Of all the numbers in the Pew Research Center’s recently released survey of “Mormons in America,” the highest, most overwhelming numbers are these: 98 percent of respondents said they believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and 97 percent say their church is a Christian religion.

This comes on the heels of earlier surveys indicating that 32 percent of non-LDS U.S. adults say the LDS Church is not a Christian religion, and an additional 17 percent are unsure of LDS Christianity. The theological and semantic reasons for this can be complex, but for the 1,019 self-identified Mormons who participated in the Pew survey, their theological position is clear: Mormons believe in Jesus Christ, and they consider themselves to be Christian.

“Certainly in Latter-day Saint theology is this idea that if you understand who you are, you understand that there’s a purpose in life, you understand your connection to God, that certainly has an impact on how you live your life and what you do, but also how you feel about your life and what you are doing,” said Michael Purdy of the LDS Church Public Affairs office.

For the vast majority of Latter-day Saints surveyed, those life choices have much to do with their religious beliefs. Eighty-two percent of survey respondents indicate that religion is “very important” to them, 83 percent say they pray every day and 77 percent say they attend church at least once a week. Beyond that, a stunning 69 percent of respondents fit all three descriptions, saying that religion is very important to them, that they pray every day and that they go to church every week.

“By this measure,” the report says, “Mormons exhibit higher levels of religious commitment than many other religious groups, including white evangelical Christians.”

Part of the explanation for these high numbers may be that the survey focused only on those who self-identified as Latter-day Saints.

“The method they used tended to identify people who are strongly committed,” said BYU sociologist Marie Cornwall, who advised the Pew Forum on the new survey. “They don’t have the people who are kind of marginal. But that’s okay; we just have to be careful with the way we interpret the findings.”

One such finding is the relationship between religious commitment and education among Mormons.

David Campbell, a University of Notre Dame associate professor and another adviser on the survey, noted that the more educated respondents were, the higher their levels of religious commitment.

“I was a little surprised by that,” said Campbell, who is LDS and who has extensively studied on the role of religion in the public square. “The more educated a Mormon is, the more likely they are to be wholehearted in their commitment to the church and its teachings.”

That is different from other churches, he said, where more education tends to lead to more religious skepticism.

Pew Research Center officials also noted “a significant gender gap in religious commitment, with more Mormon women than men exhibiting a high level of religious commitment (73 percent vs. 65 percent).”

According to the Pew report, a similar “gender gap” is seen among the general public. A 2007 survey found 36 percent of U.S. women exhibited a high level of religious commitment, compared with 24 percent of men.

One series of questions asked about what it means to be a good Mormon. According to the respondents, in order to be a good Mormon it is “essential” to believe Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ (80 percent), work to help the poor (73 percent), hold regular family home evenings (51 percent), not drink coffee and tea (49 percent) and not watch R-rated movies (32 percent).

Combining those who said “essential” with those who said “important but not essential,” the order changes a little bit: working to help the poor (97 percent), holding regular family home evenings (96 percent), believing Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ (93 percent), not drinking coffee and tea (81 percent) and not watching R-rated movies (79 percent).

“I think that result is rather interesting,” said Cornwall. “Mormons are known for not drinking coffee or tea and not watching R-rated movies. But compared to believing that Joseph Smith saw God and working for the poor, Mormons don’t seem to focus on the coffee and tea as much as people probably think.”

Other manifestations of religious commitment in the survey included:

The number of respondents (65 percent) who say they hold a current temple recommend (a certificate from local ecclesiastical leaders, issued every other year, indicating that an individual has permission from the church to enter LDS temples and participate in temple rites and sacraments)

The number (79 percent) who say they pay tithing (donating 10 percent of their income to the church)

The number (27 percent) who have served full-time missions for the church (this number includes 43 percent of men and 11 percent of women and varies significantly according to the age and education of the respondent, as well as whether or not the respondent was raised Mormon)

The number (82 percent) who keep food in storage for emergencies or disasters, as they have been counseled to do by LDS Church leaders (This number includes 23 percent who say they have three months’ worth, 35 percent who say they have more than three months’ worth and 23 percent who say they have less than three months’ worth)

The percentage who pay tithing is especially interesting to break down. According to the survey tabulations, “tithing is most common among Mormons with the highest levels of religious commitment (96 percent) … fully 91 percent of college graduates say they pay tithing … compared with 66 percent of those with a high school diploma or less education. And among those whose family income exceeds $30,000, 83 percent say they pay tithing, compared with 69 percent of those with incomes of less than $30,000.”

While previous surveys have clearly established LDS agreement with certain key Christian doctrines — 90 percent of Mormons believe in God, 91 percent believe the Bible is the word of God and 98 percent believe in life after death — the new survey explores Mormon confidence in points of doctrine that are unique to LDS theology. And in these points of doctrine, Mormons proved to be unified and believing. They believe overwhelmingly that God and Jesus Christ are separate physical beings (94 percent), that the president of the LDS Church is a prophet of God (94 percent), that families can be bound together eternally in temple ceremonies (95 percent) and that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets and translated by Joseph Smith (91 percent).

Overall, 77 percent say they believe “wholeheartedly” in all of the teachings of the LDS Church. That number increases to 82 percent among Mormons ages 18-49, and to 85 percent among Mormons who are college graduates.

“Ultimately, I suppose other Americans will judge our church — and perhaps all churches — by their relevance in how they touch and improve human lives right here on Earth as well as what they offer in the life to come,” wrote Michael Otterson, Public Affairs director for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in his “On Faith” blog in the Washington Post. “Meanwhile, we welcome the friendship and regard of all groups, even as we retain our commitment to a unique identity. In the end … Latter-day Saints will strive to be good Mormons, true believers, kind neighbors and faithful friends.”

Pew Study Reflects Mormons’ Religious Commitment to Christ, Mormon Beliefs in Tithes and Temples

Mormons in America

By Amy Choate-Nielsen

Deseret News
Published: Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 7:00 p.m. MST

David Letterman knows how to get a laugh.Like most comics, he riffs on the day’s news, deadpans the camera and revels in audacity.”Oh, did you hear about this?” the host of CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman asked his audience recently. “A campaign staffer on the Newt Gingrich campaign was fired because he was making negative comments about Mormons. I thought, now, wait a minute — isn’t Newt in favor of multiple wives?”
Laughter rumbled from the audience followed by applause. The polygamy punch line is a familiar one when it comes to poking fun at Mormons — as though Mormons and polygamy are synonymous in mainstream media. Ironically, the practice that’s most linked to Mormons is a practice most Mormons oppose, according to a groundbreaking new study of Mormons in America released Thursday by the Pew Research Center‘s Forum on Religion and Public Life.

According to the study, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unequivocally reject polygamy — only 2 percent said the practice is morally acceptable — evidence of a yawning gap in what Mormons believe and how they are perceived. Mormons’ opinions are overwhelmingly conservative, the study shows, but in many ways, their views are also surprising — especially when it comes to opinions on moral issues, divorce, homosexuality and polygamy.

Morality

Mormons also take a significant stance on moral issues in other areas, such as divorce, sex outside of marriage and consumption of alcohol.

Although teachings from the LDS Church emphasize the importance and eternal nature of the family, only 25 percent of Mormons surveyed said divorce is morally wrong, according to the study. That means Mormons are slightly less morally opposed to divorce than the general public.

“For Catholics, divorce does not exist. They think it is not only wrong but it is impossible,” said Matthew Bowman, member of a board of expert advisers to the Pew Research Center for the study and author of “The Mormon People,” a book on the history of the LDS Church. “That has not been true for Mormons. There is theological space for divorce within Mormonism. It is undesirable, but Mormons recognize it is sometimes necessary and sometimes the right thing to do.”

Other moral views revealed in the survey — 54 percent said drinking alcohol was morally wrong, compared with 15 percent of the general public — set Mormons apart, Bowman says. The assumption on the part of non-Mormons is that if Mormons think drinking alcohol is wrong, then they must think everyone who imbibes is morally flawed. That apprehension can make people suspicious of Mormons, and wary of an elitist attitude, he says.

Differences in moral viewpoints can create a stumbling block for Mormon acceptance — not only in high-profile arenas, such as a presidential election, but also in communities.
“What you find throughout the report is a tension,” said David Campbell, assistant professor at Notre Dame and an adviser on the study. “Mormons like to use the phrase, ‘Be in the world but not of the world.’ They are certainly living their lives in the world. They are active and involved in their communities, but they have these beliefs and practices that set them apart a little bit, and sometimes there is conflict.”

Homosexuality

Mormons have some of the most conservative opinions when it comes to homosexuality. The survey asked Mormons if homosexuality should be accepted by society or discouraged by society, with an option for neither, both or “don’t know.” The response — 26 percent said homosexuality should be accepted, 65 percent said it should be discouraged — puts Mormons as the least likely to say homosexuality should be accepted by society. But a 26 percent acceptance rate, with roughly 1 in 4 Mormons saying homosexuality should be accepted, might be surprisingly high to some.

Of particular interest is the fact that only 8 percent of Mormons surveyed identified themselves as liberal, and 66 percent said they were conservative. That means some of those who said homosexuality should be accepted also identify themselves as politically conservative, Bowman says. That distinction illustrates the complexity of Mormons’ opinion on sexuality — that it is rooted more in religious precepts than politics.
Still, it’s difficult to draw a conclusion about Mormons‘ views on homosexuality based on the study, says Pew Research Center adviser Terryl Givens, professor of literature and religion at the University of Richmond.

“Results need to be viewed cautiously,” Givens says. “Official LDS pronouncements insist there is a distinction between (sexual) orientation and behavior, but the survey blurs that difference, probably leaving many Mormons unsure how to answer that question. What is clear, however, is that Mormons are trending toward greater acceptance of same-sex relationships, just as society as a whole is, although by a much smaller percentage.”

Polygamy

At one point 120 years ago, some Mormons practiced plural marriage, hence the association between Mormons and polygamy. The practice was discontinued in 1890, but the cultural association persists, perhaps in part because Mormons are sometimes confused with members of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, a polygamist group not affiliated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In the October-November 2011 study of a national sample of 1,019 Mormons, 86 percent said polygamy is morally wrong. That’s a number that surprises Bowman.

Were it not for the confusion surrounding Mormons and the FLDS Church practice of plural marriage, Bowman says that statistic might not be as high.

“It’s my experience that Mormons have a fraught relationship with polygamy,” Bowman said of the study results. “There is a sense that rejecting polygamy identifies a member of the LDS Church and distinguishes us from the fundamentalists. That is a cultural signifier as much as a theological statement.”

Some who responded to the survey, 11 percent, said polygamy is not a moral issue.
Email: achoate@desnews.com

As the “Mormon moment” extends into 2012, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life today released a groundbreaking new survey, the first ever published by a non-LDS research organization to focus exclusively on members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their beliefs, values, perceptions and political preferences.

Entitled “Mormons in America: Certain in Their Beliefs, Uncertain of Their Place in Society,” the survey was conducted between Oct. 25 and Nov. 16, 2011 among a national sample of 1,019 respondents who identified themselves as Mormons. The results validate a number of long-held stereotypes (most American Mormons are white, well-educated, politically conservative and religiously observant) while providing a few interesting surprises (care for the poor and needy is high on the list of LDS priorities, while drinking coffee and watching R-rated movies aren’t as taboo among the rank and file as you might think).

“While this survey comes amid a contentious election campaign, it is not solely or even chiefly about politics,” said Luis Lugo, Pew Research Center director, in the published survey’s preface. “Rather, we hope that it will contribute to a broader public understanding of Mormons and Mormonism at a time of great interest in both.”

For example, in one very interesting section of the new survey, respondents were asked several questions about what is essential to being a good Mormon. According to the survey, 80 percent said “believing Joseph Smith saw God the Father and Jesus Christ” is essential to being a good Mormon, 73 percent said “working to help the poor,” 51 percent said “regular Family Home Evenings,” 49 percent said “not drinking coffee and tea” and 32 percent said “not watching R-rated movies.

“To be honest, I found the strong sentiment that ‘working to help the poor’ is essential to being a good Mormon refreshing and a little surprising,” said David Campbell, an LDS Church member who is an associate professor at the University of Notre Dame and who consulted with the Pew Research Center on the new survey. “As a Mormon, I would hope it would be that way, but I wasn’t sure what to expect. It’s good to see the church’s genuine compassion for the poor and needy reflected in these numbers.”

People outside the church may or may not be aware of the LDS propensity for compassionate service and other . According to the survey, 62 percent of Mormons think that Americans are generally uninformed about Mormonism, and 68 percent feel that they are not viewed as part of mainstream American society. But they remain optimistic, with 63 percent expressing the belief that Mormonism will eventually become part of mainstream society and 56 percent saying that the American people are ready for a Mormon president.

In fact, optimism is one of the themes to emerge from the survey relative to Latter-day Saints. Some 87 percent say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their own life, and 92 percent say their respective communities are excellent (52 percent) or good (40 percent) places to live (this is especially true among Mormons in Utah, of whom 71 percent say their communities are excellent).

But evidently, optimism only goes so far with Mormons.

“I think it is interesting that the respondents are overwhelmingly positive about their communities. They love their communities and everything’s fine there,” said Marie Cornwall, professor of sociology at Brigham Young University and another advisor to the Pew Research Center on this study. “But when you ask them about the way things are going in the country today, they are overwhelmingly (75 percent) dissatisfied. You would think that their satisfaction with their personal lives would factor into their feelings about how things are going in the country, but there seems to be a total disconnect there.”

It should be noted that the Mormon view of how things are going in the country today closely resembles the view of the American public as a whole, among whom 78 percent said they were dissatisfied in an October 2011 Pew Research Center survey.

Generally speaking, the new survey looks at Mormons and their perspectives in four key areas: politics and ideology, religious beliefs and practices, cultural and moral issues and family life.

Politically, there are few surprises. Most Mormons (66 percent) describe themselves as politically conservative, and 74 percent of Mormon voters identify with or lean toward the Republican Party. Philosophically, 75 percent of respondents said they prefer a smaller government providing fewer services to a bigger government providing more services.

Among a number of politicians currently in the spotlight, Mitt Romney is a favorite, being viewed favorably by 86 percent of all Mormons and 94 percent of Mormon Republicans. Even among Mormon Democrats, 62 percent rate Romney favorably.

The other Mormon running for president, Jon Huntsman, is viewed favorably by 50 percent of Mormon voters, while President Barack Obama is viewed favorably by 25 percent — slightly ahead of the rating Mormons bestowed upon another one of their own: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (22 percent).

Interestingly, Latter-day Saints seem to be somewhat divided on the issue of immigration. They are fairly evenly split on whether immigrants strengthen the U.S. because of their hard work and talents (45 percent) or burden the U.S. by taking American jobs, housing and health care (41 percent).

Campbell, who is an expert in the field of religion, politics and civic engagement, said he wasn’t surprised by that result.

“Although Mormons are caricatured as being really right wing, on the issue of immigration they are not,” he said. “The church itself has been quite a voice of moderation on this issue, and that has resulted in Mormons being more positive toward immigrants than other conservative religious groups tend to be.”

Campbell suggests that the LDS Church’s missionary program has something to do with that, with Latter-day Saints tending to develop a broader worldview as a result of their missionary service around the world. In any event, he said, “this result really does cut against the stereotype.”

In terms of religious beliefs and practices, the survey makes it clear that Mormons are highly religious — again, not a big surprise. Eighty-two percent say that religion is very important in their lives, and 77 percent say they believe wholeheartedly in all of the church’s teachings. Fully 83 percent say they pray every day, 79 percent say they donate 10 percent of their earnings to the church in tithing and 77 percent say they attend church at least once a week. According to Pew, “Mormons exhibit higher levels of religious commitment than many other religious groups, including white evangelical Protestants.”

Looking at basic, core religious beliefs, 98 percent say they believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 94 percent believe the president of the LDS Church is a prophet of God, 95 percent believe that families can be bound together eternally in temple ceremonies, 94 percent believe that God the Father and Jesus Christ are separate, physical beings and 91 percent believe that the Book of Mormon was written by ancient prophets.

Clearly, Mormons are believers.

But are they Christian? Ninety-seven percent of Mormons think so. And when asked to volunteer the one word that best describes Mormons, the most common responses were “Christian” and “Christ-centered.” By way of contrast, a November Pew Research Center survey found that nearly half (49 percent) of non-Mormon U.S. adults say that Mormonism is NOT Christian or that they are unsure whether or not it is Christian. In that same survey, when respondents were asked for one word that best describes the LDS Church, the most commonly offered response was “cult.”

Culturally, Mormon conservatism extends to a wide variety of moral issues. Polygamy (86 percent), sex between unmarried adults (79 percent), abortion (74 percent) and drinking alcohol (54 percent) are viewed as morally wrong. Divorce, on the other hand, is largely considered “not a moral issue” by respondents (46 percent).

Similarly, 65 percent of respondents said that homosexuality should be discouraged by society, compared with 58 percent of the general public who say homosexuality should be accepted by society.

“Mormons like to use the phrase, ‘Be in the world but not of the world,’” Campbell noted. “They are active and involved in their communities, but they have these beliefs and practices that set them apart a little bit, and sometimes that creates conflict or tension. [Homosexuality] is one of those issues where, rightly or wrongly, Mormons just have a different position than most of the rest of America.”

The survey also illustrates how important family life is to most members of the LDS Church. Among life’s priorities, being a good parent (81 percent) and having a successful marriage (73 percent) place higher than career concerns, having free time or even living a religious life. Some 67 percent of Mormon adults are married (compared with 52 percent of the general public), and 85 percent of them are married to another Mormon.

Pew Study on Mormons in America

“As the Church and its members are increasingly the focus of media attention, we’re eager to participate in conversations that help the public get to know us better,” said LDS Church spokesman Michael Purdy. “Even though the recent Pew study did not survey any of the Church’s eight million members who live outside the U.S., it highlights some important aspects regarding who we are and what we believe.

“For example,” Purdy continued, “the study found that Church members subscribe to traditional Christian beliefs, have high moral standards, are overwhelmingly satisfied with their lives and communities, are active in serving others and have a profound dedication to family. These results reflect the Church’s message that a deep commitment to the teachings of Jesus Christ brings lasting happiness.”

Speaking for the Pew Research Center, Lugo said the idea for the survey was born last summer, “around the time that a Newsweek cover story and a New York Times article declared that the United States was experiencing a ‘Mormon moment.’”

“That got us thinking,” Lugo said in the survey’s preface.

Over the years, numerous polls have gauged public attitudes toward Mormons, who make up about 2 percent of all U.S. adults. But what do Mormons think about their place in American life? With the rising prominence of members of the LDS Church in politics, popular culture and the media, do Mormons feel more secure and accepted in American society? What do they think about other religions? What do they believe, how do they practice their faith and what do they see as essential to being a good Mormon and to leading a good life?

An advisory panel was recruited to help the Pew Forum staff create the survey. The panel featured a number of Latter-day Saints who have professional experience in Mormon studies and research, including Campbell, Cornwall, Matthew Bowman of Hampden-Sydney College, Terryl Givens of the University of Richmond and Allison Pond of the Deseret News.

“We helped them to formulate the questions, and to frame them in the kind of language that Mormons use,” Campbell said.

After a period of testing, the survey was conducted among respondents who identified themselves as Mormons (it also included qualifying questions that made it clear that respondents were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as opposed to other churches whose members may refer to themselves as Mormons).

“Since Mormons represent about 2 percent of the population, you’d have to call 98 people before you’d get a Mormon, and that would be very expensive,” said Cornwall, who is also editor of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. “But they had a fancy way of finding Mormons, including going back to Mormons they had found in the course of doing previous surveys, so they were able to get their sample in a cost-effective way.”

Care was also taken to make sure the survey included those who had land lines as well as those who have only cell phones — a growing area of concern among those who conduct public opinion research today.

Among other interesting findings of the Pew Forum’s survey of Mormons:

• 71 percent of respondents reside in the American West, including 53 percent who live in the Mountain states and 34 percent who live in Utah;

• 88 percent are white, 7 percent Hispanic, 1 percent black and 4 percent other racial and ethnic backgrounds;

• 50 percent say that evangelical Christians are generally unfriendly to Mormons;

• 54 percent say that the way their religion is portrayed on television and in movies hurts society’s image of Mormons;

• 57 percent of Mormons said that most or all of their close friends are other Mormons (this number was significantly higher in Utah, where the number climbed to 73 percent);

• 65 percent of respondents say they hold a current temple recommend;

• 27 percent say they believe in yoga not just as exercise but as a spiritual practice;

• 11 percent say they believe in reincarnation;

• 74 percent were raised in the LDS Church;

• 59 percent of converts cite the church’s beliefs as the main reason they joined the church;

• 59 percent of converts joined the church between the ages of 18 and 35;

• 27 percent have served a full-time mission, including 43 percent of men and 11 percent of women;

• 82 percent say they have a supply of food in storage, and 58 percent keep at least a three-month supply.

The margin of error for the survey is =/- 4.5 percentage points.

“I think this survey is a really good summary of the hyper-committed Mormon community that shows up at church every week,” Cornwall said. “I’m not sure it captures Mormons on the margins very well, but that’s OK — hopefully we can do that the next time. Meanwhile, this is a pretty good picture — and an interesting picture — of Mormons.

By Joseph Walker, Deseret News

Additional Resources:

Full original source Deseret News article: Pew Study on Mormons in America.

Learn more about the results of this survey of Mormons in America.

See infographic from the Deseret News article.

Pew Mormon Study Highlights Christianity.

It’s been 150 years since the Civil War and many who have ancestors who lived in that era are especially interested this year to find them. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are often referred to as Mormons, offer a variety of free resources and training on the internet to help with that work. The material is also of interest to writers, historians, and students studying that time period.

FamilySearch.org is a free website for genealogists of any faith or none at all. The website has a special anniversary site on the Civil War. Sixteen collections help genealogists locate their Civil War era ancestors. Some of the collections include:

The United States Civil War Soldiers Index

The Civil War Pension Index Cards

South Carolina, Civil War Confederate Service Records, 1861-1865

United States, Navy Widows’ Certificates, 1861-1910

The Faces of the Civil War presentation introduces you to famous people from both sides of the war. It offers background information, photos, and genealogical or historical records for researchers. A wiki introduces researchers to places, regiments, and events from both sides. The historical background articles offer extensive resources to documents, websites, and books about each topic. For instance, the wiki includes an article on United States Colored Troops in the Civil War (USCT), which were organized in 1863. The article explains the importance of these regiments to the success of the war, explanations of abbreviations found in records, listings with links to regiments by name and number, information on regiment burial grounds and a list of links and books for further study.

The site offers five free courses on Civil War era research, including four sponsored by other organizations. These do not require registration and are videos placed online. The courses are:

Civil War Genealogical Research Sponsored by the Midwest Genealogical Center

Basic U.S. Military Records Sponsored by the Midwest Genealogical Center

Finding the Slave Generation Sponsored by the Midwest Genealogical Center

U.S. Military Records: Civil War

African American Genealogical Research at the Library of Congress Sponsored by the Library of Congress

There are currently about ten thousand records indexed, which means they are transcribed and put into a form that can be searched when you access the site on your computer. The Mormons anticipate focusing on this project for several years and there are many more records waiting to be indexed.

The indexing work is largely done by volunteers working from home on their computers. They work whenever they have time to do so, without a formal commitment, making it an ideal volunteer project for people who are in especially busy periods of their lives. After registering as a volunteer and taking a brief online training class, they select a project that interests them from those available. They have a week to finish the project, which usually only requires thirty to sixty minutes to complete. If they are unable to complete it, the project automatically returns to the site for another volunteer to finish. Each project is done by two volunteers. If discrepancies are found, an arbitrator evaluates them and decides which is correct. This protects the transcriptions from errors. Volunteers have access to training and advice as needed. Many of the volunteers are not Mormon. They are simply genealogy fans who want the records made available as soon as possible. Because they have access to these records at no cost, they volunteer to help transcribe records for others. Once downloaded, the projects can be done offline, so many volunteers work on them during train commutes or in places without internet access.

Read more about the Civil War genealogy project.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are informally called Mormons, have just opened their second environmentally-friendly meeting house. It is the second of three prototype buildings and is expected to earn sivler LEED certification, as did the first building. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is earned by creating an environmentally-friendly building according to strict guidelines. It measures performance in sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality and is difficult to attain.

Mesa, Arizona

“For decades we have looked for innovative ways to use natural resources in our meetinghouses that reflect our commitment as wise stewards of God’s creations,” explained H. David Burton, the presiding bishop of the Mormon Church.

The second prototype building is in Mesa, Arizona. It is solar-powered and is designed to produce the same amount of energy over the course of one year as it will use in that same time frame. Studies of the first LEEDS certified meetinghouse shows this is a realistic goal; in twelve months it saved 5,000 dollars in energy costs and reduced the building’s carbon footprint. The building converts solar radiation into electrical current. It also has windows that block 78 percent of the sun’s heat energy, improved insulation, high efficiency furnaces, lighting that is 20 percent more efficient, light switches that turn off when a room is empty, and landscaping and automated irrigation sensors that cut water usage by 50 percent. In addition, internet monitoring allows facility managers to know when there is a problem.

A timeline of Mormon Church environmental practices goes back to the 1950s, encompasses everything from the non-scientific use of verandas and overhangs to reduce heat load to the use of rain water collection and storage to reduce water use in the Pacific . Over the years, the Mormons have instigated a great many environmentally friendly practices based on the needs and local opportunities of the specific building. Following is a sampling of these projects:

In the 1980s, the church began satellite broadcasts of many meetings in order to reduce carbon emissions. They estimated a savings of up to 100,000 gallons of fuel for every broadcasted meeting.

In the same decade, a new chapel in Susanville, California was discovered to have a hidden stream. They quickly made use of the stream to provide geothermal energy for the building.  They pumped hot water into the building to provide heat.

The Church office buildings in Salt Lake City also got a water-based system in the 1970s. There, they used four wells to circulate water through a heat exchanging process. It could heat or cool the water. The unique process prevented the need for water purification chemicals and also prevented evaporation loss. The building also has an alpine garden on the roof that uses a recycled river system for watering.

Chapels in Latvia are heated with radiant flooring, which saves 30 percent in energy usage.

Tahiti actually had the first solar-heated Mormon Church meetinghouse. This building was built in 2007.

The Church History Library received LEEDS certification and international attention when it was built in 2009. It reduced allergens inside the building, especially important to workers. Those same filters also protect the records kept in the building. The wood for the buildings came from forests that are responsibly harvested and are replanted. The building contains a recycling collection center. The landscaping was designed to use less water and the insulation allows the building to use less heat or air conditioning.

Mormons believe God and Jesus Christ created the earth as a gift for mankind. He then gave them stewardship over that land, which means we are responsible for taking care of the planet God created for us. Gordon B. Hinckley, a previous Mormon prophet, said,

Here is the Creator of all that is good and beautiful. I have looked at majestic mountains rising high against the blue sky and thought of Jesus, the Creator of heaven and earth. I have stood on the sand of an island in the Pacific and watched the dawn rise like thunder—a ball of gold surrounded by clouds of pink and white and purple—and thought of Jesus, the Word by whom all things were made and without whom was not anything made that was made. I have seen a beautiful child—bright-eyed, innocent, loving and trusting—and marveled at the majesty and miracle of creation. What then shall we do with Jesus who is called Christ?

This earth is his creation. When we make it ugly, we offend him. (See Gordon B. Hinckley, “What Shall I Do Then with Jesus Which Is Called Christ?,” Tambuli, Apr 1984, 1.)

Mormons consider it disrespectful to abuse any gift God has given us and so the Church feels a special obligation in building its many buildings to be mindful of wisely using the resources needed.

Joan Hackley attends an environmentally friendly LDS meetinghouse in Pahrump, Nevada. She loves her new building:

We started meeting in the Manse Street Building late January 2011 – it’s a beautiful new meetinghouse and of course has garnered many wonderful comments and questions from our non-member friends and neighbors. At the open house, many of the details of the building were highlighted and explained. The lights, turn on and off as we enter and leave rooms, and bathrooms, so no light ever stays on longer than needed as people leave that area. The climate control has been wonderful! We are never too hot or too cold, like in the older building! Audio and Visual connections, hookups as well as equipment is, of course, top of the line. We belong to the Las Vegas South Stake, about 65 miles from Pahrump – however, now we attend most of our stake meetings via, an internet feed, right in our own building. A wonderful saving of time and gas for us! Some of the building is solar powered and so saves energy and money as well. The right and left sides of the chapel pews are set at a slight angle instead of the usual ‘straight’ making it easy to see and hear. The building itself has been built with growth in mind, and has Stake Offices, so that it will serve as our Stake Center, as we expand into that in the Pahrump Valley! We truly feel blessed to have such a marvelous up to date facility to meet and worship in!”

In the 2010 General Conference for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whose members are often informally called Mormons), Mormons were called on to provide a day of service. These will happen at the ward (congregational) level or at the stake (similar to a diocese) level at various times over the coming year. The events are to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the start of the Mormon welfare program.

Days of Service have become a popular activity for Mormons around the world. Through the Helping Hands program, Mormons in signature yellow shirts show up during catastrophes to help with repairs and cleanup. They also plan days to serve a community when there is no emergency need. During these times, they might paint community centers, clean up historic but neglected cemeteries, gather food for a food bank, or improve a local school.

The Day of Service concept, while often done informally by individual congregations, became a more formal program in the late 1980s. At that time, the Church announced a Day of Service for several different countries, including Argentina and Chile. Mormon leaders in these countries went to their government leaders to find out what work needed to be done. Then Mormons drew on their enthusiastic membership to accomplish the projects. Over time the idea caught on and more areas began holding their own days of service. With every area in the world doing one over the course of one year, it is expected the Mormons will make significant impacts on their communities.

Following are some examples of service days from the past:

On April 25 in 2009, Mormons in the southeast—96 stakes in all—were challenged by Elder Walter F. Gonzalez of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to do a day of service all on the same day. Each group chose their own projects for the day. One group held a fishing day for special needs children and their families. Another painted an historic house the historical society was renovating. A group weatherized low-income homes and another painted low-income homes. A group installed smoke detectors in homes of people who could not afford them. In Charlotte North Carolina, Mormons worked with the minister of another church to build a habitat for humanity home.

In January of 2009, 450 Mormon teenagers gathered in Philadelphia to participate in a Martin Luther King Day of Service. They assembled craft kits to be given to homeless children and shelters. Prior to beginning their work, they watched a videotaped message from King’s son, thanking them for their participation.

West Africa has held an annual day of service for a number of years. Over time, other churches and agencies have decided to join them, increasing the amount of service that can be completed in the course of the day. In 2010, more than 11,000 people participated in the All Africa Day of Service. When Ashanti region in Ghana asked the community to help an orphanage, the Mormons sent in their day of service teams to clean up the compound. The regional director of social welfare himself showed up to help them.

A Southern California group built an entire park during their day of service while another group nearby stocked a food bank.

Many LDS groups held service days on an anniversary of September 11 in the United States. One group held a back to school project. They gathered school clothes and school supplies for low-income families, and in a unique touch, also provided hair cuts and back to school photographs for the children.

Serving others is a long-standing Mormon tradition, based directly on the teachings of Jesus Christ. Jesus taught us to love and serve our neighbors and specified that everyone is our neighbor. Early in church history, Joseph Smith organized the Relief Society, a woman’s organization designed to serve others. Seventy-five years ago, in the heart of the depression, the church organized a unique welfare program, one that was praised by Ronald Reagan and many others as being the ideal way to help those in need. Rather than being critical of the poor and the needy, the church welfare program offers people help as needed.

There are two types of programs. The first is for church members. Although Mormons are counseled to prepare as best they can for emergencies by remaining out of debt, building savings, and putting aside food for hard times, even the most careful planner can unexpectedly find himself in trouble. Extended unemployment, illness, or catastrophe can undo all the careful planning. In times such as this, Mormons are advised to turn to family for help. When that is not possible, or when there is more need than the family can provide, the church steps in.

To fund this effort, Mormons forego all food and drink for twenty-four hours one day a month. They then donate at least the amount of money saved by doing so to a fast offering fund. This fund is used exclusively to care for those in need. The person who finds himself in financial trouble goes to his bishop (similar to a lay pastor), who evaluates the needs and makes sure the person has done all he can to help himself first. The church’s goal is not to sustain the current lifestyle, but to help the person survive until things improve.

This program is only for Mormons in good standing, who have paid tithes and offerings. In other words, they’ve assisted others in the past and are now receiving help for themselves. In exchange for this assistance, which never includes cash, they take on additional church service, such as helping in the church welfare program or cleaning buildings. The work may not be equal to what they receive, depending on their circumstances, but it allows them to retain their dignity but providing something of value for what they are receiving.

Next the person meets with the Relief Society president, a woman, to decide what food might be needed. Members are given a list of items in the storehouse—items are grown, manufactured or purchased by the church, unlike most food banks—and they use this list to plan menus. They order only what they will need for two weeks. The list includes items needed to care for the home or sanitary requirements.

The items are picked up at a storehouse, which resembles a small grocery store. Most people come a little early and volunteer their time for an hour or two before filling their own order.

In addition to immediate help, members are also given training as needed to help them become more self-sufficient. The Mormons teach many classes on practical skills such as job hunting, parenting, money management, self-reliance, food storage, and literacy.

Another aspect of the humanitarian program is non-sectarian. The humanitarian branch of the Mormon church is often found during crises, when the church sends in many thousands of dollars in supplies and equipment to help, often remaining long after the location is out of the news and the first volunteers have gone home. They go into countries in need to provide other services as well, including wheelchairs, vaccinations, neonatal medical training, dental care, eyeglasses and other services. They help farmers in developing nations learn to farm more efficiently. They bring clean water to places that have none.

The call for a year of service has sparked enthusiasm among Mormons, but it is nothing new. It is simply a more focused approach to a tradition of compassionate service called for by the Savior, Jesus Christ.

Watch a video of a Mormon Day of Service that involved planting a community garden with Habitat for Humanity.

Brigham Young University, also called BYU, is a university in Provo, Utah. It is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose members are also known as Mormons.

BYU Honor Code helps students live a Christ-like life.

Although a student does not have to be Mormon to attend BYU, most students are LDS (Mormon.) Any student, whether or not they are Mormon, must sign the honor code and then live what it says. For BYU, unlike some universities, the honor code is not a PR tool or a suggestion, but a serious way of life. Students know about the honor code before agreeing to come to the university and they have given their word to live it. Not doing so results in suspension. The university puts this code above all other considerations and will enforce it even when the person who violates it is the star of a sports team. Some newspapers have noted that most schools who suspend a student for violating an honor code or even for breaking a law will do so during exhibition games or some other time that won’t hurt the team. BYU has gained attention several times for removing a student permanently from the team at great risk to their own success in the world of sports.

The Honor Code is perhaps one of the strictest in the nation. It applies to both students and staff, with the only exception being that non-Mormons do not have to attend church. Students agree to:

Be honest

Live a chaste and virtuous life

Obey the law and all campus policies

Use clean language

Respect others

Abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse

Participate regularly in church services

Observe the Dress and Grooming Standards

Encourage others in their commitment to comply with the Honor Code

It should be noted that no one, even Mormons is required to attend a Mormon-owned university and so students are electing to attend and to follow the rules. They must be living these standards at the time of acceptance and are required to continue to live them even between semesters and when off-campus.

Living the Honor Code helps students to uphold the standards of the Mormon Church, but it does more than that. Students learn self-discipline and they learn the importance of keeping their word. The Honor Code, simply because it is strict, allows students to learn the value of setting and keeping high standards, whatever the cost. While much of the nation considers standards outdated, we continue to see the consequences of not having any. Many political leaders resign due to their unwillingness to live up to moral standards of marital fidelity. Business leaders get carried away by greed and violate the law, ending a promising career with a prison sentence.

College years are formative. It is when many young people are choosing how they will live and who they will be. Living the Honor Code can help students get through this time safely and to become aware of the value of living with honor. While many students are using their first years away from home making mistakes they will have to cope with the rest of their lives—unwanted pregnancies or diseases, drug or alcohol addictions, even criminal behavior—a Brigham Young University student who lives the Honor Code gives himself time to grow up, get into the work force, and become mature enough to evaluate the long-term consequences of his choices. Young adults who develop the habit of living with honor go on to have successful and happy lives as honorable adults.

Did you know that almost a billion people don’t have access to clean water? This extremely serious problem leads to dangerous health conditions for the people in the affected areas. Since 2002, the Mormons have been reduced the number of people without access to clean water by about seven million through clean water projects in 5,000 communities. Bringing in clean water reduces the threat of cholera, diarrhea, and typhoid. Depending on the needs of the area, the projects include digging wells, creating water storage, building delivery systems, or developing ways to purify existing water.

One way the church’s programs differ from many others is that one goal is self-sufficiency. Some charities go into an area, create projects, and do all the work themselves. Then they have to stay forever to keep it running. The Mormons know that if they can get a project running and then leave, they can do far more work and they can also create self-sufficiency and personal pride.

In Sierra Leone, where many of their seven million people lack clean water, the church is doing a major clean water project. Many people fled the area during the war and are now returning. However, they have to go long distances to find water. The church is now building wells and teaching the people how to do it. They teach them to solve the problems that emerge and to figure out how to sustain the project once the church leaves. The projects often create employment as well.

To keep costs down for the community, they work to make sure projects will last. In Ethiopia, the church funded four water stations in Mecha Borodo. They paid for the wells and the construction. When the stations are open, local residents can be water cans to be filled. The wells were largely built by local people to provide jobs and skills. A local contractor was hired to install the system. The water came from a local spring that was piped to a large storage facility and more pipelines are being planned to make it more efficient. T-meters and pipelines are being developed to bring water to faucets inside several larger facilities, including a monastery, clinics, and a school.

Once the water stations were built, the local community government put together committees to run them. The Mormons trained local people to maintain them and if properly maintained, the pumps will last ten years.

In Lupata, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa, the Mormon Church’s water project was an answer to fifteen years of prayer for a solution to the water problem. They had been unable to obtain the money to develop their own program. The village, home to 214,000 people, has no electricity or refrigeration, few government services and almost no commercial businesses. Men are sustenance farmers and women care for the home, which included walking a mile twice a day for water. Women who go early in the morning are often raped. The water they brought home was shared with animals and was dirty and filled with diseases, but it was the only water they had. Hundreds of children died each year because of diseases brought on by the water. Willy Binene, a Mormon who lives in Lupata, said it was possible to live without power, but living without clean water was almost too great a burden to bear.

Someone heard about the Mormon’s clean water initiative and began praying the church could help. The Mormons sent missionaries out to evaluate whether or not it could be done and when it was decided it would be possible, the people were overjoyed.

However, bringing water to this remote village would not be easy. The Mormons could provide the funding and the training, but the actual work required some creativity.The pipeline would have to cross some nineteen miles of thick jungle and water pressure had to be maintained through all of it. This portion, building the trench, took 900 days, working six days a week. The trenches were built by local volunteers. One man said the work was hard, but he enjoyed being with the other men and felt the local people should do this because it was for them. He had lost a family member to illness and knew the importance of clean water.

Because they lacked electricity and machinery, volunteers carried the pipes, made in Kinshasa, to where they were needed after they were delivered to Lupata. They had to maintain enthusiasm in the volunteers and in the temporary employees hired locally. They also had to train the people to maintain the system and of course, there was no electricity, so the work had to be done without power equipment.

Large numbers of people moved into the village, requiring the Mormons to increase the amount of water coming through. They and their volunteers and employees built 80 water stations located about every one-third of a mile, significantly reducing the walk needed to get to the water. This required about 40 miles of additional trenches.

The project provided temporary employment for some people in the village and gave many of them job skills for the future. Since the work was largely done by local people with guidance and help from the church, they had a personal connection to it and when they drank fresh, clean water, they took pride in what they had accomplished for themselves. Their willingness to do the work had never been an issue—they had only prayed for money for the project, not for people to do the work for them.

An article on this project outlined the four steps involved:

“The Luputa water project included four steps:

1. Four spring sources were captured and combined in one containment box. Water flow is 21 liters per second, providing 1,800 cubic meters, or 479,000 gallons, of water a day.

2. The pipeline trench was dug by hand over 30 kilometers (19 miles) through jungle and savannah to Luputa. It serves four other villages along the way.

3. Trenches for distribution lines were also dug by hand to provide clean water stations about every 500 meters (a third of a mile) in Luputa.

4. Water stations were constructed. Water flow is distributed and controlled at each by a water-committee representative.

(See A prayer for clean water: New well brings new life to DR Congo by Howard Collett)

The water benefits everyone in the local communities, not just the Mormons who live there, as do all of LDS Charities’ work. This branch of the Mormon Church serves people without concern for religion and without proselytizing. It is funded through donations, with 100 percent of all donated money going to the actual projects. Administrative costs are covered by other church funds.

This year, Mormon Sunday School classes for adults and teens and the Senior Primary children who are ages eight to twelve are studying the New Testament. All Primary children—those ages 3 to 11, will have a sharing time (a time when a number of classes meet together to be taught by their leaders) focusing on the truthfulness of scripture.

The Sunday School classes and senior Primary are on a four year rotation system. Each year they study one book of scripture—Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon and Church History/Doctrine and Covenants (a book of modern revelation). The Senior Primary, the teens, and the adults study the same book of scripture at the same pace but at their own level. This allows families to come together after church and during the week to discuss what they’ve learned and lets parents reinforce those teachings.

Younger children, ages four to seven, are on a two year rotation, covering two books of scripture in one year, with an emphasis on the life of Christ as taught in the four gospels of the New Testament, and on the Book of Mormon. They repeat the manuals one time, but at a more grown up level. Nursery toddlers and three year olds have just one lesson manual which covers stories from all scriptures.

The Mormons are offering a solid collection of materials to help both Mormons and non-Mormons study the New Testament this year. The actual lesson manuals are available online, both the student and teacher’s editions. This allows curious non-Mormons to find out what Mormons actually teach their own members about Jesus Christ.

Read or listen to the Adult Sunday School (Gospel Doctrine) teacher’s manual for the New Testament.

Read or listen to the student study guide for adults on the New Testament.

Read the teacher’s manual for the children’s New Testament class. (The children don’t receive a manual.)

Many Mormons like a more in-depth study of the scriptures each year. Teenagers study a book of scripture each year in Seminary that does not match the Sunday School rotation. Seminary is held most weekdays, usually before the school day begins. It is a much more in-depth study of the New Testament and includes scripture memorization. The lesson manual for this class is also online for anyone who wants to use it.

Read the Seminary New Testament Manual online. You’ll note this page also has additional study materials, including music, a list of scriptures to memorize, a reading chart and a timeline.

For even more in-depth study, you might want to explore the Institute of Religion Manual. This manual is a college-level course and has a great deal of interpretation, inspiration, historic and cultural background information and more to help you really dig into your study of the New Testament.

Read the Institute of Religion New Testament manual.

While the Mormons have had the Bible free on the Internet for a long time, the new scripture site has some exciting additions to help people study the scriptures. For many of these features, you will need to sign up for an account. While reading the New Testament, which doesn’t require an account, you can also use account-based tools to write notes, keep a scripture-reading journal, highlight scriptures and even print out your work. You can even, without an account, download MP-3s of an audio New Testament. Mormons use the King James translation of the Bible.

This year the Mormons will be studying the life, ministry, and divinity of Jesus Christ. Why not take a peek and see what they will be learning?

Mormon beliefs sometimes get confused with the beliefs and practices of other religions. One such belief concerns the celebration of Christmas. Mormons tend to be very passionate Christmas celebrators, with many Mormon congregations hosting nativity festivals or free sing-alongs of Handel’s Messiah each year.

While Santa makes an appearance in some Mormon homes, the focus is always on the meaning of Christmas. Christmas is considered a sacred holiday and Mormon families are encouraged to simplify the secular portions of it in order to make more room for the spiritual elements of the Christmas celebration.

Mormons believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ and celebrate His birth as a pivotal moment in eternal life. The Book of Mormon, which Mormons consider a companion book to the Bible, says, “And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.” (2 Nephi 25:26.)

Mormon beliefs state that Jesus Christ is the redeemer of all mankind and that there is no other way but through Him to achieve eternal life and be saved. The Book of Mormon contains 284 references to being saved, rather an extensive discussion on the topic. Following are some of the verses on this subject:

And whoso taketh upon him my name, and endureth to the end, the same shall be saved at the last day (3 Nephi 27:6).

For the fulness of mine intent is that I may persuade men to come unto the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, and be saved (1 Nephi 6:4).

For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do (2 Nephi 25:23.)

Mormons believe that Christmas is meaningful because of Easter and the two holidays are intertwined in their minds and celebration. Talks given on the subject of Christmas generally include discussions of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice on our behalf and His glorious resurrection from the dead.

“When all is said and done, when all the legions of the ages have passed in review, when man’s terrible inhumanity to man has been chronicled, when God’s great love for His children has been measured, then above all stands the lone figure of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind, the living Son of the living God, the Prince of Peace, the Holy One.

Isaiah spoke of Him centuries before His coming: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). (See Gordon B. Hinckley, “First Presidency Christmas Devotional: “My Redeemer Lives””, Ensign, Feb. 2001, 70–73.)

What might a typical Mormon Christmas season look like? It will be different for each family, but common traditions include:

Service Projects: Many Mormon families do additional service throughout the Christmas season, giving gifts to those in need, volunteering at a church or community service project or helping at a food bank. Gifts are usually collected at church to assist congregation members who have little, but Mormons also often donate to community groups.

Reading of the Four Gospels: The four gospels are the four books in the New Testament that tell of Jesus’ life. Many Mormons use the Christmas season to read these accounts and to work as a family to understand them better. Even the youngest child is encouraged to listen to the stories in the King James translation, perhaps supplemented by a children’s version afterwards. However, they want their children to become familiar with the language of the Bible, even if they are too young to understand it.

Reading quality Christmas literature: Church leaders often quote from great literature that helps to remind us of the deeper meanings of Christmas. For example, the current Mormon prophet, Thomas S. Monson, reads three books every Christmas: Luke (the Biblical account of the Savior’s birth and life), A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and The Mansion by Henry Van Dyke. Mormon families often incorporate these examples as well as their own personal favorites into their own Christmas celebrations as a distraction from the usual Santa fair.

Singing sacred Christmas hymns: Although the more commercial Christmas songs are fun, Mormons also sing and listen to a wide range of sacred Christmas hymns, many traditional throughout the Christian world. Some of these are included in their official hymn book, such as Silent Night and Away in a Manger.

Displaying nativities. Most Mormon homes will display a nativity scene throughout the holiday season and many Mormons collect nativities. Some families even keep one or more nativity sets on display all year long as a way to keep the meaning of Christmas in their hearts all year.

Of course, Christmas is also a time for families. Mormons hold weekly family nights in which they have a short lesson, games, music, and treats. These are just for the family and are designed to build a bond with family members and to allow parents to share their values with their children. It also increases leadership skills, since everyone takes turns doing the various required tasks—conducting meetings, leading music, teaching lessons and preparing treats. Even a very young child might get an opportunity to teach his older family members about Jesus Christ. In December, many families focus their lessons on Jesus Christ and the messages of Christmas. Family nights also often include planning for a family service project to be done during the Christmas season.

Mormons are encouraged to simplify their holidays to allow more time for family and for spiritual things. We don’t have to go to every party, every parade, or every show. We needn’t spend too much time or money shopping for gifts. When we bring our Christmas down to its simplest components, we find it is a more rewarding season that can strengthen our testimonies of Jesus Christ.