The real reason we can’t say ‘Mormon’ anymore

If you’re the Salt Lake Tribune, you never miss a chance to poke a stick in the ribs of the people who built Utah. So the newspaper published this headline over a recent opinion column:

“LDS Church wants everyone to stop calling it the LDS Church and drop the word ‘Mormons.’”

The headline, of course, asserts that the Trib will call the church whatever it darn well pleases.

Salt Lake’s namesake newspaper is to Utah what the dark sheep is to his clean-cut brothers. Yeah, he’s a burnout, but he still knows them better than anyone outside the herd, and he’s gonna remind them every day that their fleecy butts aren’t made of gold.

Devout Mormons don’t appreciate this. They should. The Trib keeps Utah grounded. And this is one of those moments when Utah needs grounding.

On Thursday, the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Russell M. Nelson, announced that God had impressed upon him that the time has come again to cast off the nickname “Mormon” and start calling the church by its proper name.

Nelson, a longtime church general authority and respected heart surgeon, was named the prophet in January. When I was visiting Utah a couple of weeks ago, the buzz among my Mormon family members was that this 93-yearold church president is still skiing Utah’s powdered slopes.

Who still skis at age 93?

I’ll tell you who. Teetotaling Mormons who have lived clean and virtuous lives. Have you seen Mitt Romney lately? He’s 71 and looks like he just got his first face stubble and driver’s permit.

I know the Mormons because I am one. I married a Catholic woman, and we tried attending two churches for several years until four children came along and got completely flummoxed. I’ve since attended as many Catholic masses as I did Mormon sacrament meetings.

I love the Mormon Church and its people. I’ve known men like President Nelson, and they are extraordinary human beings — disciplined, faithful, decent in every way. The church has many of these men and women, and I admire them greatly.

But Nelson has put the LDS Juggernaut into reverse with the word “Mormon.” The church had finally come around to embracing and changing a nickname born of ridicule and now a new prophet is saying scratch that, we’re dropping Big M.

I’ve no doubt Nelson is sincere. Besides, this is not the policy change you order up if you’re conforming to the modern world. The modern world doesn’t like long and gangly names that are confusing and ambiguous. Say the “Mormons” and everyone knows who you’re talking about. Say the now approved “restored Church of Jesus Christ” and everyone says, “What?”

Confusion or not, I think I know why the church is doing this.

Even with the acceptance of the word “Mormon,” many people remain confused about the faith. Are the Mormons truly Christian? A lot of Christians of other faiths say no.

In Arizona, the religious right — the evangelicals — once protested the inclusion of Mormons at an ecumenical event. They don’t believe the Mormons are Christians and threatened to boycott the event if they attended. The Mormons were eventually barred from the gathering.

The fact is, the Mormons are Christian to their very core. Christ is at the center of the church. Their conception of Christ is largely informed by the New Testament and if it requires eschewing the name “Mormons” for “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” to drive home the point they will do it — no matter the large complications.

Those who would deny the Mormons their claim to Christianity are intolerant of one the world’s great religions and probably feel threatened by a church that tries to convert members of their own faith.

When the evangelicals forced them from the Arizona event, the Mormons didn’t protest or grouse. Not one bit. The Jewish people of the Anti-Defamation League came to their defense, which I appreciated and told them so, but they needn’t have bothered.

The Mormons see themselves as a faith apart — a peculiar people who have had revealed to them the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. They’re not alone among religions believing in their own exceptionalism, but to tell them they’re not fit to sit with the ecumenicals is to reinforce their own sense of exclusivity.

If you embrace that kind of faith, it can be a heady place. You may lose your humility, a state of being that moves you further from God. The exceptionalists need people around them to keep them grounded.

The Utah Mormons have the fiercely independent Salt Lake Tribune.

And for the next month, oh are they’re going to hear about their name change in the Trib.

They should be grateful. Reach Boas at phil.boas@arizona republic.com.