Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Summary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been subject to scholarly and religious criticism and public debate since its inception in the early 1800s. The discussion encompasses a wide range of issues from the church’s leaders, origins, and teachings, to its social and political stances. The historical claims of the church—including the authenticity of foundational books of scripture such as the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price, as well as the church's former practice of polygamy—have faced public scrutiny. Changes in church teachings, as well as former teachings perceived as harsh or extreme face criticism as well. In the modern day, its historical teachings and policies around skin color and those around Black and Native American people, along with its past and current views on LGBTQ people and women have received greater public attention. Other controversies include church leaders' handling of sexual abuse cases, church finances, members critical of church leadership, and allegations of hiding or distorting parts of church history.
Originally created by Noleander
12/15/2007, 3:05:03 AM
Modified
5/4/2026, 3:16:19 PM
Recent revisions
fix
/* Sexuality */ wl [[Colleen McDannell]]
Undid revision [[Special:Diff/1351390445|1351390445]] by [[Special:Contributions/~2026-25825-83|~2026-25825-83]] ([[User talk:~2026-25825-83|talk]]) Rvt good faith edit. The text separates criticism of Mormonism and the LDS Church.
I made the change which was Mormonism to the LDS church because I go to that church and that is what it is called.
Undid revision [[Special:Diff/1334529808|1334529808]] by [[Special:Contributions/~2026-51552-8|~2026-51552-8]] ([[User talk:~2026-51552-8|talk]]) Reverting to more neutral language.
Culminating says it reach a climax there. The people only made a group that protected themselves from the order and exercised their rights to bear arms when they were denied their first amendment, only being attacked first.
Removed from a main category as it's already in a more precise subcategory
Small category improvements
Removed FARMS sources per [[WP:LDS/RS]]. Removed an statement only citing FARMS. Small wording improvement.
/* Policy reversal */ fix author-link
/* Policy reversal */ fix author-link
Disambiguating links to [[William Robert Wright]] (link changed to [[Bob Wright (Utah politician)]]) using [[User:Qwertyytrewqqwerty/DisamAssist|DisamAssist]].
ref tags fixed
/* Apologetic responses */ Citation added
Alter: url, pages. URLs might have been anonymized. Add: date, isbn, pages. | [[:en:WP:UCB|Use this bot]]. [[:en:WP:DBUG|Report bugs]]. | Suggested by Abductive | [[Category:Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2025]] | #UCB_Category 99/274
Standardized citation style per [[WP:CITESTYLE]], removed unused lengthy list of references, fixed some citation template errors, added some page needed templates where needed
/* Temples */
Removed statements based on unreliable sources (see [[WP:LDS/RS]] and external links that are self-published or non reliable sources per [[WP:LDS/RS]], [[WP:RS]], and [[WP:EL]]. Removed a duplicate citation.
/* Historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon */ Made a subsection on BoA criticism with relevant sources and material from [[Criticism of the Book of Abraham]]. Please see that page for attribution.
/* Race */ Improvements to "see also" wikilinking, and the capitalization of races per [[MOS:RACECAPS]].
