Many doctrines and practices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, both past and present, are viewed by many as controversial:

General note about critical analyses of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Though The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church; see also Mormon) does not usually respond to criticisms directly, some LDS Church members have made an effort to catalogue criticisms and have taken apologetic positions from time to time in defense of their religion. Even when supported by General Authorities of the LDS Church, however, these apologetic positions do not necessarily reflect the official positions of the Church nor the beliefs of Latter-day Saints at large.

List of controversial subjects

• Book of Mormon
• Book of Mormon controversies
  • Golden Plates
  • Archaeology and the Book of Mormon
  • Linguistics and the Book of Mormon.
• Book of Abraham
• Book of Moses
• Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible
• Plural Marriage and Eternal Marriage
  • Initial secrecy of Plural Marriage
  • Abolishing Plural Marriage in Utah as a condition of statehood
  • Plural Marriage after the 1890 Manifesto
  • The Family: A Proclamation to the World
• Temple (Mormonism)
  • Vicarious baptism for the dead
  • changes to temple ordinances
• Tritheistic, Anthropomorphic
  
  
  
  Godhead (Mormonism) versus the mainstream Christian concept of God: the Trinity
• Mormonism and Christianity
  • Mormonism compared to other religions
    • Freemasonry, Mormonism and Freemasonry see Endowment (Mormonism)
    • Hermetic Alchemy
    • Early Christian Church
      • Similarities to Arianism
    • etc
• Deification in Mormonism: Exaltation or becoming like God
• Pre-existence
• Continuous revelation versus a closed Biblical canon
• Great Apostasy, loss of Priesthood Authority, and restoration
• Blacks and Mormonism
• Blood Atonement and Danites
• The Mountain Meadows Massacre
• The Kirtland Safety Society
• The martyrdom of Joseph Smith
• Financial prosperity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• Authoritarianism and Mormonism
  • Destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor
  • Prophetic (in)fallibility
    • Prophecies of Joseph Smith
      • The Civil War Prophecy
      • Prophecy regarding Dan Jones
      • Prophecy of own martyrdom
    • The Adam-God doctrine
    • Men on the moon
    • The Salamander Letter
  • Excommunication of Latter-day Saint scholars and feminists
    • The September Six
  • Censorship and historical revisionism in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
    • Varying accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision
    • Suppression of the Journal of Discourses and other documents from Brigham Young's time.
  • Politics, Government and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
    • influence on local government and business
    • activism against state lotteries, legitimizing homosexual practices, pornography, abortion and the Equal Rights Amendment
      • Homosexuality and Mormonism
  • Women and Mormonism
    • Women and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
    • Women and Priesthood, Relief Society, etc.
• Legalism and Mormonism
  • The Word of Wisdom

List of prominent critics and controversial Mormons

• Lavina Fielding Anderson (critical of LDS leaders; excommunicated)
• Steve Benson (critical of LDS leaders; left the church)
• Fawn M. Brodie (wrote
  
  
  
  biography critical of Joseph Smith's supernatural claims; excommunicated)
• Arthur Budvarson (critical of LDS beliefs; never a Mormon?)
• Ed Decker (critical of LDS beliefs; excommunicated)
• Maxine Hanks (critical of LDS beliefs; excommunicated)
• Gail Houston (fired from BYU for advocating praying to Heavenly Mother; member)
• Sonia Johnson (critical of LDS leaders; excommunicated)
• Bill McKeever (critical of LDS beliefs and practices; never a Mormon)
• Thomas Murphy (critical of LDS beliefs and practices; member, inactive)
• Grant H. Palmer (critical of LDS beliefs and practices; disfellowshipped)
• D. Michael Quinn (critical of LDS history; excommunicated)
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner (critical of LDS leaders, beliefs, and history; left the church)
• Paul Toscano (critical of LDS beliefs; excommunicated)
• Lynn Kanavel Whitesides (advocated worship of Heavenly Mother; disfellowshipped)
• Orson Scott Card (conservative; non-traditional stance of R-Rated movies; strong language and sex in literary works; accused of making homophobic statements)
• Sheri L. Dew (conservative; accused of making homophobic statements; controversial statements on women's rights, divorce and abortion)
• Warren Jeffs (Leader of the ultra conservative FLDS accused polygamist, not recognized by mainstream LDS)
• Richard Packham (critical of LDS beliefs and practices; excommunicated)
• Martha Beck (critical of LDS beliefs and leadership; excommunicated)

General categorization of criticisms and apologetics of Mormonism

In general the controversies can be categorized as follows:

1. Critics charge that the doctrines or practices of Mormonism are heretical, cult-like or bizarre in contrast to mainstream Christianity (as in vicarious baptism for the dead).
2. Critics consider the culture of Mormonism to be authoritarian, legalistic, deceptive, delusional or politically oppressive (as in the subjugation of women).
3. Critics charge that the Church leadership has engaged in historical revisionism, cover-up or censorship. They claim to be bringing to light facts that the Church is trying to hide.
4. Critics charge that Joseph Smith's version of the events surrounding the founding of the Church is fraudulent.
5. Critics charge that there are many evidences showing that the Book of Mormon is false or fradulent.
6. Critics charge that Latter-day Saints are not Christians.

In general, Latter-day Saint apologists respond to the attacks in the following ways:

1. Apologists claim Mormonism is only bizarre or heretical compared to mainstream Christianity because mainstream Christianity is in apostasy, greatly changed from the original gospel of Christ. Mormonism, they say, is more similar to the original Christianity.
2. Apologists consider the culture of Mormonism to be wholesome and good. Mormon scriptures are asserted to promote free inquiry for the development of faith.
3. Apologists claim that Church leadership is honest and open, and that many of the critics are dishonest and unscrupulous.
4. Apologists claim that Joseph Smith's version of the events surrounding the founding of the Church is true.
5. Apologists claim that there are many evidences showing that the Book of Mormon is true and authentic.
6. Apologists see no reason to draw an arbitrary limit on the definition of Christianity such that Mormons are excluded simply because of doctrinal uniqueness. Fundamentally, they say, the Church believes the same basic doctrines as any other Christian church, namely, that Christ is the Savior and people should strive to follow him.

Further reading

• The Refiner's Fire: The making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844 by John L. Brooke, Cambridge University Press 1996.