Mormonism is a relatively new religious tradition which was founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith Jr.  Smith experienced a theophany in his mid-teen years which was followed by an visit from an angel named Moroni is his late-teen years.  Moroni told Joseph that he was called of God to translate a book which today, is known as the Book of Mormon.

Smith’s followers considered him to be a prophet in the same sense as Prophets in the Old Testament.  He frequently received revelations from God regarding topics ranging from mundane Church operations to significant manifestations which introduced new teachings and insights.  Smith’s main aim was to restore primitive Christianity.  Smith also introduced many Old Testament themes including temple worship, and strict adherence to God’s law.

After Smith’s murder at the hands of an angry mob in 1844, there was a succession crisis in the Church.  James Strang, Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, William Smith, and others all claimed to be Joseph’s rightful heir to the presidency of the Church and to call of a prophet.  The majority of Church members followed Brigham Young who led them to the Great Basin in Utah and eventually settled large areas of present-day Utah, Idaho, and Arizona.  This branch is known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is the Church generally thought of when the term Mormon is used.

"... If someone can find something in the Book of Mormon, anything that they love or respond to or find dear, I applaud that and say more power to you. That's what I find, too. And that should not in any way discount somebody's liking a passage here or a passage there or the whole idea of the book, but not agreeing to its origin, its divinity. ...

"I think you'd be as aware as I am that that we have many people who are members of the church who do not have some burning conviction as to its origins, who have some other feeling about it that is not as committed to foundational statements and the premises of Mormonism. But we're not going to invite somebody out of the church over that any more than we would anything else about degrees of belief or steps of hope or steps of conviction. ... We would say: "This is the way I see it, and this is the faith I have; this is the foundation on which I'm going forward. If I can help you work toward that I'd be glad to, but I don't love you less; I don't distance you more; I don't say you're unacceptable to me as a person or even as a Latter-day Saint if you can't make that step or move to the beat of that drum." ... We really don't want to sound smug. We don't want to seem uncompromising and insensitive". --Jeffrey Holland