Rebranded Latter-day Saints church sues US podcaster for use of the term ‘Mormon’

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which no longer uses the word “Mormon” to describe itself or its members, is suing four podcasters over continued use of the name, arguing that the church largely controls the term.

- Edward Helmore New York

Announcing the name change in 2019, the church’s then president, Russell M Nelson, told believers that continuing to use “Mormon” would be “a major victory for Satan”. “We're not changing names. We’re correcting a name,” Nelson said.

The change rippled through the organisation. In Salt Lake City, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as it was known since 1929, was renamed the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. The “I’m a Mormon” advertising campaign and the Mormon Channel radio network were also changed.

Patrick Mason at Claremont University in California, who specialises in the study of the Latter-day Saints movement, said: “The lawsuit in part is an extension of the church’s policies to emphasise the move away from the nicknames Mormon and Mormonism.

“The church leadership and membership really want to emphasise the church’s Christian bona fides, and the Church of Jesus and Latter-day Saints points to that in a way that Mormon and Mormonism does not.”

The issue, he said, speaks to “a perennial question of whether the church can be included within the broader Christian family ... So this is a live issue for the church and its members. They feel it acutely and really want to emphasise that Jesus is at the heart of its practice.”