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Official statement regarding Church’s name and terms “LDS” and “Mormon”

We are now all former Mormons! ?
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We are now all former Mormons! ?

 

Read more about these changes on the Church’s Newsroom.

 

President Russell M. Nelson of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made the following statement regarding how we should refer to the name of the Church:

“The Lord has impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He has revealed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We have work before us to bring ourselves in harmony with His will. In recent weeks, various Church leaders and departments have initiated the necessary steps to do so. Additional information about this important matter will be made available in the coming months.”

The updated Mormon Newsroom style guide provides additional direction:

The official name of the Church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The full name was given by revelation from God to Joseph Smith in 1838.

In the first reference, the full name of the Church is preferred: “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

When a shortened reference is needed, the terms “the Church” or the “Church of Jesus Christ” are encouraged. The “restored Church of Jesus Christ” is also accurate and encouraged.

While the term “Mormon Church” has long been publicly applied to the Church as a nickname, it is not an authorized title, and the Church discourages its use. Thus, please avoid using the abbreviation “LDS” or the nickname “Mormon” as substitutes for the name of the Church, as in “Mormon Church,” “LDS Church,” or “Church of the Latter-day Saints.”

When referring to Church members, the terms “members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” or “Latter-day Saints” are preferred. We ask that the term “Mormons” not be used.

“Mormon” is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon or when used as an adjective in such historical expressions as “Mormon Trail.”

The term “Mormonism” is inaccurate and should not be used. When describing the combination of doctrine, culture, and lifestyle unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the term “the restored gospel of Jesus Christ” is accurate and preferred.

When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, it should be stated that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not affiliated with polygamous groups.

Question.

Church websites and materials, as well as member-created sites. Will they all be updated? Talk about a Herculean task! Moving forward this makes sense. But what about the large corpus of data on lds.org and mormon.org?

 

 

Read more about these changes on the Church’s Newsroom.


3 comments
  1. I’m not a “former Mormon”. I’ve always refused to be identified by that slur. Mormon was a prophet who lived over 1600 years ago, and he was a Christian—as am I.

    Thank God for President Nelson putting the Savior before pop culture! 🙂

  2. Not to beat a dead horse but here are two thoughts to consider…

    In recent days there has been a huge calling from overzealous “Saints” for Facebook groups & pages, Websites, Twitter accounts and the like to change their names and titles to reflect the Prophets statement of use of the proper name of the church. They have taken his statement and added in the church’s media style guide to back their claims. However they neglect this part of the style guide:
    “Mormon” is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon or when used as an adjective in such historical expressions as “Mormon Trail.”
    In other words the use of “Mormon” in proper names or as an adjective. Would this not cover the proper names and titles of these pages, accounts and websites? I think so.

    Secondly, if we go by the logic of the overzealous then why are we not allowed to call ourselves “Christian”? It says nothing of that in the style guide just as it says nothing of us calling each other “LDS”. The overzealous have condemned the use of the acronym “LDS” (as what we call ourselves) but not “Christian”….why?

    President Nelson is talking about the use of the proper name of the Church. (PERIOD)
    Not about the proper name of Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and Websites.

    I run a Facebook page called “LDS Standing United” (with close to 200,000 followers and I have been inundated with requests to “follow the Prophet.” The problem is, Facebook pages with more than 100K likes are not allowed to change their name. This includes pages like LDS.org, Mormon.org, The Mormon Channel and all other official church pages. Facebooks answer to their rule is to remove the page and start over. But anyone who knows social media knows that would not be a good idea because it takes years to build a following.
    Everyone seems to have an opinion on this. So, until things are clarified I will continue to publish as “LDS Standing United.” All I can do is wait and see what the “Church” does with it’s official Facebook pages with “LDS” or “Mormon” in their titles.
    In the meantime…Stop attacking me like I’m some sort of apostate!
    This crazy “Mormon” mob mentality is making me feel like a statue in the south during the history purge of 2015.

    Just my thoughts.

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