Latter-day Saints have long valued the US Constitution’s promise of religious freedom – but the church has also tested its boundaries.
Articles on Mormons
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The church, whose members are often known as Mormons, has grown from a small community to 17.5 million members around the world – but not without some tensions.
Sunday’s attack on worshippers at an LDS church exposes, once more, the lingering animosity Mormons receive from both sides of the political spectrum.
Tragedies like the Sept. 28, 2025, shooting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints chapel in Michigan are part of a longer pattern.
Russell M. Nelson pushed the church away from members’ longtime nickname, ‘Mormons’ – a term that has shaped other Americans’ view of the church for 200 years.
Nelson was ordained as the ‘prophet, seer and revelator’ of the Mormon church in 2018. He was 93 at the time.
From historical practices of polygamy, to today’s outspoken MomTok influencers, the Mormon church’s PR team hasn’t had a break.
Followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints make up a small minority of the Australian public. Historically, new temples haven’t been well-received.
What’s behind the media and pop culture’s longstanding fascination with Mormon violence? And how often do they get the story right?
The coordination and ideological rigor of The Order made them an outlier among white supremacist groups.
The characterization of Latter-day Saints on shows like ‘Heretic’ and ‘Secret Lives of Mormon Wives’ says more about the rest of America than the church itself.
America holds a unique place in the faith’s teachings, but awareness of the church’s often precarious place in US culture has made it wary of mixing religion and state.
Latter-day Saints’ attitudes toward the word ‘Mormon,’ often used to describe the church, have had highs and lows − like other Americans’ often-tense relationship with the faith.
Like all charitable donors, church members – even those who make donations to remain in good standing with their religious institution – give up their legal right to control that money.
Many faiths face conflicts over dissent and institutional control. In Latter-day Saints history, the episode around the ‘September Six’ is particularly memorable.
The faith’s association with conservative politics has stayed strong for decades, but could become a liability, a political scientist argues.
This is a green light for creating the largest-ever compensation fund for sex abuse claims.
Joseph Smith encouraged early Latter-day Saints to pool their resources. Two centuries later, one of the results is an investment portfolio estimated at $100 billion.
Latina women hold few top leadership positions in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but their contributions help keep congregations going.
Many Republicans have wrestled with whether to embrace Donald Trump and his brash political style. Latter-day Saints are an especially telling example.
Top contributors
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Academic Status in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, Flinders University
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Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon Studies, Claremont Graduate University
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Associate Professor of History, Sam Houston State University
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Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, University of South Carolina
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Associate Professor of Religion, Kalamazoo College
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Professor of Political Science, Utica University
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Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy, University of Notre Dame
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Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Arkansas
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Doctoral Student in Religious Studies, University of Virginia
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Senior Lecturer of Religious Studies, University of Arizona
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Assistant Professor of Writing, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
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Dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, Distinguished Professor of Womanist Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University
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Professor of Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
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Distinguished President’s Fellow for Global Development, Purdue University
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Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology, University of North Carolina – Charlotte