The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has been subject to scholarly and religious criticism and public debate since its inception in the early 19th century. The discussion encompasses a wide range of issues from the church’s leaders, origins, and teachings, to its social and political stances. The historical claims of the church—including the authenticity of foundational books of scripture such as the Book of Mormon and Pearl of Great Price, as well as the church's former practice of polygamy—have faced public scrutiny. Changes in church teachings, as well as former teachings perceived as harsh or extreme face criticism as well. In the modern day, its historical teachings and policies around skin color and those around Black and Native American people, along with its past and current views on LGBTQ people and women have received greater public attention. Other controversies include church leaders' handling of sexual abuse cases, church finances, members critical of church leadership, and allegations of hiding or distorting parts of church history.

In the late 1820s, criticism centered around founder Joseph Smith stating he had been led to a set of golden plates from which he said the Book of Mormon was translated. In the 1830s, one of several criticisms was for Smith's handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio. The bulk of members moved to Missouri where there was fear and suspicion about the LDS Church's political and military power, culminating in the 1838 Mormon War and the Mormon Extermination Order by Missouri governor Lilburn Boggs. In the 1840s, criticism of the church centered on its theocratic aspirations in Nauvoo, Illinois. Criticism of the practice of religious polygamy called plural marriage and other doctrines taught by Smith were published in the Nauvoo Expositor. Smith ordered the destruction of the Expositor printing press. Opposition led to a series of legal challenges culminating in the arrest then death of Smith and his brother while jailed in 1844.

After Smith was killed, and a subsequent succession crisis, the majority of Mormons followed Brigham Young and migrated west beginning in 1847. As the church began openly practicing plural marriage under Young during the second half of the 19th century, the church became the target of nationwide criticism for that practice, as well as for the church's theocratic aspirations in Utah Territory. Young introduced policies in 1852 that discriminated against black men and women of African descent which were not reversed until 1978. Beginning in 1857, the church also came under significant media criticism after a militia of church members murdered around two hundred children, women, and men in the Mountain Meadows Massacre in southern Utah.

Academic critics have questioned the legitimacy of Smith and successors prophets as well as the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham. Criticism has expanded to include assertions of historical revisionism, homophobia, racism, and sexist policies. Notable 20th-century critics include Jerald and Sandra Tanner and historian Fawn Brodie, and John Dehlin in the 21st century. Evangelical Christians continue to argue that Smith was either fraudulent or delusional. A 2023 survey of over 1,000 former church members (often called Ex-Mormons) in the Mormon corridor found the top three reported criticisms of the church that led to disaffiliation were: 1. Church history related to Joseph Smith; 2. The Book of Mormon; and 3. Race issues.

Critics Notable early critics of Mormonism included Lucy Harris, Abner Cole, Eber D. Howe, and Thomas C. Sharp. Notable modern critics of the LDS Church include Jerald and Sandra Tanner, Richard Abanes, Richard and Joan Ostling, historian Fawn M. Brodie, Jeremy Runnells, and John Dehlin. Expansion of Internet use also provided a new forum for critics. Notable collections of criticism include the CES Letter, Year of Polygamy podcast, and Mormon Stories Podcast.

The church's 2008 support of California's Proposition 8 sparked heated debate and protests by gay-rights organizations. Affirmation is a group of current and former members of the LDS Church who have criticized the church's policies on homosexuality. Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry is a Christian organization that has criticized the church's theology. The Institute for Religious Research is an organization that has criticized the church, in particular the Book of Abraham. Numerous other organizations maintain web sites that criticize the church.

Public perception

The LDS Church scored lower in favorability on two large 2022 US polls in comparison to other religions. It had the lowest percentage (15%) of any of the seven religious groups for those with a "favorable/somewhat favorable" view of the religion in the Pew Research Center survey, and nearly 3/4ths (71%) of American respondents held a "very or somewhat unfavorable" opinion of the LDS Church in the YouGov poll. In response to the negative findings in the Pew poll, LDS podcaster Susan M. Hinckley summarized some common criticisms stating, "the organization seems slow to change, reluctant to admit mistakes, unwilling to apologize, overly legalistic, and quick to spin every story to its advantage."

Historical criticisms Polygamy

Polygamy is perhaps the most controversial early Mormon practice, and was a key contributing factor for Smith's murder. Under heavy pressure—Utah would not be accepted as a state if polygamy was practiced—the church formally and publicly renounced the practice in 1890. Utah's statehood soon followed. However, plural marriage remains a divisive issue, as despite the official renunciation of 1890, it still has sympathizers, defenders, and semi-secret practitioners.

Sarah Pratt, first wife of apostle Orson Pratt, in an outspoken critique of Mormon polygamy, said that polygamy:

"completely demoralizes good men and makes bad men correspondingly worse. As for the women—well, God help them! First wives it renders desperate, or else heart-broken, mean-spirited creatures." Pratt ended her marriage to husband Orson Pratt in 1868 because of his "obsession with marrying younger women" (at age 57, Orson Pratt married a sixteen-year-old girl, his tenth wife, younger than his daughter Celestia). Sarah Pratt lashed out at Orson in an 1877 interview, stating:

"Here was my husband, gray headed, taking to his bed young girls in mockery of marriage. Of course there could be no joy for him in such an intercourse except for the indulgence of his fanaticism and of something else, perhaps, which I hesitate to mention."

The Tanners argue that early church leaders established the practice of polygamy in order to justify behavior that would otherwise be regarded as immoral. The Ostlings criticize Joseph Smith for marrying at least 32 women during his lifetime, including several under the age of 16, a fact acknowledged by Mormon historian Todd Compton. Compton also acknowledges that Smith entered into polyandrous marriages (that is, he married women who were already married to other men) and that he warned some potential spouses of eternal damnation if they did not consent to be his wife; in at least two cases, Smith married orphan girls who had come to live at his home.

However, Bushman notes that evidence of sexual relations between Smith and any wives of his followers is sparse or unreliable. Compton argues that some marriages were likely dynastic in nature, to link families.

1890 Discontinuance

The Tanners argue that the church's 1890 reversal of its policy on polygamy was done for political reasons, citing the fact that the change was made during the church's lengthy conflict with the federal government over property seizures and statehood. The Ostlings say that, soon after the church received the revelation that polygamy was prohibited, Utah again applied for statehood. This time the federal government did not object to starting the statehood process. Six years later, the process was completed and Utah was admitted as a state in 1896. The Ostlings note that soon after the church suspended the practice of polygamy, the federal government reduced its legal efforts to seize church property. Despite this, Mormon leaders after 1890 continued to sanction and participate in plural marriages in secret, in smaller numbers, both in the U.S. and in Mexico, for the next several decades. This was done to place obedience to God above conformity with society or "mammon." Breakaway polygamist groups took this a step further, parting with Salt Lake's leaders and practicing polygamy openly.

Mormons Ron Wood and Linda Thatcher do not dispute that the change was a result of federal intervention and say that the church had no choice in the matter. The 1887 Edmunds–Tucker Act was crippling the church and "something dramatic had to be done to reverse [the] trend."Rood, Ron and Thatcher, Linda. "Statehood". Brief History of Utah. historytogo.utah.gov. . After the church appealed its case to the U.S. Supreme Court and lost, church president Wilford Woodruff issued the 1890 Manifesto. Woodruff noted in his journal that he was "acting for the temporal salvation of the Church".Wilford Woodruff Diary, 1890-09-25.

After 1890

Richard Abanes, Richard and Joan Ostling, and D. Michael Quinn note that after the 1890 Manifesto, church leaders authorized more than 200 polygamous marriages and lied about the continuing practice.

Joseph F. Smith acknowledged reports that church leaders did not fully adhere to the 1890 prohibition. After the Second Manifesto in 1904, anyone entering into a new plural marriage was excommunicated.Joseph F. Smith, "A profitable and enjoyable ConferencePrivilege of the peopleThe Gospel includes temporal as well as spiritual salvationOfficial statement sustained", Conference Report, April 1904, p. 97.

Historical authenticity of LDS scripture

The Book of Mormon

Discussion regarding the historicity of the Book of Mormon often focuses on archaeological issues, some of which relate to the large size and the long time span of the civilizations mentioned in the book. After Joseph Smith founded the movement in upstate New York in the 1820s, the faith drew its first converts while Smith was dictating the text of the Book of Mormon from golden plates with reformed Egyptian writing on them, which he said he found buried after being directed to their location by the Angel Moroni. The book described itself as a chronicle of early indigenous peoples of the Americas, known as the Nephites, portraying them as believing Israelites who had a belief in Christ many hundreds of years before Jesus's birth. According to the book, the Nephites are one of four groups (the others being the Lamanites, Jaredites, and Mulekites) who settled in the ancient Americas. The Nephites are described as a group of people that descended from or were associated with Nephi, the son of the prophet Lehi, who left Jerusalem at the urging of God c. 600 BC and traveled with his family to the Western Hemisphere, arriving in the Americas c. 589 BC. After the translation was complete, Smith said he returned the golden plates to the Angel Moroni.

A contemporary Mormon view is that these Israelite civilizations rose and fell in Mesoamerica. Civilizations of their magnitude and duration would be expected to leave extensive archaeological records. Several Mesoamerican civilizations did exist in the time period covered by the Book of Mormon, including the Olmec, Zapotec and Maya.