Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Denominations

Latter-day Saints (Mormonism)

Christianity

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Origin 1820 to 1830

A Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the United States in 1830, holding that the true church was lost after the apostles and restored through him. It accepts the Bible together with additional scripture, the Book of Mormon, presented as a record of ancient peoples of the Americas, and the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. It teaches continuing revelation through living prophets and apostles, the sealing of families for eternity in sacred temples, baptism for the dead, and a distinctive theology in which faithful humans may progress toward godhood, or exaltation. Its members keep a health code, tithe, and undertake extensive missionary service. Standing outside the historic Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant families and rejecting the traditional Trinity, it regards itself not as a reform but as the restored original church of Christ.

Facts
Status
Status Today
Living tradition, practised today 1
Reach
Adherents Today
17,887,212 6
Sourced to the subject's own accountThe church's 2025 Statistical Report gives 17,887,212 worldwide as of December 31, 2025, superseding the 2024 report's 17,509,781. This is also the figure this atlas's own Latter-day Saints article already gives as around 17.9 million.
Adherents TodaySourced to the subject's own account
Recorded membership counts all baptised or blessed and not removed from the rolls, and exceeds self-identification in national censuses 7
Finances
Institutional Wealth or Finances
A February 2023 settlement order from the US Securities and Exchange Commission found that Ensign Peak Advisors and the Church, from 1997 through 2019, failed to disclose the size of the Church's US equity portfolio, using thirteen shell limited liability companies to file separate Forms 13F rather than one consolidated filing; the portfolio had grown to approximately 32 billion US dollars by 2018. Ensign Peak paid a 4 million dollar penalty and the Church a 1 million dollar penalty. 8
Institutional Wealth or Finances
Ensign Peak Advisors' most recent quarterly Form 13F-HR filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, covering the quarter ended March 31, 2026 and filed May 13, 2026, reports a total reportable equity portfolio value of approximately 53.67 billion US dollars across 1,708 holdings; this is the fund's current, ongoing public disclosure, required since the February 2023 SEC settlement ended the fund's prior use of thirteen shell companies to keep its holdings off public 13F filings for more than two decades. 9
Institutional Wealth or Finances
The same February 2023 SEC settlement order records that Ensign Peak Advisors, the Church's centralized investment reserve fund, began in 1997 with an initial equity portfolio of about 7 billion US dollars, a figure distinct from the roughly 32 billion dollar 2018 snapshot the same order gives and that this entity already carries separately; the fund's value had grown further by the time of the 2023 order, a period during which, the SEC found, its size was kept from public 13F filings for more than two decades through the use of thirteen shell limited liability companies. 8
Basis of the Wealth Figure
Regulator Filing 9
Basis of the Wealth Figure
Journalistic or Scholarly Estimate 10
Financial Disclosure Regime
Under section 6033(a)(3)(A)(i) of the US Internal Revenue Code, churches, their integrated auxiliaries, and conventions or associations of churches are automatically exempt from filing the annual Form 990 information return that other tax exempt organizations in the United States must file. This exemption, requiring no application, is a large part of why the finances of the largest US religious bodies, including this one, are not publicly itemized the way an ordinary nonprofit's are. 8
Wealth Figure As Of Year
1997 8
Wealth Figure As Of Year
2018 8
Wealth Figure As Of Year
2019 10
Wealth Figure As Of Year
2026 9
Giving
Standing Giving Expectation
Members are expected to pay tithing, one tenth of their annual income, a law stated in Doctrine and Covenants 119 (8 July 1838). Payment is declared each year in a tithing settlement interview, and being a full tithe payer is one of the questions a member must answer to receive or renew a temple recommend, without which a member cannot enter a temple for its ordinances; the obligation therefore carries a direct, current, administrative consequence for non-payment. 11
Standard Rate Expected
Ten percent. 11
How the Expectation Is Enforced
Codified Obligation With Consequences 11
Rule Established or Last Changed
1838-07-08 11
Education Facilities Operated
Schools and Universities Operated
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' own Newsroom states that worldwide enrollment in the Church's Seminaries and Institutes of Religion program, which offers religion classes to high school and college-age students, exceeds 1 million students, including more than 85,000 students of other faiths. The article does not state a total count of seminary or institute locations, and does not cover the Church's separately operated Brigham Young University campuses. 12
Education Facility Count As Of
2026-03-29 12
Basis of the Education Facility Count
The Body's Own Published Statistics 12
History
Separation or Divergence
The movement held that the apostolic church had been lost and was being restored, which is a claim of discontinuity with all of them rather than of reform within one 1
Separation or Divergence
The Protestant denominations of the American frontier 1
Date of Separation
1830 1
Belief
Defining Doctrinal Position
Non-trinitarian: the Nicene doctrine of the Trinity is not held 1Tradition: Christianity
Defining Doctrinal Position
Restorationist: holds the apostolic church to have been lost and restored 1Tradition: Christianity
Position on Marriage
Marriage is held to be monogamous, with remarriage after divorce sanctioned under specified conditions 2
Sourced to the subject's own accountFrom Wilford Woodruff's Manifesto, issued 24 September 1890 and accepted by the Church in General Conference on 6 October 1890, the Church has taught and practiced monogamous marriage, with remarriage after divorce permitted (a civil divorce ends the marriage, though a temple sealing itself requires a separate cancellation). Before the Manifesto the Church sanctioned plural marriage among a minority of its members.
Marriage Position DetailSourced to the subject's own account
President Gordon B. Hinckley read "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" at the General Relief Society Meeting on 23 September 1995, the Church's fifth proclamation, stating that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." The proclamation formally reaffirmed, rather than introduced, a position already in force since the 1890 Manifesto ended the Church's earlier sanction of plural marriage. 3
Position on SexualitySourced to the subject's own account
Same-sex sexual relationships are held contrary to teaching; LGBT individuals are welcomed as members but not ordained, and same-sex unions are not blessed 4
Sexuality Position DetailSourced to the subject's own account
Since 4 April 2019, the Church treats a member's same-gender marriage as a serious transgression rather than as automatic apostasy, and no longer requires a mandatory disciplinary council for it; children of LGBT parents may again be named, blessed and baptized without First Presidency approval. Doctrinally the Church has not changed its teaching that same-sex sexual relationships and marriage are contrary to the plan of salvation; ordination to the priesthood and full temple participation remain unavailable to a member in a same-sex relationship, and the Church does not perform or bless same-sex marriages. From 5 November 2015 to 4 April 2019, the stricter "November Policy" classified a member's same-gender marriage as apostasy outright and restricted the naming, blessing and baptism of a same-gender couple's children, as detailed in the history record on this fact. 4
Humanitarian Aid Operated
Welfare and Humanitarian Aid Operations
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' own 2025 Caring Report states that the Church spent 1.58 billion US dollars in total welfare, self-reliance and humanitarian expenditures during 2025, completing 3,514 humanitarian projects and providing assistance in 196 countries and territories. Church members volunteered 7.4 million hours of service at Church welfare and self-reliance facilities, in service missions, and in community service projects during the year. 13
Humanitarian Aid Figure As Of
2025-12-31 13
Basis of the Humanitarian Aid Figure
The Body's Own Published Statistics 13
Disputed
Relation to the State
Privileged Never Established 19
Whether the Latter-day Saint movement's governance of Utah Territory amounted to an establishment is genuinely contested: Brigham Young held both the territorial governorship and the church presidency simultaneously and church doctrine shaped civil affairs, which some historians read as a de facto theocracy, while Utah's actual territorial and statehood constitutions never named the church the legal state religion and, after the church's 1890 renunciation of polygamy, wrote formal separation of church and state into the 1895 constitution Congress required for the 1896 admission to the Union.
Institutional Wealth or Finances
David Nielsen, a former senior portfolio manager at Ensign Peak Advisors, the Church's centralized investment reserve fund, filed a whistleblower complaint with the US Internal Revenue Service in 2019 estimating that the fund's holdings had grown to more than 100 billion US dollars during his roughly nine years there. This is the whistleblower's own estimate of the fund's total size, not an audited or regulator-confirmed figure. 10
Origins
Origin Period
1820 to 1830 1
Place of Origin
Western New York State 1
Founder
Joseph Smith (1805-1844). 1
Organisation
Governance
A single central governing body over the whole movement 1
The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, held to hold prophetic authority, over the whole church.
Ordination
Restricted to men 1
Ordination to the priesthood offices is restricted to men. The restriction that barred men of black African descent was lifted in 1978
Ordination
An unpaid lay ministry rather than a professional clergy 1
An unpaid lay priesthood: local congregations are led by members called from among themselves, without theological training or stipend.
Practice
Liturgical Language
The vernacular 1
Practice StatusSourced to the subject's own account
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints publishes its scripture, including the Book of Mormon, and most of its teaching openly. Its temple ordinances are the documented exception: entry to a temple to perform or receive these ordinances requires a temple recommend issued only to members in good standing, and participants covenant not to reveal the ceremonies' specific content to outsiders. 5
Accountability
Documented Accused Count
14
The Lake Elsinore, California case's one convicted abuser, the plaintiff's stepfather, is not named here: naming him would identify the plaintiff by relation.
Settlement Total
995,000 14
The church's own December 2022 settlement of its co-defendant status in the Lake Elsinore, California civil case, paid without an admission of wrongdoing; distinct from the 2.28 billion dollar default judgment entered against the plaintiff's stepfather, which the church did not pay.
Response Policy Adopted
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints operates a help line that local leaders are directed to contact when they learn of abuse, which the church says exists to ensure compliance with legal reporting requirements and to give leaders access to expert direction on whether and how to report to civil authorities, addressing stopping the abuse, caring for the victim, and meeting reporting obligations even where clergy penitent privilege applies. A 2022 Associated Press investigation, built from sealed court records in a related Arizona civil case, gave a differing account of how the help line functioned in one specific case, in which the church disputes the AP's characterization as seriously mischaracterized and oversimplified. 15
Trajectory
Membership Over Time
As of December 31, 1971, worldwide Church membership reached 3,090,953, according to the Church's own annual statistical report presented at the 142nd Annual General Conference, a gain of about 5.5 percent over 1970. 16
Membership Over Time
As of December 31, 2000, worldwide Church membership reached 11,068,861, according to the Church's own Statistical Report, 2000, presented at General Conference. 17
Membership Over TimeSourced to the subject's own account
As of December 31, 2024, worldwide Church membership reached 17,887,212, according to the Church's own 2025 Statistical Report. This recorded membership counts all baptized or blessed persons not removed from the rolls, and exceeds self-identification in national censuses and surveys. 6
Membership Over Time
In the Pew Research Center's 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study, 2 percent of US adults identified as Latter-day Saints (Mormons), a share Pew describes as virtually unchanged from both the 2007 and 2014 waves of the same study. This is a national survey of self-identification among US adults, a different measure from the Church's own worldwide membership rolls recorded above, and it is one reason independent counts of active or self-identifying members read lower than recorded church membership. 18
Membership Figure As Of
1971-12-31 16
Membership Figure As Of
2000-12-31 17
Membership Figure As Of
2024-01-01 18
Membership Figure As OfSourced to the subject's own account
2024-12-31 6
Basis of the Membership FigureSourced to the subject's own account
Church-Reported Rolls 6
Basis of the Membership Figure
Church-Reported Rolls 17
Basis of the Membership Figure
Independent Survey 18
Learn More
Restoration, Not Reform

Every other body in this list was formed by separating from something. The Latter-day Saint claim is different in kind: not that the church went wrong and needed correcting, but that it ceased to exist after the apostolic age and had to be given again.

The movement's own account is that Joseph Smith, a farm boy in western New York, was visited in 1820 by the Father and the Son, told that the existing churches were wrong, and later directed by an angel to buried golden plates which he translated by divine means and published in 1830 as the Book of Mormon, a record of Israelite peoples in the ancient Americas visited by the risen Christ. Priesthood authority was then restored by heavenly messengers, and the church was organised in April 1830.

The historical account differs on almost every point and should be given alongside rather than instead of it. Smith's several written accounts of the first vision differ in detail and the earliest dates from 1832. No plates were examined by anyone outside a group of witnesses, several of whom later left the movement, though most did not retract. The Book of Mormon's account of ancient American peoples has not found archaeological, linguistic or genetic corroboration, and DNA studies of Native American populations show Asian rather than Near Eastern descent; the church's own published essays now favour a limited-geography reading in response.

Smith's later career, the Book of Abraham, plural marriage taught privately from the 1830s, a theology in which God was once a man and humans may become as God, moved the movement steadily further from creedal Christianity. He was killed by a mob at Carthage, Illinois, in 1844, and Brigham Young led the largest body of followers to the Salt Lake valley in 1847.

A Church That Can Change Its Mind, Officially

The doctrine that most shapes Latter-day Saint life is not any particular teaching but continuing revelation, and its governance consequences are unusual.

At the head stands the President of the Church, held to be a prophet, seer and revelator, with two counsellors forming the First Presidency, and beneath them the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Succession is not by election in any contested sense: the longest-serving apostle becomes president, which makes the office predictable and almost always elderly. Decisions of the First Presidency and the Twelve are made by unanimity. Below that, local congregations are wards led by a bishop who is an unpaid layman with a full-time job elsewhere; there is no professional clergy, and the entire operating structure of a ward is staffed by members on temporary assignment.

Because revelation is held to be open, official teaching can change, and it has, twice in ways that reshaped the church. Plural marriage was taught as a divine principle, defended through decades of federal prosecution, and withdrawn by the 1890 Manifesto after the church's property was seized and statehood for Utah was blocked; a further statement in 1904 ended the practice fully, and the church now excommunicates for it, while fundamentalist groups that continued it split away. And the restriction barring men of Black African descent from the priesthood and both men and women from temple ordinances stood from the mid-nineteenth century until it was lifted by revelation in 1978. The church published an essay in 2013 disavowing the theories that had been advanced to justify it.

Both episodes are usually raised by critics as evidence of expedience and by members as evidence that the channel is open. The church does not dispute the facts of either.

Where It Is Now

The church reports around 17.9 million members worldwide in some 32,000 congregations, with roughly 78,000 full-time missionaries serving and over two hundred operating temples. Those figures are the church's own and count everyone baptised and not formally removed; independent researchers and the church's own congregational counts both suggest active participation is considerably lower, particularly in Latin America, where retention after baptism has been a long-standing internal concern.

More members now live outside the United States than inside it, with the largest concentrations in Mexico, Brazil, the Philippines and across Latin America and the Pacific. Growth in the United States has slowed to close to flat; the temple-building programme has accelerated sharply, which is the church's own signal of where it expects durable membership.

Two distinctive institutional facts are worth naming. The missionary programme, two years for young men, eighteen months for young women, self-funded, worldwide, is the largest lay missionary force of any religion and functions as a formative rite for the membership as much as a means of growth. And the church holds very large investment reserves: a 2019 whistleblower disclosure and a subsequent settlement with United States securities regulators in 2023 over the structuring of those holdings put the figure in the tens of billions of dollars, and the size of the reserves has been debated by members and outsiders since.

Where the church stands in relation to the rest of Christianity remains contested by both sides. It affirms Christ, uses the Bible, and asks to be counted Christian. Catholic, Orthodox and most Protestant bodies decline to recognise its baptism, on the ground that its doctrine of God is not the trinitarian one the creeds define. Both positions are consistently held.

Controversies and Responses

Three distinct clusters run through the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' documented record, two of them already carrying their own dedicated accounts in this atlas.

The Priesthood and Temple Restriction barred men of Black African descent from priesthood ordination, and both men and women of that descent from temple ordinances, from the mid-nineteenth century, first clearly stated by Brigham Young in 1852 and not present under Joseph Smith, until it was lifted by revelation on 9 June 1978 and canonised as Official Declaration 2. The Church's 2013 Gospel Topics essay expressly disavowed the theories once advanced to justify it. Plural marriage was taught as a divine principle from the 1830s, defended through federal prosecution under the Edmunds-Tucker Act, which dissolved the Church's corporation and seized its property, and withdrawn by the 1890 Manifesto; a further 1904 statement ended the practice fully, and the Church now excommunicates for it.

The third cluster is ongoing. A February 2023 US Securities and Exchange Commission settlement order found that Ensign Peak Advisors, the Church's investment reserve fund, and the Church itself used thirteen shell companies from 1997 to 2019 to keep the fund's holdings, roughly 32 billion dollars by 2018, out of public 13F filings; Ensign Peak paid a 4 million dollar penalty and the Church 1 million. A former Ensign Peak manager's 2019 whistleblower complaint separately estimated the fund at more than 100 billion dollars, a figure the SEC order does not confirm. Public 13F filings have continued since the settlement; the most recent reports roughly 53.67 billion dollars.

Spread History
Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) Spread Map Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Democratic Republic of the Congo Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guam Guatemala Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Laos Latvia Lebanon Libya Lithuania Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe Latter-day Saints Arise in Upstate New York, United States, 1830, ArrivedMissouri and Illinois Mobs Suppress the Latter-day Saints, United States, 1838 to 1846, SuppressedThe Latter-day Saints Are Established in Utah, United States, 1847, EstablishedBrigham Young Founds Brigham Young Academy in Provo, United States, 1875, EstablishedThe St. George Utah Temple Is Dedicated, the Church's First Since Nauvoo, United States, 1877, EstablishedFederal Pressure Forces The 1890 Manifesto, United States, 1887 to 1890, SuppressedThe Cardston Alberta Temple Opens as the First Latter-day Saint Temple Outside the United States, Canada, 1923, EstablishedThe Latter-day Saints Open Their First Temple in Europe, Switzerland, 1955, EstablishedOfficial Declaration 2 Ends the Priesthood Ban for Black Members, United States, 1978, RevivedThe Church Issues The Family: A Proclamation to the World, United States, 1995, EstablishedThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Lowers Its Minimum Missionary Age, United States, 2012, EstablishedRussell M. Nelson Dedicates the Rome Italy Temple, Italy, 2019, EstablishedRussell M. Nelson Reads a Bicentennial Proclamation on the Restoration From the Sacred Grove, United States, 2020, EstablishedThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dedicates the Harare Zimbabwe Temple, Zimbabwe, 2026, Established

Marker size and shape show how established Latter-day Saints (Mormonism) was there: a small filled dot for an arrival, a larger one for an established or dominant presence, and a hollow, distinct marker where it was suppressed or nearly disappeared, never simply absent.

3 events have a recorded place with no map coordinate yet, so they are not marked above: The Salt Lake Temple Is Dedicated (Salt Lake City), Heber J. Grant Announces the Church Security Plan (Salt Lake City), The Latter-day Saints Grow Across the Global South (Global).

View the Full Spread Map

  1. Latter-day Saints Arise in Upstate New YorkUnited States, 1830, Arrived
  2. Missouri and Illinois Mobs Suppress the Latter-day SaintsUnited States, 1838 to 1846, Suppressed
  3. The Latter-day Saints Are Established in UtahUnited States, 1847, Established
  4. Brigham Young Founds Brigham Young Academy in ProvoUnited States, 1875, Established
  5. The St. George Utah Temple Is Dedicated, the Church's First Since NauvooUnited States, 1877, Established
  6. Federal Pressure Forces The 1890 ManifestoUnited States, 1887 to 1890, Suppressed
  7. The Salt Lake Temple Is DedicatedSalt Lake City, 1893, Established
  8. The Cardston Alberta Temple Opens as the First Latter-day Saint Temple Outside the United StatesCanada, 1923, Established
  9. Heber J. Grant Announces the Church Security PlanSalt Lake City, 1936, Established
  10. The Latter-day Saints Open Their First Temple in EuropeSwitzerland, 1955, Established
  11. The Latter-day Saints Grow Across the Global SouthGlobal, 1960 to 1996, Established
  12. Official Declaration 2 Ends the Priesthood Ban for Black MembersUnited States, 1978, Revived
  13. The Church Issues The Family: A Proclamation to the WorldUnited States, 1995, Established
  14. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Lowers Its Minimum Missionary AgeUnited States, 2012, Established
  15. Russell M. Nelson Dedicates the Rome Italy TempleItaly, 2019, Established
  16. Russell M. Nelson Reads a Bicentennial Proclamation on the Restoration From the Sacred GroveUnited States, 2020, Established
  17. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Dedicates the Harare Zimbabwe TempleZimbabwe, 2026, Established
Cross-Tradition Connections

Associated With

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discontinued the practice in 1890 and again in 1904, and excommunicates members who enter it now.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Belongs to Tradition

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Branch Of

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Rejected Here

Apostolic succession, Doctrines

Authority is held to have been lost after the apostolic age and restored directly rather than handed down, which is what the Restoration claim means.

Creation ex nihilo, Doctrines

Creation is taught as the organisation of matter that already existed and cannot be created or destroyed, so creation out of nothing is denied.

Original sin, Doctrines

The second Article of Faith states that men will be punished for their own sins and not for Adam's transgression. Inherited guilt is denied in as many words.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Papal primacy and infallibility, Doctrines

No Roman claim to primacy is recognised, on the same ground: the line this body accepts was restored, not continued.

Sola Fide, Doctrines

The third and fourth Articles of Faith set out faith, repentance, baptism by immersion and the laying on of hands as the first principles and ordinances. Justification by faith alone is not the pattern taught.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Sola Scriptura, Doctrines

The eighth Article of Faith receives the Bible as the word of God as far as it is translated correctly, and the ninth expects further revelation. Scripture alone is not the rule.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Trinity, Doctrines

The first Article of Faith confesses the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost as three separate personages one in purpose, not three persons of one substance. The Nicene definition is rejected by name in this body's teaching.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Cross, Sacred Objects & Ritual Items

Latter-day Saints do not use the cross as an emblem, holding that a church should display the living Christ rather than the instrument of his death.

Source An Introduction to MormonismDouglas J. Davies
Latin Cross, Religious Symbols

Latter-day Saints do not use the cross as an emblem, holding that a church should display the living Christ rather than the instrument of his death. Their buildings carry a spire and an angel instead.

Source An Introduction to MormonismDouglas J. Davies
Salamander Letter, Artifacts & Relics

The letter was bought and publicised in 1984 and proved a forgery by its maker, who was convicted of two murders committed to protect the trade. The church holds it to be no part of its history.

Source Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery MurdersLinda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts

Latter-day Saints refuse the Nicene definition of the Godhead, holding that the Father and the Son are separate embodied persons, and the founding narrative of the church names the creeds themselves as the point of departure.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith

Derived from This

Formed by Latter-day Saints who declined the 1890 Manifesto ending plural marriage.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Holds Element

The Utah line's hymnals grow directly out of the 1835 book, and a core of its texts, several of them by William W. Phelps, is still sung weekly.

Source Mormonism and Music: A HistoryMichael Hicks

An apostle is ordained for life to the second highest quorum of the church, and the senior apostle becomes president on the death of his predecessor.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

The plates are held to have been delivered to Joseph Smith and returned, with the testimony of the three and the eight witnesses printed in the front of the book ever since.

Source The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus ChristJoseph Smith (translator)the holders' own account

The hill in western New York where the church holds that the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated were buried.

The president of the church is sustained as prophet, seer and revelator, and succeeds by seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve rather than by election.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

The church purchased the manuscript in 2017 and holds it as the earliest surviving complete text of the Book of Mormon, the printer's copy from which the first edition was set.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Raphael, Archangels

Latter-day Saint scripture names Raphael among the messengers of the restoration, which gives him a canonical standing in this tradition that he lacks in every Protestant body.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Every adult woman in the church belongs to the women's organisation by virtue of her membership, and it operates at congregation, stake and worldwide level.

The Relief Society president leads the women organisation of a ward or a stake, and at the general level of the whole church.

Source The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's HistoryJill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook and Matthew J. Grow (eds.)

Forty years in the building, the temple is the church's best known building and the place where its two presiding bodies meet weekly.

Worn day and night by adult members who have received the temple endowment, as a reminder of the covenants made there. The church asks that it not be displayed or discussed casually.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

The block containing the temple, the tabernacle and the church's administrative buildings is the centre of the church's worldwide organisation.

The president of the church with two counsellors he selects holds the executive authority of the church and issues the letters that direct practice in every congregation.

Twelve apostles ordained for life rank in strict seniority of ordination, which makes the succession to the presidency predictable years in advance.

The wood beside the Smith family farm where the church holds that the first vision took place, bought by the church and maintained as a site of visit.

The ward bishop is the lay leader of a congregation of a few hundred, unpaid, serving for a term of years while keeping his ordinary employment.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

Held Differently

Apostle, Religious Roles & Titles

Latter-day Saints hold that the apostolic office was restored in 1830 and is held today by living men, against the general Christian view that it belonged to the first generation alone.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account
Bishop, Religious Roles & Titles

A Latter-day Saint bishop is the unpaid lay leader of a ward of a few hundred members, called for a term of some years. The word is the same and the office is not.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account
Elder, Religious Roles & Titles

An elder in Latter-day Saint usage is an office in the Melchizedek priesthood held by men from the age of eighteen, and the title by which missionaries are addressed. It has nothing to do with age or with governing a congregation.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account
Gabriel, Archangels

Latter-day Saint teaching, following Joseph Smith, identifies Gabriel with Noah, so the angel of the Annunciation and the patriarch of the flood are one person in two states.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Michael, Archangels

Latter-day Saint scripture identifies Michael as Adam, the Ancient of Days, the first man in his premortal and resurrected office rather than an angel of a separate order from humanity.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Temperance, Virtues

The Word of Wisdom makes abstinence from alcohol, tobacco, tea and coffee a condition of temple recommendation, so temperance in this tradition is a defined prohibition rather than a habit of moderation.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Latter-day Saint scripture applies the name to the seer instruments Joseph Smith said accompanied the plates, an account distinct from the priestly oracle of the Hebrew Bible that carries the same name.

Prophecy, Doctrines

The seventh Article of Faith receives the gift of prophecy, and a living prophet leading the church is the ordinary condition rather than an exception.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith

Latter-day Saint scripture applies the name to the seer instruments Joseph Smith said accompanied the golden plates, an account distinct from the priestly oracle of the Hebrew Bible that carries the same name.

Objects and Practices of This Tradition

Apocalypse, Doctrines

The tenth Article of Faith expects the literal gathering of Israel, the restoration of the ten tribes and Christ's personal reign on a renewed earth.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

A detailed account of the last things is taught, running from the gathering and the millennium through to final judgment and the three kingdoms of glory.

One of only two days of the Christian year the church marks. It keeps no liturgical calendar, no Advent, no Lent and no saints' days, and Sunday worship is not varied by season.

The ninth Article of Faith receives all that God has revealed and all he does now reveal, and expects that he will yet reveal many great and important things.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

One of only two days of the Christian year the church marks, kept as an ordinary Sunday service given over to the resurrection rather than as the end of a paschal cycle.

Marriage sealed by priesthood authority is taught to continue beyond death rather than ending at it.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source Gold Plates (Church History Topics)The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

Venerated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the place where the golden plates were recovered.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Incarnation, Doctrines

The incarnation is taught, though within a christology in which the Son is a distinct being from the Father rather than one substance with him.

King Benjamin, Figures

His address supplies the standard scriptural warrant for the movement's teaching on service, and is a fixture of its curriculum.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Ministering, Practices
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)
Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

Senior leadership office of Latter-day Saints (Mormonism).

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

The fourth Article of Faith and the whole plan of salvation turn on a literal bodily resurrection, taught as universal.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Flagship temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, dedicated 1893.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Salvation, Doctrines

The third Article of Faith states that through the atonement of Christ all mankind may be saved by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Son of God, Doctrines

Jesus Christ is confessed as the Son of God in the first Article of Faith and as the Redeemer throughout this body's scripture.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith
Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

Worn by endowed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)
Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

The administrative and symbolic centre of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

The two orders of priesthood and their offices are set out at length in this body's own scripture and structure its entire lay ministry.

The musical follows two missionaries specifically of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the mainstream LDS church, which itself issued a public statement responding to the show; this is a second, more specific edge alongside the entity's existing edge to the wider Latter Day Saint Movement, not a replacement for it.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds documents bearing on its own early history in its church archive, including material later shown to be forged.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account
The Godhead, Doctrines

The first Article of Faith confesses God the Eternal Father, his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost as three distinct beings united in purpose.

Source The Pearl of Great PriceJoseph Smith

The Restoration claim is that priesthood authority lapsed after the apostolic age and was conferred again in the 1820s and 1830s.

The whole arc from premortal existence through mortal probation to resurrection and judgment is taught as one plan, and it is the frame the other distinctive teachings sit inside.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account
Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Venerated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as the site of the First Vision.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

The virgin birth is taught and is narrated in this body's own scripture as well as received from the gospels.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Three kingdoms of glory, celestial, terrestrial and telestial, are set out in a vision recorded in this body's scripture, in place of a single heaven and hell.

Source General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day SaintsThe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

Regions Where This Is Principal

Utah, States & Territories

Plurality religious identification among the state's adults per the source's survey, the atlas's only state where the Latter-day Saint movement leads.

Sacred to This Deity

Salt Lake City, Cities

Salt Lake City is the global headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Salt Lake City, within the valley, is the global headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Source Encyclopedia of ReligionMircea Eliade (ed.); Lindsay Jones (ed., 2nd ed.)

Spread Events

Adds a milestone in Latter day Saint institution building between the Latter day Saints being established in Utah in 1847 and the St. George Utah Temple being dedicated in 1877, both already recorded here: Brigham Young founding Brigham Young Academy in Provo on 16 October 1875, the school that became Brigham Young University in 1903.

A near-collapse of the church as a legal institution, previously entirely missing between the 1847 Utah establishment and the 1960 global-south growth events.

Source Edmunds-Tucker Act (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Adds a specific, dated institutional milestone between the Salt Lake Temple's 1893 dedication and the Church's first European temple opening in 1955, both already recorded here: Heber J. Grant's April 1936 announcement of the Church Security Plan, later the Church Welfare Plan, organizing stake relief efforts, fast offerings, work projects, and bishops' storehouses during the Great Depression.

The founding episode of the Latter-day Saint movement's own spread history.

Source Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, Volume 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815-1846The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saintsthe holders' own account

The suppression is as much a part of the Latter-day Saint movement's own spread history as any arrival, and this atlas records it exactly that plainly.

Source Missouri Executive Order 44 (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

The most recent event on this tradition's own map by eighteen years, and the change that removed the barrier to the full worldwide participation the 1960 growth-across-the-global-south event already on this map describes.

Source Official Declaration 2 (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Closes a 30-year gap since 1996's The Latter-day Saints Grow Across the Global South, the most recent event already on the Latter-day Saints' map, with the Church's first temple in Italy and the first-ever meeting between a Church president and a Roman Catholic pope.

Closes a 7 year gap since 2019's Russell M. Nelson Dedicates the Rome Italy Temple, the most recent event already on the Latter-day Saints' map, with the same president returning to the faith's own founding place to restate its founding claims on a bicentennial.

Adds a specific, dated milestone in Latter-day Saint history between the Salt Lake Temple's 1893 dedication and Heber J. Grant's 1936 Church Security Plan, both already recorded here: the 26 August 1923 dedication of the Cardston Alberta Temple in Alberta, Canada, the first Latter-day Saint temple built outside the United States.

Adds a milestone in Latter-day Saint history between Official Declaration 2 ending the priesthood ban for Black members in 1978 and the Church lowering its minimum missionary age in 2012, both already recorded here: the Church issuing The Family, A Proclamation to the World, read by President Gordon B. Hinckley in Salt Lake City on 23 September 1995.

Closes a six year gap since 2020's groundbreaking, moving the map from the temple's own construction to its dedication and the community it now serves.

Adds a specific, dated milestone in Latter-day Saint history between Official Declaration 2 ending the priesthood ban for Black members in 1978 and Russell M. Nelson dedicating the Rome Italy Temple in 2019, both already recorded here: the Church's worldwide lowering of its minimum missionary age on 6 October 2012, which sharply expanded the missionary force driving its international growth.

Source The Oxford Handbook of MormonismTerryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.)

The church's first temple in Europe, filling the gap between the 1847 Utah event and the 1960 growth-across-the-global-south event already on this map.

Source Bern Switzerland Temple (Wikipedia)Wikipedia contributors

Adds a specific, dated event between the 1887 Edmunds-Tucker Act's pressure toward the 1890 Manifesto and the church's 1955 opening of its first temple in Europe already recorded here: the 1893 dedication of the completed Salt Lake Temple, forty years after its cornerstone was laid, at which President Wilford Woodruff presided over thirty one sessions attended by roughly seventy thousand members.

Adds a milestone in Latter day Saint history between the church being established in Utah in 1847 and federal pressure building toward the 1890 Manifesto, both already recorded here: the St. George Utah Temple's 1877 dedication, the first temple completed since the loss of Nauvoo and the first where proxy endowments for the deceased could again be performed.

Source Five Things You Should Know about the St. George Utah Temple (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church History Department

Studied By

Sources
1. The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, 3rd revised edition
F. L. Cross and E. A. Livingstone (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2005s.v. MormonsView the Source
2. Official Declaration 1 (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1890the live stated position on marriage and its 1890 record of that positionthe holders' own accountView the Source
3. The Family: A Proclamation to the World (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1995the supporting detail on the stated position on marriagethe holders' own accountView the Source
4. Love Motivated Policy Changes Toward LGBT Parents, Children (Church Newsroom)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Newsroom), 2019the holders' own accountView the Source
5. Wikipedia, Temple recommend (source)
Wikipedia contributors, Wikipedia
6. 2025 Statistical Report of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2026the holders' own accountView the Source
7. 2024 Statistical Report of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2025Report body, membership figure
Quote, Report body, membership figure
Total membership: 17,509,781.
the holders' own accountView the Source
8. SEC Charges The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Its Investment Management Company for Disclosure Failures and Misstated Filings
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 2023View the Source
9. Ensign Peak Advisors, Inc. Form 13F-HR, Period Ending March 31, 2026
US Securities and Exchange Commission (EDGAR filing system), 2026View the Source
10. Mormon Church Investment Fund Whistleblower Explains His Ensign Peak Allegations
CBS News, 60 Minutes, CBS News, 2023View the Source
11. General Handbook, Chapter 26: Temple Recommends
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2026View the Source
12. Seminary and Institute Enrollment Surpasses 1 Million Students Worldwide (Newsroom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
29 March 2026 Newsroom articleView the Source
13. The Church's 2025 Caring Report Shows Global Relief and Service in 196 Countries
Newsroom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2026View the Source
14. Nearly $2.3B Awarded in Sex Abuse Lawsuit That Had Named the LDS Church
The Salt Lake Tribune, 2023View the Source
15. Church Offers Statement on Help Line and Abuse
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Newsroom, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2022View the Source
16. The Annual Report of the Church
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1972View the Source
17. Statistical Report, 2000
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2001View the Source
18. Pew Research Center: 2023-24 Religious Landscape Study
Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 2025View the Source
19. Encyclopaedia Britannica (online academic reference)
Encyclopaedia Britannica editors, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc., 2024View the Source
The Oxford Handbook of Mormonism
Terryl L. Givens and Philip L. Barlow (eds.), Oxford University Press, 2015View the Source
Salamander: The Story of the Mormon Forgery Murders
Linda Sillitoe and Allen D. Roberts, Signature Books, 1988
Mormonism and Music: A History
Michael Hicks, University of Illinois Press, 1989
The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ
Joseph Smith (translator), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1981Introduction
Quote, Introduction
It is a record of God's dealings with ancient inhabitants of the Americas and contains the fulness of the everlasting gospel.
the holders' own accountView the Source
The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women's History
Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook and Matthew J. Grow (eds.), Church Historian's Press, 2016
General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2020the holders' own accountView the Source
An Introduction to Mormonism
Douglas J. Davies, Cambridge University Press, 2003View the Source
The Pearl of Great Price
Joseph Smith, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1851View the Source
The Book of Mormon
Joseph Smith (translator, by his own account), E. B. Grandin, 1830Title page and 3 Nephi
Quote, Title page and 3 Nephi
Cited as the movement's own scripture and its own account of the risen Christ in the Americas.
View the Source
The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Joseph Smith and his successors, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1835Introduction
Quote, Introduction
a collection of divine revelations and inspired declarations given for the establishment and regulation of the kingdom of God on the earth in the last days.
View the Source
Dispensations of the Gospel (Encyclopedia of Mormonism)
Brigham Young University, Encyclopedia of MormonismObjects and Practices of This Tradition: The Seven Dispensations of the GospelView the Source
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