Mormonism

==Criticism==
{{main|Criticism of the Latter Day Saint movement}}

As the largest denomination within Mormonism, the LDS Church has been the subject of criticism since it was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830.

Perhaps the most controversial, and a key contributing factor for Smith's murder, is the claim that [[plural marriage]] (as defenders call it) or [[polygamy]] (as critics call it) is biblically authorized. Under heavy pressure—[[History of Utah|Utah]] would not be accepted as a state if polygamy was practiced—the church formally and publicly renounced the practice [[1890 Manifesto|in 1890]]. Utah's statehood soon followed. However, plural marriage remains a controversial and divisive issue, as despite the official renunciation of 1890, it still has sympathizers, defenders, and semi-secret practitioners within Mormonism, though not within the LDS Church.

More recent criticism has concerned questions of [[Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Criticism|historical revisionism]], [[Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Views on homosexuality|homophobia]], [[Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Racism|racism]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://irr.org/mit/pdfs/Skin-Color-&-LDS-Church.pdf |title=Skin Color in Mormon Scripture and Theology |access-date=February 6, 2009  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122170912/http://irr.org/mit/pdfs/Skin-Color-%26-LDS-Church.pdf |archive-date=January 22, 2009 }}</ref> [[Criticism of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints#Gender bias and sexism|sexist policies]], [[Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|inadequate financial disclosure]], and the [[historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon]].