Latter-day Saint

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Latter Day Saint movement
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A Latter-day Saint is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The British spelling "Latter-day Saint" with the hyphen originated in 1852 when the LDS Church was incorporated in Salt Lake City, Utah, but a similar term, "Latter Day Saint," was used in reference to members of the church from its conception in 1830. Some have used the term "Latter Day Saint" to refer to any members of any of the churches involved in the movement of Mormonism which began in the 1830s and had small groups break away from the main body of saints, but such usage is much less common. If considered a Christian denomination, the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the fourth largest church in the United States; if considered a discrete religion it is second only to Christianity in the U.S.A. Its adherents are sometimes referred to as Mormons, although a few other groups which stem from the same movement also refer to themselves as Mormons, a term that began as a nickname in reference to their belief in a book of scripture called the "Book of Mormon." Due to a large number of incidents in which misidentification has been made in regard to LDS Church, confusing the church with its much smaller schisms, the church strongly prefers that if the term is used that it be applied solely to the LDS Church while at the same time encouraging the increased use of official and historic self-designations such as "Latter-day Saints", "Saints", and "Church of Jesus Christ" instead of "Mormon." [LDS Style Guide]

According to the Statistical Report presented at the Church's General Conference of April 2006, there are 12,560,869 Latter-day Saints in the world today. Approximately 45 percent of total membership resides within the U.S. According to Time and Newsweek, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today, having more than doubled in membership since 1982. It is the most far reaching world religion originating in the United States.

Latter-day Saint

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