2-link=Ardis E. Parshall|editor1-link=W. Paul Reeve| editor1-last=Reeve | editor1-first=W. Paul | editor2-last=Parshall | editor2-first= Ardis |date= 2010 |title=Mormonism: A Historical Encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, CA |chapter=Mormon Scripture |isbn= 978-1-59884-108-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qLji9wwnaoUC | via=Google Books}}{{rp|269}}{{cite journal| last=Ashment | first=Edward H. | title=Joseph Smith's Identification of 'Abraham' in Papyrus JS1, the 'Breathing Permit of Hor' | journal=Dialogue |volume=33 | issue=4 | date=December 2000 | doi=10.2307/45226744 | jstor=45226744 | s2cid=254298749 | url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/V33N04.pdf | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110119070137/https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/issues/V33N04.pdf |archive-date=January 19, 2011| page=126}}{{rp|66}}}} Scholars have also asserted that damaged portions of the papyri were reconstructed incorrectly by Smith or his associates.{{rp|25}}

{{main|Mormonism and polygamy}}

File:Polygamists in prison.jpg

Polygamy (called plural marriage within the church) was practiced by church leaders for more than half of the 19th century,{{Cite web |last=Embry |first=Jessie L. |year=1994 |title=The History of Polygamy |url=https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181107044102/https://heritage.utah.gov/history/uhg-history-polygamy-2 |archive-date=November 7, 2018 |access-date=December 31, 2018 |publisher=Utah State Historical Society}} and practiced publicly from 1852 to 1890 by between 20 and 30 percent of Latter-day Saint families.{{cite book|last= Flake|first=Kathleen|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=GLLCAB5vmMQC&pg=PA65|title=The Politics of American Religious Identity|publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=2004|isbn=0-8078-5501-4|pages=65, 192 |via=Google Books}}{{Citation | last = Embry | first = Jessie L. | title = Utah History Encyclopedia | publisher = University of Utah Press | year = 1994 | chapter = Polygamy | chapter-url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/POLYGAMY.shtml | url = https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/ | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240322100959/https://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/p/POLYGAMY.shtml | archive-date = March 22, 2024 | isbn =9780874804256 | access-date = April 9, 2024}} It was instituted privately in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith and announced publicly in 1852 at the direction of Brigham Young.

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."{{cite web|url=http://www.ushistory.org/gop/convention_1856.htm| website=US History.org|publisher=Independence Hall Association |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |title=GOP Convention of 1856 in Philadelphia}} 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.

In 1890, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a manifesto that officially terminated the practice in the U.S., though it did not dissolve existing polygamous marriages. Some church members continued to enter into polygamous marriages in Canada and Mexico, 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.{{rp|91}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna25396937 |title=Mormons seek distance from polygamous sects |year=2008 |publisher=NBC News}} The church does allow divorced or widowed men to be sealed to other women without cancelling any existing sealings.{{cite news |last1=Stack |first1=Peggy Fletcher |title=Polygamy lives on in LDS temples, spurring agony, angst and a key question: Who will be married to whom in heaven? |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/11/24/polygamy-lives-lds/ |work=Salt Lake Tribune |date=November 24, 2019}}

{{see also|Black people and temple and priesthood policies in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Black segregation and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Curses of Cain and Ham and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Interracial marriage and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormonism and slavery}}

Image:Green Flake Colorized.jpg, an enslaved Black man, was reported to have driven the first wagon of LDS pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847.{{cite web |title=Century of Black Mormons: Flake, Green |url=https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of-black-mormons/page/flake-green |website=J. Willard Marriott Library |publisher=University of Utah}}]]

The teachings, attitudes, and practices of top LDS Church leaders towards Black people have changed significantly from its founding years to the modern times, and the church has faced criticism and controversy on these topics.{{refn|{{cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Matthew L.|last2=Bringhurst|first2=Newell G.|author2-link=Newell G. Bringhurst|title=The Mormon Church and Blacks: A Documentary History|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=Pn20CgAAQBAJ}}|date=2015|publisher=University of Illinois Press|location=Champaign, Illinois |via=Google Books|url-access=limited|isbn=978-0-252-08121-7|id={{ProQuest|2131052022}}}}{{rp|1–5}}{{cite book |editor1-last= Bringhurst |editor1-first= Newell G. |editor1-link=Newell G. Bringhurst|editor2-last= Smith |editor2-first= Darron T. |title=Black and Mormon |year=2004 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Champaign, Illinois |isbn=0-252-02947-X |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=lSvRnQgJAx8C}}|id={{ProQuest|2131367301}}}}{{rp|5–7}}{{cite news|last=Turner |first=John G. |title=Why Race Is Still a Problem for Mormons|work=The New York Times|date=August 18, 2012|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/racism-and-the-mormon-church.html}}}} Joseph Smith allowed several Black men to be ordained as priests during his presidency, but also taught that the dark skin of people of Black African ancestry was a sign of a curse from God.{{rp|213}}{{cite journal |last1=Stuart Bingham |first1=Ryan |title=Curses and Marks: Racial Dispensations and Dispensations of Race in Joseph Smith's Bible Revision and the Book of Abraham |journal=Journal of Mormon History |date=July 2015 |volume=41 |issue=3 |doi=10.5406/jmormhist.41.3.22 |pages=22, 27, 29, 30–31, 43, 54–57|jstor=10.5406/jmormhist.41.3.22 |s2cid=246574026}}{{rp|27}} Both Smith and Brigham Young taught that Black people were subject to the Biblical curse of Ham,{{cite book|last1=Reeve|first1=W. Paul |author-link= W. Paul Reeve |title=Religion of a Different Color: Race and the Mormon Struggle for Whiteness|chapter=Religion of a Different Color |date=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=95j4BQAAQBAJ}}|location=New York|isbn=978-0-19-975407-6|via=Google Books|url-access=limited|doi=10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754076.001.0001}}{{rp|126}}{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Brigham |author-link=Brigham Young |title=Necessity for Watchfulness |journal=Journal of Discourses |date=October 6, 1863 |volume=10 |page=250 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_10/Necessity_for_Watchfulness,_etc.}} and curse of Cain.{{r|name=Reeve 2015|q=Joseph ... sought to 'sh[o]w that the Indians have gr[e]ater cause to complain of the treatment of the whites than the Negroes or Sons of Cain.'|p=256}} Both made statements in support of Black enslavement,{{rp|22}} and Young legalized Black slavery while acting as Utah territory's governor.{{refn|{{cite web|title=Slavery in Utah|date=April 20, 2016|publisher=Utah State Department of Cultural & Community Engagement|url=https://historytogo.utah.gov/slavery/|last1=Nichols|first1=Jeffrey D.}}{{cite book|last1=Bringhurst|first1=Newell G.|author1-link=Newell G. Bringhurst|title=Saints, Slaves, and Blacks: The Changing Place of Black People Within Mormonism|url=https://archive.org/details/saintsslavesblac0000brin/|url-access=registration|date=1981|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Westport, Connecticut|isbn=0-313-22752-7|via=Internet Archive}}{{rp|69}}{{cite book|title=Slavery in Utah Territory: 1847–1865|first=Don B. |last=Williams |url= {{google books|plainurl=y|id=tbnQ6doL2U8C}} |isbn=978-0-9746076-2-7|date= December 2004 |publisher= Mt Zion Books}}{{rp|34}}}}

From 1844 to 1978, the church barred Black people from participating in temple ordinances necessary for the highest level of salvation;{{cite journal |last1=White |first1=O. Kendall Jr. |title=Integrating Religious and Racial Identities: An Analysis of LDS African American Explanations of the Priesthood Ban |journal= Review of Religious Research |date=March 1995 |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=296–297 |doi=10.2307/3511536 |jstor=3511536 |quote='Celestial' or 'temple' marriage is a necessary condition for 'exaltation' ... Without the priesthood, Black men and women ... were denied complete exaltation, the ultimate goal of Mormonism.}}{{cite news |last=Hale |first=Lee |date=May 31, 2018 |title=Mormon Church Celebration Of 40 Years Of Black Priesthood Brings Up Painful Past |work=All Things Considered |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2018/05/31/615911082/mormon-church-celebration-of-40-years-of-black-priesthood-brings-up-painful-past}}{{cite web |url=https://theconversation.com/mormons-confront-a-history-of-church-racism-95328 |title=Mormons confront a history of Church racism |last=Bowman |first=Matthew |date=May 29, 2018 |website=The Conversation |access-date=February 15, 2021 |archive-date=February 16, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216034904/https://theconversation.com/mormons-confront-a-history-of-church-racism-95328 |url-status=live }} prevented most men of Black African descent from being ordained to the church's lay, all-male priesthood;{{cite book |last=Embry |first=Jessie |url=https://archive.org/details/blacksaintsinwhi0000embr |title=Black Saints in a White Church |publisher=Signature Books |year=1994 |isbn=1-56085-044-2|location= Salt Lake City |oclc=30156888 |url-access=registration|via=Internet Archive}}{{rp|64}} supported racial segregation in its communities and schools;{{rp|67, 78}}{{cite book|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=mQ7TCgAAQBAJ|page=168}}|title= Mormonism and American Politics|author1-first=Randall|author1-last=Balmer |author2-first=Jana |author2-last= Riess |author2-link=Jana Riess |page=168|isbn=978-0-231-54089-6|year=2015|publisher=Columbia University Press}} taught that righteous Black people would be made White after death;{{cite web|title=The National Conference and the Reports of the State Advisory Committees to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights|year=1959|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|quote=The Mormon interpretation attributes birth into any race other than the [W]hite race as a result of inferior performance in a pre-earth life and teaches that by righteous living, the dark-skinned races may again become '[W]hite and delightsome.' This doctrine is mentioned in passing by way of explaining certain attitudes evident in specific fields of investigation.|pages=379–380|url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=zKIHERHQKBcC|page=379}}}}{{cite book |first=Max Perry |last=Mueller |url={{google books|plainurl=y|id=hB8wDwAAQBAJ}} |title=Race and the Making of the Mormon People |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-469-63376-3}}{{rp|148}} and opposed interracial marriage.{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Joanna |author-link=Joanna Brooks |title=Mormonism and White Supremacy: American Religion and The Problem of Racial Innocence |date=2020 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-19-008175-1 |pages=121–123 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IcDgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA123 |via=Google Books}}{{cite book |editor-last= Bush |editor-first= Lester E. Jr.|editor-link=Lester E. Bush Jr. |editor2-last= Mauss |editor2-first= Armand L. |editor2-link= Armand L. Mauss |title= Neither White Nor Black: Mormon Scholars Confront the Race Issue in a Universal Church |publisher= Signature Books |year= 1984 |location= Salt Lake City, Utah |url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black/|archive-date=October 1, 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221001163611/http://signaturebookslibrary.org/neither-white-nor-black/ |isbn= 0-941214-22-2|via=Internet Archive}}{{rp|89}} Leaders taught on many occasions during this time that Black people were less righteous in the pre-existence.{{refn|{{cite journal |last1=Bush |first1=Lester E. |date=1973 |title= Mormonism's Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview|url=https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V08N01_13.pdf |journal=Dialogue |volume=8 |issue=1 }}{{rp|27}}{{rp|56, 66}}{{rp|221}}}} The temple and priesthood racial restrictions were lifted by top leaders in 1978{{refn|{{rp|106–107}}{{cite news |last1=Gurwell |first1=Lance |title=Critics Still Question 'Revelation' on Blacks |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-06-02-8801040230-story.html |work=Chicago Tribune |date=June 1, 1988}}}} following public pressure during the United States' civil rights movement.{{efn|Examples of public pressure include:

• In 1963, Hugh B. Brown made a statement on civil rights during General Conference to avert a planned protest of the conference by the NAACP.{{cite web|title=Black History Timeline|url=http://www.blacklds.org/history|access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-date=March 21, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321042304/http://www.blacklds.org/history|url-status=live}}
• During the late 1960s and 1970s, Black athletes at some universities refused to compete against teams from church owned Brigham Young University as a form of protest.{{cite web|last1=Collisson|first1=Craig|title=The BSU takes on BYU and the UW Athletics Program, 1970|url=http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU_BYU.htm|website=Seattle Civil Rights & Labor History Project| publisher=University of Washington |access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-date=October 19, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019210617/http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BSU_BYU.htm|url-status=live}}
• A protest in 1974 was in response to the exclusion of Black scouts to become leaders in church sponsored Boy Scout troops.{{rp|185}}}} In 2013 the church directly disavowed its previous teachings on race for the first time.{{cite magazine |last1=Green |first1=Emma |title=When Mormons Aspired to Be a 'White and Delightsome' People |date=September 18, 2017 |magazine=The Atlantic |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/mormons-race-max-perry-mueller/539994/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207001722/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/mormons-race-max-perry-mueller/539994/|url-status=live|url-access=subscription|archive-date=December 7, 2022|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite magazine|url= https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/black-and-mormon/497660/|title=Choosing to Stay in the Mormon Church Despite Its Racist Legacy|first=Janan |last=Graham-Russell| date=August 28, 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220821082919/https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/black-and-mormon/497660/|archive-date=August 21, 2022|url-status=live|url-access=subscription| magazine=The Atlantic|via=Internet Archive}} In 2018, the Church formed an alliance with the NAACP in an effort to improve race relations.{{Cite news |last=Mccombs |first=Brady |date=June 14, 2021 |title=Mormons and NAACP seek to advance work with new initiatives |url=https://apnews.com/article/naacp-race-and-ethnicity-religion-fe1014587d6525b7c23f42ff93339c7e |access-date=October 16, 2023 |publisher=Associated Press}}

{{see also|Native American people and Mormonism|Mormon teachings on skin color|Genetics and the Book of Mormon|Archaeology and the Book of Mormon|Indian Placement Program}}

File:Joseph Smith Preaching to the Indians by William Armitage.png

Over the past two centuries, the relationship between Native American people and the LDS Church has included friendly ties, displacement, battles, massacres, slavery, education placement programs, official and unofficial discrimination, and criticism.{{cite web |last1=Hamilton |first1=Andrew |last2=Geisner |first2=Joe |last3=Newcomb |first3=Sarah |title=Mormons and Native Americans: Myths vs. Realities |url=https://sunstone.org/mormons-and-native-americans-myths-vs-realities/ |website=Sunstone |date=January 2020}} Church leadership and publications taught that Native Americans are descendants of Lamanites, a dark-skinned and cursed people from the Book of Mormon.{{cite journal |last1=Green |first1=Arnold H. |title=Gathering and Election: Israelite Descent and Universalism in Mormon Doctrine |journal=Journal of Mormon History|date=Spring 1999 |volume=5 |issue=21 |jstor=23287743 |url=https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=mormonhistory|publisher=University of Illinois Press |location=Champaign}}{{rp|196}}{{cite news |last1=Diana |first1=Kruzman |title=Indigenous Mormons struggle to balance pride in the faith with LDS history |url=https://religionnews.com/2022/01/11/indigenous-mormons-struggle-to-balance-pride-in-the-faith-with-lds-history/ |publisher= Religion News Service |date=January 11, 2022}} More recently, LDS researchers and publications generally favor a smaller geographic footprint of Lamanite descendants.{{efn|Prior to 2006, the introduction to church-published editions of the Book of Mormon stated Lamanites form the "principal ancestors of the American Indians." Since the 2006 edition, the same passage now reads they are "among the ancestors of the American Indians."

{{cite news |last1=Fletcher Stack |first1=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |title= Single word change in Book of Mormon speaks volumes |url= https://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/lds/ci_7403990 |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=April 27, 2022 |date=November 8, 2007}}}}{{cite news|title=Why Native Americans struggle to make their stories and traditions fit with the Book of Mormon|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/02/why-native-americans/|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=July 2, 2021|access-date=October 13, 2021|archive-date=September 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210927135734/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/07/02/why-native-americans/|url-status=live}} There is no direct support amongst mainstream historians and archaeologists for the historicity of the Book of Mormon or Middle Eastern origins for Native American peoples.{{refn|{{cite thesis| last=Murphy| first=Thomas W.| title=Imagining Lamanites: Native Americans and the Book of Mormon| journal=Ph.D. Dissertation| place=University of Washington| year=2003| ssrn=2177734|url=https://www.academia.edu/10367006|via=Academia.edu}}{{Cite book |last=Southerton |first=Simon G |title=Losing a Lost Tribe: Native Americans, DNA and the Mormon Church |publisher=Signature Books |year=2004 |url=https://www.signaturebooks.com/books/p/losing-a-lost-tribe |place=Salt Lake City |isbn=1-56085-181-3 }}{{Cite book| last= Persuitte| first= David| author-link = David Persuitte| title= Joseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon| edition = 2nd| year=2000| publisher = McFarland & Company|location=Jefferson, North Carolina|chapter='The Book of Mormon' and Ancient America| isbn= 978-0-7864-0826-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hrR7DwAAQBAJ|via=Google Books}}{{rp|259–267}}}}

Soon after Mormons colonized the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, Native American child slaves became a vital source of labor.{{cite book|title=The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America| first=Andrés |last=Reséndez |year=2016| publisher= HarperCollins |isbn=978-0-544-60267-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2gpCgAAQBAJ |via=Google Books|url-access=limited}}{{rp|273–274}} The settlers initially had some peaceful relations, but because resources were scarce in the desert, hostilities broke out with the local Native Americans. According to LDS Church Historian Marlin K. Jensen as more LDS immigrants arrived and took over the land of Native nations, "Resources the Indians had relied on for generations diminished, and in time they felt forced to resist and fight for their own survival ... the land and cultural birthright Indians once possessed in the Great Basin were largely taken from them."{{cite news |last1=Fletcher Stack |first1=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |title=LDS Native American teacher envisions a Pioneer Day that celebrates all Utahns |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/07/24/lds-native-american/ |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=July 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402193836/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/07/24/lds-native-american/ |archive-date=April 2, 2023 |via=Internet Archive |url-status=live| url-access=limited}} Within 50 years of Mormon settlement, the population of Utah's Native Americans was reduced by almost 90 percent.{{rp|273}}

The church ran an Indian Placement Program between the 1950s and the 1990s, wherein Indigenous children would live in the homes of church members during one or more school years. Criticism resulted during and after the program, including claims of improper assimilation and even abuse.{{cite news|url=https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2019/02/14/the-making-of-a-lamanite-a-brief-history-between-the-lds-church-and-indigenous-communities/|title=The Making of a Lamanite: A Brief History Between the LDS Church and Indigenous Communities|newspaper=Daily Utah Chronicle |publisher=University of Utah |date=February 14, 2019|access-date=October 13, 2021|archive-date=March 1, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210301143625/https://dailyutahchronicle.com/2019/02/14/the-making-of-a-lamanite-a-brief-history-between-the-lds-church-and-indigenous-communities/|url-status=live}} However, many of the involved students and families praised the program.{{cite book|last1=Garrett|first1=Matthew|title=Making Lamanites: Mormons, Native Americans, and the Indian Student Placement Program, 1947–2000 |isbn= 978-1-60781-494-8|publisher=University of Utah Press|date=2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MImgDAEACAAJ| via=Google Books|url-access=limited}}{{rp|194–195}} Church leaders taught for decades that Native Americans' darker skin would be made lighter due to their righteousness.{{cite news |last1=Dart |first1=John |title=Indians Hope to Shift Mormon View of Their Skin Color |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/03/02/indians-hope-to-shift-mormon-view-of-their-skin-color/8d099524-23ae-484f-879a-c9ab5aad7eb5/ |newspaper=Washington Post |agency=Los Angeles Times |date=March 2, 1979}}{{cite book |title=All Abraham's Children: Changing Mormon Conceptions of Race and Lineage |first=Armand L. |last=Mauss |author-link= Armand Mauss |publisher= University of Illinois Press |year=2003 |isbn=0-252-02803-1|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=7lXq9JfR_EYC |via= Google Books}}{{rp|64}}

{{see also|Homosexuality and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Gender minorities and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Sexual orientation change efforts and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LGBTQ rights and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|LGBTQ Mormon suicides}}

File:Prop8templeProtest.jpg voicing their opposition to the church's support of Prop 8]]

The church's policies and treatment of sexual minorities and gender minorities have long been the subject of external criticism,{{cite magazine |last=Browning |first=Bill |date=December 21, 2021 |title=Utah billionaire leaves Mormon church with blistering accusation it is actively harming the world |url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/12/utah-billionaire-leaves-mormon-church-blistering-accusation-actively-harming-world/ |url-status=live |magazine=LGBTQ Nation |location=San Francisco |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211221140543/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2021/12/utah-billionaire-leaves-mormon-church-blistering-accusation-actively-harming-world/ |archive-date=December 21, 2021 |access-date=December 25, 2021}}{{cite news|last1=Winters|first1=Rosemary|title=Mormon apostle's words about gays spark protest|url=http://archive.sltrib.com/story.php?ref=/sltrib/home/50434583-76/gay-church-packer-protest.html.csp|access-date=November 16, 2016|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=October 19, 2010}}{{cite news |last1=Bailey |first1=Sarah Pulliam |author-link1=Sarah Pulliam Bailey |title=Mormon Church to exclude children of same-sex couples from getting blessed and baptized until they are 18 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/05/mormon-church-to-exclude-children-of-same-sex-couples-from-getting-blessed-and-baptized-until-they-are-18/ |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117084237/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/11/05/mormon-church-to-exclude-children-of-same-sex-couples-from-getting-blessed-and-baptized-until-they-are-18/ |archive-date=November 17, 2015 |access-date=November 12, 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=November 11, 2016}}{{cbignore}} as well as internal controversy and disaffection by members.{{cite web |last1=Murphy |first1=Caryle |author-link1=Caryle Murphy |title=Most U.S. Christian groups grow more accepting of homosexuality |date=December 18, 2015 |url=http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/12/18/most-u-s-christian-groups-grow-more-accepting-of-homosexuality/|publisher=Pew Research Center |access-date=March 12, 2017}}{{cite journal|last1=Levin|first1=Sam|title='I'm not a Mormon': fresh 'mass resignation' over anti-LGBT beliefs|journal=The Guardian |date=August 15, 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/15/mormon-church-lgbt-mass-resignation-protest-utah|access-date=December 11, 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Hatch|first1=Heidi|title=Millennial Mormons leaving faith at higher rate than previous generations|url=http://kutv.com/news/local/millennial-mormons-leaving-faith-more-than-previous-generations-are-more-republican|work=KUTV|publisher=CBS Television |date=April 13, 2016}} Because of its ban against same-sex sexual activity and same-sex marriage, the LDS church taught for decades that any adherents attracted to the same sex could and should change that through sexual orientation change efforts and righteous striving.{{refn|{{cite book |last1=Prince |first1=Gregory A. |author-link=Gregory Prince|title=Gay Rights and the Mormon Church: Intended Actions, Unintended Consequences |date=2019 |publisher=University of Utah Press |location=Salt Lake City |isbn=978-1-60781-663-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XfnQuQEACAAJ |via= Google Books}}{{rp|25–30, 89–101 |via=Google Books}}}} The church provided therapy and programs for attempting to change sexual orientation.{{cite journal|last1= Galliher|first1=Renee |last2=Bradshaw|first2=William |last3=Hyde|first3=Daniel| last4=Dehlin|first4=John| last5=Crowell|first5=Katherine|title=Sexual orientation change efforts among current or former LDS church members|journal=Journal of Counseling Psychology|date=April 2015|volume=62|issue=2|pages=95–105|doi=10.1037/cou0000011|pmid=24635593|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/260873307 |via=ResearchGate}}

Current teachings and policies leave homosexual members with the options of entering a mixed-orientation opposite-sex marriage, or lifelong celibacy.{{refn|{{cite journal |last1=Fish |first1=Jessica N. |last2=Russell |first2=Stephen T. |title=Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Change Efforts are Unethical and Harmful |journal=American Journal of Public Health |date=Aug 2020 |volume=110 |issue=8 |pages=1113–1114 |doi=10.2105/AJPH.2020.305765 |pmid=32639919 |pmc=7349462 |quote=With substantial evidence of serious harms associated with exposure to [sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts (SOGICE)] particularly for minors, 21 states (and multiple cities and counties) have passed bipartisan laws or regulations prohibiting SOGICE. ... Furthermore, compared with LGBTQ youths with no exposure, those exposed to SOGICE showed 1.76 times greater odds of seriously considering suicide, 2.23 times greater odds of having attempted suicide, and 2.54 times greater odds of multiple suicide attempts in the previous year.}}{{cite book|last1=Phillips|first1=Rick|title=Conservative Christian Identity & Same-Sex Orientation: The Case of Gay Mormons|date=2005|publisher=Peter Lang Publishing|location=Frankfurt, Germany| isbn=978-0-8204-7480-9 |url= https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269701629 |access-date=May 31, 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170418092803/https://www.uvu.edu/religiousstudies/docs/msc_philips_conservative.pdf|archive-date=April 18, 2017|page=11}}{{cite journal|last1=Cook|first1=Bryce|title=What Do We Know of God's Will for His LGBT Children? An Examination of the LDS Church's Current Position on Homosexuality|journal=Dialogue |date=Summer 2017|volume=50|issue=2 |doi=10.5406/dialjmormthou.50.2.0001| s2cid=190443414|doi-access=free}}{{rp|20–21}}}} Some have argued that church teachings against homosexuality and the treatment of LGBTQ members have contributed to their elevated rates of PTSD, depression,{{cite journal|last1=Galliher|first1=Renee|last2=Bradshaw| first2=William|last3=Dehlin |first3=John|last4=Crowelle|first4=Katherine|title=Psychosocial Correlates of Religious Approaches to Same-Sex Attraction: A Mormon Perspective|journal=Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health|pages=301, 304 |date=April 25, 2014|volume=18|issue=3|doi= 10.1080/19359705.2014.912970|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273248065|s2cid=144153586|quote=The major findings from the study are that non-biologically based views regarding the etiology of SSA [same-sex attraction], remaining active in the LDS Church, remaining single, and engaging in mixed-orientation marriages were all associated with higher reported levels of internalized homophobia, sexual identity distress, and depression, and lower levels of self-esteem and quality of life. ... This study does affirm and extend the existing literature by suggesting that psychosocially based beliefs about SSA etiology active participation in non-LGBT-affirming churches, being single and celibate, and mixed-orientation marriage—all of which are common beliefs and/or practices within modern, active LDS culture—are associated with poorer psychosocial health, well-being, and quality of life for LGBT Mormons. Conversely, biological beliefs about SSA etiology, complete disaffiliation from the LDS Church, legal same-sex marriage, and sexual activity are all associated with higher levels of psychosocial health, well-being, and quality of life for LGBT Mormons.|via=ResearchGate}}{{cite journal |last1=Simmons |first1=Brian |title=Coming out Mormon: An examination of religious orientation, spiritual trauma, and PTSD among Mormon and ex-Mormon LGBTQQA adults |journal=University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations |date=December 2017 |page=99 |url=https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/simmons_brian_w_201712_phd.pdf| publisher=University of Georgia}}{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Brian |title=Coming out Mormon |url=https://athenaeum.libs.uga.edu/handle/10724/38227 |website=uga.edu |publisher=University of Georgia |date=December 2017}} suicide and teen homelessness.{{refn|{{rp|4, 288–301}}{{cite news|last1=Fletcher Stack|first1=Peggy |author-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |title=Suicide fears, if not actual suicides, rise in wake of Mormon same-sex policy|url=http://www.sltrib.com/news/lds/3473487-155/suicide-fears-if-not-actual-suicides|access-date=November 29, 2016|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune|date=January 28, 2016}}{{cite news |last1=Greene |first1=David |author-link1=David Greene (journalist) |title=Mama Dragons Try To Prevent Suicides Among Mormon-LGBT Children |url= https://www.npr.org/2016/07/07/485058737/mama-dragons-try-to-prevent-suicides-among-mormon-lgbt-children |access-date=November 29, 2016 |publisher=NPR |date=July 7, 2016}}}} The church's decades-long, political involvement opposing U.S. same-sex marriage laws has further garnered criticism and protests.{{refn|{{rp|2–3, 162–163}}{{cite news|last1=Bates|first1=Karen Grigsby|title=Gay-Marriage Ban Protesters Target Mormon Church|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96756702|publisher=NPR|date=November 7, 2008}}}}

Those considering gender-affirming surgery are not allowed to be baptized, and those who have already had one need special clearance from the First Presidency before baptism.{{cite journal |last1=Gedicks |first1=Frederick Mark |author-link1=Frederick Gedicks |title=Church Discipline and the Regulation of Membership in the Mormon Church |journal=Ecclesiastical Law Journal |date=July 31, 2008 |volume=7 |issue=32 |page=43 |doi=10.1017/S0956618X00004920 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |s2cid=143228475 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ecclesiastical-law-journal/article/abs/church-discipline-and-the-regulation-of-membership-in-the-mormon-church/4402CB9CD8D94750B2EC6D52BB03403A|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book|title=Handbook 1: Stake Presidents and Bishops|date=2010|publisher=LDS Church|location=Salt Lake City, Utah| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171115192147/https://www.lds.org/manual/handbook-1-stake-presidents-and-bishops/ordinance-and-blessing-policies/ordinance-and-blessing-policies?lang=eng| archive-date=November 15, 2017 |url=https://www.lds.org/manual/handbook-1-stake-presidents-and-bishops/ordinance-and-blessing-policies/ordinance-and-blessing-policies?lang=eng |quote=The mission president must conduct an interview and receive authorization from the First Presidency before a prospective convert may be baptized and confirmed if the person ... Has undergone an elective transsexual operation. ... A person who is considering an elective transsexual operation may not be baptized or confirmed. ... However, [persons who have already undergone an elective transsexual operation] may not receive the priesthood or a temple recommend.}}{{rp|145}} Undergoing a "trans-sexual {{sic}} operation," including feminizing surgery or masculinizing surgery like chest reconstruction (i.e. top surgery){{cite web|title=The Trans Mormon Who Won't Let His Church Excommunicate Him|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/the-trans-mormon-who-wont-let-his-church-excommunicate-him/|website=Vice.com |publisher=Vice Media| location=New York City|date=December 7, 2017|quote=Broadly follows Claren as he risks complete excommunication from the Mormon Church for undergoing breast removal surgery ....}} may imperil the membership of a current member.{{cite news|last1=Allen|first1=Samantha|title=Mormon Man Risks Excommunication By Sharing His Transition|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/03/16/mormon-man-risks-excommunication-by-sharing-his-transition.html|access-date=December 9, 2016|website=The Daily Beast|date=March 15, 2016}}{{cite news|last1=Levin|first1=Sam|title=Transgender and Mormon: keeping the faith while asking the church to change|journal=The Guardian|date=March 28, 2016|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/28/transgender-mormon-lgbt-rights-emmett-claren|access-date=December 9, 2016 |location=London}} Ordinances after baptism such as receiving the priesthood and temple endowments are only done according to birth sex.{{cite news|title=LDS Church publishes new handbook with changes to discipline, transgender policy|url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2020/02/19/lds-church-puts-new/|newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune| location=Salt Lake City|date=February 19, 2020|author1-last=Fletcher Stack|author1-first=Peggy |author1-link=Peggy Fletcher Stack |author2-last=Noyce|author2-first=David}} Members that gender express through clothing or pronouns differing from the sex assigned at their birth will receive membership restrictions and a notation on their membership records.

{{see also|Joseph Smith and the criminal justice system}}

In the 1830s, the church was heavily criticized for Smith's handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio.{{refn|{{rp|195–196}}{{rp|328, 330, 334}}}} After the Mormons migrated west, there was fear and suspicion about the LDS Church's political and military power in Missouri,{{efn|Bushman noted that in Daviess County, Missouri, non-Mormons "watched local government fall into the hands of people they saw as deluded fanatics".{{rp|357}}}} culminating in the 1838 Mormon War and the Mormon Extermination Order 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 Smith taught were published in the Nauvoo Expositor in 1844.{{rp|539}}{{efn|Historian Fawn Brodie argued that given its authors' intentions to reform the church, the paper was "extraordinarily restrained" given the explosive allegations it could have raised.{{rp|374}} A prospectus for the newspaper was published on May 10, and referred to Smith as a "self-constituted monarch".{{rp|138}}}} After Smith took a leading role in having the paper's printing press destroyed, he was charged with treason and jailed. While he awaited trial, an angry mob stormed the jailhouse and shot him fatally.{{Cite book|last1=Oaks| first1=Dallin H.| author-link=Dallin H. Oaks| title=Carthage Conspiracy, the Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith| last2=Hill| first2=Marvin S.| publisher=University of Illinois Press|year=1979| isbn=0-252-00762-X| location=Champaign| page=52 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=18HuCwAAQBAJ |via=Google Books}}

In modern popular opinion, non-Mormons in the U.S. generally consider Smith a "charlatan, scoundrel, and heretic."{{Cite magazine |last=Turner |first=John G. |date=May 6, 2022 |title=Why Joseph Smith Matters |url=https://themarginaliareview.com/why-does-joseph-smith-matter/ |url-status=live |magazine=Marginalia Review |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817102528/https://themarginaliareview.com/why-does-joseph-smith-matter/ |archive-date=August 17, 2022}} The Book of Mormon musical mocks his account of the golden plates.[https://www.npr.org/transcripts/134803453 "On Broadway, A 'Mormon' Swipe At ... Everything," NPR. March 24, 2011. Accessed December 27, 2023.] In 2007, Christopher Hitchens, writing in Slate, lambasted Smith as a mountebank, charlatan, and fraud (and the church itself as a "ridiculous cult" and a "racket" that became a religion).{{cite web|url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2007/04/god-is-not-great-mormonism-a-racket-becomes-a-religion.html|title=Mormonism: A Racket Becomes a Religion|work=Slate|first=Christopher |last=Hitchens|author-link=Christopher Hitchens|date=April 27, 2007|access-date=December 27, 2023}}

{{see also|Finances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|2023 Securities and Exchange Commission charges against the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Ensign Peak Advisors}}

The church has fought to keep its internal financial information out of the public record.{{cite news |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |title=LDS Church seeks to keep 'extremely sensitive' financial data under wraps in fight with James Huntsman |date=March 16, 2022 |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2022/03/16/lds-church-seeks-keep/}} The church's failure to make its finances public has drawn criticism.{{refn|{{cite book |title= Mormon America: The Power and the Promise |last= Ostling |first= Richard and Joan |pages=113–129 |isbn= 0-06-066371-5 |url= https://archive.org/details/mormonamericapow00ostl/page/113 |publisher=HarperCollins |date= 1999 |via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite book|last= Tanner|first= Jerald and Sandra|author-link= Jerald and Sandra Tanner|year= 1980|title= The Changing World of Mormonism|location= Chicago| publisher= Moody Publishers|isbn= 0-8024-1234-3|oclc= 5239408|url=http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changecontents.ht |access-date= February 24, 2020 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20191008234637/http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changecontents.htm|archive-date=October 8, 2019 |url-status = live|via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite book | last= Tanner| first= Jerald and Sandra| author-link = Jerald and Sandra Tanner| year= 1987| orig-date= 1964| title = Mormonism – Shadow or Reality?| edition= 4th| location= Salt Lake City, UT | publisher = Utah Lighthouse Ministry| oclc= 15339569|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a5vtAAAAMAAJ}} Full 1964 edition available [https://archive.org/details/mormonismshadowo00tann here].{{rp|516–528}}{{cite news| newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune| url=https://www.sltrib.com/opinion/editorial/2023/02/19/those-who-give-lds-church-deserve/| title=Those who give to the LDS Church deserve an accounting of their money, Editorial Board writes| date=February 19, 2023}}}}

In December 2019, a whistleblower alleged the church held over $100 billion in investment funds through its investment management company, Ensign Peak Advisors (EP); that it used these funds in for-profit ventures rather than charity; and that it misled contributors and the public about the usage and extent of those funds.{{cite news |last1=Swaine |first1=Jon |last2=MacMillan |first2=Douglas |last3=Boorstein |first3=Michelle |date=December 16, 2019 |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/mormon-church-has-misled-members-on-100-billion-tax-exempt-investment-fund-whistleblower-alleges/2019/12/16/e3619bd2-2004-11ea-86f3-3b5019d451db_story.html |access-date=December 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191217190808/https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/mormon-church-has-misled-members-on-100-billion-tax-exempt-investment-fund-whistleblower-alleges/2019/12/16/e3619bd2-2004-11ea-86f3-3b5019d451db_story.html |archive-date=December 17, 2019 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription| via=Internet Archive}}{{Cite news |last=Stilson |first=Ashley |date=December 17, 2019 |title=LDS Church leaders defend use of tithes, donations after whistleblower alleges misuse |work=Daily Herald |url=https://www.heraldextra.com/news/2019/dec/17/lds-church-leaders-defend-use-of-tithes-donations-after-whistleblower-alleges-misuse/ |access-date=June 28, 2023}} 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".{{Cite news |last1=Swaine |first1=Jon |last2=MacMillan |first2=Douglas |last3=Boorstein |first3=Michelle |date=January 6, 2020 |title=Mormon Church has misled members on $100 billion tax-exempt investment fund, whistleblower alleges |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/mormon-church-has-misled-members-on-100-billion-tax-exempt-investment-fund-whistleblower-alleges/2019/12/16/e3619bd2-2004-11ea-86f3-3b5019d451db_story.html |access-date=June 28, 2023 |issn=0190-8286}} The church has not directly addressed the fund's size to the public, but third parties have treated the disclosures as legitimate.{{cite news |title= The Mormon Church Amassed $100 Billion. It Was the Best-Kept Secret in the Investment World. |newspaper= The Wall Street Journal |url= https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mormon-church-amassed-100-billion-it-was-the-best-kept-secret-in-the-investment-world-11581138011 |access-date= June 27, 2023 |archive-date= February 15, 2021 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210215012430/https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mormon-church-amassed-100-billion-it-was-the-best-kept-secret-in-the-investment-world-11581138011 |url-status= live |url-access=subscription|via=Internet Archive}}{{cite news |title=LDS Church kept the lid on its $100B fund for fear tithing receipts would fall, account boss tells The Wall Street Journal |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |url= https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/02/08/lds-church-kept-lid-its-b/ |access-date=September 30, 2021 |archive-date=September 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210930135817/https://www.sltrib.com/news/2020/02/08/lds-church-kept-lid-its-b/ |url-status=live |via=Internet Archive}} The disclosure has led to criticism that the church's wealth may be excessive.{{cite news |newspaper=The Salt Lake Tribune |title=LDS Church insists it obeys all financial laws, but some wonder if the faith is hoarding too much money |url=https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/12/17/lds-church-we-obey-all/ |access-date=February 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130014957/https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2019/12/17/lds-church-we-obey-all/ |archive-date=January 30, 2020 |url-status=live|via=Internet Archive}}

The church has transferred more than a billion dollars of tithing collected in Canada, tax-free, to church universities over a 15-year period.{{cite news |last1=Angelovski |first1=Ivan |last2=Sawa |first2=Timothy |last3=Kelley |first3=Mark |title=Mormon Church in Canada moved $1B out of the country tax free – and it's legal |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mormon-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-funds-charity-1.6630190 |publisher=CBC News |access-date=November 5, 2022}} In October 2022, The Sydney Morning Herald announced that while the church publicly claimed to have donated US$1.35 billion to charity between 2008 and 2020, its private financial reports showed that it donated only US$0.177 billion.{{cite news |last1=Schneiders |first1=Ben |last2=Steinfort |first2=Tom |last3=Clancy |first3=Natalie |title=Mormon church invests billions of dollars while grossly overstating its charitable giving |url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/mormon-church-invests-billions-of-dollars-while-grossly-overstating-its-charitable-giving-20220927-p5blbc.html |access-date=October 29, 2022 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=October 29, 2022}}{{efn|The Widow's Mite Report, an anonymous 3rd-party focused on analysis of church finances, evaluated SMH's claims and concluded they "offer only a partial picture" of the church's humanitarian giving during the period in question.{{Cite web|url=https://widowsmitereport.wordpress.com/taxquestions/|title=Questions on Moving Money Around for Tax Reasons|date=February 8, 2023}}}}

In February 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a $5 million penalty to the church and its investment company, EP. The SEC alleged that the church concealed its investments and their management in multiple Shell companies from 1997 to 2019; the SEC believes these shell companies were approved by senior church leadership to avoid public transparency.{{cite news |first=Elizabeth |last=McKernan |title=How the SEC believes the LDS Church hid billions of dollars from the public since 1997 |date=February 24, 2023 |work=KUTV |url=https://kutv.com/news/local/lds-church-sec-fine-5-million-dollars-church-jesus-christ-latter-day-saints-ensign-peak-advisors-securities-exchange-commission-tithing-reserve-funds-billions-assets-investments}} The church released a statement that in 2000 EP "received and relied upon legal counsel regarding how to comply with its reporting obligations while attempting to maintain the privacy of the portfolio." After initial SEC concern in June 2019, the church stated that EP "adjusted its approach and began filing a single aggregated report."{{Cite news |last=Wile |first=Rob |date=February 23, 2023 |title=Feds fine Mormon church for illicitly hiding $32 billion investment fund behind shell companies |work=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/mormon-church-multibillion-investment-fund-sec-settlement-rcna71603 }}

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