Mormonism & Latter Day Saint Movement
A 19th-century American religious movement founded by Joseph Smith, encompassing dozens of distinct churches and denominations spanning mainstream Christianity to fundamentalist offshoots.
🏛️ Main Branches
1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)
The largest denomination, headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. Led by a president who is regarded as a living prophet. Discontinued the practice of polygamy in 1890. The LDS Church is the dominant expression of Mormonism worldwide and maintains a centralised hierarchical structure.
2. Community of Christ (formerly RLDS)
The second-largest Latter Day Saint denomination, headquartered in Independence, Missouri. Formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), it has moved toward a more mainstream Protestant theology, ordains women to the priesthood, and does not emphasise temple ceremonies to the same degree as the LDS Church.
🧭 Prairie Saints — Midwestern Groups
These groups remained in or near the Midwest following Joseph Smith's death in 1844, rejecting Brigham Young's leadership or following alternative succession claims.
- ▸Community of Christ — the largest Midwestern successor body.
- ▸Church of Christ (Temple Lot) — the Hedrickites, who own the original Temple Lot in Independence, Missouri.
- ▸Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite) — founded by William Bickerton, rejects polygamy and temple ceremonies.
- ▸Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints — a 21st-century splinter from the Community of Christ.
- ▸Church of Christ (various Temple Lot–related groups) — smaller factions associated with Hedrickite origins.
🌄 Rocky Mountain Saints — Utah-Based Movement
These groups followed Brigham Young westward after 1847, settling in the Great Basin. The mainstream LDS Church is the dominant body; fundamentalist offshoots emerged after polygamy was officially discontinued.
Mainstream
- ▸LDS Church — the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see above).
Fundamentalist Offshoots
These groups broke away when the LDS Church officially renounced plural marriage in 1890, insisting that polygamy remains a divine commandment.
- ▸Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) — the largest and most widely reported fundamentalist group.
- ▸Apostolic United Brethren (AUB) — also known as the Allred Group; moderate fundamentalist movement.
- ▸Kingston Group (Latter Day Church of Christ) — a secretive, tightly controlled fundamentalist community.
- ▸Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — founded by Gerald Peterson Sr. in the 1970s.
- ▸Church of the Firstborn — several distinct groups using this name, emphasising plural marriage and early Mormon doctrine.
- ▸Other smaller fundamentalist factions maintaining independent prophetic leadership.
🔮 Other Notable Latter Day Saint Groups
3. Strangite Movement
Founded by James Strang, who claimed prophetic succession after Joseph Smith's death. Established a theocratic colony on Beaver Island, Michigan. Strang was assassinated in 1856; the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) survives today in small numbers.
4. Hedrickites
The Church of Christ (Temple Lot), led by Granville Hedrick. They reject the authority of Brigham Young and subsequent LDS presidents. Significantly, they own the parcel of land in Independence, Missouri that Joseph Smith designated as the future temple site.
5. Cutlerites
The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), following Alpheus Cutler's succession claim. One of the smallest surviving Latter Day Saint bodies, maintaining a quiet and largely private practice in the Midwest.
6. Bickertonites
The Church of Jesus Christ, founded by William Bickerton. Trace succession through Sidney Rigdon. Reject polygamy, temple ceremonies, and many later LDS doctrinal developments. Active primarily in the eastern United States.
7. Rigdonites (Historical)
Followers of Sidney Rigdon, one of Joseph Smith's closest associates and a contender for succession. Rigdon's faction largely dissolved after his death in 1876, though his movement served as an interim body and influenced subsequent groups including the Bickertonites.
8. Smaller & Splinter Groups
Dozens of smaller organisations exist, typically formed through leadership disputes, doctrinal disagreements, or prophetic claims. Notable examples include the True and Living Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Last Days, School of the Prophets groups, and various independent prophet-led or family-based communities.
📜 Foundational Context
The Latter Day Saint movement originated with Joseph Smith's accounts of angelic visitations and the translation of the Book of Mormon (published 1830), which he claimed to be an ancient scriptural record of pre-Columbian American peoples. Smith also produced other canonised texts — the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price — and introduced distinctive theological concepts including eternal progression, the plurality of gods, temple endowment ceremonies, and baptism for the dead. Smith's assassination in 1844 precipitated a succession crisis that gave rise to the diverse denominational landscape that persists today.