It has been almost a year since Russell M. Nelson, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, launched his push to get members, the media, scholars and others to stop using the nicknames “Mormon” and “LDS” when talking about the faith and its followers.
Since that time, the Utah-based church has made a number of changes. Some have been high profile, renaming the renowned Tabernacle Choir, for one; others have been less noticeable, like rejiggering website domains.
Historian Matt Bowman, the newly installed Howard W. Hunter Chair of Mormon (there’s that word again) Studies at Claremont Graduate University shares his thoughts on the progress of this sweeping campaign.