Could you give us a brief overview of Mormonism?

Mormonism is a cult that sucks as much time, money, attention, and identity out of it's members as possible. They try to present this squeaky clean image to the public, while doing their best to sabotage any cultural connections the members might be able to form with non-members. From the smallest things in life like what beverages one chooses to imbibe, to defining what clothing members wear, what words they say, and what thoughts they think, the cult maintains strict control over nearly every aspect of member's lives, making it difficult for many members to ever be comfortable maintaining relationships with non-members. The church fosters an "us vs them" attitude between members and non-members.
Nominally the church worships Jesus, but instead hordes resources and reigns over Utah like it's their own little kingdom. As much as the federal government will stay out of their business, the church shapes Utah culture and politics to their liking.
The church continually focuses it's members to devoted study of their own modified stories of church history. Members learn of important stories in the church's past, but with important details and events left out that give the church a favorable or sympathetic view, effectively inoculating members against the truth because they've already heard those stories from their trusted sources (a classic pattern being that people were angry at Joseph, and always excluding or changing the WHY people were mad at him).
For the entirety of the church's existence, it has been a grift that enables church leadership to funnel funds into their own pockets and live happy, comfortable lives, on the labors of the members. The temple industry is largely a mechanism to project strength, manipulate real estate markets, and hire companies owned by church leadership to build expensive structures to boost property prices that have been bought up by church leadership prior.
The apostles of the church have been grifting members from the beginning, just like Joseph.

layhandsondeez

Mostly good people trying to hear the voice of the Lord and live good lives. Man-made, God-inspired...just like all of the other religions.

Brandon Shumway

The basics of the church's doctrine claims that a boy named Joseph Smith was seeking Christ's church, and during his quest he prayed. God chose him as a prophet to restore and re-establish the church as it had been in Christ's time. Since then, God has given mankind the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and The Pearl of Great Price as divine books of truth. After JS, other prophets have followed, and there's one today. The church claims to be Christian and that at the center of all they do is Christ and the family. The doctrine of eternal families and becoming like God/Christ is most people's motivation for joining/staying in the church.

BW

At its best: a very tight-knit community that provides a rigid structure for someone's life that can bring them hope and a little happiness. For the right kind of people, mormonism can be a great experience. At its worst: a man-made cult designed to feed off of the hope and money of believers.

Anonymous