Why i'm a "Mormon"

At one point, i'd titled this page "How not to be an offender for a word". I think it still fits, but i figure the current title is probably more direct.

Anyway, if you've clicked through to this page, i assume that you're curious about the whole issue of whether members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should be called Mormons or LDS or Saints or some other such thing — or perhaps you're one of those who isn't curious at all about the issue, but rather already has a hyper-strong opinion one way or the other.

As for me, i don't really have a strong opinion on the whole issue except that i believe it doesn't much matter. Yes, i realize that the media guide that the church itself puts out says:


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


	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.


	When writing about the Church, please follow these guidelines:


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


	•	Please avoid the use of "Mormon Church," "LDS Church" or "the Church of the Latter-day Saints."


	•	When a shortened reference is needed, the terms "the Church" or "the Church of Jesus Christ" are encouraged.


	•	When referring to Church members, the term "Latter-day Saints" is preferred, though "Mormons" is acceptable.


	•	"Mormon" is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon, Mormon Tabernacle Choir or Mormon Trail, or when used as an adjective in such expressions as "Mormon pioneers."


	•	The term "Mormonism" is acceptable in describing the combination of doctrine, culture and lifestyle unique to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.


	•	When referring to people or organizations that practice polygamy, the terms "Mormons," "Mormon fundamentalist," "Mormon dissidents," etc., are incorrect. The Associated Press Style Guide notes: "The term 'Mormon' is not properly applied to the other...churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith’s death."

Given that, i do feel that if that's the way the church wishes itself and its members to be referred to in the media, then the media should conform to the request. As a linguist, though, i recognize that issues of naming in regular everyday usage can't be (and, in my opinion, shouldn't be) regulated by style guides.

The term "Mormon" itself has an interesting history, since it was apparently first used by those opposed to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the mid-nineteenth century, presumably as a means of mocking church members' belief in the Book of Mormon as scripture. For a while after that it continued to be used in a generally negative manner, although writings of church members from the time show that many of them even then adopted "Mormon" as a label for themselves, often with a tone of "Yes, i'm a Mormon, and i'm proud to be one, no matter what you say that means about me!" (In fact, up until fairly recently there was even a popular song in the church's children's songbook titled "I'm a Mormon boy"!)

Since that time, though, the term "Mormon" seems to have gone through a bit of a bleaching process in at least some regions, and now does not always have negative connotations. Also, it remains a much more widely recognized term than any of the other terms used to refer to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, not to mention that it's easier to type and speak than most of the other options, and it's less ambiguous than some of them. And finally, as already was the case to a somewhat limited extent more than a hundred years ago, there is a very real expression of security and power involved in taking a term that was at one point an epithet and using it openly in a positive sense — and so primarily for these reasons (and a few other minor ones), in everyday use i call myself a Mormon, and the church i belong to the Mormon church.

<short pause>

And besides — it's lots of fun to see the sorts of people who get worked up about these sorts of things get all worked up about it.

Last updated 2 May 2002 v5.2