BRIGHAM YOUNG FOUNDER OF MORMON CHURCH

I am not promoting the Mormon religion, but for those not familiar with the religion, it is based upon Christianity. Many of my ancestors were Quakers that settled first in Pennsylvania, later in North Carolina and then my family moved and settled in Indiana, and the Quakers were much like the Mormons from my reading of some history. I wanted to point out that the Mormons are indeed Christians before someone argues the fact that some Mormon men have multiple wives. If one wants to see a Christmas concert, unlike any other be sure to watch the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They are spectacular, and they most certainly place Jesus in the center of the Christmas season. The following is copied and pasted:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, major world religion of 12 million members, established in 1830 by Joseph Smith, known as the prophet. Followers of this religion are called Mormons. From a handful of members at the beginning, the movement has grown steadily through proselytizing and a relatively high birth rate. By the early 2000s there were 5.5 million Mormons in the United States and the number in other countries around the world totaled about 6.5 million. Before World War II conversions had been most numerous in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Scandinavia, but during recent years the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has grown rapidly in developing countries. In Mexico, for example, there were 850,000 Mormons in 2000, most of them converted since 1975. In South Korea, the Latter-day Saints had no adherents before 1950, but by 2000 there were 71,000 members. A vigorous missionary program—a rotating force of about 60,000 preaching Mormon doctrine in more than 330 missions in the United States and abroad—assures a steady influx of new members.

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Characteristics
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The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a Christian religion. Its founding doctrine was based on the assumption that Christianity was more or less corrupt and that restoring the true Christian gospel was necessary. Such a restoration, however, required a new revelation from God to give the truths of Christianity in pure form and to reestablish the divine sacerdotal authority of the ancient apostles, which, having been lost, could be recovered only through divine initiative. The Mormon church is thus in its self-definition Christian as well as restorationist.

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Doctrine
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Mormons support religious toleration and hold that all religions contain elements of truth and do much good. Nevertheless, the Mormon church sees only itself as fully authorized and recognized by God—“the only true and living church upon the earth.” This exclusive claim to truth and authority explains the determination of Mormons to carry their message worldwide, even to Christians of other denominations.

Mormon doctrine is derived from four basic scriptures: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants (138 revelations and other statements, almost all of them issued by Joseph Smith in the 1830s and early 1840s), and the Pearl of Great Price (1842; a compilation of shorter works, both ancient and modern). The truths enunciated in the various scriptures are subject to interpretation and expansion by church leaders, who are believed to receive additional revelations and inspiration.