The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s.

Collectively, these churches have over 17 million nominal members, including over 17 million belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), 250,000 in Community of Christ, and several other denominations with memberships generally ranging in the thousands of members. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, which sees itself as restoring again on Earth the early Christian church; their members are most commonly known as Mormons. An additional doctrine of the church allows for prophets to receive and publish modern-day revelations.

A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theologies while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation, an open canon of scripture and building temples. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which defends the practice of polygamy. One source estimated over 400 denominations have sprung from founder Joseph Smith's original movement. (Full article...)

Latter Days is a 2003 American romantic comedy drama film about the relationship between a closeted Mormon missionary and his openly gay neighbor. The film was written and directed by C. Jay Cox and stars Steve Sandvoss as the missionary, Aaron, and Wes Ramsey as the neighbor, Christian. Joseph Gordon-Levitt appears as Elder Ryder and Rebekah Johnson as Julie Taylor. Mary Kay Place, Khary Payton, Erik Palladino, Amber Benson, and Jacqueline Bisset have supporting roles.

Latter Days premiered at the Philadelphia International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival on July 10, 2003, and was released in various U.S. states over the next 12 months. Later the film was shown at several gay film festivals. It was the first film to portray LGBTQ Mormon characters, and the conflict between the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and same-sex romantic and sexual relationships. Showings in some U.S. states were controversial. Various religious groups demanded that the film be withdrawn from theaters and video stores under boycott threats. (Full article...)

The Nauvoo Temple was the second temple constructed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The church's first temple was completed in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, in 1836. In the winter of 1846, when the main body of the church was forced out of Nauvoo, the church attempted to sell the building, finally succeeding in 1848. The building was damaged by arson and a tornado before being demolished.

In 1937, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) reacquired the lot on which the original temple had stood. In 2000, the church began to build a temple on the original site with an exterior that is a replica of the first temple, but whose interior is laid out like a modern Latter-day Saint temple. On June 27, 2002, a date that coincided with the 158th anniversary of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the temple was dedicated by the LDS Church as the Nauvoo Illinois Temple. (Full article...)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is the largest Latter Day Saint denomination. Founded during the Second Great Awakening, the church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, as of 2023, it has over 17.2 million members, of which over 6.8 million live in the U.S. The church also reports over 99,000 volunteer missionaries and 350 temples.

The church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830, originally as the Church of Christ in western New York. Under Smith's leadership, the church's headquarters moved successively to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. After his death in 1844 and the resultant succession crisis, the majority of his followers sided with Brigham Young, who led the church to its current headquarters in Salt Lake City. Young and his successors continued the church's growth, first throughout the Intermountain West, and later as a national and international organization. The church has been criticized throughout its history; modern criticism includes disputes over the church's historical claims, treatment of minorities, and finances. The church's practice of polygamy was controversial until it was curtailed in 1890 and officially rescinded in 1904. (Full article...)

• Outline of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Outline of the Book of Mormon
• Outline of Joseph Smith

Young c. 1870

Brigham Young (/ˈbrɪɡəm/ BRIG-əm; June 1, 1801 – August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until his death in 1877. He also served as the first governor of the Utah Territory from 1851 until his resignation in 1858.

Young was born in 1801 in Vermont and raised in Upstate New York. After working as a painter and carpenter, he became a full-time LDS Church leader in 1835. Following a short period of service as a missionary, he moved to Missouri in 1838. Later that year, Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs signed the Mormon Extermination Order and Young organized the migration of the Latter Day Saints from Missouri to Illinois, where he became an inaugural member of the Council of Fifty. In 1844, while he was traveling to gain support for Joseph Smith's presidential campaign, Smith was assassinated; igniting the Illinois Mormon War and triggering a succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement. After negotiating a ceasefire, Young was unanimously elected as the second president of the church in 1847. During the Mormon exodus, Young led his followers west from Nauvoo, Illinois, via the Mormon Trail, to the Salt Lake Valley. Once settled in Utah, he ordered the construction of numerous temples, including the Salt Lake Temple. He also formalized the prohibition of black men attaining priesthood and directed the Mormon Reformation. A supporter of education, Young worked to establish the learning institutions that would later become the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. (Full article...)

• ... that Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch represented a shift in Mormon history toward a "socially-accepted American cultural and religious heritage", according to historian Jennifer Reeder?
• ... that Latter-day Saint diarist Ida Hunt Udall turned down a marriage offer from her longtime boyfriend because he was a monogamist, and she wanted a polygamous marriage?
• ... that an unnamed abuse survivor risks her life to become a spy in "one of the bravest actions in all of the Book of Mormon"?
• ... that in the Book of Mormon, the city of Ammonihah kills Christians by fire as a deliberately twisted reference to a warning that spiritual death is like a "lake of fire and brimstone"?
• ... that the name Zenock is misspelled in almost every published edition of the Book of Mormon?
• ... that in the Book of Mormon's allusion to the raising of Lazarus of Bethany in John 11, Abish plays a role parallel to that of Jesus?

• 10 February 1846: Many Mormons begin their migration from Nauvoo, Illinois to Great Salt Lake (pictured).
• 15 February 1927: The Good Neighbor policy reform was adopted.
• 1 February 2002: In LDS Cinema, the film The Singles Ward was released.
• 3 February 2008: Ordination of Thomas S. Monson
• 24 February 2011: The Book of Mormon was previewed on Broadway theatre.