What Is Mormonism?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the "LDS Church" or the "Mormon Church," is the largest and most well-known denomination within the Latter Day Saint's movement. Founded in the United States by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830, the Latter-day Saints regard Christ as the head of their church and count themselves as Christians, but do not consider themselves part of the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions.
The Church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and is said to be the fourth largest religious body in the United States. It is an example of a popular new religious movement whose membership continues to grow due to active missionary activity.
Origins
The Founder – Joseph Smith, Jr.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. (1805 – 1844) and five associates on April 6, 1830, in Fayette, New York.
Profile of Joseph Smith, Jr. (circa 1843). Joseph Smith was the founder and first president of the church.
When Smith was fourteen years old, he claimed to have had a religious experience, in which both God the Father and Jesus Christ spoke to him and instructed him not to affiliate himself with any denomination.[1] Three years later, he reported being visited again by a heavenly angel named Moroni who told him that a book written on gold plates had been buried and Smith had been charged with its protection.
Smith allegedly retrieved the gold plates in 1827 and began the process of translating their engravings. On March 26, 1830, when his dictation was complete, Smith published the work as the Book of Mormon. (In recent years, the subtitle Another Testament of Jesus Christ was added.) Shortly thereafter, on April 6, 1830, Smith also founded the first Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints church.
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