Citing Resources In The Web Archive
Citations should indicate: Archived in the Library of Congress Web Archives at www.loc.gov. When citing a particular website include the archived website’s Citation ID . Researchers are advised to follow standard citation guidelines for websites, pages, and articles. Researchers are reminded that many of the materials in this web archive are copyrighted and that citations must credit the authors/creators and publishers of the works. For guidance about compiling full citations consult Citing Primary Sources.
Current Source Of Funding
According to the Church, most of its revenues come in the form of tithes and fast offerings contributed by church members. Tithing donations are used to support operations of the church, including construction and maintenance of buildings and other facilities, and are transferred from local units directly to church headquarters in Salt Lake City, where the funds are centrally managed. It is estimated that about ten percent of its funding also comes from income on its investments, mostly direct investments.
Fast offerings donations are used to assist both church members and non-members in need. As part of the church’s welfare program, the funds may be used to stock a local Bishop’s Storehouse or food bank to assist in caring for those in need.
An independent analysis from 2012 estimates that the Church brings in approximately $7 billion annually in tithes and other donations.
Views On Gender Diversity And Identity
Expressions and identities for sexuality and gender are “separate, but related” aspects of a person and stem from similar biological origins. According to current church policy, transgender and other gender diverse individuals who have undergone an âelective transsexual operationâ are banned from temple rites or receiving priesthood authority. Additionally, a transgender individual who has undergone gender-confirming surgery may be baptized only with First Presidency approval, and those considering it are barred from baptism. The church has acknowledged differences between gender identity and sexual orientation stating that they have “unfinished business in teaching on .” Gender identity and roles play an important part in Latter-Day Saint teachings which teaches a strict binary of spiritual gender as literal offspring of divine parents.
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What Do People Think About It
SA Greens leader Mark Parnell said he had a lot of questions to ask about the deal.
“Sure these South Australian records are freely available online, but only once you have given your name, your email address, and ticked a box about whether you’re a Mormon or not to the Mormon Church,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.
“The privacy provisions are the laws of Utah rather than the laws of Australia.”
However, executive officer of the Society of Australian Genealogists Heather Garnsey had a different view.
“What you’re experiencing in South Australia is something that is happening around other Australian states and indeed around the world,” she said.
“What was known as the genealogical society of Utah, they have a wonderful track record for preservation of material.
“Many of these records would probably have just never become available to the public to look at, many of these historical records may not even survive if they aren’t preserved and made available.”
She said she understood the reservations people had when they heard that records were being kept by the Mormon Church, but she wanted the public to understand the type of information they were preserving.
“The records we are talking about are historical records, we’re not talking about 2010 records here, we’re talking about historical records,” she said.
Social Events And Gatherings
Additional meetings are also held at the meetinghouse. Church officers may conduct leadership meetings or host training sessions and classes. The ward or branch community may schedule social activities at the meetinghouse, including dances, dinners, holiday parties and musical presentations. The church’s Young Men and Young Women organizations meet at the meetinghouse once a week, where the youth participate in activities. At the start of 2020, the church implemented a new initiative for children and youth worldwide, which replaced all other church youth programs.
In LDS theology, a temple is considered to be a holy building, dedicated as a “House of the Lord” and held as more sacred than a typical meetinghouse or chapel. In temples, church members participate in ceremonies that are considered the most sacred in the church, including marriage, and an endowment ceremony that includes a washing and anointing, receiving a temple garment, and making covenants with God. Baptisms for the dead are performed in the temples as well.
In order to perform ordinances in temples on behalf of deceased family members, the church emphasizes genealogical research, and encourages its lay members to participate in genealogy.It operates FamilySearch, the largest genealogical organization in the world.
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Finding Aids For Latter
The Studies in Mormon History Database includes citations to articles, books, theses, and Ph.D. dissertations dealing with the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, written from the time of its inception in 1830 to the present. It is intended to be comprehensive. It includes citations to over 2,000 Latter-day Saint biographies and 800 published Latter-day Saint diaries. The diary entries have abstracts describing dates of coverage and a summary of the contents. There are some links to full-text items.
Lgbt Students At Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is the largest religious university in North America and is the flagship institution of the LDS Church’s educational system. Large surveys of over 7,000 BYU students in 2020 and 2017 found that over 13% had marked their sexual orientation as something other than âstrictly heterosexual,â while the other survey showed that .2% had reported their gender identity as transgender or something other than cisgender male or female.
A BYU study from 1950 to 1972 showed that 10% of BYU men and 2% of BYU women indicated having had a “homosexual experience.”:45 Several LGBT rights organizations have criticized BYU’s Honor Code as it relates to LGBT students and The Princeton Review has regularly ranked BYU among the most LGBT-unfriendly schools in the United States. As of 2017 BYU campus offered no official LGBT-specific resources.
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Social Welfare And Relief
The LDS Church operates a welfare distribution system, as it encourages members to seek financial assistance from family and the church first before seeking public or state-sponsored welfare.AgReserves Inc., Deseret Cattle and Citrus Ranch, and Farmland Reserve, Inc. are part of its welfare distribution system. Welfare resources are distributed by local bishops but maintained by the Presiding Bishopric. See Preparedness. It also sends relief aid to victims of earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes and other natural disasters around the world. The relief effort has been recognized through many organizations and political leaders, including the United States leaders in reaction to the Hurricane Katrina relief effort by the church.
Religious Authority And Ritual
Smith’s teachings were rooted in . He taught that the restored through him was a of the early Christian faith, which had been lost in the . At first, Smith’s church had little sense of hierarchy his religious authority was derived from visions and revelations. Though Smith did not claim exclusive prophethood, an early revelation designated him as the only prophet allowed to issue commandments “as Moses”. This religious authority encompassed economic and political as well as spiritual matters. For instance, in the early 1830s, he temporarily instituted a form of , called the , that required Latter Day Saints to give to the church all their property, to be divided among the faithful. He also envisioned that the theocratic institutions he established would have a role in the worldwide political organization of the Millennium.
Smith taught that the High Priesthood’s endowment of heavenly power included the powers of , allowing High Priests to effect binding consequences in the afterlife. For example, this power would enable proxy baptisms for the dead and that would be effective into the afterlife. Elijah’s sealing powers also enabled the , or “fulness of the priesthood”, which, according to Smith, sealed married couples to their .
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Historical Names Of The Church
The LDS Church traces its founding to April 6, 1830, when Smith and five other men formally established the Church of Christ. The church was known by this name from 1830 to 1834.
In the 1830s, the fact that a number of U.S. churches, including some Congregational churches and Restoration Movement churches, also used the name “Church of Christ” caused a considerable degree of confusion. In May 1834, the church adopted a resolution that the church would be known thereafter as “The Church of the Latter Day Saints”. At various times the church was also referred to as “The Church of Jesus Christ”, “The Church of God”, and “The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints”.
New Handbook Additions Condemn Any Threatening Bullying Degrading Violent Or Otherwise Abusive Language Or Images Posted By Members
The church’s General Handbook has strengthened its language about online posts by members.
Memo to Latter-day Saint social media commenters: Your church has added strong wording to its General Handbook, condemning threatening, bullying, degrading, violent, or otherwise abusive language or images online.
No groups or individuals are specifically named, but there is no exception for those claiming to defend The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including users associated with @DezNat , who frequently employ harsh rhetoric and drawings of knives and guns to attack church critics or Latter-day Saint progressives.
If online threats of illegal acts occur, the new section says, law enforcement should be contacted immediately.
Further, members should avoid all statements of prejudice toward others, the new wording states. It links to the handbooks section on prejudice, which says, This includes prejudice based on race, ethnicity, nationality, tribe, gender, age, disability, socioeconomic status, religious belief or nonbelief, and sexual orientation.
Latter-day Saints should share uplifting content, the updated handbook says, and strive to be Christlike to others at all times, including online, and reflect a sincere respect for all of Gods children.
Adam Ebberts, who has used and defended the #DezNat hashtag, acknowledged Wednesday on Twitter that the handbook language is probably a #DezNat inspired policy.
Other changes included:
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Informal And Abbreviated Names
Because of the belief in the Book of Mormon among Joseph Smith’s followers, in the 1830s people outside the church began to refer to its members as “Mormonites” or “Mormons” and the church as the “Mormon Church”. Smith and other church leaders considered these informal or abbreviated terms to be derogatory and inappropriate, as editorialized in 1834:
Others may call themselves by their own, or by other names, and have the privilege of wearing them without our changing them or attempting so to do but we do not accept the above title, nor shall we wear it as our name, though it may be lavished out upon us double to what it has heretofore been.
âSecond Elder Oliver Cowdery,
Today, it remains common for individuals and media outside of the church to refer to it as the “Mormon Church”. Church leaders have resisted these practices and have asked members not to refer to the church in these ways.
In 2001, the LDS Church Saints issued a style guide on its name, requesting that those writing about the church adhere to the following guidelines:
- In the first reference, the full name of the Church is preferred: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
- Please avoid the use of “Mormon Church”, “LDS Church” or the “Church of the Latter-day Saints.”
- When a shortened reference is needed, the terms “the Church” or “the Church of Jesus Christ” are encouraged.
- When referring to Church members, the term “Latter-day Saints” is preferred, though “Mormons” is acceptable.
Main Resources For Information About The Church
ChurchofJesusChrist.org: The content on this site is intended primarily for Church members. The sites home page provides features on new content, as well as links to all other Church sites. From the home page, people can access scriptures, lesson materials, Church magazines, senior leadership talks, ideas to strengthen families, information on chapel locations and meeting times, local congregation websites, and much more. This site serves as an umbrella site for many other Church sites. To find materials in your language, go to language.churchofjesuschrist.org.
ComeUntoChrist.org: This is the Churchs outreach site, dedicated to helping the general public understand the basic beliefs and practices of the Church. Information is provided in a simple format, avoiding the use of words that may only be familiar to members of the Church. Features include summaries of basic beliefs, a link to find a nearby Church meetinghouse or congregation, and the ability to ask questions in a live chat with a Church member.
Jesus Christ: This multimedia website features articles, video clips, artwork, an interactive music page, and other sectionsall focused on the life, ministry, and divinity of Jesus Christ. The site is intended for anyone who wants to learn more about Jesus Christ. The document The Living Christ can be accessed directly at livingchrist.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
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Restorationism And Prophetic Leadership
The LDS Church teaches that, subsequent to the death of Jesus and his original apostles, his church, along with the authority to act in Jesus Christ’s name and the church’s attendant spiritual gifts, were lost, due to a combination of external persecutions and internal heresies. The restorationas represented by the church began by Joseph Smithrefers to a return of the authentic priesthood power, spiritual gifts, ordinances, living prophets and revelation of the primitive Church of Christ. This restoration is associated with a number of events which are understood to have been necessary to re-establish the early Christian church found in the New Testament, and to prepare the earth for the Second Coming of Jesus. In particular, Latter-day Saints believe that angels appeared to Joseph Smith and a limited number of his associates, and bestowed various priesthood authorities on them.
Criticism Of Joseph Smith
In the 1830s, the church was criticized for Smith’s handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio. After the Mormons migrated west, there was fear and suspicion about the LDS Church’s political and military power in Missouri, culminating in the 1838 Mormon War and the Mormon Extermination Order by Governor Lilburn Boggs. In the 1840s, criticism of the church included its theocratic aspirations in Nauvoo, Illinois. Criticism of the practice of plural marriage and other doctrines taught by Smith were published in the Nauvoo Expositor. Opposition led to a series of events culminating in the death of Smith and his brother while jailed in 1844.
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Relationship With Mainstream Christianity
Mormonism categorizes itself within , and nearly all Mormons self-identify as . For some who define Christianity within the doctrines of , and , the , and , Mormonism’s differences place it outside the umbrella of Christianity.
Since its beginnings, the faith has proclaimed itself to be Christ’s Church with its original authority, structure and power maintaining that existing denominations believed in incorrect doctrines and were not acknowledged by God as his church and kingdom. Though the religion quickly gained a large following of Christian seekers, in the 1830s, many American Christians came to view the church’s early doctrines and practices as politically and culturally , as well as doctrinally heretical, abominable, and condemnable. This discord led to a series of sometimes-deadly conflicts between Mormons and others who saw themselves as orthodox Christians. Although such violence declined during the twentieth century, the religion’s unique doctrinal views and practices still generate criticism, sometimes vehemently so. This gives rise to efforts by Mormons and opposing types of Christians to proselytize each other.
Mormons believe in Jesus Christ as the literal and , as a conclusion of a , and subsequent . However, Latter-day Saints reject the ecumenical creeds and the definition of the . Mormons hold the view that the prophesied both the from the teachings of Christ and his apostles as well as the of all things prior to the second coming of Christ.
Why Is The Mormon Church Doing This
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been preserving historical information since the 1890s.
Its website states its purpose is to help people connect with their ancestors through easy access to historical records, through the largest collection of genealogical and historical records in the world.
Fairfax Media journalist Liam Mannix who has reported on the topic of preservation and digitisation of records in Victoria said from his work, he believed the motivation came from the fact that if they could confirm an ancestor then they could baptise them.
“What they’re motivated by, as far as I could understand it, is the very real knowledge that they are saving souls,” he told ABC Adelaide.
“If you’re a Mormon you believe that that is, in many ways, offering them salvation.
“The church firmly believes that this isn’t a forced baptism because in the afterlife the soul still has agency and can choose to be a Mormon.”
Mormon Kellie Nuss of Maryland in the United States told the ABC “family” was at the centre of the desire to preserve records.
“Families are very important to us, we believe that they last beyond this life,” she told ABC Radio Adelaide.
“We really do believe that family life can continue after this life and we also believe that Baptism is an essential practice and that it must be done by proper authority.
“We also believe in offering it as a service to all the world.”
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