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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But the new/current prophet hates it and said that God told him he doesn't like the name anymore and that being called Mormon is "a victory for Satin" (the devil).
God is a little inconsistent within Mormonism. First he wanted Polygamy and it was sooo important that he even sent an Angel with a flaming sword down to earth to get them to practice polygamy (even though the prophet was already practicing it in secret at the time). Then in 1904 when the Supreme Court forced the church to stop practicing polygamy or else they would take all assets away. Then magically within days, God told the prophet that its actually ok if they don't do polygamy anymore. Then he hated black people for a while and wouldn't let them into the temple or get the priesthood (which essentially kept them out of heaven according to Doctrine), then changed his mind in 1978 when public pressure was mounting. He didn't want children of Gay people to be baptized in his church for a few years, and then changed his mind after the PR got really bad. Mormon God is heavily influenced by American PR.
The next prophet will probably embrace the name "Mormon" again. So don't stress too much about it. Most active Mormons can't keep track of what doctrine currently is or isn't which is why so many times you get different answers from different mormons about policies and doctrine. Because it really depends which prophets you grew up under, because things change dramatically as they take the helms of power and claim to speak for God.
To their point: When I was a kid, caffeine was looked upon very poorly. Now, every Mormon I know drinks Soda and in fact the amount of Soda Shops has exploded in areas known to have large LDS populations.
I live in SLC and it's hard to miss.
https://www.franchisetimes.com/dealmakers/soda-brand-swig-wi... (First thing I searched and I guess they just got awarded some bullshit. Convenient timing.)
Some excerpts:
> And so in April 2010, Swig was born in St. George, in a valley in southwestern Utah
> we grew from two [2] stores in 2013 to 17 stores until 2018
But good for them, I suppose.
> You're putting words in his mouth
Ok... His exact words were:
"The Lord has impressed upon me the importance of the name He has revealed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...the name of the Church is not negotiable.”
He later said (in the same speech):
“[The name] is a correction. It is the command of the Lord.”
I'm not about to split hairs. But he claims to be a prophet and represent God. Then he gets in front of the church at a worldwide conference, when he knows the most people will be watching and says "The Lord has impressed upon me...", "It is a command of the Lord".
You can call it what you want, but he is clearly implying that his deity told/impressed/inspired/commanded this change.
I'm not putting words in his mouth. These are the transcripts from his announcement. This is what he said. It is hard to interpret it any other way. He seems to be very clearly stating that this is directed by "the Lord".