Mormons

Mormons: see Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of.

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Mormons

religious sect; once advocated plural marriage. [Am. Hist.: NCE, 1833]

See : Polygamy

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Mormons

(self-designation, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), members of a religious sect that arose in the USA in the first half of the 19th century. Its founder, Joseph Smith, published in 1830 the Book of Mormon, which he claimed was a translation of the secret scriptures of the prophet Mormon, allegedly one of the tribal ancestors of the American Indians. The Book of Mormon and the Bible are the chief sources of Mormon religious teaching. In Mormon theology a literal reading of the Bible (especially the Old Testament) is stressed. The sect’s early leaders called for realizing the theocratic ideal of the biblical prophets and also introduced the practice of polygamy (abolished only in 1890).

The history of the Mormons is connected with the opening up of the western lands of the USA; in the mid-19th century the Mormon community established itself in the region of the Great Salt Lake (now the state of Utah). The Mormons presently carry on missionary activities in other countries of the Americas, Western Europe, South Africa, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. Mormon religious preaching is combined with an apology for the ethical “values” of capitalist enterprise. Questions of physical health and personal morality, narrowly interpreted as an ethic of industriousness and frugality, occupy an important place in Mormon missionary propaganda. The Mormon communities are headed by a president and council of 12 “apostles,” who regulate not only the religious but also the secular life of the believers. Besides the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints itself, which claims 2.1 million members (1971), there also exists in the US A the so-called Reorganized Church of Mormons, with over 150,000 members.

REFERENCES

O’Dea, T. F. The Mormons. Chicago, 1957.
Linn, W. A. The Story of the Mormons. New York, 1963.

A. A. KISLOVA