Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the theology and religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the Second Great Awakening. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several groups following different leaders; the majority followed Brigham Young, while smaller groups followed Sidney Rigdon and James Strang. Many who did not follow Young eventually merged into the Community of Christ, led by Smith’s son, Joseph Smith III. The term Mormon typically refers to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest branch, which followed Brigham Young. People who identify as Mormons may also be independently religious, secular, and non-practicing or belong to other denominations.
Since 2018, the LDS Church has expressed the desire that its followers be referred to as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or just members, if the identity of the church is made clear previously in the context, as the term Mormon has derogatory origins.
Members have developed a strong sense of community that stems from their doctrine and history. One of the central doctrinal issues that defined Mormonism in the 19th century was the practice of plural marriage, a form of religious polygamy. From 1852 until 1904, when the LDS Church banned the practice, many members who had followed Brigham Young to the Utah Territory openly practiced polygamy. Members are expected to dedicate significant time and resources to serving in their churches. A notable practice among both young and retired members of the LDS Church is to serve a full-time proselytizing mission. Members have a health code that eschews alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and addictive substances. They tend to be very family-oriented and have strong connections across generations and with extended family, reflecting their belief that families can be sealed together beyond death. Members are expected to adhere to a law of chastity, requiring abstention from sexual relations outside heterosexual marriage and fidelity within marriage.
Mormons identify as Christian,Mormons in America: Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society , Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life 2012, p.10: Mormons are nearly unanimous in describing Mormonism as a Christian religion, with 97% expressing this point of view but some non-Mormons consider church members to be non-ChristianChristian Apologetics and Research Ministry (CARM), Is Mormonism Christian? , accessed February 27, 2016 because some of their beliefs differ from those of Nicene Christianity. They believe that Christ's church was restored through Joseph Smith and is guided by living prophets and apostles. Members believe in the Bible and other books of scripture, such as the Book of Mormon. They have a unique view of cosmology and believe that all people are literal spirit children of God: they believe that returning to God requires following the example of Jesus Christ and accepting his atonement through repentance and ordinances such as baptism.
During the 19th century, converts into LDS Church tended to gather in a central geographic location, a trend that reversed somewhat in the 1920s and 1930s. The center of LDS Church cultural influence is in Utah, and North America has more members than any other continent, although about 60% of LDS Church members live outside the United States. As of December 31, 2021, the LDS Church reported a membership of 16,805,400.
Terminology
The terminology preferred by the church itself has varied over time. At various points, the church has embraced the term Mormon and stated that other sects within the shared faith tradition should not be called Mormon.The LDS Church has taken the position that the term Mormon should only apply to the LDS Church and its members, and not other adherents who have adopted the term. (See: ) The Church cites the AP Stylebook, which states, "The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other Latter Day Saints churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith's death." ("Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The", Associated Press, The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, 2002, , p.48) Despite the LDS Church's position, the term Mormon is widely used by journalists and non-journalists to refer to adherents of Mormon fundamentalism.
The word Mormon was initially coined to describe any person who considers the Book of Mormon to be a scripture volume. Mormonite and Mormon were originally descriptive terms used both by outsiders to the faith, church members, and occasionally church leaders. The term Mormon later was sometimes used derogatorily; such use may have developed during the 1838 Mormon War, although church members and leaders "embraced the term", according to church historian Matthew Bowman, and by the end of the 1800s it was broadly used.
The LDS Church has made efforts, including in 1982, in 2001 prior to the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, in 2011 after The Book of Mormon appeared on Broadway, and again in 2018, to encourage the use of the church's full name, rather than the terms Mormon or LDS. According to Patrick Mason, chair of Mormon studies at Claremont Graduate University and Richard Bennett, a professor of church history at Brigham Young University, this is because non-church members have historically been confused about whether it represents a Christian faith, which concerns church leaders, who want to emphasize that the church is a Christian church. The term Mormon also causes concern for church leaders because it has been used to include splinter groups such as Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints, who practice polygamy, which the LDS Church does not; Mason said "For more than 100 years, the mainstream LDS Church has gone to great pains to distance itself from those who practice polygamy. It doesn't want to have any confusion there between those two groups."
In 2018, the LDS Church published a style guide that encourages the use of the terms "the Church", the "Church of Jesus Christ" or the "restored Church of Jesus Christ" as shortened versions after an initial use of the full name.On August 18, 2018, church president Russell M. Nelson asked followers and non-followers to characterize the denomination with the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" instead of "Mormons", "Mormonism" or the shorthand of "LDS". According to church historian Bowman, 'the term "restored" refers to the idea that the original Christian religion is obsolete, and Mormons alone are practicing true Christianity.'
The 2018 style guide rejects the term Mormons along with "Mormon Church", "Mormonism", and the abbreviation LDS. The second-largest sect, the Community of Christ, also rejects the term Mormon due to its association with the practice of polygamy among Brighamite sects. Other sects, including several fundamentalist branches of the Brighamite tradition, embrace the term Mormon.
History
The history of the Mormons has shaped them into a people with a strong sense of unity and commonality.. From the start, Mormons have tried to establish what they call "Zion", a utopian society of the righteous.A Mormon scripture describing the ancient city of Enoch became a model for the Saints. Enoch's city was a Zion "because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there were no poor among them" ; (). Mormon history can be divided into three broad periods: (1) the early history during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, (2) a "pioneer era" under the leadership of Brigham Young and his successors, and (3) a modern era beginning around the turn of the 20th century. In the first period, Smith attempted to build a city called Zion, where converts could gather. Zion became a "landscape of villages" in Utah during the pioneer era. In modern times, Zion is still an ideal, though Mormons gather together in their individual congregations rather than in a central geographic location."In Missouri and Illinois, Zion had been a city; in Utah, it was a landscape of villages; in the urban diaspora, it was the ward with its extensive programs." .
Beginnings
The Mormon movement began with the publishing of the Book of Mormon in March 1830, which Smith stated was a translation of golden plates containing the religious history of an ancient American civilization that the ancient prophet-historian Mormon had compiled. Smith stated that an angel had directed him to the golden plates buried in the Hill Cumorah.. On April 6, 1830, Smith founded the Church of Christ.Scholars and eye-witnesses disagree as to whether the church was organized in Manchester, New York at the Smith log home, or in Fayette at the home of Peter Whitmer Sr. ; (arguing that organization in Manchester is most consistent with eye-witness statements). In 1832, Smith added an account of a vision he had sometime in the early 1820s while living in Upstate New York.; ; . Some Mormons regarded this vision as the most important event in human history after the birth, ministry, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.; (belief in the First Vision now considered second in importance only to belief in the divinity of Jesus.); ("[N]othing we teach, nothing we live by is of greater importance than this initial declaration.").
The early church grew westward as Smith sent missionaries to proselytize. (by the next spring the church had 1,000 members). In 1831, the church moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where missionaries had made a large number of converts, (citing letter by Smith to Kirtland converts, quoted in ); . and Smith began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri,; ; . where he planned to eventually build the city of Zion (or the New Jerusalem).Smith said in 1831 that God intended the Mormons to "retain a strong hold in the land of Kirtland, for the space of five years." (Doctrine and Covenants 64:21); . In 1833, Missouri settlers, alarmed by the rapid influx of Mormons, expelled them from Jackson County into the nearby Clay County, where local residents were more welcoming.; (noting that the brutality of the Jackson Countians aroused sympathy for the Mormons and was almost universally deplored by the media); (The Mormons were forced out in a November gale, and were taken in by Clay County residents, who earned from non-Mormons the derogative title of "Jack Mormons"). After Smith led a mission, known as Zion's Camp, to recover the land,; . he began building Kirtland Temple in Lake County, Ohio, where the church flourished.; (by summer of 1835, there were 1500 to 2000 Saints in Kirtland); Desert Morning News 2008 Church Almanac p. 655 (from 1831 to 1838, church membership grew from 680 to 17,881); (The Kirtland Temple was viewed as the site of a new Pentecost); . Smith also published several new revelations during the Kirtland era. When the Missouri Mormons were later asked to leave Clay County in 1836, they secured land in what would become Caldwell County. (In December 1836, the Missouri legislature granted the Mormons the right to organize Caldwell County).