Portal:Christianity/Selected article/October 2006

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, widely known as the "LDS Church" or the "Mormon Church", is the largest and most well-known denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement, a form of Restorationist Christianity founded by Joseph Smith Jr. during the 19th century. Its followers believe that Jesus Christ, as head of the church, is actively leading them through ongoing revelation. In addition to the King James Version of the Bible, they accept additional writings such as the Book of Mormon as inspired scripture, and do not consider the Biblical canon to be closed. The Church is headquartered in the American town of Salt Lake City, and its current president is Gordon B. Hinckley. The Church reports a worldwide membership of 12,560,869 as of December 31, 2005. The Church claims to be the exclusive restoration of the church founded by Jesus Christ and the sole source of priesthood authority necessary for the sacraments of salvation, such as baptism. This has led to extensive criticism from Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox Christians, nearly all of whom label it a "cult", "sect," or "heretical", or dispute that it is truly "Christian". The practice of polygamy has arguably sparked the most controversy. Although The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints officially ended the practice with the 1890 Manifesto and, since 1904, has excommunicated members known to practice polygamy and prohibited polygamists from joining the Church, some people still practice it today and consider themselves Mormons.

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