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CNN: “Why the ‘Mormon’ church changed its name”

CNN: “Why the ‘Mormon’ church changed its name”

Last updated on: March 23, 2019 at 9:52 pm by Dan Peterson

CNN: “Why the ‘Mormon’ church changed its name” 2019-03-23T21:52:44-06:00 Dan Peterson

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CNN: “Why the ‘Mormon’ church changed its name. (It’s about revelation, not rebranding.)”

Some critics are mocking President Nelson because his strong request that we use and emphasize the divinely-revealed name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hasn’t been received as a God-given diktat by the mainstream media.

It’s a fairly silly thing to mock. I’m sure that President Nelson, a high intelligent and sophisticated man who’s been around the block a few times in his nearly ninety-four years, was under no illusion that the press and the broadcast media would kneel to kiss his ring. And, anyway, the news establishment isn’t exactly known for its habit of genuflecting before conservative religious groups.

But he is right, in my judgment, to try to move the Church itself toward such an emphasis on the name of Jesus Christ — and to hope that that emphasis will have at least some slight effect on our coverage in the media. And, in fact, there does already seem to have been some shifting:

“Associated Press updates style guide on references to church, Latter-day Saints, term ‘Mormon'”

Why does this matter? Why is it important?

It’s important because the terms Mormon and Mormonism, venerable as they have become, tend to obscure the fact that our allegiance is to the Lord Jesus Christ — and thus to permit misunderstandings. By stressing that we are the Church of Jesus Christ (of Latter-day Saints), we make such misunderstandings less likely to arise and more difficult to sustain. We shouldn’t forget that Mormon and Mormonite began as nicknames, given to us by unsympathetic and often hostile outsiders.

Granted, there are difficulties in making this change. I’ve not yet settled, myself, on a fully satisfying substitute for Mormonism. And life-long habits are hard to break. But this is a worthwhile effort — and it will remain so even if, as is likely, others commonly continue to refer to us as “Mormons.”

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