Mormon

The term Mormon is a colloquial name referring to Latter Day Saints, derived in the 1830s from the Book of Mormon, one of their books of scripture, whose compiler was called the prophet Mormon. It is also an adjective referring to various aspects of Mormonism. Most often, the term refers to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the largest and most well-known denomination within the Latter Day Saint movement, who are also commonly called Latter-day Saints or LDS.

Distinctions from other religious groups

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Despite some misconceptions over similar nicknames and stereotypes, Mormons are not the same religious group as Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends), Mennonites, or Amish. Mormons originated separately from these groups and are highly distinct in culture, practice, and theology. Mormonism originated in the United States; the Quaker and Mennonite faiths originally came from Europe. The groups also have numerous doctrinal differences. For example, both Quakers and Mennonites (which include the Amish) are traditionally strict pacifists (and are both peace churches) whereas Mormons believe in self defense and will participate in the military. In the United States, many Mormons are members of the armed forces, and there are LDS chaplains.

Related Topics:
Religious Society of Friends - Mennonites - Amish - United States - Europe - Pacifists - Peace churches - Armed forces

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One source of confusion in regions where Spanish, French, Russian, or Italian are the predominant languages comes from a mistranslation in the film Witness (starring Harrison Ford) into Spanish, French, Russian, and Italian. "Amish" was translated incorrectly to "Mormon". How this happened with different translators into different languages is not clear, but demonstrates a general misunderstanding about the identity of either the Amish or the Mormons, or both.

Related Topics:
''Witness'' - Harrison Ford - Spanish - French - Russian - Italian

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