The Edmunds Act of 1882 countered the Mormon's practice of polygamy, a practice that had prevented Utah being recognized as a state (Church Pp). In 1890 a revelation from God changed church beliefs and practices when the fourth Church president, Wilford Woodruff, issued the Great Accommodation, which basically banned plural marriages and in 1896, Utah became a state (Church Pp). During the 20th century, the Church maintained a dominant role in Utah and as of mid-2001, the Governor and all Federal senators, representatives and members of the Supreme Court are all Mormon (Church Pp). During the 1970's the Church received political and economic pressure concerning its institutionalized racism, which prevented males of black ancestry from ordination, thus, the Church received yet a new revelation from God in 1978, which abolished racism within the church, however, black women, as are all women, are still ineligible for ordination (Church Pp).

The Aaronic priesthood, deacons, teachers, and priests, includes every worth male between the ages of 12 and 19, is concerned with the temporal affairs of the church, while Melchizedek, elders and high priests, are concerned with the spiritual leadership (Latter-day Pp). High priests are represented in the Council of Twelve (the Apostles) and in the first presidency (the president and two counselors, three high priests vested with supreme authority (Latter-day Pp). Mormon settlements are divided into wards and stakes, each ward has a bishop and two counselors, and five to ten wards compose a stake (latter-day Pp). Characteristics of the Mormon creed include the "emphasis on revelation in the establishment of doctrines and rituals, the interdependence of temporal and spiritual life, tithing, and attention to community welfare" (Latter-day Pp). Mormons practice baptism for the dead, believing that the...

They also believe in celestial marriage, whereby individuals marry for all eternity (Latter-day Pp).
In 1998 Church leaders secretly persuaded then Salt Lake City Mayor Deedee Corradini to sell a block of Main Street to the church for $8.1 million (Mencimer Pp). As a result, people crossing the plaza on their way to Nordstrom are now be bombarded with religious brochures and broadcasts of LDS church president Gordon B. Hinckley and citizens can no longer use the space to protest, listen to music, sunbathe, skateboard, smoke, or do any of the other things they used to be able to do on the city street and sidewalks (Mencimer Pp).

The Mormons are now a global church worth an estimated $25 billion and claiming 11 million members (Woodward Pp). They also own the Florida Deseret Ranch which is the largest cow-calf operation in the U.S., with 44,000 head of cattle on 300,000 acres which provides a revenue of an estimated $16 million (Barnett Pp..

Works Cited

The History of the Church. http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/history

Church History. http://www.religioustolerance.org/lds_hist.htm

Latter-day Saints, Church of Jesus Christ of. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition;

4/22/2004; pp.

Mencimer, Stephanie. "Theocracy in America." Washington Monthly; 4/1/2001; Pp.

Woodward, Kenneth L. "A Mormon Moment: America's biggest homegrown religion is looking more Christian." Newsweek; 9/10/2001; Pp.

Barnett, Cynthia. "The Church's Ranch: The Mormon church runs one of the biggest and most profitable cattle operations in the U.S. On a 300,000-acre ranch covering parts of Orange, Brevard and Osceola counties." Florida Trend; 12/1/2001; Pp.