The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come (see Proto-orthodox Christianity). The term was used of writers and teachers of the Church, not necessarily "saints", though most are honoured as saints in the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox Churches, as well as in some other Christian groups; notably, the heretics Origen and Tertullian (as described hereinbelow) are generally reckoned as Church Fathers. A rough classification of these patristic writings is as: Apostolic Fathers and the 2nd century; 3rd century; 4th century; 5th century; and 6th century.

Apostolic Fathers

The earliest Church Fathers, (within two generations of the Apostles of Christ) are usually called the Apostolic Fathers. Important Apostolic Fathers include Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Smyrna. In addition, the Didache and Shepherd of Hermas are usually placed among the writings of the Apostolic Fathers although their authors are unknown; like the works of Clement, Ignatius and Polycarp, they were first written in Greek.

Saint Clement of Rome

His epistle, 1 Clement (''c'' 96), was copied and widely read in the Early Church. Clement calls on the Christians of Corinth to maintain harmony and order. It is the earliest Christian epistle outside the New Testament. Tradition identifies him as the fourth Pope and Bishop of Rome and his epistle asserts Rome's apostolic authority over its audience, the church in Corinth, see also Papal primacy.

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

Ignatius of Antioch (also known as Theophorus) (''c'' 35-110) was the third Bishop or Patriarch of Antioch and a student of the Apostle John. En route to his martyrdom in Rome, Ignatius wrote a series of letters which have been preserved. Important topics addressed in these letters include ecclesiology, the sacraments, the role of bishops, and Biblical Sabbath. He is the second after Clement to mention Paul's epistles.

Saint Polycarp of Smyrna

Polycarp of Smyrna (''c'' 69- ca. 155) was a Christian bishop of Smyrna (now İzmir in Turkey). It is recorded that "He had been a disciple of John." The options for this John are John the son of Zebedee traditionally viewed as the author of the Fourth Gospel, or John the Presbyter (Lake 1912). Traditional advocates follow Eusebius in insisting that the apostolic connection of Polycarp was with John the Evangelist, and that this John, the author of the Gospel of John, was the same as the Apostle John. Polycarp, 155, tried and failed to persuade Anicetus, Bishop of Rome, to have the West celebrate Passover on 14 Nisan, as in the East. He rejected the suggestion that the East use the Western date. In ''c'' 155, the Smyrnans demanded Polycarp's execution as a Christian, and he died a martyr. His story has it that the flames built to kill him refused to burn him, and that when he was stabbed to death, so much blood issued from his body that it quenched the flames around him. Polycarp is recognized as a saint in both the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Greek Fathers

Those who wrote in Greek are called the Greek (Church) Fathers. Famous Greek Fathers include: Clement of Rome, Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of Alexandria, Athanasius of Alexandria, John Chrysostom, Cyril of Alexandria the Cappadocian Fathers (Basil of Caesarea, Gregory Nazianzus, Peter of Sebaste & Gregory of Nyssa), Maximus the Confessor, and John of Damascus.

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

Irenaeus, (b. 2nd century; d. end of 2nd/beginning of 3rd century) was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyons, France. His writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology, and he is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. He was a notable early Christian apologist. He was also a disciple of Polycarp, who was said to be a disciple of John the Evangelist. The Shepherd of Hermas (2nd century) was popular in the early church and even considered scriptural by some of the early Church fathers, such as Irenaeus. It was written in the city of Rome, in the language of Greek. The Shepherd had great authority in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

His best-known book, ''Against Heresies'' (''c'' 180) enumerated heresies and attacked them. Irenaeus wrote that the only way for Christians to retain unity was to humbly accept one doctrinal authority—episcopal councils. Irenaeus proposed that all four gospels be accepted as canonical, see also Development of the New Testament canon.

Saint Clement of Alexandria

Clement of Alexandria (Titus Flavius Clemens) (c.157-211/216), was the first member of the Church of Alexandria to be more than a name, and one of its most distinguished teachers. He united Greek philosophical traditions with Christian doctrine and valued ''gnosis'' that with communion for all people could be held by common Christians. He developed a Christian Platonism. Like Origen, he arose from Catechetical School of Alexandria and was well versed in pagan literature.

Origen of Alexandria

Origen, or Origen Adamantius (''c'' 185 - ''c''254) was an early Christian scholar and theologian. According to tradition, he was an Egyptian who taught in Alexandria, reviving the Catechetical School, where Clement had taught. The patriarch of Alexandria at first supported Origen but later expelled him for being ordained without the patriarch's permission. He relocated to Caesarea Maritima and died there after being tortured during a persecution.

Using his knowledge of Hebrew, he produced a corrected Septuagint. He wrote commentaries on all the books of the Bible. In ''Peri Archon'' (''First Principles''), he articulated the first philosophical exposition of Christian doctrine. He interpreted scripture allegorically and showed himself to be a Stoic, a Neo-Pythagorean, and a Platonist. Like Plotinus, he wrote that the soul passes through successive stages before incarnation as a human and after death, eventually reaching God. He imagined even demons being reunited with God. For Origen, God was not Yahweh but the First Principle, and Christ, the Logos, was subordinate to him. His views of a hierarchical structure in the Trinity, the temporality of matter, "the fabulous preexistence of souls", and "the monstrous restoration which follows from it" were declared anathema in the 6th century. Due to his heretical views, Origen is technically not a Church Father by many definitions of that term, but instead may simply be referred to as an ecclesiastical writer.

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

Athanasius of Alexandria (''c'' 293-2 May 373) was a theologian, Pope of Alexandria, and a noted Egyptian leader of the 4th century. He is remembered for his role in the conflict with Arianism and for his affirmation of the Trinity. At the First Council of Nicaea (325), Athanasius argued against the Arian doctrine that Christ is of a distinct substance from the Father.

Cappadocian Fathers

The Cappadocians promoted early Christian theology, and are highly respected in both Western and Eastern churches as saints. They were a 4th-century monastic family, led by Saint Macrina the Younger (324–379) to provide a central place for her brothers to study and meditate, and also to provide a peaceful shelter for their mother. Abbess Macrina fostered the education and development of three men who collectively became designated the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil the Great (330–379) who was the second oldest of Macrina's brothers (the first being the famous Christian jurist Naucratius) and eventually became a bishop, Gregory of Nyssa (c 335 – after 394) who also became eventually a bishop of the diocese associated thereafter with his name, and Peter of Sebaste (ca. 340 – 391) who was the youngest of Makrina's brothers and later became bishop of Sebaste.

These scholars along with a close friend, Gregory Nazianzus (c329–389 or 390), set out to demonstrate that Christians could hold their own in conversations with learned Greek-speaking intellectuals and that Christian faith, while it was against many of the ideas of Plato and Aristotle (and other Greek Philosophers), was an almost scientific and distinctive movement with the healing of the soul of man and his union with God at its center- one best represented by monasticism. They made major contributions to the definition of the Trinity finalized at the First Council of Constantinople in 381 and the final version of the Nicene Creed which was formulated there.

Subsequent to the First Council of Nicea, Arianism did not simply disappear. The semi-Arians taught that the Son is of like substance with the Father (homoiousios), as against the outright Arians who taught that the Son was unlike the Father (heterousian). So the Son was held to be ''like'' the Father but not of the same essence as the Father.

The Cappadocians worked to bring these semi-Arians back to the Orthodox cause. In their writings they made extensive use of the formula "three substances (hypostases) in one essence (homoousia)", and thus explicitly acknowledged a distinction between the Father and the Son (a distinction that Nicea had been accused of blurring), but at the same time insisting on their essential unity.

Saint Cyril of Alexandria

Cyril of Alexandria (c. 378 - 444) was the Bishop of Alexandria when the city was at its height of influence and power within the Roman Empire. Cyril wrote extensively and was a leading protagonist in the Christological controversies of the later 4th, and 5th centuries. He was a central figure in the First Council of Ephesus in 431, which led to the deposition of Nestorius as Archbishop of Constantinople. Cyril is counted among the Church Fathers and the Doctors of the Church, and his reputation within the Christian world has resulted in his titles "Pillar of Faith" and "Seal of all the Fathers".

Saint John Chrysostom

John Chrysostom (''c'' 347– ''c'' 407), archbishop of Constantinople, is known for his eloquence in preaching and public speaking; his denunciation of abuse of authority by both ecclesiastical and political leaders; the ''Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom''; and his ascetic sensibilities. After his death (or, according to some sources, during his life) he was given the Greek surname ''chrysostomos'', meaning "golden mouthed", rendered in English as Chrysostom.

Chrysostom is known within Christianity chiefly as a preacher, theologian, and liturgist, particularly in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Chrysostom is also noted for eight of his sermons that played a considerable part in the history of Christian antisemitism, and were extensively cited by the Nazis in their ideological campaign against the Jews.

Saint Maximus the Confessor

Maximus the Confessor (also known as Maximus the Theologian and Maximus of Constantinople) (c. 580 – 13 August 662) was a Christian monk, theologian, and scholar. In his early life, he was a civil servant, and an aide to the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. However, he gave up this life in the political sphere to enter into the monastic life.

After moving to Carthage, Maximus studied several Neo-Platonist writers and became a prominent author. When one of his friends began espousing the Christological position known as Monothelitism, Maximus was drawn into the controversy, in which he supported the Chalcedonian position that Jesus had both a human and a divine will. Maximus is venerated in both Eastern Christianity and Western Christianity. His Christological positions eventually resulted in his torture and exile, soon after which he died. However, his theology was vindicated by the Third Council of Constantinople and he was venerated as a saint soon after his death. His feast day is celebrated twice during the year: on 13 August and 21 January. His title of Confessor means that he suffered for the Christian faith, but was not directly martyred. His Life of the Virgin is thought to be the earliest complete biography of Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Saint John of Damascus

Saint John of Damascus (Arabic: يوحنا الدمشقي Yuḥannā Al Demashqi; Greek: Ιωάννης Δαμασκήνος Iôannês Damaskênos; Latin: Iohannes Damascenus; also known as John Damascene, Χρυσορρόας/Chrysorrhoas, "streaming with gold"—i.e., "the golden speaker") (c. 676 – 4 December 749) was a Syrian Christian monk and priest. Born and raised in Damascus, he died at his monastery, Mar Saba, near Jerusalem.[1]

A polymath whose fields of interest and contribution included law, theology, philosophy, and music, before being ordained, he served as a Chief Administrator to the Muslim caliph of Damascus, wrote works expounding the Christian faith, and composed hymns which are still in everyday use in Eastern Christian monasteries throughout the world. The Catholic Church regards him as a Doctor of the Church, often referred to as the Doctor of the Assumption due to his writings on the Assumption of Mary.[2]

Latin Fathers

Those fathers who wrote in Latin are called the Latin (Church) Fathers. Famous Latin Fathers include:

Tertullian

Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus (''c'' 160 - ''c'' 225), who was converted to Christianity before 197, was a prolific writer of apologetic, theological, controversial and ascetic works. He was the son of a Roman centurion.

Tertullian denounced Christian doctrines he considered heretical, but later in life adopted views that themselves came to be regarded as heretical. He wrote three books in Greek and was the first great writer of Latin Christianity, thus sometimes known as the "Father of the Latin Church". He was evidently a lawyer in Rome. He is said to have introduced the Latin term "trinitas" with regard to the Divine (Trinity) to the Christian vocabulary (but Theophilus of Antioch (c. 115 - c. 183) already wrote of "the Trinity, of God, and His Word, and His wisdom", which is similar but not identical to the Trinitarian wording), and also probably the formula "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "''tres Personae, una Substantia''" (itself from the Koine Greek "τρεῖς ὑποστάσεις, ὁμοούσιος; ''treis Hypostases, Homoousios''"), and also the terms "vetus testamentum" (Old Testament) and "novum testamentum" (New Testament).

In his ''Apologeticus'', he was the first Latin author who qualified Christianity as the "vera religio", and systematically relegated the classical Roman Empire religion and other accepted cults to the position of mere "superstitions".

Later in life, Tertullian joined the Montanists, a heretical sect that appealed to his rigorism. (c. 338 – 4 April 397), was a bishop of Milan who became one of the most influential ecclesiastical figures of the 4th century. He is counted as one of the four original doctors of the Church.

Saint Jerome of Stridonium

Jerome (''c'' 347 – September 30, 420) is best known as the translator of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew into Latin. He also was a Christian apologist. Jerome's edition of the Bible, the ''Vulgate'', is still an important text of the Roman Catholic Church. He is recognised by the Roman Catholic Church as a Doctor of the Church.

Saint Augustine of Hippo

Augustine (November 13, 354 – August 28, 430), Bishop of Hippo, was a philosopher and theologian. Augustine, a Latin Father and Doctor of the Church, is one of the most important figures in the development of Western Christianity. Augustine was radically influenced by Platonism. He framed the concepts of original sin and just war as they are understood in the West. When Rome fell and the faith of many Christians was shaken, Augustine developed the concept of the Church as a spiritual City of God, distinct from the material City of Man. Augustine's work defined the start of the medieval worldview, an outlook that would later be firmly established by Pope Gregory the Great.

Augustine was born in present day Algeria to a Christian mother, Saint Monica. He was educated in North Africa and resisted his mother's pleas to become Christian. He took a concubine and became a Manichean. He later converted to Christianity, became a bishop, and opposed heresies, such as the belief that people can deserve salvation by being good (Pelagianism). His works—including ''The Confessions'', which is often called the first Western autobiography—are still read around the world.

Saint Gregory the Great

Saint Gregory I the Great (c. 540 – March 12, 604) was pope from September 3, 590 until his death.

He is also known as Gregorius Dialogus (''Gregory the Dialogist'') in Eastern Orthodoxy because of the ''Dialogues'' he wrote. He was the first of the Popes from a monastic background. Gregory is a Doctor of the Church and one of the four great Latin Fathers of the Church (the others being Ambrose, Augustine, and Jerome). Of all popes, Gregory I had the most influence on the early medieval church.

Saint Isidore of Seville

Saint Isidore of Seville (Spanish: San Isidro or San Isidoro de Sevilla, Latin: Isidorus Hispalensis) (c. 560 – 4 April 636) was Archbishop of Seville for more than three decades and is considered, as the historian Montalembert put it in an oft-quoted phrase, "le dernier savant du monde ancien" ("the last scholar of the ancient world").[2] Indeed, all the later medieval history-writing of Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, comprising modern Spain and Portugal) was based on his histories.

At a time of disintegration of classical culture,[3] and aristocratic violence and illiteracy, he was involved in the conversion of the royal Visigothic Arians to Catholicism, both assisting his brother Leander of Seville, and continuing after his brother's death. He was influential in the inner circle of Sisebut, Visigothic king of Hispania. Like Leander, he played a prominent role in the Councils of Toledo and Seville. The Visigothic legislation which resulted from these councils is regarded by modern historians as exercising an important influence on the beginnings of representative government.

Other Fathers

The Desert Fathers were early monastics living in the Egyptian desert; although they did not write as much, their influence was also great. Among them are St. Anthony the Great and St. Pachomius. A great number of their usually short sayings is collected in the ''Apophthegmata Patrum'' ("Sayings of the Desert Fathers").

A small number of Church Fathers wrote in other languages: Saint Ephrem the Syrian and Saint Isaac the Syrian for example, wrote in Syriac, though their works were widely translated into Latin and Greek.

Modern positions

In the Roman Catholic Church, St. John of Damascus, who lived in the 8th century, is generally considered to be the last of the Church Fathers and at the same time the first seed of the next period of church writers, scholasticism. St. Bernard is also at times called the last of the Church Fathers.

The Eastern Orthodox Church does not consider the age of Church Fathers to be over and includes later influential writers, even up to the present day, in the term. Among the Orthodox, the Church Fathers do not have to all agree on every detail, much less be infallible. Rather, Orthodox doctrine is determined by the consensus of the Holy Fathers—those points on which they do agree. This consensus guides the church in questions of faith, the correct interpretation of scripture, and to distinguish the authentic Sacred Tradition of the Church from false teachings.

Though much Protestant religious thought is based on ''Sola Scriptura'' (the principle that the Bible itself is the ultimate authority in doctrinal matters), the first Protestant reformers, like the Catholic and Orthodox churches, used the theological interpretations of scripture set forth by the early Church Fathers. The original Lutheran ''Augsburg Confession'' of 1531, for example, and the later ''Formula of Concord'' of 1576-1584, each begin with the mention of the doctrine professed by the Fathers of the First Council of Nicea. John Calvin's ''French Confession of Faith'' of 1559 states, "And we confess that which has been established by the ancient councils, and we detest all sects and heresies which were rejected by the holy doctors, such as St. Hilary, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose and St. Cyril." The ''Scots Confession'' of 1560 deals with general councils in its 20th chapter. The Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England, both the original of 1562-1571 and the American version of 1801, explicitly accept the Nicene Creed in article 7. Even when a particular Protestant confessional formula does not mention the Nicene Council or its creed, its doctrine is nonetheless always asserted, as, for example, in the Presbyterian ''Westminster Confession'' of 1647. Many Protestant seminaries provide courses on Patristics as part of their curriculum and many historic Protestant churches emphasize the importance of Tradition and of the Fathers in scriptural interpretation. Such an emphasis is even more pronounced in certain streams of Protestant thought, such as Paleo-Orthodoxy.

Patristics

The study of the Church Fathers is known as "Patristics".

Works of fathers in early Christianity, prior to Nicene Christianity, were translated into English in a 19th century collection ''Ante-Nicene Fathers''. Those of the First Council of Nicaea (325 AD) and continuing through the Second Council of Nicea (787) are collected in ''Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers'', see also First seven Ecumenical Councils.

See also

Doctors of the Church

List of Church Fathers, defined as an early writer of Christian doctrine; a Christian writer of the pre-8th century group of scholars who established the doctrines and practices of Christianity in their work (usually used in the plural).

References

External links

ChurchFathers.org - All of the Church Fathers' writings broken down by topic. Find writings by the Fathers on everything from the Eucharist, to baptism, to the Virgin Mary, to the Pope

Church Fathers' works in English edited by Philip Schaff, at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library

Church Fathers at the Patristics In English Project Site

Early Church Fathers Additional Texts Part of the Tertullian corpus.

Excerpts from Defensor Grammaticus

Excerpts from the Church Fathers

The Fathers, the Scholastics, and Ourselves by von Balthasar

Faulkner University Patristics Project A growing collection of English translations of patristic texts and high-resolution scans from the comprehensive ''Patrologia'' compiled by J. P. Migne.

Primer on the Church Fathers at Corunum

Early Church Fathers Writings Ante Nicene, Nicene and Post Nicene Fathers

Writings from the church fathers at www.goarch.com.

The Fathers of the Church: A New Translation, by Ludwig Schopp, founder and editorial director. Works hosted at the Internet Archive

Migne Patrologia Latina and Graeca: a free digital edition of almost all the original texts.

Early Church Fathers: History of the Early Church in Portraits

Category:History of Christianity Category:Late Antiquity Category:Ancient Christian church councils Category:Ancient Christianity Category:Types of saints Category:Christian terms

ar:آباء الكنيسة be:Айцы Царквы bg:Отци на Църквата ca:Pare de l'Església cs:Církevní Otcové da:Kirkefader de:Kirchenvater el:Εκκλησιαστικοί Πατέρες es:Padres de la Iglesia eo:Patroj de la Eklezio fa:پدران کلیسا fr:Pères de l'Église fy:Tsjerkfaar gl:Pais da Igrexa ko:교부 hr:Crkveni oci id:Bapa Gereja ia:Patres del Ecclesia it:Padre della Chiesa he:אבות הנצרות sw:Babu wa Kanisa la:Patres Ecclesiae lb:Kierchepappen hu:Egyházatya mk:Црковни Отци ml:ആദ്യകാല സഭാപിതാക്കന്മാർ nl:Kerkvader ja:教父 no:Kirkefedre pl:Ojcowie Kościoła pt:Padres da Igreja ru:Отцы Церкви sco:Kirk Faithers sk:Cirkevný otec (stredovek) sl:Cerkveni očetje sr:Црквени оци sh:Crkveni oci fi:Kirkkoisä sv:Kyrkofader uk:Отці Церкви zh:教父 (基督教歷史)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (abbreviated as the LDS Church and colloquially referred to as the Mormon Church) is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement, a Christian primitivist movement started by Joseph Smith during the American Second Great Awakening. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has established congregations (called ''wards'' or ''branches'') and built temples worldwide. With over 50,000 missionaries serving worldwide at any given time, the church currently claims a growing membership of over 14.1 million. The church's predominant theology is Mormonism.

Like the other churches within the Latter Day Saint movement, the LDS Church considers itself to be a restoration of the early Christian Church started by Jesus, which was later lost in the centuries after Christ in a Great Apostasy. Adherents, referred to as ''Latter-day Saints'' or, more informally, ''Mormons'', view faith in Jesus Christ and the atonement as the central tenet of their religion. LDS theology includes the Christian doctrine of salvation only through Jesus Christ, though LDS doctrines regarding the nature of God and the potential of mankind differ significantly from mainstream Christianity. The church has an open canon which includes four scriptural texts: the Bible (both Old and New Testaments), the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Other than the Bible, the majority of the LDS canon constitutes revelation dictated by Joseph Smith and includes commentary and exegesis about the Bible, texts described as lost parts of the Bible, and other works believed to be written by ancient prophets.

Under the doctrine of continuing revelation, Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus, under the direction of Heavenly Father, leads the church by revealing his will to its president, whom adherents regard as a modern-day "prophet, seer, and revelator." The current president is Thomas S. Monson. Individual members can also receive personal revelation from God in conducting their lives. The President heads a hierarchical structure with various levels reaching down to local congregations. Bishops, drawn from the laity, lead local congregations. Worthy male members, after reaching age 12, may be ordained to the priesthood. Women do not hold positions within the priesthood but serve in an array of other leadership roles. Both men and women may serve as missionaries, and the church maintains a large missionary program which proselytizes and conducts humanitarian services worldwide. Faithful members adhere to laws regarding sexual purity, health, fasting, and Sabbath observance, and contribute 10 percent of their income to the church as a tithe. In addition, the church teaches sacred ordinances through which adherents make covenants with God, including baptism, confirmation, the sacrament (holy communion), and celestial marriage (marriage blessings which extend beyond mortality), which are of great significance to church members.

History

The history of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is typically divided into three broad time periods: (1) the early history during the lifetime of Joseph Smith, Jr. which is in common with all Latter Day Saint movement churches, (2) a "pioneer era" under the leadership of Brigham Young and his 19th century successors, and (3) a modern era beginning around the turn of the 20th century as Utah achieved statehood.

Beginnings

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints traces its current dispensation beginnings to Joseph Smith, Jr. on April 6, 1830 in Western New York. Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published ''Book of Mormon'', a self-described chronicle of indigenous American prophets that Smith translated from golden plates.

Smith intended to establish a New Jerusalem in North America, called ''Zion''. In 1831, the church moved to Kirtland, Ohio (the eastern boundary of Zion), and began establishing an outpost in Jackson County, Missouri (Zion's "center place"), where he planned to eventually move the church headquarters. However, in 1833, Missouri settlers brutally expelled the Saints from Jackson County, and the church was unable via a paramilitary expedition to recover the land. Nevertheless, the church flourished in Kirtland as Smith published new revelations and the church built the Kirtland Temple as the site of what they viewed as a new Pentecost. The Kirtland era ended in 1838, after a financial scandal rocked the church and caused widespread defections. Smith regrouped with the remaining church in Far West, Missouri, but tensions soon escalated into violent conflicts with the old Missouri settlers. Believing the Saints to be in insurrection, the Missouri governor ordered that the Saints be "exterminated or driven from the State". In 1839, the Saints converted a swampland on the banks of the Mississippi River into Nauvoo, Illinois, which became the church's new headquarters.

Nauvoo grew rapidly as missionaries sent to Europe and elsewhere gained new converts who then flooded into Nauvoo. Meanwhile, Smith introduced plural marriage to his closest associates. He also established ceremonies, which he stated the Lord had revealed to him, to allow righteous people to become gods (joint heirs with Christ) in the afterlife, and a secular institution to govern the Millennial kingdom. He also introduced the church to a full accounting of his First Vision, in which two heavenly "personages" (LDS interpret them to be God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ) appeared to him at age 14. Long after Smith's death, this vision would come to be regarded by the LDS Church as the most important event in human history after the resurrection of Jesus.

On June 27, 1844, Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were murdered by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, while being held on charges of treason. Because Hyrum was Joseph's successor, their deaths caused a succession crisis, and Brigham Young assumed leadership over the majority of Saints. Young had been a close associate of Smith's and was senior apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve. Other splinter groups, excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, followed other leaders in their own interpretation of the Latter Day Saint movement.

Pioneer era

For two years after Smith's death, conflicts escalated between Mormons and other Illinois residents. To prevent war, Joseph Smith had predicted that the church would go to the West and be established in the tops of Rocky Mountains. Brigham Young fulfilled that prophesy and led his followers, the Mormon pioneers constituting most of the Latter Day Saint movement, to Nebraska and then in 1847 to what became the Utah Territory. As groups (over 60,000) arrived over a period of years, LDS settlers branched out and colonized a large region now known as the Mormon Corridor.

Young incorporated The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a legal entity, and initially governed both the church and the state as a theocratic leader. He also publicized the previously sacred practice of plural marriage, a form of polygamy.

By 1857, tensions had again escalated between Mormons and other Americans, largely as a result of accusations involving polygamy and the theocratic rule of the Utah territory by Brigham Young. The Utah Mormon War ensued from 1857 to 1858, which resulted in the relatively peaceful invasion of Utah by the United States Army, after which Young agreed to step down from power and be replaced by a non-Mormon territorial governor, Alfred Cumming. Nevertheless, the LDS Church still wielded significant political power in the Utah Territory.

At Young's death in 1877, he was followed by other LDS Presidents, who resisted efforts by the United States Congress to outlaw Mormon polygamous marriages. In 1878, the United States Supreme Court, in Reynolds v. US, decreed that "religious duty" to engage in plural marriage was not a valid defense to prosecutions for violating state laws against polygamy. Conflict between Mormons and the U.S. government escalated to the point that in 1890, Congress disincorporated the LDS Church and seized all its assets. Soon thereafter, church president Wilford Woodruff issued a Manifesto that officially suspended the practice. Although this Manifesto did not yet dissolve existing plural marriages, and did not entirely stop the practice of polygamy, relations with the United States markedly improved after 1890, such that Utah was admitted as a U.S. state. Relations further improved after 1904, when church president Joseph F. Smith again disavowed polygamy before the United States Congress and issued a "Second Manifesto" calling for all plural marriages in the church to cease, as they were already against church doctrine since Woodruff issued the Manifesto. Eventually, the church adopted a policy of excommunicating its members found practicing polygamy and today seeks to actively distance itself from “fundamentalist” groups still practicing polygamy.

Modern times

During the 20th century, the church grew substantially and became an international organization, due in part to the spread of missionaries around the globe. In 2000, the church reported 60,784 missionaries and global church membership stood at just over 11 million. Worldwide membership surpassed 13 million in 2007 and reached 14 million in July 2010, with about six million of those within the United States. The church cautions against overemphasis of growth statistics for comparison with other churches because relevant factors—including activity rates and death rates, methodology used in registering or counting members, what factors constitute membership, and geographical variations—are rarely accounted for in the comparisons.

The church has become a stronger and more public champion of the nuclear family and at times played a prominent role in political matters, including opposition to MX Peacekeeper missile bases in Utah and Nevada, opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, opposition to legalized gambling, opposition to same-sex marriage, and opposition to legalized physician-assisted death. Apart from issues that it considers to be ones of morality, however, the church usually maintains a position of political neutrality, but encourages its members to be politically active, to participate in elections, and to be knowledgeable about current political and social issues within their communities, states, and countries.

A number of official changes have taken place to the organization during the modern era. One significant change was the ordination of black men to the priesthood in 1978, which reversed a policy originally instituted by Brigham Young in 1852. There are also periodic changes in the structure and organization of the church, mainly to accommodate the organization's growth and increasing international presence. For example, since the early 1900s, the church has instituted a Priesthood Correlation Program to centralize church operations and bring them under a hierarchy of priesthood leaders. During the Great Depression, the church also began operating a church welfare system, and it has conducted numerous humanitarian efforts in cooperation with other religious organizations.

Teachings and practices

Sources of authority

The theology of the LDS Church consists of a combination of biblical doctrines with modern revelations and other commentary by LDS leaders, particularly Joseph Smith, Jr. The most authoritative sources of theology are the faith's canon of four religious texts, called the ''Standard Works''. Included in the ''Standard Works'' are the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price. Among these books, the church holds in equal esteem as the other Standard Works the Book of Mormon, said by the church to be "Another Testament of Jesus Christ" that Joseph Smith translated from buried golden plates. The church characterizes the Book of Mormon as "the most correct of any book on earth and the keystone of [their] religion".

The Bible, also part of the church's canon, is believed to be "the word of God as far as it is translated correctly". Most often, the church uses the Authorized King James Version. Sometimes, however, parts of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible are considered authoritative. Some excerpts of Joseph Smith's translation have been included in the Pearl of Great Price, which also includes further translations by Smith and church historical items. Other historical items and revelations are found in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Another source of authoritative doctrine is the pronouncements of the current Apostles and members of the First Presidency. The church teaches that the First Presidency (the prophet and his counselors) and the Quorum of Twelve Apostles are prophets and that their teachings are generally given under inspiration from God through the Holy Spirit. Members of the church acknowledge (sustain) them regularly as prophets, seers, and revelators—this is done publicly twice a year at the church's worldwide general conference broadcast.

Distinctive doctrines and practices

Several doctrines and practices of the LDS Church are unique within Christianity. The Mormon cosmology and plan of salvation include the doctrines of pre-mortal life, three degrees of heaven, and exaltation. According to these doctrines every human spirit is a literal spirit child of God, and humans may achieve ''exaltation'', which means that they may become gods and goddesses just as Jesus Christ became a god. Achieving this same status that Jesus achieved is also referred to as becoming a "joint-heir with Christ." The doctrine of exaltation includes the reuniting of the mortal family after the resurrection and the ability to have spirit children in the afterlife. To obtain this state of godhood, the church teaches that one must have faith in Jesus, keep the commandments and participate in a sequence of ceremonial covenants (called ''ordinances'').

The LDS sealing ceremony reflects a singular LDS view with respect to families. According to LDS Church theology, men and women may be ''sealed'' to each other so that their marital bond continues in the afterlife. Children may also be sealed to their biological or adoptive parents to form permanent familial bonds. The most significant LDS ordinances may be performed via proxy in behalf of those who have died. (See, e.g., baptism for the dead). The Church teaches that all will have the opportunity to hear and accept or reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the benefit of its sacraments, in this life or the next.

The LDS faithful observe a health code called the Word of Wisdom in which they abstain from the consumption of alcoholic beverages, coffee, tea, and tobacco. The Word of Wisdom also encourages the use of wholesome herbs and fruits within season, moderate consumptions of meats, and consumption of grains. Their moral code includes a law of chastity that prohibits sexual relations outside of heterosexual marriage.

LDS faithfuls donate a 10 percent tithe on their income annually.

They also perform volunteer service in their local church. Moreover, all unmarried young men between 19–25 years old who are sufficiently healthy and many retired couples are encouraged to volunteer up to two years as a missionary to proselytize and/or provide humanitarian service. Unmarried women 21 years and older also may serve as missionaries for 18 months, but it is not considered their duty to do so as it is with the young men who are ordained elders.

Members are further instructed to set aside one night a week, typically Monday, for a Family Home Evening, where they gather together as a family to study gospel principles and participate in different activities.

Comparisons with mainstream Christianity

In addition to a belief in the Bible ("as far as it is translated correctly"), the divinity of Jesus, and his atonement and resurrection, other LDS teachings are shared with other branches of Christianity. For example, LDS theology includes belief in the doctrine of salvation through Jesus alone, restorationism (via a Restoration of Christ's church given through Joseph Smith, Jr.), millennialism, continuationism, penal substitution, and a form of Apostolic succession. The practices of baptism by immersion and the Eucharist (referred to as ''the Sacrament'') are also held in common. However, most mainstream Christian groups will not accept a prior LDS baptism as evidence of Christian initiation, as they will between themselves; for example, between Catholics and Baptists.

Nevertheless, the LDS Church differs from the many other churches within Christianity, and many people do not accept the LDS Church as part of Christianity. The faith itself views other modern Christian faiths as having departed from true Christianity via a general apostasy and that it is a restoration of 1st century Christianity and the only true and authorized Christian church. Differences between the LDS Church and most of traditional Christianity include disagreement with aspects of the Nicene Creed, belief in a unique theory of human salvation that includes three heavens (referred to as "degrees of glory"), a doctrine of "exaltation" which includes the ability of humans to become gods and goddesses in the afterlife, a dietary code called the Word of Wisdom, and unique sacramental ceremonies performed privately in LDS temples, such as the Endowment and sealing ceremonies.

Officially, major Christian denominations view the LDS Church as standing apart from creedal Christianity, a point the LDS Church itself does not dispute. From the perspective of Christians who agree with creeds, the most significant area of departure is the rejection by the LDS Church of certain parts of ecumenical creeds such as the Nicene Creed, which defines the predominant view of the Christian God as a Trinity of three separate persons with "one substance". LDS Church theology includes the belief in a "Godhead" composed of God the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost as three separate persons who share a unity of purpose or will; however, they are viewed as three distinct beings making one Godhead. Other significant differences relate to the church's acceptance of additional scripture, doctrine, and practices beyond what is found in the Catholic, Protestant or Orthodox versions of the Bible.

Comparison with other Latter Day Saint movement faiths

The LDS Church shares a common heritage with a number of smaller faith groups that are collectively called the Latter Day Saint movement. The largest of these smaller groups is the Community of Christ (previously known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), based in Independence, Missouri, followed by the Church of Jesus Christ, based in Monongahela, Pennsylvania. In common with the LDS Church, these faiths believe in Joseph Smith, Jr. as a prophet and founder of their religion. They also accept the Book of Mormon, and most, but not all, accept at least some version of the ''Doctrine and Covenants''. However, they tend to disagree to varying degrees with the LDS Church on matters of doctrine and church leadership.

The main branches of the Latter Day Saint movement resulted from the crisis of succession upon the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. Other branches may be considered later off-shoots of the LDS Church branch, mainly as a result of disagreements about plural marriage. In the LDS Church, the practice of plural marriage was abandoned around the turn of the 20th century, but it has continued among the fundamentalist groups, who believe the practice is a requirement for exaltation. The LDS Church, by contrast, believes that a single celestial marriage is sufficient for exaltation. Fundamentalists also believe in a number of other doctrines taught and practiced by Brigham Young in the 19th century, which the LDS Church has either abandoned, repudiated, or put in abeyance; e.g., the church has long excommunicated any members caught practicing polygamy.

Church organization and structure

Name and legal entities

The church teaches that it is a continuation of the Church of Christ established in 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. This original church underwent several name changes during the 1830s, being called the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of God, and then in 1834, the name was officially changed to the Church of the Latter Day Saints. In April 1838, the name was officially changed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. under the name The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints which included a hyphenated "Latter-day" and a lower-case "d". In 1887, the LDS Church was legally dissolved in the United States by the Edmunds–Tucker Act because of the church's practice (now abandoned) of polygamy. The Edmunds-Tucker Act was repealed in 1978. The church has continued to operate under what remains its formal name, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Accepted informal names include the LDS Church, the Latter-day Saints, and the Mormons. The term ''Mormon Church'' is in common use, but the church began discouraging its use in the late 20th century, though takes no issue with the term ''Mormon'' itself. The church requests that the official name be used when possible or, if necessary, shortened to "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ".

The church has organized several tax-exempt corporations to assist with the transfer of money and capital. These include the Corporation of the Presiding Bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, organized in 1916 under the laws of the state of Utah to acquire, hold, and dispose of real property. In 1923, the church incorporated the Corporation of the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah to receive and manage money and church donations. In 1997, the church incorporated Intellectual Reserve, Inc. to hold all the church's copyrights, trademarks, and other intellectual property. The church also holds several non-tax-exempt corporations, such as Bonneville International and the Deseret News. See Finances of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Geographic distribution and membership

Church congregations are organized geographically. Members are generally expected to attend the congregation with their assigned geographical area; however, some geographical areas also provide separate congregations for single adults or for speakers of alternate languages. For Sunday services, the church is grouped into either larger (~200 to ~400 people) congregations known as wards, or smaller congregations known as branches. Although the building may sometimes be referred to as a chapel, the room used as a chapel for religious services is actually only one component of the standard meetinghouse, of which the church maintains a virtual tour of a typical example and also an online meetinghouse locator which can be used to find the locations and meeting times of its congregations all over the world. Regional church organizations larger than single congregations include stakes, missions, districts, areas, and regions.

2007 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Survey			Mormons (U.S.)	U.S. Avg.
Married	71%	54%
Divorced or separated	9%	12%
3 or more children at home	21%	9%
Weekly (or more) Attendance at Religious Services	76%	39%

The church reports a worldwide membership of over 13 million with approximately 6.7 million residing outside the United States. According to these statistics it is the fourth largest religious body in the United States. The church membership report includes all baptized members and their children. Although the church does not release attendance figures to the public, researchers estimate that actual attendance at weekly LDS worship services globally is around 4 million. Members living in the U.S. and Canada constitute 46% of membership, Latin America 38%, and members in the rest of the world 16%. A survey by the City College of New York in 2001 extrapolated that there were 2,787,000 self-identified LDS adults in the United States in 2001, 1.3% of the US population, making the LDS Church the 10th-largest religious body in their phone survey of over 50,000 households. The 2007 Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, found 1.7% of the U.S. adult population self identified themselves as Mormon.

For a list of notable Latter-day Saints, see List of Latter Day Saints.

Priesthood hierarchy

The LDS Church is organized in a hierarchical priesthood structure administered by men. Latter-day Saints believe that Jesus leads the church through revelation and has chosen a single man, called "the Prophet" or President of the Church, as his spokesman on the earth. The current president is Thomas S. Monson. He and two counselors (who usually are ordained apostles) form the First Presidency, the presiding body of the church; twelve other apostles form the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. When a president dies, his successor is invariably the most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (the one who has held an apostleship position the longest), who then reconstitutes a new First Presidency.

At the local level, the church leadership are drawn from the laity and work on a part-time volunteer basis without stipend. Like all members, they are asked to donate a tithe of 10 percent of their income to the church. An exception to that rule is for LDS missionaries who work at the local level and are paid basic living expenses from a fund that receives contributions from their home congregations; however, prospective missionaries are encouraged to contribute the cost of their missions to this fund themselves when possible. Members volunteer general custodial work for local church facilities.

All worthy males are generally considered for the priesthood and are ordained to the priesthood as early as age 12. Ordination occurs by a ceremony where hands are laid on the head of the one ordained. The priesthood is divided into an Aaronic priesthood for young men 12 and up and a Melchizedek Priesthood for men 18 and up.

Church programs and auxiliary organizations

Under the leadership of the priesthood hierarchy are five auxiliary organizations that fill various roles in the church: Relief Society (a women's organization), the Young Men and Young Women organizations (for adolescents aged 12 to 17), Primary (an organization for children up to age 12), and Sunday School (which provides a variety of Sunday classes for adolescents and adults). The church also operates several programs and organizations in the fields of proselytizing, education, and church welfare such as LDS Humanitarian Services. Many of these auxiliaries and programs are coordinated by the Priesthood Correlation Program, which is designed to provide a systematic approach to maintain worldwide consistency, orthodoxy, and control of the church's ordinances, doctrines, organizations, meetings, materials, and other programs and activities.

The LDS Church operates a large missionary program. Some members of the church are encouraged to serve as missionaries either full-time, part-time, over the internet, or as "service missionaries" in one of hundreds of missions throughout the world. All missionaries serve on a volunteer basis, and their expenses are paid by savings of the missionaries themselves, their families, their local congregations, and in some cases from a general church fund. Missionaries include young single men between 19 and 25 (who serve two year missions), single women over the age of 21 (who serve 18-month missions), and mature couples who are generally retired (who serve terms ranging from three to 36 months). Young single men are strongly encouraged and expected to serve a mission; women and couples are encouraged but not expected to serve missions. Missionaries generally have no input on what part of the world they serve their missions, and if necessary, the church will teach them a new language. Missionaries are held to high standards of personal worthiness, which is determined by interviews by ecclesiastical leaders about how well the missionary has followed church standards such as the Word of Wisdom (not consuming alcohol, tobacco, coffee, or tea) and the law of chastity (abstaining from pre- or extra-marital sex). During their missions missionaries are rarely allowed to contact their parents by phone though they are actively encouraged to communicate with their families and friends through weekly emails or letters. The missionaries are typically only permitted to talk to their families on the telephone on Mother's Day and Christmas though special circumstances sometimes call for temporary individual adaptations to this rule. They are assigned one companion of the same sex, who is also a missionary. They have a strict schedule which allows one day per week to sightsee and do chores, such as laundry and grocery shopping.

The church operates a Church Educational System which includes Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University–Idaho (formerly Ricks College), Brigham Young University–Hawaii, and LDS Business College. The church also operates Institutes of Religion and an LDS Student Association near the campuses of many colleges and universities. For high-school aged youth, the church operates a four-year Seminary program, which provides religious classes for students to supplement their secular education. The church also sponsors a low-interest educational loan program known as the Perpetual Education Fund, which provides educational opportunities to students from developing nations. The church's welfare system, initiated during the Great Depression, provides aid to the poor. It is financed by fast offerings: monthly donations beyond the normal 10 percent tithe, which represents the cost of foregoing two meals on monthly Fast Sundays. Money from the program is used to operate Bishop's storehouses, which package and store food at low cost. Distribution of funds and food is administered by local bishops (congregational pastors). The church also distributes money through its LDS Philanthropies division to disaster victims worldwide.

Other church programs and departments include LDS Family Services, which provides assistance with adoption, marital and family counseling, psychotherapy, and addiction counseling; the LDS Church History Department, which collects church history and records; and the Family History Department, which administers the church's large family history efforts and operates the world's largest library dedicated to genealogical research. The church is also a major sponsor of Scouting programs for boys, particularly in the United States, where it provides more members of the Boy Scouts of America than any other church.

Finances

Although the church has not released church-wide financial statements since 1959, in 1997, ''Time'' magazine called it one of the world's wealthiest churches per capita. In a June 2011 cover story, ''Newsweek magazine'' stated that the LDS church "resembles a sanctified multinational corporation—the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion." Its for-profit, non-profit, and educational subsidiary entities are audited by an independent accounting firm: , Deloitte & Touche. In addition, the church employs an independent audit department that provides its certification at each annual general conference that church contributions are collected and spent in accordance with church policy.

The church receives significant funds from tithes (ten percent of a member's income) and fast offerings (money given to the church to assist individuals in need). According to the church, tithing and fast offering moneys collected are devoted to ecclesiastical purposes and not used in for-profit ventures.

The church has also invested in for-profit business and real estate ventures such as Bonneville International, Deseret Book Company, and cattle ranches in Utah, Florida, Nebraska, Canada and other locations. However, these ranches are split between Church Welfare Work (Bishops' Storehouse and Welfare Square) for which funds are used from tithing and are not for profit.

Culture

Due to the differences in lifestyle promoted by church doctrine and history, a distinct culture has grown up around members of the church. It is primarily concentrated in the Intermountain West, but as membership of the church spreads around the world, many of its more distinctive practices follow, such as adhering to the Word of Wisdom, a health law or code, similar to Leviticus chapter 11 in the Bible, prohibiting the consumption of tobacco, alcohol, coffee and tea, and other addictive substances. As a result of the Word of Wisdom, the culture in areas of the world with a high concentration of LDS tends to be reflected.

Meetings and outreach programs are held regularly and have become part of Latter-day Saint culture.

Home and family

In 1995, the church presidency issued "The Family: A Proclamation to the World", which stresses the importance of the family. The presidency proclaimed that "marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." The document further explains that "gender is an essential characteristic of individual premortal, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose," that the father and mother have differing but equal roles in raising children, and that successful marriages and families, founded upon the teachings of Jesus Christ, can last eternally. This document is widely cited by LDS members as a statement of principle.

The adult women (members of the church's Relief Society) generally meet quarterly for additional instruction and service. The meetings may consist of a service project, conferences, or of various classes being offered.

After interviewing and polling thousands of youth across America, evangelical statistician Christian Smith writes, "... in general comparisons among major U.S. religious traditions using a variety of sociological measures of religious vitality and salience... it is Mormon teenagers who are sociologically faring the best."

Social events and gatherings

In addition to these regularly scheduled meetings, additional meetings are frequently held at the meetinghouse. Auxiliary officers may conduct leadership meetings or host training sessions and classes. The ward or branch community may schedule social activities at the meetinghouse, including dances, dinners, holiday parties and musical presentations. The church's Young Men's and Young Women's organizations (formerly known as the Mutual Improvement Association - MIA, or simply "Mutual") meet at the meetinghouse once a week, where the youth participate in activities and work on Duty to God, Scouting, or Personal Progress. Other popular activities are basketball, family history conferences, youth and singles conferences, dances, and various personal improvement classes. Church members may also reserve the building at no cost for weddings, receptions, and funerals.

Media and arts

The culture has created substantial business opportunities for independent LDS media. Such communities include cinema, fiction, websites, and graphical art like photography and paintings. The church owns a chain of bookstores called Deseret Book, which provide a channel through which publications are sold. Titles including ''The Work and the Glory'' and ''The Other Side of Heaven'' have found acceptance both within and outside the church; BYU TV, the church-sponsored television station, also airs on several networks. The church also produces six pageants annually depicting various events of the primitive and modern-day church. Its Easter pageant ''Jesus the Christ'' has been identified as the "largest annual outdoor Easter pageant in the world."

Current U.S. politics

Politically there are fifteen Mormons in the current 112th United States Congress. This includes five U.S. Senators: Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Tom Udall (D-New Mexico); and ten U.S. Representatives: Rob Bishop (R-Utah), Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), Dean Heller (R-Nevada), Wally Herger (R-California), Raul Labrador (R-Idaho), Jim Matheson (D-Utah), Buck McKeon (R-California), Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), and Eni Faleomavaega (D-American Samoa). There is one Mormon State Governor, Gary Herbert of Utah. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Jr. are both Mormon, and are vying for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.

Officially, the current position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that they will take no partisan role in politics. This means a hands-off approach to candidate races like those of Mitt Romney or Jon Huntsman, Jr. While the church takes an apolitical approach to the candidates themselves, it still actively works to counter anti-Mormonism that may come up during political campaigns. According to Michael Otterson, the LDS Church's managing director for public affairs, "We now have two Latter-day Saints running, and the potential for misunderstanding or missteps is therefore twice what it was before." However, the official church stance on staying out of politics does not include what church leaders feel are moral issues, and it has not been hesitant to endorse such political change.

Humanitarian services

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is widely known for its worldwide humanitarian services. The church's extensive welfare system, LDS Philanthropies, is a branch of the Presiding Bishopric. Initiated during the Great Depression, it provides aid for the poor, financed by donations in the form of tithes from church members. It is responsible for philanthropic donations to the LDS Church and other affiliated charities, such as the Church History Library, Brigham Young University and the Church Educational System, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and efforts dedicated to providing funds for LDS missionaries and temple construction. Money from the program is also used to operate bishop's storehouses, which package and store food for the poor at low cost. Distribution of funds and food is administered by local bishops. These local storehouses distribute commodities to the needy as requested by local bishops on a "Bishop's Order for Commodities" form (referred to as a bishop's order). Bishop's storehouses also provide service opportunities for those receiving assistance and for those desiring to serve missions or to volunteer in the church's welfare program. The day-to-day operations of the storehouses are run by elder missionaries as store managers.

The church also distributes money through its Humanitarian Services division to natural disaster victims worldwide. The church's Humanitarian Center, established in 1991, prepares emergency relief supplies for shipment worldwide to disaster victims, and offers service opportunities to both church members and non-members. The emergency relief supplies that the church donates typically include clothing, personal care kits, and medical supplies. According to the LDS Humanitarian Center website, it ships about 12 million pounds of shoes and clothing, 1 million hygiene kits, and 1 million pounds of medical supplies per year, to relieve suffering in more than 100 countries. The church has been involved in providing relief aid for victims of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, and in 2005 partnered with Catholic Relief Services to provide aid for struggling families and individuals in Niger. The church has also partnered with Islamic Relief to help victims of flooding in Pakistan.

Controversy and criticism

The church has been subject to criticism and sometimes discrimination since its early years in New York and Pennsylvania. In the late 1820s, criticism centered around the claim by Joseph Smith, Jr. to have been led to a set of golden plates from which the Book of Mormon was reputedly translated.

In the 1830s, the greatest criticism was for Smith's handling of a banking failure in Kirtland, Ohio, and the LDS Church's political and military power in Missouri, culminating in the 1838 Mormon War. In the 1840s, criticism of the church centered on the church's theocratic aspirations in Nauvoo, Illinois. Criticism of the practice of plural marriage and other doctrines taught by Smith appeared in the ''Nauvoo Expositor'', which led to a series of events culminating in Smith's murder in 1844.

As the church began openly practicing plural marriage under Brigham Young during the second half of the 19th century, the church became the target of nation-wide criticism for that practice (which was banned by the church in 1890), as well as for the church's theocratic aspirations in the Utah Territory. Beginning in 1857, the church also came under significant media criticism after the Mountain Meadows massacre in southern Utah.

Academic critics have questioned the legitimacy of Smith as a prophet as well as the historical authenticity of the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham. Criticism has expanded to include claims of historical revisionism, homophobia, racism, and sexist policies. Notable 20th-century critics include Jerald and Sandra Tanner and Fawn Brodie. Evangelical Christians continue to argue that Smith was either fraudulent or delusional. Mormon apologetics organizations, such as the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research (FAIR) and the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies (FARMS), have been founded to counter these criticisms. Most of the apologetic work focuses on providing and discussing evidence supporting the claims of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, and much of it features criticism of the perceived lack of honesty when it comes to the scholarship of non-Mormon critics. Scholars and authors such as Hugh Nibley, Daniel C. Peterson, Jeff Lindsay, Orson Scott Card, and James E. Talmage are well-known apologists both within and without the church.

In recent years, the Internet has provided a new forum for proponents and critics of Mormonism. The church's support in 2008 of California's Proposition 8 sparked heated debate and protest by gay-rights organizations and others. While the church remains opposed to same-sex marriage, it has come out in support of certain protections for members of the LGBT community in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Due to differences in doctrines, the LDS Church is generally considered to be distinct from historical Christianity by Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches, which express differences from one another as well. Many have accused the LDS Church of not being a Christian church at all as a result of disagreements with Apostolic succession and the "Great Apostasy," the Nicene Creed and more so, Mormon cosmology and its plan of salvation including the doctrines of pre-mortal life, baptism for the dead, three degrees of heaven, and exaltation, the last of which allows for the belief that humans may become gods and goddesses achieving the same status that Jesus achieved, which is also referred to as becoming a "joint-heir with Christ."

Notes

See also

Mormon (word)

Mormons

Mormonism

Mormonism and Christianity

References

. (published only to certain clergy—not generally available to church members or the public). .

Further reading

External links

Official church website

LDS.org – The official website of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — with links to Gospel Library, Church History, Family Home Evening programs, and more.

Reference sites and indexes

* Category:Religious organizations based in the United States Category:Christian denominations, unions, and movements established in the 19th century Category:Religious organizations established in 1830 Category:Christian new religious movements Category:Economy of Salt Lake City, Utah Category:Organizations that oppose same-sex marriage

af:Kerk van Jesus Christus van die Heiliges van die Laaste Dae ar:كنيسة يسوع المسيح لقديسي الأيام الأخيرة ast:Ilesia de Xesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Díes zh-min-nan:Iâ-so͘ Ki-tok Āu-kî Sèng-tô͘ Kàu-hōe be:Мармоны bcl:An Simbahan ni Jesukristo nin mga Banal sa Huring-aldaw bs:Crkva Isusa Krista svetaca posljednjih dana bg:Църква на Исус Христос на светиите от последните дни ca:Església de Jesucrist dels Sants dels Darrers Dies cs:Církev Ježíše Krista Svatých posledních dnů cy:Eglwys Iesu Grist Saint y Dyddiau Diwethaf da:Jesu Kristi Kirke af Sidste Dages Hellige pdc:Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints de:Kirche Jesu Christi der Heiligen der Letzten Tage et:Viimse Aja Pühade Jeesuse Kristuse Kirik es:La Iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días eo:Eklezio de Jesuo Kristo de la Sanktuloj de la Lastaj Tagoj ext:Elésia Jesucristu los Santus los Úrtimus Dias eu:Azken Egunetako Santuen Jesukristoren Eliza fa:کلیسای عیسی مسیح قدیسان آخر الزمان fr:Église de Jésus-Christ des saints des derniers jours fy:Tsjerke fan Jezus Kristus fan Letterdei Hilligen gd:Eaglais Iosa Chriost de Naomhan an Latha mu Dheireadh gl:Igrexa de Xesús Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Días ko:예수 그리스도 후기성도 교회 hr:Crkva Isusa Krista svetaca posljednjih dana io:Eklezio di Iesu Kristo di Lasta-Diala Santi id:Gereja Yesus Kristus dari Orang-orang Suci Zaman Akhir ia:Ecclesia de Jesus Christo del Sanctos del Ultime Dies is:Kirkja Jesú Krists hinna síðari daga heilögu it:Chiesa di Gesù Cristo dei santi degli ultimi giorni he:מורמונים ka:უკანასკნელი დღეების წმინდანთა იესო ქრისტეს ეკლესია ht:Legliz Jezikri pou Sen Dènye Jou yo lad:La Iglezya de Jesus-Kristo de los Santos de los Últimos Dyas la:Ecclesia Iesu Christi Sanctorum in Novissimis Diebus lv:Pēdējo dienu svēto Jēzus Kristus baznīca li:Kerk van Jezus Christus en de Heilige der letste daag jbo:be'ejda be lei fanmo djedi cespre bei la iecy,ys.krist hu:Az Utolsó Napok Szentjeinek Jézus Krisztus Egyháza mr:येशू ख्रिस्ताच्या आधुनिक भक्तांचे चर्च ms:Gereja Mormon mwl:Eigreija de Jasus Cristo de ls Santos de ls Redadeiros Dies nl:Kerk van Jezus Christus van de Heiligen der Laatste Dagen ja:末日聖徒イエス・キリスト教会 no:Jesu Kristi Kirke av Siste Dagers Hellige nn:Jesu Kristi Kyrkje av Siste Dagars Heilage nov:Eklesie de Jesu Kristo de li Sanktis de li Lasti Dies oc:Glèisa de Jesucrist des Sants des Darrèri Dies pms:Gesia ëd Crist dij Sant dj'ùltim di pl:Kościół Jezusa Chrystusa Świętych w Dniach Ostatnich pt:A Igreja de Jesus Cristo dos Santos dos Últimos Dias ty:Te Ekalesia a Iesu Mesia i te Feia Mo‘a i te hau Mahana Hopea nei ro:Biserica lui Isus Hristos a Sfinților din Zilele din Urmă ru:Церковь Иисуса Христа Святых последних дней sm:Lotu Mamona scn:Chiesa di Gesù Cristu dî Santi di l'Ùrtimi Jorna simple:The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sk:Cirkev Ježiša Krista Svätých neskorších dní sl:Cerkev Jezusa Kristusa svetih iz poslednjih dni sh:Crkva Isusa Krista svetaca posljednjih dana fi:Myöhempien Aikojen Pyhien Jeesuksen Kristuksen kirkko sv:Jesu Kristi Kyrka av Sista Dagars Heliga to:Siasi Māmonga tr:İsa Mesih'in Son Zaman Azizler Kilisesi uk:Церква Ісуса Христа Святих останніх днів vi:Giáo hội Các Thánh hữu Ngày sau của Chúa Giêsu Kitô zh:耶穌基督後期聖徒教會

Coordinates	41°52′55″N87°37′40″N
Name	Barack Obama
Alt	A portrait shot of Barack Obama, looking straight ahead. He has short black hair, and is wearing a dark navy blazer with a blue striped tie over a light blue collared shirt. In the background are two flags hanging from separate flagpoles: the American flag, and the flag of the Executive Office of the President.
Office	44th President of the United States
Vicepresident	Joe Biden
Term start	January 20, 2009
Predecessor	George W. Bush
Jr/sr2	United States Senate
State2	Illinois
Term start2	January 3, 2005
Term end2	November 16, 2008
Predecessor2	Peter Fitzgerald
Successor2	Roland Burris
Office3	Member of the Illinois Senate from the 13th District
Term start3	January 8, 1997
Term end3	November 4, 2004
Predecessor3	Alice Palmer
Successor3	Kwame Raoul
Birth name	Barack Hussein Obama II
Birth date	August 04, 1961
Birth place	Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Party	Democratic
Spouse	Michelle Robinson (1992–present)
Children	Malia (born 1998) Sasha (born 2001)
Residence	White House (Official)Chicago, Illinois (Private)
Alma mater	Occidental CollegeColumbia University (B.A.)Harvard Law School (J.D.)
Profession	Community organizerLawyerConstitutional law professorAuthor
Religion	Christianity
Signature	Barack Obama signature.svg
Signature alt	Barack Obama
Website	barackobama.com
Footnotes	}}

Barack Hussein Obama II (; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Obama is a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School, where he was the president of the ''Harvard Law Review''. He was a community organizer in Chicago before earning his law degree. He worked as a civil rights attorney in Chicago and taught constitutional law at the University of Chicago Law School from 1992 to 2004. He served three terms representing the 13th District in the Illinois Senate from 1997 to 2004.

Following an unsuccessful bid against the Democratic incumbent for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2000, Obama ran for the United States Senate in 2004. Several events brought him to national attention during the campaign, including his victory in the March 2004 Illinois Democratic primary for the Senate election and his keynote address at the Democratic National Convention in July 2004. He won election to the U.S. Senate in Illinois in November 2004. His presidential campaign began in February 2007, and after a close campaign in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primaries against Hillary Rodham Clinton, he won his party's nomination. In the 2008 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee John McCain, and was inaugurated as president on January 20, 2009. In October 2009, Obama was named the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

As president, Obama signed economic stimulus legislation in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010. Other domestic policy initiatives include the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 and the Budget Control Act of 2011. In foreign policy, he ended the war in Iraq, increased troop levels in Afghanistan, signed the New START arms control treaty with Russia, ordered US involvement in the 2011 Libya military intervention, and ordered the military operation that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. In April 2011, Obama declared his intention to seek re-election in the 2012 presidential election.

Early life and career

Obama was born on August 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital (now Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children) in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is the first President to have been born in Hawaii. His mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was of mostly English ancestry, along with Scottish, Irish, German, and Swiss. His father, Barack Obama, Sr., was a Luo from Nyang’oma Kogelo, Nyanza Province, Kenya. Obama's parents met in 1960 in a Russian class at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, where his father was a foreign student on scholarship. The couple married on February 2, 1961, separated when Obama Sr. went to Harvard University on scholarship, and divorced in 1964. Obama Sr. remarried and returned to Kenya, visiting Barack in Hawaii only once, in 1971. He died in an automobile accident in 1982.

After her divorce, Dunham married Indonesian Lolo Soetoro, who was attending college in Hawaii. When Suharto, a military leader in Soetoro's home country, came to power in 1967, all Indonesian students studying abroad were recalled, and the family moved to the Menteng neighborhood of Jakarta. From ages six to ten, Obama attended local schools in Jakarta, including Besuki Public School and St. Francis of Assisi School.

In 1971, Obama returned to Honolulu to live with his maternal grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Armour Dunham, and with the aid of a scholarship attended Punahou School, a private college preparatory school, from fifth grade until his graduation from high school in 1979. Obama's mother returned to Hawaii in 1972, remaining there until 1977 when she went back to Indonesia to work as an anthropological field worker. She finally returned to Hawaii in 1994 and lived there for one year before dying of ovarian cancer.

Of his early childhood, Obama recalled, "That my father looked nothing like the people around me—that he was black as pitch, my mother white as milk—barely registered in my mind." Reflecting later on his years in Honolulu, Obama wrote: "The opportunity that Hawaii offered—to experience a variety of cultures in a climate of mutual respect—became an integral part of my world view, and a basis for the values that I hold most dear." Obama has also written and talked about using alcohol, marijuana and cocaine during his teenage years to "push questions of who I was out of my mind." At the 2008 Civil Forum on the Presidency, Obama identified his high-school drug use as a great moral failure.

Following high school, Obama moved to Los Angeles in 1979 to attend Occidental College. In February 1981, he made his first public speech, calling for Occidental's disinvestment from South Africa due to its policy of apartheid. In mid-1981, Obama traveled to Indonesia to visit his mother and sister Maya, and visited the families of college friends in Pakistan and India for three weeks. Later in 1981, he transferred to Columbia University in New York City, where he majored in political science with a specialty in international relations and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1983. He worked for a year at the Business International Corporation, then at the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Chicago community organizer and Harvard Law School

Two years after graduating, Obama was hired in Chicago as director of the Developing Communities Project (DCP), a church-based community organization originally comprising eight Catholic parishes in Roseland, West Pullman and Riverdale on Chicago's South Side. He worked there as a community organizer from June 1985 to May 1988. He helped set up a job training program, a college preparatory tutoring program, and a tenants' rights organization in Altgeld Gardens. Obama also worked as a consultant and instructor for the Gamaliel Foundation, a community organizing institute. In mid-1988, he traveled for the first time in Europe for three weeks and then for five weeks in Kenya, where he met many of his paternal relatives for the first time. He returned in August 2006 for a visit to his father's birthplace, a village near Kisumu in rural western Kenya.

In late 1988, Obama entered Harvard Law School. He was selected as an editor of the ''Harvard Law Review'' at the end of his first year, and president of the journal in his second year. During his summers, he returned to Chicago, where he worked as an associate at the law firms of Sidley Austin in 1989 and Hopkins & Sutter in 1990. After graduating with a J.D. ''magna cum laude'' from Harvard in 1991, he returned to Chicago. Obama's election as the first black president of the ''Harvard Law Review'' gained national media attention and led to a publishing contract and advance for a book about race relations, which evolved into a personal memoir. The manuscript was published in mid-1995 as ''Dreams from My Father''.

University of Chicago Law School and civil rights attorney

In 1991, Obama accepted a two-year position as Visiting Law and Government Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School to work on his first book. He then taught at the University of Chicago Law School for twelve years—as a Lecturer from 1992 to 1996, and as a Senior Lecturer from 1996 to 2004—teaching constitutional law.

From April to October 1992, Obama directed Illinois's Project Vote, a voter registration drive with ten staffers and seven hundred volunteer registrars; it achieved its goal of registering 150,000 of 400,000 unregistered African Americans in the state, and led to ''Crain's Chicago Business'' naming Obama to its 1993 list of "40 under Forty" powers to be. In 1993 he joined Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, a 13-attorney law firm specializing in civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development, where he was an associate for three years from 1993 to 1996, then of counsel from 1996 to 2004, with his law license becoming inactive in 2002.

From 1994 to 2002, Obama served on the boards of directors of the Woods Fund of Chicago, which in 1985 had been the first foundation to fund the Developing Communities Project; and of the Joyce Foundation. Once elected, Obama gained bipartisan support for legislation reforming ethics and health care laws. He sponsored a law increasing tax credits for low-income workers, negotiated welfare reform, and promoted increased subsidies for childcare. In 2001, as co-chairman of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Obama supported Republican Governor Ryan's payday loan regulations and predatory mortgage lending regulations aimed at averting home foreclosures.

Obama was reelected to the Illinois Senate in 1998, defeating Republican Yesse Yehudah in the general election, and was reelected again in 2002. In 2000, he lost a Democratic primary run for the U.S. House of Representatives to four-term incumbent Bobby Rush by a margin of two to one.

In January 2003, Obama became chairman of the Illinois Senate's Health and Human Services Committee when Democrats, after a decade in the minority, regained a majority. He sponsored and led unanimous, bipartisan passage of legislation to monitor racial profiling by requiring police to record the race of drivers they detained, and legislation making Illinois the first state to mandate videotaping of homicide interrogations. During his 2004 general election campaign for U.S. Senate, police representatives credited Obama for his active engagement with police organizations in enacting death penalty reforms. Obama resigned from the Illinois Senate in November 2004 following his election to the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Senate campaign

In May 2002, Obama commissioned a poll to assess his prospects in a 2004 U.S. Senate race; he created a campaign committee, began raising funds and lined up political media consultant David Axelrod by August 2002, and formally announced his candidacy in January 2003.

Obama was an early opponent of the George W. Bush administration's 2003 invasion of Iraq. On October 2, 2002, the day President Bush and Congress agreed on the joint resolution authorizing the Iraq War, Obama addressed the first high-profile Chicago anti-Iraq War rally, and spoke out against the war. He addressed another anti-war rally in March 2003 and told the crowd that "it's not too late" to stop the war.

Decisions by Republican incumbent Peter Fitzgerald and his Democratic predecessor Carol Moseley Braun to not participate in the election resulted in wide-open Democratic and Republican primary contests involving fifteen candidates. In the March 2004 primary election, Obama won in an unexpected landslide—which overnight made him a rising star within the national Democratic Party, started speculation about a presidential future, and led to the reissue of his memoir, ''Dreams from My Father''. In July 2004, Obama delivered the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, seen by 9.1 million viewers. His speech was well received and elevated his status within the Democratic Party.

Obama's expected opponent in the general election, Republican primary winner Jack Ryan, withdrew from the race in June 2004. Six weeks later, Alan Keyes accepted the Republican nomination to replace Ryan. In the November 2004 general election, Obama won with 70 percent of the vote.

U.S. Senator: 2005–2008

Obama was sworn in as a senator on January 3, 2005, becoming the only Senate member of the Congressional Black Caucus. ''CQ Weekly'' characterized him as a "loyal Democrat" based on analysis of all Senate votes in 2005–2007. Obama announced on November 13, 2008, that he would resign his Senate seat on November 16, 2008, before the start of the lame-duck session, to focus on his transition period for the presidency.

Legislation

Obama cosponsored the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act. He introduced two initiatives bearing his name: Lugar–Obama, which expanded the Nunn–Lugar cooperative threat reduction concept to conventional weapons; and the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006, which authorized the establishment of USAspending.gov, a web search engine on federal spending. On June 3, 2008, Senator Obama—along with Senators Tom Carper, Tom Coburn, and John McCain—introduced follow-up legislation: Strengthening Transparency and Accountability in Federal Spending Act of 2008.

Obama sponsored legislation that would have required nuclear plant owners to notify state and local authorities of radioactive leaks, but the bill failed to pass in the full Senate after being heavily modified in committee. Regarding tort reform, Obama voted for the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 and the FISA Amendments Act of 2008, which grants immunity from civil liability to telecommunications companies complicit with NSA warrantless wiretapping operations.

In December 2006, President Bush signed into law the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act, marking the first federal legislation to be enacted with Obama as its primary sponsor. In January 2007, Obama and Senator Feingold introduced a corporate jet provision to the Honest Leadership and Open Government Act, which was signed into law in September 2007. Obama also introduced Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act, a bill to criminalize deceptive practices in federal elections, and the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, neither of which has been signed into law.

Later in 2007, Obama sponsored an amendment to the Defense Authorization Act adding safeguards for personality-disorder military discharges. This amendment passed the full Senate in the spring of 2008. He sponsored the Iran Sanctions Enabling Act supporting divestment of state pension funds from Iran's oil and gas industry, which has not passed committee; and co-sponsored legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism. Obama also sponsored a Senate amendment to the State Children's Health Insurance Program, providing one year of job protection for family members caring for soldiers with combat-related injuries.

Committees

Obama held assignments on the Senate Committees for Foreign Relations, Environment and Public Works and Veterans' Affairs through December 2006. In January 2007, he left the Environment and Public Works committee and took additional assignments with Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. He also became Chairman of the Senate's subcommittee on European Affairs. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Obama made official trips to Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. He met with Mahmoud Abbas before Abbas became President of the Palestinian National Authority, and gave a speech at the University of Nairobi condemning corruption within the Kenyan government.

Presidential campaigns

2008 presidential campaign

On February 10, 2007, Obama announced his candidacy for President of the United States in front of the Old State Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois. The choice of the announcement site was viewed as symbolic because it was also where Abraham Lincoln delivered his historic "House Divided" speech in 1858. Obama emphasized the issues of rapidly ending the Iraq War, increasing energy independence, and providing universal health care, in a campaign that projected themes of "hope" and "change".

A large number of candidates entered the Democratic Party presidential primaries. The field narrowed to a duel between Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after early contests, with the race remaining close throughout the primary process but with Obama gaining a steady lead in pledged delegates due to better long-range planning, superior fundraising, dominant organizing in caucus states, and better exploitation of delegate allocation rules. On June 7, 2008, Clinton ended her campaign and endorsed Obama.

On August 23, Obama announced his selection of Delaware Senator Joe Biden as his vice presidential running mate. Biden was selected from a field speculated to include former Indiana Governor and Senator Evan Bayh and Virginia Governor Tim Kaine. At the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, Hillary Clinton called for her supporters to endorse Obama, and she and Bill Clinton gave convention speeches in his support. Obama delivered his acceptance speech, not at the center where the Democratic National Convention was held, but at Invesco Field at Mile High to a crowd of over 75,000; the speech was viewed by over 38 million people worldwide.

During both the primary process and the general election, Obama's campaign set numerous fundraising records, particularly in the quantity of small donations. On June 19, 2008, Obama became the first major-party presidential candidate to turn down public financing in the general election since the system was created in 1976.

McCain was nominated as the Republican candidate and the two engaged in three presidential debates in September and October 2008. On November 4, Obama won the presidency with 365 electoral votes to 173 received by McCain. Obama won 52.9 percent of the popular vote to McCain's 45.7 percent. He became the first African American to be elected president. Obama delivered his victory speech before hundreds of thousands of supporters in Chicago's Grant Park.

2012 presidential campaign

On April 4, 2011, Obama announced his re-election campaign for 2012 in a video titled "It Begins with Us" that he posted on his website and filed election papers with the Federal Election Commission.

Presidency

First days

The inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President, and Joe Biden as Vice President, took place on January 20, 2009. In his first few days in office Obama issued executive orders and presidential memoranda directing the U.S. military to develop plans to withdraw troops from Iraq. He ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp "as soon as practicable and no later than" January 2010, but during his first two years in office he has been unable to persuade Congress to appropriate funds required to accomplish the shutdown. Obama reduced the secrecy given to presidential records and changed procedures to promote disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. He also reversed George W. Bush's ban on federal funding to foreign establishments that allow abortions.

Domestic policy

The first bill signed into law by Obama was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, relaxing the statute of limitations for equal-pay lawsuits. Five days later, he signed the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to cover an additional 4 million uninsured children. In March 2009, Obama reversed a Bush-era policy which had limited funding of embryonic stem cell research. Obama stated that he believed "sound science and moral values ... are not inconsistent" and pledged to develop "strict guidelines" on the research.

Obama appointed two women to serve on the Supreme Court in the first two years of his Presidency. Sonia Sotomayor, nominated by Obama on May 26, 2009, to replace retiring Associate Justice David Souter, was confirmed on August 6, 2009, becoming the first Hispanic to be a Supreme Court Justice. Elena Kagan, nominated by Obama on May 10, 2010, to replace retiring Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, was confirmed on August 5, 2010, bringing the number of women sitting simultaneously on the Court to three, for the first time in American history.

On September 30, 2009, the Obama administration proposed new regulations on power plants, factories and oil refineries in an attempt to limit greenhouse gas emissions and to curb global warming.

On October 8, 2009, Obama signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, a measure that expands the 1969 United States federal hate-crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

On March 30, 2010, Obama signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, a reconciliation bill which ends the process of the federal government giving subsidies to private banks to give out federally insured loans, increases the Pell Grant scholarship award, and makes changes to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In a major space policy speech in April 2010, Obama announced a planned change in direction at NASA, the U.S. space agency. He ended plans for a return of human spaceflight to the moon and ended development of the Ares I rocket, Ares V rocket and Constellation program. He is focusing funding (which is expected to rise modestly) on Earth science projects and a new rocket type, as well as research and development for an eventual manned mission to Mars. Missions to the International Space Station are expected to continue until 2020.

On December 22, 2010, Obama signed the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, a bill that provides for repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy of 1993 that has prevented gay and lesbian people from serving openly in the United States Armed Forces. Repealing "Don't ask, don't tell" had been a key campaign promise that Obama had made during the 2008 presidential campaign.

On January 25, 2011, in his 2011 State of the Union Address, President Obama focused strongly on the themes of education and innovation, stressing the importance of innovation economics in working to make the United States more competitive globally. Among other plans and goals, Obama spoke of enacting a five-year freeze in domestic spending, eliminating tax breaks for oil companies and tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent of Americans, banning congressional earmarks, and reducing healthcare costs. Looking to the future, Obama promised that by 2015, the United States would have one million electric vehicles on the road and by 2035, clean-energy sources would be providing 80 percent of U.S. electricity.

Economic policy

thumb|right|President Barack Obama signing the [[American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009|American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law on February 17, 2009, in Denver, Colorado, with Vice President Joe Biden standing behind him]]On February 17, 2009, Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion economic stimulus package aimed at helping the economy recover from the deepening worldwide recession. The act includes increased federal spending for health care, infrastructure, education, various tax breaks and incentives, and direct assistance to individuals, which is being distributed over the course of several years.

In March, Obama's Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, took further steps to manage the financial crisis, including introducing the Public-Private Investment Program for Legacy Assets, which contains provisions for buying up to $2 trillion in depreciated real estate assets. Obama intervened in the troubled automotive industry in March 2009, renewing loans for General Motors and Chrysler to continue operations while reorganizing. Over the following months the White House set terms for both firms' bankruptcies, including the sale of Chrysler to Italian automaker Fiat and a reorganization of GM giving the U.S. government a temporary 60 percent equity stake in the company, with the Canadian government shouldering a 12 percent stake. In June 2009, dissatisfied with the pace of economic stimulus, Obama called on his cabinet to accelerate the investment. He signed into law the Car Allowance Rebate System, known colloquially as "Cash for Clunkers", that temporarily boosted the economy.

Although spending and loan guarantees from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department authorized by the Bush and Obama administrations totaled about $11.5 trillion, only $3 trillion had been spent by the end of November 2009. However, Obama and the Congressional Budget Office predicted that the 2010 budget deficit will be $1.5 trillion or 10.6 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP) compared to the 2009 deficit of $1.4 trillion or 9.9 percent of GDP. For 2011, the administration predicted the deficit will slightly shrink to $1.34 trillion, while the 10-year deficit will increase to $8.53 trillion or 90 percent of GDP. The most recent increase in the U.S. debt ceiling to $14.3 trillion was signed into law on February 12, 2010. On August 2, 2011, after a lengthy congressional debate over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, Obama signed the bipartisan Budget Control Act of 2011. The legislation enforces limits on discretionary spending until 2021, establishes a procedure to increase the debt limit, creates a Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to propose further deficit reduction with a stated goal of achieving at least $1.5 trillion in budgetary savings over 10 years, and establishes automatic procedures for reducing spending by as much as $1.2 trillion if legislation originating with the new joint select committee does not achieve such savings. By passing the legislation, Congress was able to prevent an unprecedented U.S. government default on its obligations.

The unemployment rate rose in 2009, reaching a peak in October at 10.1 percent and averaging 10.0 percent in the fourth quarter. Following a decrease to 9.7 percent in the first quarter of 2010, the unemployment rate fell to 9.6 percent in the second quarter, where it remained for the rest of the year. Between February and December 2010, employment rose by 0.8 percent, which was less than the average of 1.9 percent experienced during comparable periods in the past four employment recoveries. GDP growth returned in the third quarter of 2009, expanding at a rate of 1.6 percent, followed by a 5.0 percent increase in the fourth quarter. Growth continued in 2010, posting an increase of 3.7 percent in the first quarter, with lesser gains throughout the rest of the year. In July 2010, the Federal Reserve expressed that although economic activity continued to increase, its pace had slowed, and Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the economic outlook was "unusually uncertain." Overall, the economy expanded at a rate of 2.9 percent in 2010.

The Congressional Budget Office and a broad range of economists credit Obama's stimulus plan for economic growth. The CBO released a report stating that the stimulus bill increased employment by 1–2.1 million, while conceding that "It is impossible to determine how many of the reported jobs would have existed in the absence of the stimulus package." Although an April 2010 survey of members of the National Association for Business Economics showed an increase in job creation (over a similar January survey) for the first time in two years, 73 percent of 68 respondents believed that the stimulus bill has had no impact on employment.

Within a month of the 2010 midterm elections, Obama announced a compromise deal with the Congressional Republican leadership that included a temporary, two-year extension of the 2001 and 2003 income tax rates, a one-year payroll tax reduction, continuation of unemployment benefits, and a new rate and exemption amount for estate taxes. The compromise overcame opposition from some in both parties, and the resulting $858 billion Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 passed with bipartisan majorities in both houses of Congress before Obama signed it on December 17, 2010.

Health care reform

Obama called for Congress to pass legislation reforming health care in the United States, a key campaign promise and a top legislative goal. He proposed an expansion of health insurance coverage to cover the uninsured, to cap premium increases, and to allow people to retain their coverage when they leave or change jobs. His proposal was to spend $900 billion over 10 years and include a government insurance plan, also known as the public option, to compete with the corporate insurance sector as a main component to lowering costs and improving quality of health care. It would also make it illegal for insurers to drop sick people or deny them coverage for pre-existing conditions, and require every American carry health coverage. The plan also includes medical spending cuts and taxes on insurance companies that offer expensive plans.

On July 14, 2009, House Democratic leaders introduced a 1,017-page plan for overhauling the U.S. health care system, which Obama wanted Congress to approve by the end of 2009. After much public debate during the Congressional summer recess of 2009, Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress on September 9 where he addressed concerns over the proposals. In March 2009, Obama lifted a ban on stem cell research.

On November 7, 2009, a health care bill featuring the public option was passed in the House. On December 24, 2009, the Senate passed its own bill—without a public option—on a party-line vote of 60–39. On March 21, 2010, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act passed by the Senate in December was passed in the House by a vote of 219 to 212. Obama signed the bill into law on March 23, 2010.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act includes health-related provisions to take effect over four years, including expanding Medicaid eligibility for people making up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level (FPL) starting in 2014, subsidizing insurance premiums for people making up to 400 percent of the FPL ($88,000 for family of four in 2010) so their maximum "out-of-pocket" payment for annual premiums will be from 2 to 9.5 percent of income, providing incentives for businesses to provide health care benefits, prohibiting denial of coverage and denial of claims based on pre-existing conditions, establishing health insurance exchanges, prohibiting annual coverage caps, and support for medical research. According to White House and Congressional Budget Office figures, the maximum share of income that enrollees would have to pay would vary depending on their income relative to the federal poverty level.

The costs of these provisions are offset by taxes, fees, and cost-saving measures, such as new Medicare taxes for those in high-income brackets, taxes on indoor tanning, cuts to the Medicare Advantage program in favor of traditional Medicare, and fees on medical devices and pharmaceutical companies; there is also a tax penalty for those who do not obtain health insurance, unless they are exempt due to low income or other reasons. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the net effect of both laws will be a reduction in the federal deficit by $143 billion over the first decade.

Gulf of Mexico oil spill

On April 20, 2010, an explosion destroyed an offshore drilling rig at the Macondo Prospect in the Gulf of Mexico, causing a major sustained oil leak. The well's operator, BP, initiated a containment and cleanup plan, and began drilling two relief wells intended to stop the flow. Obama visited the Gulf on May 2 among visits by members of his cabinet, and again on May 28 and June 4. On May 22 he announced a federal investigation and formed a bipartisan commission to recommend new safety standards, after a review by Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and concurrent Congressional hearings. On May 27, he announced a 6-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling permits and leases, pending regulatory review. As multiple efforts by BP failed, some in the media and public expressed confusion and criticism over various aspects of the incident, and stated a desire for more involvement by Obama and the federal government.

Foreign policy

In February and March, Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton made separate overseas trips to announce a "new era" in U.S. foreign relations with Russia and Europe, using the terms "break" and "reset" to signal major changes from the policies of the preceding administration. Obama attempted to reach out to Arab leaders by granting his first interview to an Arab cable TV network, Al Arabiya.

On March 19, Obama continued his outreach to the Muslim world, releasing a New Year's video message to the people and government of Iran. This attempt at outreach was rebuffed by the Iranian leadership. In April, Obama gave a speech in Ankara, Turkey, which was well received by many Arab governments. On June 4, 2009, Obama delivered a speech at Cairo University in Egypt calling for "a new beginning" in relations between the Islamic world and the United States and promoting Middle East peace.

On June 26, 2009, in response to the Iranian government's actions towards protesters following Iran's 2009 presidential election, Obama said: "The violence perpetrated against them is outrageous. We see it and we condemn it." On July 7, while in Moscow, he responded to a Vice President Biden comment on a possible Israeli military strike on Iran by saying: "We have said directly to the Israelis that it is important to try and resolve this in an international setting in a way that does not create major conflict in the Middle East."

On September 24, 2009, Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to preside over a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

In March 2010, Obama took a public stance against plans by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to continue building Jewish housing projects in predominantly Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. During the same month, an agreement was reached with the administration of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to replace the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with a new pact reducing the number of long-range nuclear weapons in the arsenals of both countries by about one-third. The New START treaty was signed by Obama and Medvedev in April 2010, and was ratified by the U.S. Senate in December 2010.

Iraq War

On February 27, 2009, Obama declared that combat operations in Iraq would end within 18 months. His remarks were made to a group of Marines preparing for deployment to Afghanistan. Obama said, "Let me say this as plainly as I can: By August 31, 2010, our combat mission in Iraq will end." The Obama administration scheduled the withdrawal of combat troops to be completed by August 2010, decreasing troops levels from 142,000 while leaving a transitional force of 35,000 to 50,000 in Iraq until the end of 2011. On August 19, 2010, the last United States combat brigade exited Iraq. The plan is to transition the mission of the remaining troops from combat operations to counter-terrorism and the training, equipping, and advising of Iraqi security forces. On August 31, 2010, Obama announced that the United States combat mission in Iraq was over. On October 21, 2011 President Obama announced that all U.S. troops would leave Iraq in time to be, "home for the holidays".

War in Afghanistan

Early in his presidency, Obama moved to bolster U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan. He announced an increase to U.S. troop levels of 17,000 in February 2009 to "stabilize a deteriorating situation in Afghanistan", an area he said had not received the "strategic attention, direction and resources it urgently requires". He replaced the military commander in Afghanistan, General David D. McKiernan, with former Special Forces commander Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal in May 2009, indicating that McChrystal's Special Forces experience would facilitate the use of counterinsurgency tactics in the war. On December 1, 2009, Obama announced the deployment of an additional 30,000 military personnel to Afghanistan. He also proposed to begin troop withdrawals 18 months from that date. McChrystal was replaced by David Petraeus in June 2010, after McChrystal's staff criticized White House personnel in a magazine article.

Israel

During the initial years of the Obama administration, the U.S. increased military cooperation with Israel, including a record number of U.S. troops participating in military exercises in the country, increased military aid, and the re-establishment of the U.S.-Israeli Joint Political Military Group and the Defense Policy Advisory Group. It was reported high-ranking defense officials from both countries had been making an unusual number of trips between the two countries, including Ehud Barak. Part of the military aid increase in 2010 was to fund Israel's missile defense shield. Before his retirement in September 2011, Adm. Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made four trips to Israel during his four-year tenure, two of them in 2010. Prior to 2007 no Chairman of the Joint Chiefs had done so for over ten years.

In 2011, Obama's Ambassador to the United Nations vetoed a resolution condemning Israeli settlements, with the U.S. the only nation on the Security Council doing so. Obama supports the two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict based on the 1967 borders with land swaps.

Libya

In March 2011, as forces loyal to Muammar Gaddafi advanced on rebels across Libya, calls for a no-fly zone came from around the world, including Europe, the Arab League, and a resolution passed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. In response to the unanimous passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 on March 17, Gaddafi who had previously vowed to "show no mercy" to the citizens of Benghazi—announced an immediate cessation of military activities, yet reports came in that his forces continued shelling Misrata. The next day, on Obama's orders, the U.S. military took a lead role in air strikes to destroy the Libyan government's air defense capabilities in order to protect civilians and enforce a no-fly-zone, including the use of Tomahawk missiles, B-2 Spirits, and fighter jets. Six days later, on March 25, by unanimous vote of all of its 28 members, NATO took over leadership of the effort, dubbed Operation Unified Protector. Some Representatives questioned whether Obama had the constitutional authority to order military action in addition to questioning its cost, structure and aftermath.

|filename=050111 Osama Bin Laden Death Statement audioonly.ogg |title=President Obama announces the death of Osama bin Laden on May 1, 2011. |description= }}

Osama bin Laden

Starting with information received in July 2010, intelligence developed by the CIA over the next several months determined what they believed to be the location of Osama bin Laden in a large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a suburban area 35 miles from Islamabad. CIA head Leon Panetta reported this intelligence to President Obama in March 2011. Meeting with his national security advisers over the course of the next six weeks, Obama rejected a plan to bomb the compound, and authorized a "surgical raid" to be conducted by United States Navy SEALs. The operation took place on May 1, 2011, resulting in the death of bin Laden and the seizure of papers and computer drives and disks from the compound. Bin Laden's body was identified through DNA testing, and buried at sea several hours later. Within minutes of the President's announcement from Washington, DC, late in the evening on May 1, there were spontaneous celebrations around the country as crowds gathered outside the White House, and at New York City's Ground Zero and Times Square. Reaction to the announcement was positive across party lines, including from former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, and from many countries around the world.

2010 midterm election

Obama called the November 2, 2010 election, where the Democratic Party lost 63 seats in, and control of, the House of Representatives, "humbling" and a "shellacking". He said that the results came because not enough Americans had felt the effects of the economic recovery.

Cultural and political image

Obama's family history, upbringing, and Ivy League education differ markedly from those of African American politicians who launched their careers in the 1960s through participation in the civil rights movement. Obama is also not a descendant of American slaves. Expressing puzzlement over questions about whether he is "black enough", Obama told an August 2007 meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists that "we're still locked in this notion that if you appeal to white folks then there must be something wrong". Obama acknowledged his youthful image in an October 2007 campaign speech, saying: "I wouldn't be here if, time and again, the torch had not been passed to a new generation."

Obama is frequently referred to as an exceptional orator. During his pre-inauguration transition period and continuing into his presidency, Obama has delivered a series of weekly Internet video addresses.

According to the Gallup Organization, Obama began his presidency with a 68 percent approval rating before gradually declining for the rest of the year, and eventually bottoming out at 41 percent in August 2010, a trend similar to Ronald Reagan's and Bill Clinton's first years in office. He experienced a small poll bounce shortly after the death of Osama bin Laden, which lasted until around June 2011, when his approval numbers dropped back to where they were prior to the operation. Polls show strong support for Obama in other countries, and before being elected President he has met with prominent foreign figures including then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Italy's Democratic Party leader and then Mayor of Rome Walter Veltroni, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

In a February 2009 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for France 24 and the ''International Herald Tribune'', Obama was rated as the most respected world leader, as well as the most powerful. In a similar poll conducted by Harris in May 2009, Obama was rated as the most popular world leader, as well as the one figure most people would pin their hopes on for pulling the world out of the economic downturn.

Obama won Best Spoken Word Album Grammy Awards for abridged audiobook versions of ''Dreams from My Father'' in February 2006 and for ''The Audacity of Hope'' in February 2008. His concession speech after the New Hampshire primary was set to music by independent artists as the music video "Yes We Can", which was viewed 10 million times on YouTube in its first month and received a Daytime Emmy Award. In December 2008, ''Time'' magazine named Obama as its Person of the Year for his historic candidacy and election, which it described as "the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments".

On October 9, 2009, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that Obama had won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples". Obama accepted this award in Oslo, Norway on December 10, 2009, with "deep gratitude and great humility." The award drew a mixture of praise and criticism from world leaders and media figures. Obama is the fourth U.S. president to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and the third to become a Nobel laureate while in office.

Family and personal life

In a 2006 interview, Obama highlighted the diversity of his extended family: "It's like a little mini-United Nations", he said. "I've got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I've got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher." Obama has a half-sister with whom he was raised, Maya Soetoro-Ng, the daughter of his mother and her Indonesian second husband and seven half-siblings from his Kenyan father's family – six of them living. Obama's mother was survived by her Kansas-born mother, Madelyn Dunham, until her death on November 2, 2008, two days before his election to the Presidency. Obama also has roots in Ireland; he met with his Irish cousins in Moneygall in May 2011. In ''Dreams from My Father'', Obama ties his mother's family history to possible Native American ancestors and distant relatives of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War.

Obama was known as "Barry" in his youth, but asked to be addressed with his given name during his college years. Besides his native English, Obama speaks Indonesian at the conversational level, which he learned during his four childhood years in Jakarta. He plays basketball, a sport he participated in as a member of his high school's varsity team.

Obama is a well known supporter of the Chicago White Sox, and threw out the first pitch at the 2005 ALCS when he was still a senator. In 2009, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the all star game while wearing a White Sox jacket. He is also primarily a Chicago Bears fan in the NFL, but in his childhood and adolesence was a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and recently rooted for them ahead of their victory in Super Bowl XLIII 12 days after Obama took office as President.

In June 1989, Obama met Michelle Robinson when he was employed as a summer associate at the Chicago law firm of Sidley Austin. Assigned for three months as Obama's adviser at the firm, Robinson joined him at group social functions, but declined his initial requests to date. They began dating later that summer, became engaged in 1991, and were married on October 3, 1992. The couple's first daughter, Malia Ann, was born on July 4, 1998, followed by a second daughter, Natasha ("Sasha"), on June 10, 2001. The Obama daughters attended the private University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. When they moved to Washington, D.C., in January 2009, the girls started at the private Sidwell Friends School. The Obamas have a Portuguese Water Dog named Bo, a gift from Senator Ted Kennedy.

Applying the proceeds of a book deal, the family moved in 2005 from a Hyde Park, Chicago condominium to a $1.6 million house in neighboring Kenwood, Chicago. The purchase of an adjacent lot—and sale of part of it to Obama by the wife of developer, campaign donor and friend Tony Rezko—attracted media attention because of Rezko's subsequent indictment and conviction on political corruption charges that were unrelated to Obama.

In December 2007, ''Money'' magazine estimated the Obama family's net worth at $1.3 million. Their 2009 tax return showed a household income of $5.5 million—up from about $4.2 million in 2007 and $1.6 million in 2005—mostly from sales of his books. On his 2010 income of $1.7 million, he gave 14 percent to non-profit organizations, including $131,000 to Fisher House Foundation, a charity assisting wounded veterans' families, allowing them to reside near where the veteran is receiving medical treatments.

Obama tried to quit smoking several times, sometimes using nicotine replacement therapy, and, in early 2010, Michelle Obama said that he had successfully quit smoking.

Religious views

Obama is a Christian whose religious views developed in his adult life. He wrote in ''The Audacity of Hope'' that he "was not raised in a religious household". He described his mother, raised by non-religious parents (whom Obama has specified elsewhere as "non-practicing Methodists and Baptists"), to be detached from religion, yet "in many ways the most spiritually awakened person that I have ever known". He described his father as "raised a Muslim", but a "confirmed atheist" by the time his parents met, and his stepfather as "a man who saw religion as not particularly useful". Obama explained how, through working with black churches as a community organizer while in his twenties, he came to understand "the power of the African-American religious tradition to spur social change".

In an interview with the evangelical periodical ''Christianity Today'', Obama stated: "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."

On September 27, 2010, Obama released a statement commenting on his religious views saying "I'm a Christian by choice. My family didn't—frankly, they weren't folks who went to church every week. And my mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn't raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life, and it was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life that I would want to lead—being my brothers' and sisters' keeper, treating others as they would treat me."

Obama was baptized at the Trinity United Church of Christ, a black liberation church, in 1988, and was an active member there for two decades. Obama resigned from Trinity during the Presidential campaign after controversial statements made by Rev. Jeremiah Wright became public. After a prolonged effort to find a church to attend regularly in Washington, Obama announced in June 2009 that his primary place of worship would be the Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.

Notes

}}

References

Further reading

Graff, Garrett. "The Legend of Barack Obama", ''Washingtonian'', November 1, 2006. Retrieved on January 14, 2008.

Koltun, Dave (2005) ''"The 2004 Illinois Senate Race: Obama Wins Open Seat and Becomes National Political "Star""'' in ''"The Road to Congress 2004"'' Editors: Sunil Ahuja (Youngstown State University) and Robert Dewhirst (Truman State University), Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge, New York, 2005, ISBN 1-59454-360-7

Lizza, Ryan. "Above the Fray", ''GQ'', September 2007. Retrieved on October 27, 2010.

MacFarquhar, Larissa. "The Conciliator: Where is Barack Obama Coming From?", ''New Yorker'', May 7, 2007. Retrieved on January 14, 2008.

McClelland, Edward, ''Young Mr. Obama: Chicago and the Making of a Black President'', Bloomsbury Press, 2010.

Zutter, Hank De. "What Makes Obama Run?", ''Chicago Reader'', December 8, 1995. Retrieved on January 14, 2008.

External links

;Official

President Barack Obama ''White House official website''

BarackObama.com (official re-election campaign website)

;Other

Collected news and commentary at the ''Chicago Tribune''

Category:1961 births Category:African American academics Category:African American lawyers Category:African American memoirists Category:African American United States presidential candidates Category:African American United States Senators Category:African-American Christians Category:American civil rights lawyers Category:American legal scholars Category:American Nobel laureates Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of German descent Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American people of Kenyan descent Category:American people of Welsh descent Category:American political writers Category:Audio book narrators Category:Columbia University alumni Category:Community organizers Category:Current national leaders Category:Democratic Party Presidents of the United States Category:Democratic Party United States Senators Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Harvard Law School alumni Category:Illinois Democrats Category:Illinois lawyers Category:Illinois State Senators Category:Living people Category:Luo people Category:Nobel Peace Prize laureates Barack Category:Occidental College alumni Category:People from Honolulu, Hawaii Category:Politicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Presidents of the United Nations Security Council Category:Punahou School alumni Category:United Church of Christ members Category:United States presidential candidates, 2008 Category:United States presidential candidates, 2012 Category:United States Senators from Illinois Category:University of Chicago Law School faculty Category:Writers from Chicago, Illinois Category:Article Feedback 5 Additional Articles Category:American people of Swiss descent

af:Barack Obama als:Barack Obama am:ባራክ ኦባማ ang:Barack Obama ab:Барақ Обама ar:باراك أوباما an:Barack Obama arc:ܒܪܐܩ ܐܘܒܐܡܐ ast:Barack Obama gn:Barack Obama ay:Barack Obama az:Barak Obama bm:Barack Obama bn:বারাক ওবামা bjn:Barack Obama zh-min-nan:Barack Obama ba:Барак Обама be:Барак Абама be-x-old:Барак Абама bh:बराक ओबामा bcl:Barack Obama bi:Barak Obama bg:Барак Обама bar:Barack Obama bo:བ་རག་ཨོ་པྰ་མ། bs:Barack Obama br:Barack Obama ca:Barack Hussein Obama cv:Барак Обама ceb:Barack Obama cs:Barack Obama cbk-zam:Barack Obama co:Barack Obama cy:Barack Obama da:Barack Obama pdc:Barack Obama de:Barack Obama dv:ބަރަކް އޮބާމާ nv:Hastiin alą́ąjįʼ dahsidáhígíí Barack Obama dsb:Barack Obama et:Barack Obama el:Μπαράκ Ομπάμα eml:Barack Obama myv:Обамань Барак es:Barack Obama eo:Barack Obama ext:Barack Obama eu:Barack Obama fa:باراک اوباما fo:Barack Obama fr:Barack Obama fy:Barack Obama fur:Barack Obama ga:Barack Obama gv:Barack Obama gd:Barack Obama gl:Barack Obama gan:奧巴馬 hak:Barack Obama ko:버락 오바마 ha:Barack Obama haw:Barack Obama hy:Բարաք Օբամա hi:बराक ओबामा hsb:Barack Obama hr:Barack Obama io:Barack Obama ilo:Barack Obama id:Barack Obama ia:Barack Obama ie:Barack Obama os:Обама, Барак is:Barack Obama it:Barack Obama he:ברק אובמה jv:Barack Obama kl:Barack Obama kn:ಬರಾಕ್ ಒಬಾಮ pam:Barack Obama ka:ბარაკ ობამა kk:Барак Обама kw:Barack Obama rw:Barack Obama sw:Barack Obama ht:Barack Obama ku:Barack Obama ky:Барак Хусеин Обама lad:Barack Obama lo:ບາຣັກ ໂອບາມາ ltg:Baraks Obama la:Baracus Obama lv:Baraks Obama lb:Barack Obama lt:Barack Obama li:Barack Obama ln:Barack Obama jbo:byRAK.obamas lmo:Barack Obama hu:Barack Obama mk:Барак Обама mg:Barack Obama ml:ബറാക്ക് ഒബാമ mt:Barack Obama mi:Barack Obama mr:बराक ओबामा xmf:ბარაქ ობამა arz:باراك اوباما mzn:باراک اوباما ms:Barack Obama mn:Барак Обама my:ဘာရတ်အိုဘားမား nah:Barack Obama na:Barack Obama nl:Barack Obama nds-nl:Barack Obama ne:बाराक ओबामा ja:バラク・オバマ nap:Barack Obama no:Barack Obama nn:Barack Obama nrm:Barack Obama nov:Barack Obama oc:Barack Obama mhr:Обама, Барак uz:Barack Obama pa:ਬਰਾਕ ਓਬਾਮਾ pag:Barack Obama pnb:بارک اوبامہ pap:Barack Obama ps:باراک حسين اوباما km:បារ៉ាក់ អូបាម៉ា pms:Barack Obama tpi:Barack Obama nds:Barack Obama pl:Barack Obama pt:Barack Obama crh:Barak Obama ksh:Barack Obama ro:Barack Obama rm:Barack Obama qu:Barack Obama ru:Обама, Барак sah:Барак Обама se:Barack Obama sc:Barack Obama sco:Barack Obama nso:Barack Obama sq:Barack Obama scn:Barack Obama si:බරාක් ඔබාමා simple:Barack Obama sk:Barack Obama sl:Barack Obama szl:Barack Obama so:Barack Obama ckb:باراک ئۆباما srn:Barack Obama sr:Барак Обама sh:Barack Obama su:Barack Obama fi:Barack Obama sv:Barack Obama tl:Barack Obama ta:பராக் ஒபாமா roa-tara:Barack Obama tt:Baraq Husseyın Obama II te:బరాక్ ఒబామా tet:Barack Obama th:บารัก โอบามา tg:Барак Ҳусейн Обама chr:ᏆᎳᎩ ᎣᏆᎹ tr:Barack Obama tk:Barak Obama uk:Барак Обама ur:بارک اوبامہ ug:باراك ئوباما vec:Barack Obama vi:Barack Obama wa:Barack Obama vls:Barack Obama war:Barack Obama wo:Barack Obama wuu:巴拉克·奥巴马 yi:באראק אבאמא yo:Barack Obama zh-yue:奧巴馬 diq:Barack Obama zea:Barack Obama bat-smg:Barack Obama zh:贝拉克·奥巴马

Dumitru Stăniloae (; Vlădeni, Braşov County - 5 October 1993) was a Romanian Eastern Orthodox priest, theologian, academic, and professor. Father Stăniloae worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian translation of the Philokalia, a collection of writings by the Church Fathers, together with the hieromonk, Arsenie Boca, who brought manuscripts from Mount Athos. His masterpiece, ''The Dogmatic Orthodox Theology'' (1978), makes him one of the most reputed Christian Theologians of the second half of the 20th century. He produced valuable comments on the works of the Fathers of the Church, such as Gregory of Nyssa, Maximus the Confessor, or Athanasius the Great.

Biography

Dumitru Stăniloae was born on November 16, 1903, in Vlădeni, in what is now Braşov County, Romania. He was the last of five children of Rebeca (mother) and Irimie (father). His mother was a priest's niece. On 10 February 1917 he went to Braşov to study at the ''Andrei Şaguna'' Confessional Humanist Lyceum. He received a fellowship from Gojdu Foundation in 1918 and a fellowship from Cernăuţi University in 1922. Disappointed by the quality of the manuals and the teaching methods, he left the University for the University of Bucharest after one year. He was offered a fellowship by Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan at the Metropolitan Center in Sibiu in 1924 during the Easter Fast. Stăniloae graduated from Cernăuţi University in 1927, receiving a fellowship to study theology in Athens. In the fall of 1928, he earned his Ph.D. degree at Cernăuţi (Thesis: ''Life and work of Dosoftei of Jerusalem and his connections with Romanian Principalities''). The Metropolitan Center in Sibiu offered him a fellowship in Byzantology and Dogmatics. He went to Munich to attend the courses of Prof. August Heisenberg (father of physicist Werner Heisenberg), and then went to Berlin, Paris and Istanbul to study the work of Gregory Palamas. He married on October 4, 1930 and had two twins in 1931, named Dumitru and Maria.

Stăniloae was ordained a deacon on October 8, 1931 and was ordained a priest on September 25, 1932. He had another daughter, Lidia, on October 8 of the following year, and became the director of ''Telegraful Român'' (''Romanian Telegraph'') newspaper, meeting and befriending Nichifor Crainic. In June 1936 Stăniloae became rector of the Theological Academy in Sibiu. In 1940, at the initiative of poet Sandu Tudor the ''Rugul aprins'' (''Burning altar'') group is founded. It was composed of hieromonk Ivan Kulighin (confessor of Russian Metropolitan of Rostov, refugee at Cernica), hieromonk Benedict Ghius, hieromonk Sofian Boghiu, Prof. Alex. Mironescu, poet Vasile Voiculescu, architect Constantin Joja, father Andrei Scrima, Ion Marin Sadoveanu. The group, gathering regularly at the Cernica and Antim monasteries, constitutes a rejuvenation of the Christian life in Bucharest. In 1946 he was asked by Metropolitan Nicolae Bălan, under pressure Petru Groza to resign as rector of the Theological Academy in Sibiu. He remained a professor until 1947, when he was transferred to the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Theology, as the Ascetics and Mystics chair. Due to political unrest in Romania in 1958 following a split in the Romanian Communist Party, Stăniloae was arrested by the ''Securitate''. on September 5. While in Aiud prison, his only surviving child, Lidia, gives birth to his grandchild, Dumitru Horia. Lidia is asked to leave the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Physics because of the arrest of her father. Stăniloae is freed from prison in 1963 and begins work as a functionary at the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church, and begins teaching again in October. He is invited to conferences in Freiburg and Heidelberg by Prof. Paul Miron. He receives the approval for the trip from the State Department of Cults who wants to change the image of Romania. While lecturing at Oxford University, he became friends with the theologian Donald Allchin. He retired in 1973.

Stăniloae became ''Doctor Honoris Causa'' of the University of Thessaloniki in 1976, ''Doctor Honoris Causa'' of the Saint-Serge Orthodox Institute in Paris in 1981, ''Doctor Honoris Causa'' of the Faculty of Orthodox Theology in Belgrade in 1982, and ''Doctor Honoris Causa'' of the University of Bucharest in 1992. He was awarded the ''Dr. Leopold Lucas'' prize of the Faculty of Theology in Tübingen in 1980 and the ''Cross Sf. Augustin in Canterbury'' in 1982. Stăniloae died on October 5, 1993 at the age of 90.

See also

Lucian Turcescu

Vladimir Lossky

Works

''Catholicism after the War'', Sibiu, 1932

''Life and teachings of Gregory Palamas'', Sibiu, 1938

''Orthodoxy and Romanianism'', Sibiu, 1939

''The standing of Mr. Lucian Blaga on Christianity and Orthodoxism'', Sibiu, 1942

''Jesus Christ or man's restoration'', Sibiu, 1943

''Philokalia'' (translation); vol. 1: Sibiu, 1946; vol. 2: Sibiu, 1947; vol. 3: Sibiu, 1948; vol. 4: Sibiu, 1948; vol. 5: Bucharest, 1976; vol. 6: Bucharest, 1977; vol. 7: Bucharest, 1978; vol. 8: Bucharest, 1979; vol. 9: Bucharest, 1980.

''Uniatism in Transylvania, an attempt to dismember the Romanian people'', Bucharest, 1973

''Treaty of Orthodox Dogmatic Theology'', Bucharest, 1978

''Dieu est Amour'', Geneve, 1980

''Theology and the Church'', New York, 1980

''Praying, freedom, holiness'', Athens, 1980

''Priere de Jesus et experience de Saint Esprit'', Paris, 1981

''Orthodox Spirituality'', Bucharest, 1981

''Moral Orthodox Theology'', vol. 2, Bucharest, 1981

''St. Gregory of Nyssa - Writings'' (translation), Bucharest, 1982

''Orthodoxe Dogmatik'', 1985

''Le genie de l'orthodoxie'', Paris, 1985

''Spirituality a communion in Orthodox lithurgy'', Craiova, 1986.

''God's eternal face'', Craiova, 1987

''St. Athanasius the Great - Writings'' (translation), Bucharest, 1987

''Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Studies (Christology of St. Maximus the Confessor, Man and God, St. Symeon The New Theologian, Hymns of God's love)'', Craiova, 1991

''St. Cyril of Alexandria - Writings'' (translation), Bucharest, 1991

Quotes

"The glory to which man is called is that he should grow more godlike by growing ever more human." "Love for God, or more strictly, thought taken for God, represents a continuous contribution toward more and more authentic relations among humans." "Humans, must work and think in solidarity with regard to the transformation of the gifts of nature. Thus it is through the mediation of nature that solidarity is created among humans, and work, guided by thought, is a principle virtue creative of communion among humans."

External links

''Dumitru Stăniloae'' article in ''Dictionary of Romanian Theologians'' Freely downloadable interviews (audio and video) can be found at www.sfaturiortodoxe.ro and www.ortodox.tv ''From East to West'', interview with Sorin Dumitrescu on Eastern vs. Western spirituality ''Dacă n-ar fi iubirea Tatălui şi a Duhului, n-ar fi nici Hristos'', interview ''Teologie Dogmatică Ortodoxă'' freely downloadable at Bilioteca Teologică Digitală (Digital Theologic Library) ''Scurtă interpretare teologică a naţiunii'' by Dumitru Stăniloae ''Învierea Domnului şi importanţa ei universală'' by Dumitru Stăniloae Liviu Jitianu: ''Christologische Symphonie von Mensch und Welt. Grundzüge einer neupatristischen orthodoxen Theologie im Werk von Dumitru Staniloae''. Dissertation, Freiburg University, Freiburg 2006 ("Christological symphony of man and world. Outlines of a neo-patristic orthodox theology in the works of Dumitru Staniloae"; online version)

Further reading

Cleman, O. ''Dumitru Staniloae. Le genie de l’Orthodoxie'' (Paris, Desclee de Brouwer, 1985).

Louth, A. "The Orthodox Dogmatic Theology of Dumitru Staniloae," ''Modern Theology'', 2 (1997), 253-266.

Miller, Ch. ''The Gift of the World. An introduction to the Theology of Dumitru Staniloae. Еdinburgh'' (Edinburgh, T&T; Clark, 2000).

Lucian Turcescu, ed., ''Dumitru Stăniloae: tradition and modernity in theology'', Iași, Romania; Palm Beach, Florida: Center for Romanian Studies, 2002. ISBN 9739432298

Lucian Turcescu, "Dumitru Staniloae", Commentary and Original Source materials in English translation in ''The Teachings of Modern Christianity on Law, Politics, and Human Nature'', 2 vols., eds. John Witte, Jr. and Frank Alexander (New York: Columbia Univ. Press, 2005) 1:685-711 and 2:537-558. The two volumes received the Choice Outstanding Academic Titles Award for 2006.

Toma, S.-L. ''Η πατερικη παραδοσις εις το εργον του π. Δημητριου Στανιλοαε και ο συγχρονος κοσμος'' (Θεσσαλονικη: Π.Πουπναπα, 2007).

Ivana Noble, ''Doctrine of Creation within the Theological Project of Dumitru Stăniloae'', Prague, Czech Republic; Communio Viatorum, Volume 2007, XLIX, Number 2, pp. 185–209.

Mihail Neamtu, 'Between the Gospel And the Nation: Dumitru Stăniloae's Ethno-Theology.' ARCHAEUS. Studies in History of Religions (X (3)/2006)'

Notes

Category:Inmates of Aiud prison Category:Eastern Orthodox theologians Category:People from Braşov County Category:Romanian Orthodox clerics Category:Romanian Academy Category:Romanian theologians Category:Romanian prisoners and detainees Category:1903 births Category:1993 deaths

de:Dumitru Stăniloae fr:Dumitru Stăniloae it:Dumitru Stăniloae he:דומיטרו סטנילואיה ro:Dumitru Stăniloae