The LDS faith believes God the Father, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three separate personages. Deity and Christ are believed to have physical bodies, while the Holy Ghost is a spirit. Mormons believe that Jesus is an eternally-existent equal member of the Trinity (God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit), while maintaining that they are physically seperate beings with a spiritual unity of purpose. Other basic beliefs include faith in Jesus Christ, the principle of repentence, baptism by immersion, the gift of the Holy Ghost, accepting both the Bible & Book of Mormon as scripture, and being honest, chaste, & virtuous. See the Articles of Faith for more details on the beliefs of Latter Day Saints.
The LDS church was founded by Joseph Smith in the 19th century. Joseph Smith claimed that he was a prophet of God sent to refound the church after it had (allegedly) fallen away in the first century of the Christian era. He claimed an angel named Moroni appeared to him and showed him the location of metal plates, which he said contained records of ancient Israelites who journeyed to the American continent. This he published in 1830 as The Book of Mormon.
Joseph Smith lead his followers to Navuoo?, Illinois. There he introduced the practice of polygamy, or plural marriage. There were many causes of friction between the Mormon and non-Mormon elements elements of the local population. Plural marriage was not widely known of until the Church reached Utah and therefore was not a major source of the friction between the Mormons and non-Mormons in Nauvoo. Opponents of Joseph Smith attempted to publish material criticial of him and other Church leaders. Their press was destroyed by Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo City council, who declared it to be libelous. This action lead to the imprisonment of Joseph Smith in Carthage Illinios, where he was murdered by a mob of anti-Mormons.
After the death of Joseph Smith, many small groups splintered away from the larger Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Strangites and the Hendricites are an example. Eventually two main factions developed. The larger, lead by Brigham Young, accepted polygamy and travelled to what is now Utah to found Salt Lake City; the smaller, lead by Joseph Smith's wife and son, rejected polygamy and remained in Navuoo. The smaller faction developed into the Reorganized Church of Latter-day Saints (the RLDS church), while the larger is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The RLDS church tends to be more liberal, and closer to mainstream Christianity, than the LDS church.
The Mormon practice of polygamy caused conflict between Mormons and the wider American society, which lead the LDS church leadership to prohibit the practice in 1890. LDS church members today who attempt to marry more than one wife are excommunicated. However small groups of Mormons refused to accept the prohibition of polygamy, and continue to practice it to this day. They are often called [fundamentalist Mormons]?, and have their own churches.
Mormons also wear special clothing or undergarments which they call the Garment of the Holy Priesthood. Devout Mormons who have attended the temple always wear the garment. This clothing functions similarly to the ecclesiastic clothing worn by many other Christian groups, but because the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have a lay clergy they wear this clothing under their normal attire.
You must be a worthy Mormon in order to enter a Mormon temple. However, the public is welcome to attend meetings in local chapels.
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