Is this disrespectful to Mormons?

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Actually, “Papist” is

noun
  1. 1.a Roman Catholic.
adjective
relating to or associated with the Roman Catholic Church.

While those who use the term may mean it in a derogatory manner, it really isn’t. As a Roman Catholic, I am very proud to be associated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Likewise, Mormons should not be so eager to change their nickname of Mormon. Many know the official name of their church. But “Mormon” is easier to remember. And whether they like it or not, they will always be identified by it and associated with it.
 
lilypadrees said:
Actually, “Papist” is

noun
  1. 1.a Roman Catholic.
adjective
relating to or associated with the Roman Catholic Church.

While those who use the term may mean it in a derogatory manner, it really isn’t. As a Roman Catholic, I am very proud to be associated with the Roman Catholic Church.

Likewise, Mormons should not be so eager to change their nickname of Mormon. Many know the official name of their church. But “Mormon” is easier to remember. And whether they like it or not, they will always be identified by it and associated with it.
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In all honesty Lily, if I started using the word Papist here on the forum instead of Catholic, how long do you think it would be until I was suspended?
 
As an Irish Catholic, I tend to associate “Papist” with people who historically wanted to kill off my whole family.
Might be just my hangup, of course.

I don’t know as I see a similar issue with “Mormon” given that past leaders of the LDS Church didn’t seem to mind the term. I always heard the members preferred to be called LDS but they wouldn’t take “Mormon” as a slur or anything.
 
It would depend on how they viewed the word. You see, many use words that become viewed as derogatory. But do they look up the definition beforehand? If they did, they might find their attempts to insult backfired on them.

It’s all a matter of conditioning. If you are taught or led to believe that a word like “Papist” is derogatory, then it will always be that way to you. But if you take the time to look up and learn the true definition, then you can say, “Yes, by the true definition of the word, I am.”

There was a particularly nasty poster on the Amazon forums who did use words that were derogatory to Catholics. I won’t give them because they truly were despicable. But I would look them up because I wanted to know the origin and the reason they were being used the way they were. Then I would comment (we all did) and then pray for the person. Prayer is the way I handle insults.
 
I think its a marketing ploy by the leadership of the outfit.

By emphasizing the “Church of Jesus Christ” part of their official name, it helps them in appealing to prospective members among non-Christian people particularly in Asia and Africa which never heard of the Book of Mormon or that whole theory but have heard of Jesus.
 
I don’t understand why they’re suddenly ashamed to be called “Mormon” since it means that they view Brigham Young as the successor of Joseph Smith and they view the Book of Mormon as having been written by the hand of Mormon, who they claim was a Nephite prophet.

So are they now rejecting their entire belief system? Will they now refer to the BOM as “The Book?” So many things to change if they truly drop “Mormon” from their identity.
 
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They’re pushing to be viewed as Christian.

Unlike Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Orthodox, etc… who understand those titles are in addition to being seen as Christian. Specifing terms if you will within the Christian family. The LDS Church is concerned the term Mormon has been setting them apart in common usage from Christians. They’re aiming to push into the mainstream’s view of Christianity by minimizing the names they use for their church that don’t emphasize Christ such as Mormon and LDS. In a bid to change the perception that they’re anything other than just another Christian church.

I don’t think they’re ashamed of the term nor is it derogatory. It just doesn’t fit their highly structured marketing push at present under their latest president. Their previous two presidents embraced the term and made it a central focus of their marketing and evangelization. The new president clearly rejects that notion.
 
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lilypadrees said:
So are they now rejecting their entire belief system? Will they now refer to the BOM as “The Book?” So many things to change if they truly drop “Mormon” from their identity.
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I don’t think that’s it at all.

If the primary focus of LDS Marketing efforts is to attract people from Christian nations like Europe or Latin America or America, the BOM is their distinguishing mark.

Aiming marketing in other areas, emphasizing Jesus Christ is a better tactic among people less familiar with Christianity like in India or the the Muslim world
 
But remember, they believe that the BOM is “another testament of Jesus Christ.”

Dropping the label of “Mormon” isn’t going to make them appear more Christian. It’s just going to make them appear ashamed of what they are (Mormons). These marketing tactics are just plain deception.
 
They may be pushing to be seen as Christian. But it’s not going to work.
 
The Book of Mormon should be called:

THE BOOK OF MORMON: TESTAMENT OF ANOTHER JESUS CHRIST.
 
Cor_ad_Cor said:
@lilypadrees
That’s kind of like, “I don’t care what they want to be called, they’re still papist idolators who worship Mary.”
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Except they happily refereed to themselves as Mormons for a long time, have any Catholics refereed to themselves as “papist idolators who worship Mary”? Certainly none that i know. This is not a good analogy at all.
 
Lemuel said:
The Book of Mormon should be called:

THE BOOK OF MORMON: TESTAMENT OF ANOTHER JESUS CHRIST.
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I really don’t know if I would recommend that because I have seen former Catholics on youtube declare that the Catholic Church is serving another Christ. The world might confuse the two of you!
 
It might actually. The more they emphasize what they have in common with Mainline and Evangelical Protestantism, Catholics, and the Orthodox, the more likely folks who don’t know a lot about them, particularly in non-traditional Christian regions, will view them as Christian.

I wouldn’t at all be surprised to see an increased focus on the Bible and the traditional Christianity confirming aspects of their religion, at least on the surface, to get people in the door who are familiar with Christianity as a general concept but not the particulars. And a corresponding de-emphasis on the Book of Mormon and the other aspects of their religion that we would describe as non-Christian.
 
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Anything with “Book Of Mormon” in it would give them away. They’d have to change everything about themselves. They aren’t able to do it.
 
If they want to be referred to as something else, then do so. Just call them what they want to be called. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with it. It’s just a name.

Bokbok
 
They can focus on the Bible all they want. Still won’t work. They aren’t able to explain any of the verses correctly. Until they are able to explain and understand it the way Christians (Catholic and Protestant) do, they aren’t going to fool anyone.
 
And a “bok bok” to you too, Chicken_Pigeon.

But nope. Not going to mollycoddle them. I will not refer to them by things I don’t believe.
 
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I think you’d be very surprised how many people they’ll convince. They were already one of the faster growing religions, especially in the Christian adjacent category. Further pushing to mainline themselves will just increase that. There are far too many people, even among those that call themselves Christian, that are woefully uninformed about the Bible. And when even among Christians a great many parts of it are disagreed on and debated it’s not hard to imagine they’ll be able to exploit that.

Frankly it’s a shrewd move by their new president. And I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t pay off.
 
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