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Mormons Make Great FBI Recruits

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80 points churchill | 3 comments | 01 May 23 13:24 UTC | HN request time: 0.544s | source
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geocrasher ◴[01 May 23 14:49 UTC] No.35773533[source]▶
I spoke with some LDS youngsters who came to my door some time back. They're friendly. I learned that they do not like being referred to as "Mormon" but instead prefer "LDS". For them, being called Mormon is derogatory.
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1. seanw444 ◴[01 May 23 14:58 UTC] No.35773669[source]▶
This is a new phenomenon, too. It was only a few years ago that there was a church-wide semiannual congregation (known as General Conference) where the leadership announced that it was bad to be referred to as "Mormon".

The reasoning is: Mormon is a character in their scripture (The Book of Mormon), but he is not the main figurehead for the church, so referring to them as though he is, is a misrepresentation.

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2. geocrasher ◴[01 May 23 18:19 UTC] No.35776917[source]▶

    The reasoning is: Mormon is a character in their scripture (The Book of Mormon), but he is not the main figurehead for the church, so referring to them as though he is, is a misrepresentation.
That's the explanation I was given as well. Thanks for clarifying and thank you all for the explanations.
3. didgetmaster ◴[01 May 23 18:56 UTC] No.35777419[source]▶
Mormon was an ancient prophet who compiled and abridged the record which he called the Book of Mormon. When the church started publishing the book, people started calling members of the church, 'Mormons'. It was largely used as a derogatory term by those who did not like the church, but members eventually embraced it.

Kind of like the term 'Yankee' was a derogatory term for Americans that the British came up with. Eventually, Americans embraced it and even named a baseball team after it.

The church and its members do not think the term is bad, but think it can distract those who think the church is not Christian so it is trying to de-emphasize it.