On LDS President Russell M. Nelson's Recent Attempt to Make People Stop Calling Mormons Mormons.

Russell M. Nelson

I get what the Mormon president is trying to do. He wants to use a name that communicates what he believes Mormons are really about. And I do not begrudge him his desire.

Yet one of the difficulties he and other Mormons run into when they decide they are going to change their name is that they don't seem to be able to do it without trying to make others use language that involves affirming their truth claims.

Consider this statement from their Style Guide which they present on a page referred to as "The Official Resource for New Media, Opinion Leaders and the Public":

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."

The claim that they represent "the restored gospel of Jesus Christ," may be "preferred," but they run into a brick wall with outsiders, like myself, who would perhaps wish to contest their claim is "accurate."

That's tantamount to telling outsiders to call them "the only true Church," because that is "accurate and preferred."

We already know this is what many (not all) Mormons believe, and that's fine. And of course they can ask others to use their preferred language, but it is not really reasonable for them to expect that those who do not accept that truth claims will join them in their affirming language.