The Mormon Church

I was looking up Mormonism for the final and figured I might as well do a blog post on them while I was at it. I knew quite a few people from my hometown that were Mormons but I never quite understood what exactly they believed. So, I thought it would be interesting to do a bit of background info on them! The LDS Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) was officially established in 1830 by Joseph Smith in upstate New York. There, Smith, who apparently was only a farm boy, became to be seen as a prophet when he received visions from God and discovered what would become the Book of Mormon on some gold plates buried in a hill. http://eom.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_the_Church
After leaving New York, the Mormons, under Brigham Young, eventually settled in Utah and, today, Salt Lake City is the center of their church. Mormonism is a faith centered almost exclusively in the U.S. and today they have over fourteen million members. The basics beliefs of the LDS Church were laid out by Joseph Smith himself in “The Thirteen Articles of Faith” and include a belief that both the Bible and the Book of Mormon were divinely inspired. They also absolutely believe in revelation and visionsand follow strict rules concerning chastity, modesty,virtue, etc. They do not hold with the doctrine of original sin, and they believe that the New Jerusalem will be built upon the American continent.
http://www.religionfacts.com/mormonism/beliefs/13_articles.htm