Family is central to the Church because members see God’s plan as working through the family. Family life continues beyond mortal life, members are sealed to each other for eternity that stretches out before birth and after death in the spirit world. Latter-day Saints have children to create physical bodies for spirits to come to earth to fulfil God’s plan. Marriage is between a man and a woman; the Church opposes same sex marriage as a matter of doctrine. Latter-Day Saint couples tend not to delay having children as long as non-Latter-Day Saints, and to have more than the usual number of children. The high birth rate of Latter-day Saints has been central to the Church’s rapid expansion. Parents are responsible for teaching their children about Jesus Christ and his way of life and setting a good example through their words and deeds. Family events have a high priority in daily life, such as family prayer, wholesome family activities, and family home evenings. In areas of high Latter-day Saints population Latter-day Saints families often entertain their children through Latter-day Saints community events, and encourage the development of discretion in the entertainment they find elsewhere. This can lead children and young people to feel different from their peers because of their standards of dress and entertainment. The Church tends to be patriarchal in respect to the priesthood, to which women are not ordained; but men and women are taught that they are equals with some varying roles. The ideal is complementarity of the sexes; a man cannot be saved without a woman as his wife and vice versa.

Moreover, the Church teaches that human beings are beloved spirit children of Heavenly Parents: a Heavenly Father and a Heavenly Mother. While there is no record of a formal revelation to Joseph Smith on the doctrine of a Heavenly Mother, some early Latter-day Saint women recalled that he personally taught them about a Mother in Heaven, and subsequent Church leaders have affirmed the existence of a Mother in Heaven.[6] By directing their worship to Heavenly Father, in the name of Christ, it is true that Mormons do not pray to Heavenly Mother, but in this, they are following the pattern set by Jesus, who taught His disciples to “always pray unto the Father in my name.” And, as President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “The fact that we do not pray to our Mother in Heaven in no way belittles or denigrates her.”[7]

Welfare provision and education (of both sexes) are also central to Latter-Day Saint ideas about community. The Relief Society provides an alternative to the priesthood as an organisation for women through which they can serve their community and worship God.

6.https://www.lds.org/topics/mother-in-heaven?lang=eng

7.Gordon B. Hinckley, “Daughters of God,” Ensign, Nov. 1991, 100.

The Church was fragmented for 20 years following the death of Joseph Smith in 1844. There was an ambiguous doctrine on succession, and his eldest son, Joseph Smith III, was only 12. Consequently, there were numerous claims to leadership of the Church. The majority followed Brigham Young to the Western United States. However, a small number remained in the Midwest and became the Reorganised Church of the Latter-Day Saints, taking Joseph Smith III as their prophet and divinely ordained leader. They saw themselves as saving the ‘fallen’ Church that practised polygamy and followed Brigham Young. They adopted the epithet ‘Reorganised’ in 1860 to distinguish from the Church in Utah. Once he reached adulthood, Joseph Smith III became the head of the Church. It is headquartered in Independence, Missouri, and was renamed the Community of Christ in 2000. The doctrinal differences that led to this split began in the Nauvoo, Illinois, period in the early 1840s. The Reorganised Latter-Day Saints rejected much of Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo-era doctrine including polygamy, baptism for the dead, plurality of gods (non-Trinitarianism), Temple ordinances, the literal gathering of the Saints, and the establishment of the earthly kingdom of Zion. Zion is interpreted as more of a process than a place. Prophets can suggest an idea through preaching but it does not become doctrine unless it is presented as a revelatory document and confirmed by Church conferences. It is generally more socially and politically liberal than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many members do not see the Book of Mormon as a literal history of North America. They are generally more pluralistic in belief. There are around 250,000 members worldwide in 60 countries. (The main Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints counts 16,000,000 in nearly 200 countries.)

Three other churches emerged from this split. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) was led by James J. Strang, who claimed ordination as a prophet from Joseph Smith personally and an angel Strang saw in a vision. Strang was killed by his own followers in 1856. The Church has had no subsequent prophet as this requires angelic appointment. The Church of Christ (Temple Lot) was founded by Granville Hedricks in 1863 in Independence, Missouri, uniting five separate branches that were unaffiliated with any other LDS group. They have sole ownership of the Temple Lot site, which is acknowledged by most LDS churches as the site designated by Joseph Smith for the New Jerusalem Temple. The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), originally led by Alpheus Cutler who claimed he was appointed as prophet by Joseph Smith, was founded on 19 Sept 1853 in Manti, Iowa, with further meetinghouses in Minnesota and Independence, Missouri, however many members later joined the Reorganised Latter-Day Saints. It has one remaining branch in Independence, Missouri, with only 12 members. The Church of Jesus Christ, organised by William Bickerton and Sidney Rigdon in Green Oak, Pennsylvania on 5 July 1862, rejects most of Joseph Smith’s revelations, crediting him only as the translator of the Book of Mormon. It currently has around 22,500 members. Each of these splinter groups regards itself as the true church founded by Joseph Smith and the others as apostates.

A number of schismatic groups emerged after polygamy was outlawed in 1890s, such as the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saints. They are spread around the Western and Midwestern US, with the greatest concentration in the twin cities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. They were excommunicated in 1935 from the mainstream Latter-Day Saints Church, which deems them to be apostates. Several hundreds of separate and distinct church organisations or fellowships have roots in the Latter-Day Saints movement. However, most are very small with minimal influence.

Interfaith relations have been improving, with the Church leadership recognising and supporting the need for positive relations with other faiths. Historically the Church was isolationist, and in some views, supremacist. They see themselves as Christian, and their faith to be the true Gospel that restores, and therefore overrides, all the previous versions of Christianity. They have a different idea of Jesus Christ from other Christian denominations, which is non-Trinitarian, meaning that Jesus and God are seen as separate gods, united in purpose, rather than aspects of the same being. This means that they are not seen as Christian by some other Christians, for whom non-Trinitarianism is a heresy. Other Christian denominations do not accept Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints baptism as a valid sacrament, and vice versa. Members of other denominations must be baptised again if they want to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. For much of their history, Latter-day Saints did not engage with other faiths as equals, rather they tried actively to proselytise members of other Christian denominations.

The Church has become less stigmatised now, with a higher public profile, and more engagement with other faiths. American Evangelicals continue to have an ambivalent relationship with the Latter-Day Saints. During the 2012 presidential campaign, an Evangelical minister and former governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, made an issue out of the Latter-Day Saints doctrine that the devil fell from heaven and was a brother of Jesus. The candidate for the Republican Party in that campaign, Mitt Romney, is a member of the Church of the Latter-Day Saints and, to reassure voters, had to make a public statement that he would not be ruled by his faith – much as John Kennedy did with regard to his Catholicism in the 1960s. The Latter-Day Saints Church has cordial and cooperative relationships with Muslims, especially in terms of humanitarian work in the Middle East. They share such values as modesty, temperance, and family. Relations with the Jewish community have been complicated by the controversy over baptism, which many Jewish groups see as a form of historical revisionism, but Latter-Day Saints in general feel a strong affinity for Judaism as a covenanted religion.

Religious experience for members of the Latter-Day Saints includes an important component of individual spiritual connection with and witness from God. Life is led as a quest for perfection (though unattainable as mortals) and a continued progression after life to become as God, and thus achieve eternal life. Members aim to cultivate an interpersonal relationship with God. This unfolds in everyday life; there is no fundamental difference between the temporal and spiritual for Latter-Day Saints. They base their attitudes and behaviour on Latter-Day Saints doctrine. Action is emphasised as much as, or more than, contemplation. Knowledge results from study, thought and beliefs that are acted upon. Experience confirms the truthfulness of belief. Religious experience comes from doing good works, such as charity, both in service to the Church and to humanity in general.

The answer to the ultimate questions for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that God has a plan, and it is up to them to choose to follow it if they want to maximise their chances for happiness, here and in eternity. This means keeping their covenant promises, getting married, if possible, and living a good life. Through these choices, they demonstrate faithfulness to God. They seek guidance from the Holy Ghost; however, they must choose to consult it and follow it for themselves; they are responsible for their own commitments. Their revelation is the restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which it is their responsibility to spread throughout the world. Many Latter-day Saints see their Church as preparing the world for Christ to someday reign in power. It will bring about Zion through Church organisations and programmes and, even more importantly, individual dedication.

World events are often interpreted as direct fulfilment of Latter-day Saints interpretations of scripture and prophecy. Secular jobs and vocations may be used to spread the influence of Christian principles. America is seen as created for a special and specific purpose by the Lord; it is the place of Gospel restoration and where the millennial reign of Christ will begin. However, suggestions that this means Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are working towards achieving Latter-Day Saints control of the United States government are ludicrous to almost all Latter-day Saints everywhere and is definitely not taught by the institutional Church. Some critics see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as on a quest for religious and political supremacy but most Latter-day Saints find this absurd (though they do believe their convictions will stand them in good stead during difficult historical periods).

Scientific knowledge is revered in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and a number of prominent apostles and Church leaders have been scientists. However the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints also acknowledges revelation as a reliable source of knowledge and where science and the Latter-Day Saints religion may appear to conflict, Latter-day Saints work for a reconciliation in their understanding. The Church has few official doctrines that directly contradict scientific consensus and Latter-day Saints find ways to rationalise apparent contradictions. Use of pharmaceutical drugs by members is accepted so long as use is medicinal not recreational. There is no official Church teaching on how the Earth was made, members can be evolutionist or creationist; most are probably in between. A Church member can be a scientist with few conflicts. However, some earlier Church leaders have taught against evolution and some older Latter-Day Saint members will be against evolution. In short, official Church teaching is neutral about evolution; evolution is taught at Brigham Young University; there is no real conflict between science and religion; all the data are not yet known and eventually both will harmonise.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claims to be a rational faith; for example, DNA work has called into question old Latter-Day Saint ideas that Native Americans are generally descendants of the twelve tribes of Israel, so Latter-Day Saint theologians look for ways that the Book of Mormon and DNA can both be true instead of rejecting scientific evidence out of hand. The historical claims of the Book of Mormon have been subjected to academic scrutiny, especially in archaeology and anthropology, which has led to some members pursuing alternative theories of Book of Mormon geography or seeking more naturalistic and less literal interpretations. Scholarly work at BYU tends to uphold and reaffirm Latter-Day Saints historical interpretations and the Book of Mormon as a work of literal ancient history, but Latter-day Saints scholars are constantly examining new ways to confront their past. At times, however, the Church has distanced itself from some historians and theologians who have provided alternative interpretations of Church history to what is in the Book of Mormon, these being seen by some as too ‘liberal’. Occasionally past leaders have warned against ‘alternate voices’ that would undermine key aspects of the faith, and issued reminders that intellectual and spiritual seeking should complement one another. The Church hierarchy to some extent tries to keep official sermons and writings, or writings that could be construed as official, in line with Church policy and teaching. For example, the Church requires pre-approval of members’ writings before publication if they are using archival materials of the Church. Some see this as attempting to control scholars’ depictions of Latter-Day Saint history. In general, however, and apparently in response to criticisms that this control has been too strong in the past, the Church is moving towards much greater openness in providing access to its archives and scholarly resources.

Latter-day Saints are generally known for adhering to high moral standards. In general non-Latter-day Saints tend to think of these standards as rules requiring either great discipline or great servility; Latter-day Saints tend to think of them as sound and true principles and are fond of quoting Joseph Smith who, when asked how he governed so many people, responded, “I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves”.

Procreation is a sacred power relating to godhood in eternity. It is a blessing, joy, privilege, and obligation for heterosexual couples to have children. Following these principles, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that elective abortion for the purpose of birth control is contrary to God’s commandments. Abortion is only allowed in cases of rape or incest, the health of the mother is in serious jeopardy as determined by a physician, or when severe defects mean that the baby will not survive beyond birth. Other forms of contraception are totally a matter for a married couple to decide and take responsibility. The Church strongly discourages vasectomies as a form of birth control. Individual agency is important in family planning, couples must decide for themselves, bearing in mind the physical and mental health of the father and mother and their ability to provide for the child. The Church discourages IVF using eggs or sperm from anyone except the husband and wife involved, however, it leaves final responsibility for the decision to each couple. Surrogacy is strongly discouraged by the Church.

Euthanasia is not permitted by the Church; this violates the commandments of God; performing such an operation is viewed as assisting suicide. However, when dying becomes inevitable it should be seen as a blessing and there should not be an attempt to extend life beyond its natural course by using unreasonable means.

Extramarital sexual relations and homosexual activity are condemned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as contrary to the purposes of human sexuality and successful family life. Church teaching is that sexual activity outside marriage, including homosexual behaviour, may be forgiven through sincere repentance, and that those experiencing same-sex attraction should take the same vows of chastity as other non-married persons. The Church does emphasise that same-sex attraction in itself is not sinful. It teaches that pornography is demeaning to the human spirit and also contrary to God’s desires for humanity.

Jesus Christ is seen as the head of the Church, as its name suggests. He in turn works through his prophets and other Church leaders. Joseph Smith was the first prophet, and he claimed authority through ordination from heavenly messengers. He was chosen by God, not self-selected, which is significant for Mormons. Smith also had prophetic gifts and authority that allowed him to translate the Book of Mormon, which was given by God. In May 1829 Joseph Smith and an early co-founder of the Church, Oliver Cowdery, were given priesthood authority to perform rituals in God’s name during an appearance of the resurrected John the Baptist. Joseph was the first to be ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. He and Oliver were subsequently also ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood, a higher level of priesthood, bestowed on them through the resurrected apostles of Jesus Christ: Peter, James, and John. Joseph Smith then ordained others into these priesthoods. Authority is therefore through literal apostolic succession. The Book of Mormon is seen as one evidence of Joseph Smith’s legitimacy and authority. The subsequent prophets and Apostles are his authorised successors. The words of the prophet (also called the President), when he is speaking in his prophetic capacity, are understood as the will of God for people today. However, relatively few revelations have been added to the canon of LDS Scripture since the time of Joseph Smith, who is seen as having laid all the necessary groundwork for the Church to go forward.

The untimely death of Joseph Smith led to a splintering of the Church, with what became the main body of the Church following Brigham Young (1801-1877), the president of the Quorum of 12 Apostles at the time. Young established the Church on a successful foundation. In terms of influence he is second only to Joseph Smith in the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After the violence in Nauvoo, Young led the main body of Latter-day Saints west through desert and barren prairieland, many Mormons dying along the way. They reached Great Salt Valley in what is now Utah in 1847. The land at the time belonged to Mexico; it was incorporated into the United States in 1848. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints founded the State of Deseret in 1849, and then the Territory of Deseret in 1851. It was essentially a theocracy run by Brigham Young and the early leaders of the Church until the intervention of the US Government from the 1860s, which objected to the practice of polygamy, leading to the seizure of Church property, the disfranchisement of Mormon voters, and in 1857 the intervention of federal military forces known to Latter-day Saints as ‘Johnston’s Army’.

Other early Latter-day Saints are worth noting. Wilford Woodruff (1807-1898) joined the Church in 1833 in Kirtland, and he later became the fourth prophet. His tenure saw the founding of the state of Utah on 4 January 1896, after he had banned polygamy in 1890, despite having married 9 different women himself. He also ended the practice of ‘the gathering’, which was the settling of converts in Latter-day Saint communities in Utah. From then on converts were encouraged to build churches locally, which began the process of the international spread of the Church. The first non-US ‘stake’ was founded in 1895 in Canada.

Eliza Roxey Snow (1804-1887) was married to both Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, and was the sister of the fifth prophet, Lorenzo Snow. She was a poet, intellectual, and role model for Mormon women, who was important in the founding of the Relief Society, a women’s education and charitable works organisation within the Church, and which still claims today to be the world’s largest women’s organisation. The Relief Society provides a way for women to participate in the ordinances and blessings of the priesthood, though they are not ordained.

Parley P. Pratt (1807-1857) was a missionary, who went on over 20 mission tours, and created a popular exposition of Latter-day Saint doctrine for mass consumption in Voice of Warning, published in 1837, and produced numerous hymns and works of fiction.

Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont, in 1805. He stated that he had his first vision at the age of 14. By the age of 24, he had published the Book of Mormon, and later dictated and wrote the Pearl of Great Price, and most of the Doctrine and Covenants. He founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 6 April 1830, which was first called the Church of Christ. Announcing that new converts were to be gathered into one place, the first site was Kirtland, Ohio, then Jackson, Missouri, and then Nauvoo, Illinois, as Latter-day Saints were persecuted and forcibly removed from each settlement. Jackson was announced by Smith to be the location of their New Jerusalem. In each place the Church attempted to found a city-state of their own construction, isolated from the surrounding communities, with new converts coming in from the Eastern US and Great Britain. The doctrine of Smith was considered blasphemous by many and the isolationist and anti-slavery (especially in Missouri) tendencies of the Church seemed threatening to surrounding communities. The resultant persecution and violence, including the governor of Missouri executing an ‘extermination order’ against the ‘Mormon’ people drove them from place to place. The first presidency (made up of the prophet and two counsellors) and the 12 apostles were appointed by Smith in 1835, which was the beginning of the Church organisation. Smith instituted polygamy in 1838, allowing men to marry multiple women, stating it was commanded of God. It was practised by few, but was a controversial practice and accounted for some of the persecution.

Having failed through conventional legal and political means to redress the injuries of persecution and viewing political power as useful in the Church’s mission of restoration of the Gospel, Smith began a campaign for the American Presidency in 1844. This increased hostility to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Illinois, where Smith was already viewed as wielding too much power. There was a riot in Nauvoo after Smith, as mayor, declared a newspaper that opposed the Church a public nuisance and had it destroyed by city marshals. Acquitted for inciting a riot in Nauvoo, Smith gave himself up on the same charge in Carthage, Illinois. The next day he and his brother, while under the governor’s protection, were killed in prison by a mob of Carthage militia. He was martyred in the eyes of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who refer to him as ‘the prophet’ and see the most significant doctrines and practices of the Church as having been instituted in his lifetime. Followers believe he and a few of the early faithful had face-to-face encounters with God and angelic beings, which took a dialogic form in which he asked questions and received specific answers. Smith taught that spiritual gifts were available to human beings, if they sought them, and claimed himself to have the gift of ‘seership’ which, among other things, he used in a few cases to recover ancient texts extraneous of physical manuscripts, which contained teachings by and about biblical figures including Adam, Abraham, Moses, Enoch, and John. He inspired great devotion in those who followed him, and it was a reciprocal loyalty, because he was perceived as willing to suffer on behalf of his followers in return. However, his charismatic appeal was ascribed by contemporaneous detractors of the Church to mesmerism, an early form of hypnosis.