A modern prophet goes global (Mormons)

The Economist: A modern prophet goes global (Mormons)

The Mormon faith is spreading. But is it a world religion?

LIKE any religious community, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (better known as the Mormons) will always cherish the locations connected with its foundation story. Not only the places in New York state where its prophet, Joseph Smith, said he received a vision of God (in 1820) and then a new set of scriptures, or the faith's spectacular headquarters in Utah, the state where Mormon pioneers found refuge. Also dear to Mormon hearts are parts of northern and central England where, soon after Smith had his visions, the faith won many converts.

In those early days, people in Britain who accepted Mormon teaching were told to sail west and join the growing band of “saints” who were preparing for the second coming of Jesus, an event which was expected to happen soon, and in the new promised land, the United States.

But now, after a century of spectacular growth, the Mormon movement is flowing in the other direction: while it continues to be centrally directed from its headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah, the faith has gained a foothold in virtually every country in the world—and the American share of church membership has fallen. In the north-west of England, for example, the Mormons want their converts to stay put and use their spanking new meeting-house and temple; and their keen young missionaries are as likely to be British or Danish (even, in one case, from Greenland) as American. And there is hardly anywhere (not even Mongolia, see picture) where the proselytisers do not reach.