‘Mormon Land’: After nearly a year, is Russell M. Nelson’s campaign to erase the LDS Church’s nickname succeeding?
(Keith Johnson | Special to The Tribune) President Russell M. Nelson speaks about the name of the church during the 188th Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 7, 2018, in Salt Lake City. The push to drop the word "Mormon" as a nickname for the Utah-based faith began in August 2018.
It has been almost a year since Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, launched his push to get members, the media, scholars and others to stop using the nicknames “Mormon” and “LDS” when talking about the faith and its followers.
Since that time, the Utah-based church has made a number of changes. Some have been high profile, renaming the renowned Tabernacle Choir, for one; others have been less noticeable, like rejiggering website domains.
Historian Matt Bowman, the newly installed Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon (there’s that word again) Studies at Claremont Graduate University shares his thoughts on the progress of this sweeping campaign.
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