LDS Church (mainstream Mormonism)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints maintains substantial behavioural and informational expectations (tithing, the Word of Wisdom, temple-recommend interviews, restricted access to founder-history materials) while permitting more outside engagement than the smaller fundamentalist offshoots.
CLCI radar
BITE breakdown
0 — significant institutional control balanced by transparent governance and decreasing exit cost in recent decades.
Profile facts
In context
The mainstream LDS Church, headquartered in Salt Lake City, asks members to tithe 10% of income, abstain from alcohol/tobacco/coffee/tea, submit to temple-recommend interviews including questions on personal worthiness, and make extensive volunteer commitments. Until widespread internet access in the 2010s, materials about Joseph Smith's polygamy, the Book of Abraham translation issues, and the Mountain Meadows massacre were difficult for members to encounter; the Church has since published 'Gospel Topics Essays' addressing many.
History
Joseph Smith's 1830 publication of the Book of Mormon launched a fast-growing American restorationist movement that endured violent persecution and the 1844 assassination of its founder. Brigham Young led the Utah migration in 1847. The 1890 Manifesto ending polygamy enabled Utah statehood (1896).
Key control doctrines
- Word of Wisdom (no alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea)
- Tithing (10% of income) tied to temple access
- Temple-recommend interviews with worthiness questions
- Two-year missionary service expectation
- Eternal-family doctrine creating high cost of family departure
Recovery resources
- ICSA (International Cultic Studies Association) — General referral and cult-aware therapist directory.
- INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) — LSE-founded UK research-based information service covering new religious movements.
- Freedom of Mind Resource Center — Steven Hassan's organisation; BITE-model resources and family-side exit guidance.
See the full curated list at /resources.
Notable public ex-members
- John Dehlin (Mormon Stories)
- Sandra Tanner
- Joanna Brooks
Legal cases & controversies
- Mountain Meadows massacre (1857) historical reckoning
- 2023 SEC settlement with Ensign Peak ($5M) over hidden investment accounts
- 2015 Policy of Exclusion (rescinded 2019)
Evidence by BITE axis
- 10% tithing as a condition of temple recommend
- Temple-recommend interviews probing personal/sexual conduct
- Tithing (10% of income) tied to temple access
- Historical suppression of founder-history materials
- Extensive missionary service expected of young men (24 months) and women (18 months)
- Word of Wisdom (no alcohol, tobacco, coffee, tea)
- Temple-recommend interviews with worthiness questions
- Two-year missionary service expectation
- Eternal-family doctrine creating high cost of family departure
- Family members may shun those who leave the faith publicly
Lifton's 8 criteria of thought reform
Robert Jay Lifton's 1961 framework, complementary to BITE. Criteria this group exhibits according to the cited sources.
- Demand for PuritySharp world split into pure vs impure; relentless pressure to conform to an absolute standard.
- Dispensing of ExistenceThe group claims authority to decide who counts as a real human / saved / worthy.
Timeline
- 1830Joseph Smith founds the Church of Christ in Fayette, NY
- 1844Smith assassinated in Carthage Jail; succession crisis
- 1890Manifesto formally ends practice of polygamy
- 1978Priesthood restriction on Black members lifted
- 2013Church begins publishing 'Gospel Topics Essays' addressing controversial history
Evidence matrix
Structured sources cross-linked to the claims they document. Tiered per the source hierarchy. For free-text citations see the Sources section below.
Sources
- Jana Riess, 'The Next Mormons' (2019) search ↗
- John Dehlin / Mormon Stories podcast and CES Letter search ↗
- LDS Church 'Gospel Topics Essays' (2013–) search ↗
- Brian Hales, 'Joseph Smith's Polygamy' (2013) search ↗
- Religion of a Different Color (2015) — https://doi.org/10.1093%2Facprof%3Aoso%2F9780199754076.001.0001 open ↗
- The Diverse Sheep of Israel: Should the Shepherds Resemble Their Flocks? — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (2005) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45227340 open ↗
- Black Mormons Assess Church's Racial Progress — https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/us/black-mormons-assess-churchs-racial-progress.html open ↗
- Century of Black Mormons: A Preliminary Interpretation of the Data — Current Research in Digital History (2019) — https://doi.org/10.31835%2Fcrdh.2019.03 open ↗
- Mormons grappling with race issues 40 years after church's ban on Black leaders was lifted — https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-mormon-church-black-members-20180601-story.html open ↗
- A Brief Introduction to Mormonism in Africa — https://research.cgu.edu/mormonism-migration-project/study-resources/mormonism-in-africa/ open ↗
- Break Off the Shackles From the Poor Black Man: Joseph Smith's Abolitionist Rhetoric in the 1844 Presidential Campaign — https://www.academia.edu/1545972 open ↗
- Why Race Is Still a Problem for Mormons — https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/19/opinion/sunday/racism-and-the-mormon-church.html open ↗
- Race, the Priesthood, and Temples — https://rsc.byu.edu/sites/default/files/pub_content/pdf/Race_the_Priesthood_and_Temple.pdf open ↗
- Raising the Standard of Truth: Exploring the History and Teachings of the Early Restoration — https://rsc.byu.edu/book/raising-standard-truth open ↗
- A More Powerful Effect upon the Body': Early Mormonism's Theory of Racial Redemption and American Religious Theories of Race — https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/church-history/article/abs/more-powerful-effect-upon-the-body-early-mormonisms-theory-of-racial-redemption-and-american-religious-theories-of-race/6B910C6575F406655F36313AB5815270 open ↗
- “A More Powerful Effect upon the Body”: Early Mormonism's Theory of Racial Redemption and American Religious Theories of Race — Church History (2018) — https://doi.org/10.1017%2FS0009640718001580 open ↗
- When Mormons Aspired to Be a 'White and Delightsome' People — https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/09/mormons-race-max-perry-mueller/539994/ open ↗
- Choosing to Stay in the Mormon Church Despite Its Racist Legacy — https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/08/black-and-mormon/497660/ open ↗
- Curses and Marks: Racial Dispensations and Dispensations of Race in Joseph Smith's Bible Revision and the Book of Abraham — https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jmormhist.41.3.22 open ↗
- Curses and Marks: Racial Dispensations and Dispensations of Race in Joseph Smith’s Bible Revision and the Book of Abraham — Journal of Mormon History (2015) — https://doi.org/10.5406%2Fjmormhist.41.3.22 open ↗
- Joseph Fielding Smith's Evolving Views on Race: The Odyssey of a Mormon Apostle-President — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (2022) — https://doi.org/10.5406%2F15549399.55.3.01 open ↗
- Mormons and Lineage: The Complicated History of Blacks and Patriarchal Blessings, 1830–2018 — Dialogue: a Journal of Mormon Thought (2018) — https://doi.org/10.5406%2Fdialjmormthou.51.3.0083 open ↗
- Debunking the Curse of Ham and its Generational Impact on the Black Race — https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1849&context=masters open ↗
- The color of Christ: How has art affected racism in the Church? — https://universe.byu.edu/2020/07/21/the-color-of-christ-how-has-art-affected-racism-in-the-church/ open ↗
- The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (2001) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45226771 open ↗
- The Genesis of a church's stand on race — https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-genesis-of-a-churchs-stand-on-race/2012/02/22/gIQAQZXyfR_story.html open ↗
- Slavery in Utah Involved Blacks, Whites, Indians, and Mexicans — https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=419212 open ↗
- Century of Black Mormons: Flake, Green — https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of-black-mormons/page/flake-green open ↗
- Green Flake: His Life and Legacy — https://search.lib.byu.edu/byu/record/lee.3073452?holding=ad2wvimxwgpznx6l open ↗
- Abandoning an Unpopular Policy: An Analysis of the Decision Granting the Mormon Priesthood to Blacks — https://www.jstor.org/stable/3710400 open ↗
- Abandoning an Unpopular Policy: An Analysis of the Decision Granting the Mormon Priesthood to Blacks — Sociological Analysis (1980) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3710400 open ↗
- "This Time of Crisis": The Race-Based Anti-BYU Athletic Protests of 1968-1971 — Utah Historical Quarterly (2013) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45063320 open ↗
- ADR in youth and intercollegiate athletics — https://digitalcommons.law.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://findarticles.com/find?noadc=1&q=Adr+in+youth&httpsredir=1&article=2771&context=lawreview open ↗
- Mormon leader Russell M. Nelson to speak at NAACP convention — https://apnews.com/article/fdc90c85a99742188ec0ec27ac1e3b67 open ↗
- Mormon president calls on members to help end racism — https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-utah-archive-7d1255d94d393d343a8578bc539857b1 open ↗
- The Persecutions of the Saints – Their Loyalty to the Constitution – The Mormon Battalion – The Laws of God Relative to the African Race — http://scriptures.byu.edu/jod/pdf/JoD10/JoD10_0110.pdf open ↗
- Blacks Eligible for LDS Temple Rites — https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=28727961 open ↗
- Why its time for the Mormon Church to revisit its diverse past — https://theconversation.com/why-its-time-for-the-mormon-church-to-revisit-its-diverse-past-75376 open ↗
- Mormon Church Celebration Of 40 Years Of Black Priesthood Brings Up Painful Past — https://www.npr.org/2018/05/31/615911082/mormon-church-celebration-of-40-years-of-black-priesthood-brings-up-painful-past open ↗
- Integrating Religious and Racial Identities: An Analysis of LDS African American Explanations of the Priesthood Ban — https://www.jstor.org/stable/3511536 open ↗
- Integrating Religious and Racial Identities: An Analysis of LDS African American Explanations of the Priesthood Ban — Review of Religious Research (1995) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F3511536 open ↗
- Official Declaration 2: Revelation on the Priesthood — https://rsc.byu.edu/sperry-symposium-classics-doctrine-covenants/official-declaration-2 open ↗
- Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants — https://rsc.byu.edu/book/sperry-symposium-classics-doctrine-covenants-0 open ↗
- Mormons add call to eradicate prejudice, racism to handbook — https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-coronavirus-pandemic-1122b62368dbabb8b0ae3b1499220b95 open ↗
- Century of Black Mormons: Ball, Joseph T. — https://exhibits.lib.utah.edu/s/century-of-black-mormons/page/ball-joseph-t#?c=&m=&s=&cv=&xywh=-1529%2C-215%2C5566%2C4288 open ↗
- Mormon Church Strikes Down Ban Against Blacks in Priesthood — https://www.nytimes.com/1978/06/10/archives/new-jersey-pages-mormon-church-strikes-down-ban-against-blacks-in.html open ↗
- Mormons can finally say 'we got it wrong' over black priest ban — https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2013/mar/05/mormons-black-priests-ban open ↗
- The Mormon Priesthood Revelation and the São Paulo, Brazil Temple — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (1990) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45225842 open ↗
- Critics Still Question 'Revelation' on Blacks — https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1988-06-02-8801040230-story.html open ↗
- The End of Bruce R. McConkie's 'Mormon Doctrine — https://www.jstor.org/stable/43201315 open ↗
- Mormon past steeped in racism — https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-blackmormons-story.html open ↗
- The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church — https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/next-mormons-how-millennials-are-changing-lds-church open ↗
- The Next Mormons: How Millennials are Changing the LDS Church — https://academic.oup.com/book/35290 open ↗
- Mormonism and Secular Attitudes toward Negroes — https://www.jstor.org/stable/1388243 open ↗
- Mormonism and Secular Attitudes toward Negroes — The Pacific Sociological Review (1966) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1388243 open ↗
- The Saints Go Marching In — https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/05/09/AR2007050901770.html open ↗
- How a Charlottesville Speaker Forced the Mormon Church to Condemn 'Sinful' White Supremacists — https://www.newsweek.com/charlottesville-mormons-white-supremacists-651747 open ↗
- The Mormon Church Condemned White Supremacists, and This Mormon White Supremacist Mom Is Very Mad About It — http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/08/18/the_mormon_church_condemned_white_supremacists_and_this_mormon_white_supremacist.html open ↗
- Effective Science Advising — Science (1974) — https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.186.4162.393-a open ↗
- Mindful of history, Mormon Church reaches out to minorities — https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/mindful-of-history-mormon-church-reaches-out-to-minorities/2012/02/13/gIQAZKJrKR_story.html open ↗
- The Fading of the Pharaohs’ Curse: The Decline and Fall of the Priesthood Ban Against Blacks in the Mormon Church — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (1981) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45224996 open ↗
- Helvécio Martins: First Black General Authority — https://www.jstor.org/stable/23291159 open ↗
- Helvécio Martins: First Black General Authority — Journal of Mormon History (2010) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F23291159 open ↗
- Letting Go: Understanding Mormon Growth in Africa — http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=mormonhistory open ↗
- A PRIESTLY ROLE FOR A PROPHETIC CHURCH: THE RLDS CHURCH AND BLACK AMERICANS — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (1979) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45224770 open ↗
- Dissatisfied liberal Mormons find refuge in the Community of Christ — https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/oct/01/women-lgbt-mormons-community-of-christ open ↗
- Polygamist 'prophet' to serve at least 10 years in prison — https://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/11/20/jeffs.sentence/ open ↗
- The twisted world of Warren Jeffs: Former FLDS members speak out — https://abcnews.go.com/US/twisted-world-warren-jeffs-former-flds-members-speak/story?id=107493397 open ↗
- The Concept of a 'Rejected Gospel' in Mormon History, Part 1 — https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/mormonhistory/vol34/iss2/1/ open ↗
- MORMONISM’S NEGRO DOCTRINE: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW — Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought (1973) — https://doi.org/10.2307%2F45227533 open ↗
- The H. Grant Ivins Papers, bx. 3 — http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/mss/ms362/ms362.html open ↗
- Learning to Lead — http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=1155 open ↗
- publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu — http://publications.maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/fullscreen/?pub=1457&index=10 open ↗
We cite sources by name and outlet rather than fabricating links. Where a source includes its own URL, the open ↗ link opens it directly; otherwise search ↗runs a Google Scholar query for the cited title — useful for verifying academic sources. For news outlets, search the outlet's own archive.
Change history
Substantive edits logged per the score-updates policy.
- 2026-05-29Phase 1 Batch J: per-group recovery resources applied via programmatic palette (closest-fit by category + subCategory + score). Palette: Mainstream-comparator lighter.
- 2026-05-20Score band scheme migrated from 4 bands to 5 (Minimal 0–5 / Low 6–12 / Moderate 13–20 / High 21–30 / Extreme 31–40). No CLCI value changed; the new Minimal band was carved out of the bottom of the previous Low band.
Key terms in this profile
Relevant hubs
Curated entry points on CLCI Hub for situations connected to this group.
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Frequently asked questions
Q.Is LDS Church a cult?
CLCI Hub deliberately avoids the binary label "cult." Instead it places groups on a transparent 0–40 spectrum of documented control using Steven Hassan's BITE model (Behaviour, Information, Thought, Emotional). LDS Church scores 24 out of 40 — "High Control", at high confidence. The score describes documented control patterns, not a judgement of members' sincerity or beliefs; many members do not personally experience the patterns listed.
Q.What is LDS Church's CLCI score?
LDS Church scores 24 out of 40 on the Cult-Like Control Index, which falls in the "High" band. That total is the sum of four BITE axes — Behaviour 7, Information 6, Thought 5, Emotional 6 — plus a signed modifier of +0 for aggravating or mitigating factors.
Q.Why does LDS Church score 24 on the CLCI?
The score reflects publicly documented patterns including: 10% tithing as a condition of temple recommend; Temple-recommend interviews probing personal/sexual conduct; Historical suppression of founder-history materials; Extensive missionary service expected of young men (24 months) and women (18 months). These map onto the BITE axes of behaviour, information, thought, and emotional control, and a signed modifier of +0 is applied for factors such as financial demands, leadership accountability, and exit costs. Every claim is backed by the citations in the Sources section on this page.
Q.How reliable is the LDS Church rating?
This profile is rated High confidence. High confidence means the score is backed by court records, academic work, and/or sustained investigative journalism. CLCI scores are not fixed — they are revised whenever new public evidence appears, and groups that reform can score lower over time.
Q.Where can I get help regarding LDS Church?
If you or someone you care about is affected by LDS Church, start with the Recovery resources listed on this page. General cult-aware support is available from the International Cultic Studies Association (icsahome.com) and the Freedom of Mind Resource Center (freedomofmind.com). CLCI Hub is an educational resource, not a crisis service — if anyone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.
Found something wrong on this profile?
We accept correction requests from anyone — current and former members, researchers, journalists, family members, and the listed organisation. Submissions are reviewed by an editor; we do not auto-publish.