StJ’s Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements

1

CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS Michael Homer and Will Bagley1

Joseph Smith Jr. (1805–1844) founded the religion that became

known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) on April 6, 1830, in the area of western New York referred to as the Burned-Over District, from the fires of revivalist enthusiasm that had swept through the region in the previous decades. Following a vision of God and Jesus Christ, according to Smith an angel directed him to translate Golden Plates, an ancient religious history explaining the Hebraic origins of the American Indians and their important role in the Second Coming. Published as the Book of Mormon, the scripture gave Smith’s religion its popular name of Mormonism and established him as a “prophet, seer and revelator” to his followers. In order to escape persecution and his reputation as a money digger, Smith moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where missionaries achieved great success recruiting followers from what later became the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), founded by Alexander Campbell. Smith’s “new and eternal covenant” made his followers the modern Israel, God’s chosen people. He laid plans to build a communal society and temple to welcome Christ’s return in Independence, Missouri, site of the Garden of Eden. Financial reverses encouraged Smith’s departure from Ohio, and political conflict and persecutions in Missouri ultimately resulted in the expulsion of all Mormons from the state in 1839.

Smith rallied to a new “gathering place” at Nauvoo on the Mississippi River and implemented revolutionary extensions of his theology. He developed the doctrine of eternal progression based on a “multiplicity of gods” and an evolving deity. Revelations directed Smith to “do the works of Abraham,” and polygamy became required of those who sought the highest levels of salvation. The Mormon prophet in 1844 was ordained king of the Kingdom of God, the political organization he created to rule the earth following Christ’s return. Smith was running for president of the United States when he was killed by a mob on June 27, 1844. His enemies accused him of being an imposter, but his followers claimed that Smith had “done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world than any other man.” Today Smith is widely viewed as a genius who some believe defined a

1Originally published in J. Gordon Melton and Martin Baumann, Religions

of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices. 4 vols. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio, 2002. Used with permission.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

2

religious tradition as different from Christianity as Christianity was different from Judaism.

Several candidates contested for Smith’s legacy, but Brigham Young (1801–1877) consolidated his power as head of the Twelve Apostles and assumed control of the main LDS church shortly after Smith’s murder. Although several dozen “Restoration” churches claim Smith as their founder, the branch led by Young became today’s largest LDS Church. Young directed the completion of the Nauvoo temple, where thousands of members received Masonic-style “endowments”—which had been revealed by Smith before his death—prior to the movement west. Young personally directed the initial migration and established a new gathering place at Great Salt Lake City (as Salt Lake City was first called) in the Great Basin. For two decades Young was one of the most powerful men in the western United States and insisted that polygamy—which Smith had initiated but had kept secret—be acknowledged.

Young served as governor of Utah Territory from 1850 to 1857, ruling a frontier theocracy that combined the powers of church and state. His defiance of federal authority and abuse of appointed officials ultimately persuaded President James Buchanan to send one-third of the U.S. Army to Utah to insure Young’s acceptance of his non-Mormon replacement. In spite of the government’s blocking of his overall plan, by his death in 1877 Young had established Mormonism as the region’s dominant cultural force. His successors battled the American authorities over polygamy until the manifesto issued by President Wilford Woodruff (1807–1898) declared in 1890 that the church would discontinue the practice. The hard work of bringing Mormonism into the mainstream of American society and making it a viable world religion fell to the church presidents of the twentieth century.

The Mormons faced new political problems related to polygamy when church officials Brigham H. Roberts (1857–1933) and Reed Smoot (1862–1941) were elected to the United States Congress. In response, in 1904, the church issued a second manifesto to finally restrict practice of plural marriage throughout the world, although the actual revelation that Smith relied on to justify the practice remains part of Mormon scripture. Between 1900 and 1950, the church shed its controversial heritage as a radical sect to become a powerful religious community under astute conservative leaders such as Heber J. Grant (1856–1945) and David O. McKay (1873–1970). Grant, the last polygamist to lead the church, systematically unchurched those who practiced polygamy and elevated the proscription of alcohol, tobacco, and “hot drinks” in the “Word of Wisdom” from advice to commandment. In the second half of the twentieth century the LDS Church rapidly gained wealth and members, with notable success in Central and South America, enlisting by century’s end more than ten million

StJ’s Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements

3

souls. More than 85 percent of the membership is concentrated on the American continents.

As the millennium ended, the LDS Church built temples at an increasing rate, establishing one hundred by the year 2000. The temple endowment’s purpose, creating eternal families, is unique to Mormonism. The ceremony is closed to outsiders, and even members lacking “temple recommends” cannot attend their children’s temple marriages. Beginning with Brigham Young, the church refused to ordain black males to the priesthood or allow black members to participate in the temple endowment. President Spencer Kimball terminated this policy in 1978.

The LDS Church has played a significant role in conservative American politics and was instrumental in defeating the Equal Rights Amendment. It actively opposes the gay and lesbian rights movement, gambling, liquor sales, abortion rights, and commercial activities on Sunday. It has also excommunicated intellectuals who have published works critical of church leaders or have presented views of history inconsistent with the church’s own interpretation.

The current leadership has struggled to win acceptance as a mainstream religion. It has deemphasized the doctrine of eternal progression expressed in the epigram, “As man now is, God once was; as God now is, man may be,” and has called polygamy evil. As it works to overcome its controversial past, the church promotes traditional families and conservative moral values in sophisticated public relations campaigns. It considers itself as different from Protestantism and Catholicism as Christianity was from Judaism. Some sociologists and historians and other unofficial spokespersons for the church have claimed that this uniquely American faith will be the world’s next great religion.

The church teaches that baptism by immersion for persons eight years and older is required for church membership. Belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, the prophetic calling of Joseph Smith, and the Book of Mormon is central to conversion. The church’s canon of scripture includes not only the Bible and Book of Mormon but also additional revelations given to Joseph Smith and his successors contained in the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. The church also believes in an open canon and proclaims that the teachings of the church prophet are binding on the members. Blessings to heal the sick or infirm are often given by Priesthood holders to the general church membership. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is administered each week in local wards (congregations). Bread and water are blessed and administered in remembrance of Christ. Members are encouraged to pay a full tithing, and no members are permitted to enter church temples unless they confirm that they have complied with this, and

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

4

other church commandments, on a yearly basis. Members are endowed and married in the temple for time and eternity.

The church is governed by a First Presidency, which consists of the president-prophet and his two counselors; twelve apostles; various Quorums of Seventies (who direct the missions of the church); and a Presiding Bishopric (which governs the temporal affairs of the church). These leaders are collectively referred to as General Authorities. When the prophet dies the senior apostle is ordained as his successor.

Missionaries, who represent the church for two years during full-time missions, present a series of gospel lessons to investigators. Their primary objective is to baptize converts into the worldwide church, but some missionaries are also called to provide assistance on a more temporal level. In 2,000, the church reported eleven million members worldwide, of which approximately five million resided in the United States. The church is active in more than two hundred countries and publishes literature in more than 175 languages.

Address: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church Office Building 50 East North Temple Street Salt Lake City, Utah 84150 www.lds.org

Sources Allen, James B., and Glen M. Leonard. The Story of the Latter-day Saints.

2d ed., rev. and enl. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1992. Ostling, Richard N., and Joan K. Ostling. Mormon America: The Power and

the Promise. San Francisco: Harper, 1999. Gospel Principles. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day

Saints, 1995. Marquardt, H. Michael, and Wesley P. Walters. Inventing Mormonism:

Tradition and the Historical Record. San Francisco: Smith Research Associates, 1994.

Bigler, David L. Forgotten Kingdom, The Mormon Theocracy in the American West, 1847–1896. Spokane, WA:Arthur H. Clark, 1998.

Introvigne, Massimo. I Mormoni. Vatican City: Libreria Vaticana, 1992.