{"id":40752,"date":"2025-09-30T07:15:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T14:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=40752"},"modified":"2025-09-30T22:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T05:40:07","slug":"russell-m-nelson-president-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-pushed-it-away-from-mormon-a-word-that-has-courted-controversy-for-200-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/russell-m-nelson-president-of-the-church-of-jesus-christ-of-latter-day-saints-pushed-it-away-from-mormon-a-word-that-has-courted-controversy-for-200-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, pushed it away from \u2018Mormon\u2019 \u2013 a word that has courted controversy for 200 years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Konden Smith Hansen<\/a>, University of Arizona<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russell M. Nelson, a former heart surgeon and longtime church leader, was 93 years old when he became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> in 2018. But anyone who assumed that his tenure would be uneventful, due to his advanced years, was quickly proved wrong. Visiting South America that year, he told members to buckle up<\/a>: \u201cEat your vitamin pills<\/a>. Get your rest. It\u2019s going to be exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nelson, who died on Sept. 27, 2025<\/a>, at age 101, proved a consequential reformer: an energetic leader who streamlined bureaucracy<\/a>, took steps toward gender equity<\/a> and ended the church\u2019s century-long relationship with the Boy Scouts<\/a>, while reaffirming its opposition to LGBTQ+ relationships and identities<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He steered the church unapologetically through storms of public scrutiny, including accusations that the church had concealed the value of its investments<\/a>. For the faithful, Nelson represented God\u2019s mouthpiece on Earth<\/a>. The church considers each president to be a \u201cprophet, seer, and revelator<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet one of his initiatives made an impact that rippled far beyond the church. In 2018, he surprised observers by declaring the use of the word \u201cMormon\u201d a \u201cmajor victory for Satan<\/a>,\u201d insisting on the use of the church\u2019s full name. Individuals were to be recognized by their institutional affiliation<\/a>, as \u201cmembers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The name of the church was given by God, and shortening it erases \u201call that Jesus Christ did for us,\u201d Nelson argued. Yet adherents have long self-identified as Mormons, so the rebrand felt like a novelty<\/a> to some members.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a university lecturer<\/a> teaching courses on American religion and Mormonism, I was one of many who wrestled with this change in terminology \u2013 and saw the challenges it created for my students and colleagues. For almost two centuries, the word \u201cMormon\u201d has framed how Americans think about and discuss this faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Birth of a church<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The name Mormon comes from the title of the Book of Mormon<\/a>, a religious text unique to the faith. Founder Joseph Smith, who organized the church in 1830, believed he had been instructed by God to restore Jesus\u2019 true church. He claimed that an angel had led him to uncover and translate ancient gold plates that detailed the religious history of an ancient civilization in the Americas, founded by Israelites who fled Jerusalem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An
An 1841 edition of the Book of Mormon, on display in the museum at the Springs Preserve in Las Vegas. Prosfilaes\/Wikimedia Commons<\/a>, CC BY<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early critics mockingly attached the word Mormon to the movement, but Smith insisted that in the book\u2019s original language, the word meant \u201cliterally, \u2018more good<\/a>.\u2019\u201d By the time Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois in 1844, his followers had embraced the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Smith\u2019s death, Mormons split into different factions, with the largest group traveling by foot and wagon to the far American West. Yet, the group\u2019s evolving practices continued to spark controversy<\/a>. Polygamy and the church\u2019s political and economic influence contributed to decades of animosity between Mormons and the rest of the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States began seizing church property<\/a> and imprisoning polygamist leaders, coercing church president Wilford Woodruff to end official support for polygamy in 1890.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new debut<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Three years later, at the Chicago World\u2019s Fair, the church rebranded Mormonism<\/a>, presenting Mormon pioneers as an embodiment of the values of the American frontier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodruff, then 86 years old, spoke of himself as Utah\u2019s oldest living pioneer and of Mormons as a people who built the American West<\/a>. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed at the fair, reintroducing Mormons to the wider public as a sophisticated and artistic people. The crowd shouted, \u201cThree cheers for the Mormons!\u201d The Chicago Herald wrote, \u201cMormons and gentiles came together as friends<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Great Basin at the Chicago World\u2019s Fair in 1893. Chicago History Museum\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, many Americans still distrusted Mormons. In 1903, high-ranking church official Reed Smoot was elected to the U.S. Senate, which provoked national outcry and led to Senate hearings<\/a> that lasted until 1907. The hearings substantiated charges that the practice of polygamy persisted but exonerated Smoot as an individual. As Smoot argued, Mormons were independent of the institutional church and thus trustworthy Americans. He convinced his fellow senators that if the church\u2019s teachings came into conflict with his conscience or oath of office, then, as a Mormon, he would uphold the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following Smoot\u2019s lead, the church embraced the trappings of American patriotism<\/a> and doubled down against plural marriage. These moves won the Latter-day Saints powerful political allies, including Theodore Roosevelt, who disliked the institutional church but viewed Mormons themselves as intensely moral and patriotic<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Meet the Mormons\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ab Jenkins, a race car driver<\/a> whose records made him an international celebrity in the 1930s, capitalized on this new image of Mormon individuality and wholesomeness. The \u201cMormon Boy\u201d credited his clean, church-approved lifestyle for his success. On his car, the Mormon Meteor, Jenkins rejected alcohol and cigarette endorsements and instead brandished a sign that read, \u201cYes, I\u2019m a Mormon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Ab Jenkins starts a 1939 test run in his race car, the Mormon Meteor III, on Utah\u2019s Bonneville Salt Flats. Underwood Archives\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For several decades, other Mormon celebrities like family band The Osmonds and golfer Johnny Miller continued to shape positive public views of Mormons \u2013 hitting a high-water mark in 1977<\/a>, when Gallup found that only 18% of Americans held unfavorable views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Church efforts to influence social issues, however, such as its decades-long opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment<\/a>, eventually took a toll. By 1991, public opinion of Mormons had fallen dramatically<\/a>, with 37% of Americans viewing them unfavorably \u2013 and leaders decided that another rebrand was in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The previous year, senior leader Gordon B. Hinckley had admonished members to make the word Mormon \u201cshine with added luster<\/a>.\u201d When he became president in 1995, Hinckley worked to reframe how the public saw Mormons, arguing on the \u201c60 Minutes\u201d TV show that Mormons were \u201cnot a weird people<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 pushed Mormonism into the national spotlight, and that same year, the church launched its major website, Mormon.org, with stories and headlines liberally using the term \u201cMormon.\u201d A media campaign<\/a> followed a decade later, featuring prominent members declaring, \u201cI\u2019m a Mormon.\u201d Ordinary members were then encouraged to upload their own \u201cI\u2019m a Mormon\u201d profiles to this website and share them on their own social media accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
The Latter-day Saints temple in downtown Salt Lake City, center, as an Olympic banner drapes the church office building next door during the 2002 Games. George Frey\/AFP via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mitt Romney\u2019s Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election and the popularity of the satirical \u201cBook of Mormon\u201d musical pushed Mormons again into the national spotlight<\/a>. In 2014, the church produced a documentary titled \u201cMeet the Mormons,\u201d shown in theaters across the U.S., which apostle Jefferey R. Holland explained was to \u201cshow people what we\u2019re really like<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2017, a Pew Research Center survey\u2019s \u201cfeeling thermometer\u201d found public opinion of Mormons to have risen to the \u201csomewhat warmer<\/a>\u201d rating of 54, a 6-point increase from 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018More good\u2019?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That said, the church\u2019s relationship to the word Mormon has always been complex. As far back as 1990, Nelson was already warning fellow Latter-day Saints that Mormon was \u201cnot an appropriate alternative<\/a>\u201d for the church\u2019s full name. During the 2002 Olympics, the church advised media that the nickname was acceptable for individuals<\/a> but not to refer to the institution itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, I would argue the church has used the word Mormon to improve public opinion for more than a century. Part of this branding downplayed popular fears about the church and its influence \u2013 allowing outsiders to develop favorable views toward Mormons, even if they disliked the institution itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2023, a Pew Research poll<\/a> reported a low point in public opinion of Mormons, falling for the first time below every other measured group. A quarter of Americans held \u201cunfavorable views of Mormons,\u201d while only 15% held \u201cfavorable\u201d ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A month later, Nelson pleaded with members to be peacemakers<\/a>, lamenting that \u201cmany people seem to believe that it is completely acceptable to condemn, malign and vilify anyone who does not agree with them.\u201d Nationally, intense polarization and violence have continued since then \u2013 including a horrific attack in Michigan on a Latter-day Saints church building<\/a> on Sept. 28, 2025, just one day after Nelson\u2019s death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMormon\u201d has been an important term in engaging those outside the faith, particularly in countering negative perceptions. Whether or not the word disappears, what may matter more for Nelson\u2019s legacy is whether people outside the church associate it with \u201cmore good\u201d \u2013 both institutionally and individually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is an updated version of an article<\/a> originally published on Sept. 5, 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Konden Smith Hansen<\/a>, Senior Lecturer of Religious Studies, University of Arizona<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Konden Smith Hansen, University of Arizona Russell M. Nelson, a former heart surgeon and longtime church leader, was 93 years old when he became president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2018. But anyone who assumed that his tenure would be uneventful, due to his advanced years, was quickly proved wrong. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":40753,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,36,2450,15533,38],"tags":[13456,1829,7426,11906,885,891,886,860,2973,6610,14272,420],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40752"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40752"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40752\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40754,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40752\/revisions\/40754"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}