Mormons

Eleanor C. Swanson and Ian Skoggard

Latter-day Saints, LDS, Saints

The Mormons are a religious-based cultural group founded in western New York State in 1830. They were one of a number of such groups founded in that part of the country during the first half of the nineteenth century. Others included the Shakers, Campbellites, the Oneida Community, and the Community of the Publick Universal Friend. All groups were based in part on a communal lifestyle or value system and a reemphasis of New England Puritan beliefs. Unlike the other groups, however, Mormonism has flourished and has become a worldwide religion. The name “Mormon” is commonly applied to members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and splinter groups such as the Community of Christ (formerly, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, founded in 1860) and the Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonites). The Mormons apply the term “Gentile” to all those who are not members of the church, and often refer to themselves as LDS or Saints.

The majority of the Mormon population is located in the intermountain region of the western United States, especially in the state of Utah, in an area labeled by cultural geographers as the Mormon Region. The region consists of a core, domain, and sphere. The core is the zone of the most dense, continuous Mormon population and runs about sixty-five miles north to south in the Wasatch Oasis, centered on Salt Lake City. The domain runs from the upper Snake River country of Idaho south to the lower Virgin River area and southeast Nevada, and includes most of west-central Utah and sizable sections of southeast and northeast Utah. The sphere encompasses those areas where Mormons live in clustered communities within the general population. In addition to Utah, it includes parts of Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Finally, many Mormons live among the general population, especially in urban areas, with sizable numbers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland. There are also significant numbers of members in South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.

As of the 1980s the church claimed more than five million members around the world. Because of a high birth rate, longer than average life expectancy in the United States, and recruitment of new members through worldwide missionary work, the Mormon Church has a very high growth rate. In 1989, there were about 4 million members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States and over 200,000 in splinter groups. In early 1990, the Mormon Church claimed 4,175,000 members in the United States (1.7% of the U.S. population) and 5,974,041 members (2% of the U.S. population) by the end of 2008 (the Religious American Identification Survey 2008 counts are lower).

Mormons in the United States speak English and the basic church documents are written in English. In other nations, members usually speak the native language of the country or of their cultural group.

From their base in the Salt Lake Valley the Mormons then spread and settled throughout the intermountain region, primarily through the formation of farming communities and towns. The church hierarchy played a key role in planning and organizing the settlement and development of this region. An important factor in the growth and development of the church and the Mormon settlement of the Western United States was the large influx of migrants assisted by the church's Perpetual Emigrating Fund. Converts were actively sought and encouraged to migrate to Utah. It is estimated that between 1850 and 1900 the church helped some 90,000-100,000 people immigrate to the United States, primarily from England, Denmark, and Switzerland. Several generations later a number of counties still contain a high concentration Danish and Swiss ancestry populations.

The Mormons remained fairly isolated in Utah and adjacent areas until the late 1860s when mining, railroads, and manufacturing attracted non-Mormons to the area in ever-increasing numbers, leading once again to conflicts over social, political, economic, and religious matters. Major issues included the church's role in political affairs, the church's financial holdings and policies, and polygynous marriage by Mormons. This time the U.S. government became actively involved, passing and enforcing legislation aimed at restricting the church's financial practices and Mormon polygyny. By the end of the nineteenth century, the church had made major concessions in its policies as an accommodation to the non-Mormon society within which it had to operate. The conflicts that marked Mormon-Gentile relations over the first seventy years of the church's existence then gave way to the peaceful relations that have existed since. By 1900 the Mormon region was basically settled, with the possibility of future expansion limited by the surrounding Gentile settlements.

The church was officially organized in 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. and five followers. Smith, known as “The Prophet,” claimed to receive his authority and guidance through divine revelation, and he taught that he was the instrument through which God had restored the church instituted by Jesus Christ. He called others to join him in building the “City of Zion” in preparation for the second coming of Christ. The early years of the church were marked by a series of migrations, as hostilities between Mormons and their non-Mormon neighbors caused the Mormons to abandon settlements and move westward. The first temple was built in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1836. In 1841 the group moved to Independence, Missouri, then to northern Missouri, and then across the Mississippi River to what became the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo. In 1844 Joseph Smith was killed by an anti-Mormon mob in Illinois. His death was followed by a brief period of division and dissension within the church over the election of his successor.

Eventually, the majority coalesced behind Brigham Young who headed the church until his death in 1877. Under his leadership the Mormons undertook their last forced migration, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley of Utah in 1847. Young named the region “Deseret” and in 1849 sought recognition from the federal government as a state. Congress refused, and designated a much smaller region as Utah Territory. Troubles with the government, other settlers, and Indians continued, and in 1857 the U.S. Army was sent to the area to confront Young and the Mormons he had gathered together in Salt Lake City. The confrontation was peaceful, though the Federal presence was continued through the establishment of Fort Douglas overlooking Salt Lake City in the 1860s.

Mormon communities established in the 1800s in Utah and Mormon buildings displayed stylistic features that have been identified as uniquely Mormon. These included a N-S-E-W grid plan with large rectangular blocks, wide streets, roadside irrigation ditches, open fields around towns, cattle and sheep pastured together, unpainted farm buildings, red and light-brown or white houses, brick houses, hay derricks, central-hall house plans, tree-lined streets, and Mormon-style chapels. Buildings constructed since about 1900 generally lack these features, instead reflecting outside architectural and stylistic influences.

The Mormons are participants in the U.S. economy. Historically, however, the Mormons attempted to develop their own economic system and to achieve economic independence from non-Mormons. The Mormon economic ideal, based on the biblical notion of stewardship, was communal ownership. According to this ideal, church members would consecrate all their property and surplus earnings to the church. The church in turn would distribute to each member household that which it needed to survive. Although this ideal was never fully implemented, the values placed on communalism and cooperation and the central economic function of the church were influential in Mormon economic activities and experiments. At present, Mormons in good standing give tithes (ten percent of their income) to the church and two percent to the ward, but private property is the norm. In the initial phases of settling the Utah territory, the development of irrigation and agriculture were of primary importance.

Mormon leaders were also concerned with developing essential small-scale industries. As the United States economy has grown and industrialized, so has the economy of Utah. At present, the majority of Mormons work in industry, commerce, and the professions, with agriculture remaining an important though secondary source of income.

The church is often reported to be enormously wealthy, although the actual value of church property and investments is unknown. Still, it is no secret that the church owns considerable real estate in the western and southern United States, and a variety of businesses such as banks, insurance companies, hotels, newspapers, and radio stations. The church also has large expenses constructing and maintaining church property, and supporting missionary activities around the world.

The people who joined the Mormon Church in the early nineteenth century came from all the trades and professions found in America’s agrarian society of the period, and could apply their knowledge and skills wherever they went. For example, within two years of founding the early Mormon community of Nauvoo, Illinois, the city had up and running a sawmill, flour mill, tool factory, foundry, factory for chinaware, and a steamboat. Within a few years in the Salt Lake Valley, the pioneers built a grist mill, flour mills, sawmills, and a carding mill. A big challenge to the early settlers was the construction of a comprehensive irrigation system, which required the manufacture and use of earth moving machinery.

Intentionally establishing themselves as a self-contained commonwealth—first at Nauvoo, Illinois and later in the Salt Lake Valley, Utah—the Mormon pioneers were for the most part self-sufficient, exchanging commodities and services only amongst themselves, and not wishing to trade with non-Mormons. Farmers, mechanics, shopkeepers and laborers worked for each other. Although a bank and paper currency failed in Illinois, coinage minted from gold dust brought back from California goldmines was more successful, helping to grease the wheels of commerce and develop the local economy in the early stages of settlement. The coins were replaced by church tithing scrip and wheat. Brisk trade occurred with the gold seekers on their way to the goldmines in California. Pioneer farmers, millers, blacksmiths, wagon smiths, teamsters, and laundresses sold their goods and services to the travelers. Later, the settlers supplied Union troops during the Civil War. The Mormons also became suppliers to mining communities throughout the intermountain region. The building of the transcontinental railway, completed in 1869, and spur lines in the decade that followed further opened up the region’s mineral and agricultural wealth, and provided work and income for Mormon laborers and subcontractors. By the end of the twentieth century Mormons were full participants in the national economy, owning and running corporations in every sector in the Great Basin region.

Mormons have tended to follow societal norms, with men working outside the home and women responsible for most domestic tasks. Since the beginning, Mormons have stressed sexual equality, and though women cannot be priests they are actively involved in other church organizations. There is also an emphasis on age, as reflected in the power held by older men in the church hierarchy.

Property rights are seen as a temporary trust held by humans as stewards for the Lord. Individual property ownership is the norm, with a strong value placed on communal effort under church authority.

The Mormon Church regards stable family relationships as fundamental to a healthy society. The doctrine of “sealing” sanctifies the marriage and family for eternity. The church kept extensive genealogies to add weight to and further solidify familial relationships. One could not be saved and perfected unless one was married and raised a family. Strong emphasis on communalism in Mormon life places the family in wider social networks of reciprocity.

As descendents of immigrants from northern Europe, the Mormons use the kinship system and terminology from that region, which distinguishes three lineal generations, collateral from lineal relatives, and all relations by gender.

Mormons place high values on marriage, on family, and on kinship ties, with large, close-knit, nuclear families the ideal. These values are supported by customs such as annual family reunions, weekly home nights for family activities, and group rather than individually oriented recreational activities. The practice of polygyny was a matter of church doctrine although not widely practiced in the nineteenth century; only about ten percent of families were polygamous. Harassment from non-Mormons and the United States government over the issue led church officials to renounce the teaching in 1890. The practice of polygyny persists among some fundamentalists, but they are subject to excommunication from the official church and the overwhelming majority of Mormons are opposed to polygyny.

The early Mormon family modeled themselves on the patriarchal extended family of the Old Testament, including polygynous households. However, even in the past, nuclear families formed the majority of households. The nucleus of the domestic household in polygynous families was the mother-child group, with each wife living in a separate home or in separate apartments in the house. Although the church officially banned polygamy in 1890, fundamentalist sects have continued the practice.

The Mormons practiced a partible inheritance in which property, especially farmland, was divided equally among heirs, which could include women. Rights to water were also inherited. Some property such as quilts was inherited matrilineally; for example, a grandmother bequeathing her quilt to a granddaughter on her wedding day. All wills were reviewed by a church board. If a man did not die in good standing vis a vis the church, then his property would be expropriated, leaving nothing to his heirs. Also, the church would take property if it deemed such property was originally accrued by carrying out church business. For example, following Brigham Young’s death, some of his property and wealth was redeemed by the church, including a theatre he had had built and savings earned from contracts with the railroad companies.

Mormons stress education and have perhaps the highest percentage of college graduates among their members of any religious group in the United States. Early socialization takes place within the family, extended kin network, and church framework. Regular involvement in group activities with other Mormons is perhaps the most important activity. Many Mormons attend college at Brigham Young University, the largest church-affiliated university in the United States. High school and college programs are supplemented by seminary and institute programs, both designed to stress Mormon beliefs and values and to keep the adolescents involved in Mormon group activities.

The Mormons emphasize close relationships among church members and social distance between themselves and nonmembers. The church sponsors a number of social groups and social occasions for its members. Particularly important groups are the church auxiliary organizations such as the Women's Relief Society, the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association, and the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association. These organizations combine social, recreational, educational, and religious functions. Although a formal class structure is absent within the church framework, wealth differences between Mormons or between families are noted, and those among the very wealthy enjoy access to the leaders of the church. Although Mormons, in a general sense, are part of the American class system, their self-identity as Mormons is far more important and takes precedence in social situations. The place of American Indians and African-Americans in the church for some time has been equivocal. Both groups are represented in the membership, but not in the church hierarchy. Similarly, the leaders have always been men.

The organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is both lateral and hierarchical, and is exceedingly complex. Laterally, the church is organized territorially into wards and stakes (called respectively branches and missions in areas where membership is too small to warrant full-scale organization). Wards are local-level units, roughly equivalent to a parish, with an average of about six-hundred members each and presided over by a ward bishop and his two counsellors. Wards are organized into stakes, with an average of about five thousand members each, which are governed by a stake president, his two counsellors, and a stake council. Above the stakes are the general authorities of the church, who include the First Presidence (the first president and his two counselors), the Quorum of the Twelve (the Apostles), the First Council (the Council of the Seventies), the presiding bishopric, and the patriarch of the church. The first president is the apex of religious and administrative authority within the church. He is considered the successor to Joseph Smith, Jr., bears Smith's title (“prophet, seer, and revelator”) and holds office for life. When the office of the first president falls vacant, the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve succeeds to the office, which he holds until he dies. Since the founding of the church authority has rested with white males, which became a source of discord during the late twentieth century with the rise of women and African-American socio-political movements.

Mormons have always been involved in local, state and national politics, and are a major force in Utah politics. They have usually managed to achieve a workable balance between loyalties to the state and to the church, both on the group and individual levels.

The homogeneity of Mormon belief and practices, including the effective cooperation among members and acceptance of the authority of elders, helped to circumscribe behavior and minimize conflict. Religious doctrines and sanctions such as salvation, damnation, and excommunication were also effective means of social control. Severe laws such as the death penalty for adultery, although rarely carried out, defined the limits of acceptable social behavior. The Mormons emphasize work and personal development, and discourage activities such as alcohol and tobacco consumption that might interfere with that goal. Drinking coffee and tea are also discouraged. As marriage and the family are key social institutions, divorce and birth control are also discouraged, although neither is uncommon. In general, internal social control is achieved through lifelong involvement in Mormonism.

It was not until about 1900 that Mormon conflicts with non-Mormons and the federal government were resolved. Mormon relations with Indians (the Ute in Utah) were generally friendlier than between Indians and other settlers. This arose mostly from the Mormons' belief that American Indians are of Hebraic origin and that one goal of Mormonism is to reconvert Indians to Christianity. The Mormons and the Ute were also allies in conflicts with non-Mormon settlers.

The Mormon religion is based on Judeo-Christian Scriptures (the Old and New Testaments), the Book of Mormon, said to be a scriptural account of events in the New World between 600 BC and AD 421, and teachings believed to have come to their prophets through divine revelation as reported in the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. The Mormons believe in a three-person godhead, the immortality of the human spirit, and salvation of the soul through baptism, proper behavior, and repentance of sin. They believe they have the “gifts” or powers outlined in the New Testament, including those of healing, speaking in tongues, and prophecy. They also believe that Jesus Christ will return to rule the earth. Like many modern religions, there are conflicts within the church regarding religious interpretation and the degree of literalness with which the Scriptures should be regarded.

There is no professional priesthood within the Mormon Church. Rather, any “worthy” practicing Mormon male may become a priest when he reaches the age of twelve or so. There are two levels of the priesthood: the Aaronic, or lower, priesthood and the Melchizidek, or higher, priesthood. Ideally, boys enter the Aaronic priesthood at the age of twelve and move through the three offices within this priesthood (deacon, teacher, priest) by the age of twenty. “Worthy” adult males enter the Melchizidek priesthood, which also has three offices (elder, seventy, and high priest). Members of the higher priesthood have greater authority and wider ritual prerogatives than do members of the lesser priesthood.

Mormons believe that “worship is the voluntary homage of the soul.” Religious services are relatively sedate and involve prayer, singing, and blessings. Baptism and marriage are particularly important ceremonies, and individual prayer is a central element of many Mormons' lives. Private religious ceremonies may be more elaborate and emotional than public ones.

Music was part of Mormon worship and religious life, especially hymns. The famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir is the “epitome of Mormon cultural expression.” Brass bands were also a common feature of public life from early on. The first theater was built in 1861, and by 1980 Salt Lake City supported six professional theater companies. Dancing, both as recreation and performance, was also popular. Salt Lake City’s ballet and repertory dance companies have a national reputation. Painters portrayed the early church leaders and scenes from church history.

In the past, illness was believed to be caused by the possession by evil spirits, or by sin. Elders possessed healing powers through the laying on of hands or by anointing the patient with consecrated oil. Baptisms could also result in healing. There are many tales of miraculous cures by the Prophet and early apostles of the church. Tales of visitations by spiritual beings from the past, such as the Nephites, were also part of the folklore surrounding medical cures. Midwives were important medical practitioners in the early settlements, having wide knowledge of herbal remedies. Also common for the times was the use of a variety of chemical and botanical products, including the ingestion of camphor, castor oil, flaxseed oil, ginger, horehound, and laudanum; also external applications of alcohol, ammonia, blue vitrol, carbolic acid, Epsom salt, hartshorn, sulphur, and turpentine. Modern medicine made inroads beginning in the late eighteenth century.

Mormons believe that the dead live on in a spirit world much the same as they did in life, with individual free will. The dead joined their family and continued to have and raise spiritual children, who would be born on earth. One continued to perfect oneself in Heaven, sometimes with the aid of living relatives. Eternal progression continued on in the afterlife through several levels of perfection until true godhood was attained. Funerals occurred within a day following death. Midwives were responsible for preparing the dead. Not much attention was given to graves and cemeteries.

This culture summary is based on the article “Mormons,” by Eleanor C. Swanson, in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Vol. 1, North America, Timothy O’Leary and David Levinson, eds. Boston, Mass.: G. K. Hall & Co. 1991. Ian Skoggard updated population figures and wrote the sections on Industrial Arts, Trade, Kinship, Domestic Unit, Inheritance, Social Control, Arts, Medicine, and Death and Afterlife in January 2013.

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