Mormons are a religious and cultural group of Mormonism. Mormonism is the principal branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has over 16 million members.
Mormons embrace concepts of Christianity and revelation made by the founder Joseph Smith. Mormons use four different sacred texts: The Christian bible, the Doctrine and Covenants, The Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Mormon.
The Mormon religion was established in 1830 when the Book of Mormon was published. The Book of Mormon contains the writing of ancient prophets who lived not the American continent from around 2200 B.C. to 421 A.D. The sacred text has many original and distinctive discussions about the fall of Adam and Eve, redemption from physical and spiritual death, Christian atonement, and the organization of the latter-day church. Smith claimed that the last prophet to contribute to the book came to him in a vision in 1827, telling Smith to locate the gold plates that the writings were originally written on and translate them into English.
After Jospeh Smith was murdered by an anti-Mormon mob in 1844, Brigham Young became the leader for many Mormons. Young led a large group of about 16,000 Mormons from Illinois to Utah, founding Salt Lake City and becoming the first governor of the Utah territory.
The term “Mormon” is often used in a derogatory or mocking way. A 2011 Pew Research poll showed that 62% of Mormons think Americans are uninformed about their religion and half said that they face a lot of discrimination. Many non-Mormons tease the religion for polygamy, which was banned in 1890. Despite this, Mormons have still historically married multiple women at once. The Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, brought a lot of attention to the religion and caused mixed reactions among Mormons.
It is believed that there will be 285 million Mormons worldwide by 2085. Mormonism is one of the fastest-growing religions in the world and its possibility of becoming a major world religion may happen within the next century.
Mormon Population by State
While many people think of Utah when they think of Mormons, several states have significant Mormon populations. The western United States does have the highest Mormon population in the country, specifically the states of Utah, California, and Arizona. Utah, which has the highest Mormon population, has 5,229 congregations. About 68.55% of the state’s total population is Mormon.