Monday, April 7, 2008

Proper use of the term "Mormon," take 2

I haven't posted anything for a while mainly because there hasn't been much to post about. In the last few days, however, there have been events in Texas involving the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (commonly referred to as FLDS). I'm not going to go into explaining what this church is, as I'm not qualified to do so, but suffice it to say that it is not connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). A number of media sources have used the term "Mormon" to refer to the FLDS church, but this is incorrect, as I've explained previously. The Associated Press Stylebook explains, “The term Mormon is not properly applied to the other Latter Day Saints churches that resulted from the split after [Joseph] Smith’s death.”
I have covered this topic before, but it really irks me to see a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, a recognized symbol of our church, associated with an article about an unrelated group (such as here). Sure, this group may be a breakaway sect from the LDS Church, but calling them Mormon, especially in the headlines, gives people the impression that these events involve the LDS Church, which they don't.
In case any of this is unclear, let me reiterate. Any group that endorses polygamy is not connected to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the LDS Church or Mormon church. The term "Mormon" should not be used to label these groups, both by request of the LDS Church and according to the Associated Press Stylebook, the standard for journalism language style and usage. Improper use of the label "Mormon" is misleading, irresponsible, and disrespectful to members of the LDS Church. If anyone has questions about the proper use of the term, feel free to post a comment with your question.

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