This guideline is a part of the English Wikipedia's Manual of Style. Editors should follow it, except where common sense and the occasional exception will improve an article. Before editing this page, please make sure that your revision reflects consensus.

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This Wikipedia Manual of Style supplement has been created through the efforts and broad consensus of contributors to WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement. Please follow these conventions when you contribute to Latter Day Saints articles so that they are neutral and stylistically consistent for better and easier reader comprehension.

Referring to members of Latter Day Saint denominations

Generally, members of a Latter Day Saint denomination may be referred to as members, adherents, or followers of a particular church or organization.

The terms LDS, LDS Church, and Latter-day Saint (hyphenated, with lower-case "d") generally refer only to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, the term Latter Day Saint (note the capitalization and lack of a hyphen) may refer to any church or theology within the Latter Day Saint movement.

Use of the term Mormon: Several denominations, including the Community of Christ, generally oppose the use of the word Mormon or its derivatives in reference to its members or theology. Therefore, the word Mormon should only be used in the following situations to refer to Latter Day Saint movement adherents:

• In reference to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. However, this denomination opposes the use of the term Mormon Church, a term that should not be used in Wikipedia articles in any case, since there are several churches that could be described as a "Mormon church". When referring to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the term Latter-day Saint is more accurate than Mormon, and therefore preferred.

• In reference to denominations, organizations, or people with historic or cultural ties to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and related organizations originating in Utah. For example, one may refer to Mormon fundamentalism, Mormon pioneer, or ex-Mormon.

• When referring to common parlance before the death of Joseph Smith, Jr., when the Latter Day Saint movement was widely referred to as Mormonism. For example, one may refer to anti-Mormonism or the Mormon War.

Use full name of church in first reference

The first reference for any Latter Day Saints movement church (in the sense of "organization and congregation", not "building") should use the full name of that church rather than a shortened version such as "LDS Church" or "FLDS". The first reference should also contain a link to that church's article. If you will later use a shortened name, add the shortened version in parenthesis after the first reference, e.g. "the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS)" or "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (sometimes called the LDS or Mormon Church)"

Avoid linking the alternate names. The first reference will already contain the alternate names, as well as a link to that church's article. Thus, a second link is unnecessary.

See also: Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Acronyms and abbreviations

Article naming conventions

See Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Latter Day Saints)

Summary of naming conventions:

• Articles wholly pertaining to the Latter Day Saint movement should be parenthesized "(Latter Day Saints)", unless the article name is unambiguous without the parenthetical.
• Articles should not be limited to a single Latter Day Saint denomination, unless including the entire Latter Day Saint movement is impractical or awkward. For example, instead naming an article "Restoration (Community of Christ)" or "Restoration (LDS Church)", the article should be called Restoration (Latter Day Saints).
• In article names, references to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should capitalize the initial The and include a hyphen and a lower-case "d".

Avoid use of "Mormonisms"

Editors should always avoid use of "Mormonisms": jargon used by many adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement that the general public might not understand, may misinterpret, or might find offensive. For example:

• Never refer to Native Americans as Lamanites.
• Never use the term the Gospel or the Restored Gospel to refer to Latter Day Saint theology.^{clarification needed} Alternatives that may be used include Mormonism, teachings of the church, and Latter Day Saint teachings.
• Never use capitalizations such as "the Church" or "The Church" to refer to any specific Latter Day Saint church. For all such churches, "the church" is acceptable when the word "church" is an uncapitalized common noun, but capitalized "Church" should only be used when it is part of a longer reference to a specific church (as in "Mormon Church", "LDS Church", etc.) Only use "The Church of Jesus Christ" when it is the full name of a church (as in the case with the group commonly known as the "Bickertonites"). Also be aware that the full official name of other churches within the movement is the "Church of Jesus Christ" (omitting the article "The").) Though the LDS Church's style guide recommends referring to it as "the Church of Jesus Christ", this usage is not appropriate due to the potential confusion.
• Do not capitalize priesthood offices (apostle, elder, bishop, high priest, seventy, etc.) or leadership positions in the church (general authority, mission president, regional representative, etc.), unless they are being used to specify a particular organizational group, such as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Quorum of the Seventy, or in front of a person's name (but see next item).
• Do not use ecclesiastical titles such as "Elder", "President", "Brother" or "Sister" when referring to leaders of a church, except in the lead section at first occurrence of the name. For example, write "McConkie published a book entitled Mormon Doctrine ..." not "Elder McConkie published a book entitled Mormon Doctrine ..." After first occurrence, the use of an article subject's surname is sufficient and conforms to general encyclopedic style.

These recommendations apply mainly to article text. When these terms are used as part of quotations from church leaders or members and the context is clear, they should not be altered. It may be best for reduction of both confusion and potential inter-faith strife to follow these guidelines on talk pages as well.

Avoid anachronistic terminology

In writing about historical matters, editors should avoid anachronistic terminology that would be out-of-place or meaningless in the time period being discussed. The following are common examples:

1. When referring to the church established by Joseph Smith, Jr., it is generally inappropriate to refer to it as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since that particular name with its particular formatting was not adopted until after Smith's death. The name of Smith's church had the following names during his lifetime: "Church of Christ" (1830–1834); "Church of the Latter Day Saints" (1834–1838); "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" (1838–1844). It is appropriate to use the name of the church that existed at the time being referred to. If in doubt, you can always simply refer to the "Latter Day Saint church" as a common (non-proper) noun. In each case, the name of the church should be pipe linked to Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) when it first occurs in the article.
2. When referring to the Community of Christ prior to 2001, it is appropriate to refer to it as the "Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints", and it may be abbreviated "RLDS Church". However, that name should be pipe linked to Community of Christ when it first occurs in an article.
3. In most contexts, it is appropriate to refer to Joseph Smith, Jr. simply as the "founder of the Latter Day Saint movement". However, this practice may be departed from if an article or template deals exclusively with an issue in a specific church. In such cases, it may be appropriate to refer to Smith as the founder or first president of that particular church. For example, it would be appropriate in Thomas S. Monson to state that Monson is Smith's modern successor as president of the LDS Church. Similarly, it is appropriate to list Smith in Template:CofCpresidents as the first president of the Community of Christ.
4. From 1850 to 1896, the LDS Church was based in Utah Territory; Utah did not exist until 1896.

Any time these guidelines are violated when being used as parts of quotations from church leaders or members and the context is clear, they should not be altered. It may be best for reduction of both confusion and potential inter-faith strife to follow these guidelines on talk pages as well.

See also

• WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement – for more information or to contribute to this Manual of Style supplement