Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Latter Day Saints)

This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Main article: Wikipedia:Naming conventions

Articles affected

This article summarizes the naming conventions for articles related to the following subjects:

• The Latter Day Saint movement
• Mormonism
• Mormon
• Latter Day Saint
• Latter-day Saint
• "LDS"
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ("LDS Church", see also Mormon) (the The in this church's title should always be capitalized)
• Community of Christ (if an article precedes Community of Christ it should not be capitalized; the use of articles should be avoided when possible)
• any of the various smaller Latter Day Saint sects or churches

Guiding principles

Listed in relative priority

1. Use accurate titles and terms.
2. Present titles and terms in a neutral point of view; avoid "endorsing" or "opposing" the views of any church.
3. Avoid disrespect without sacrificing WP:NPOV and WP:NOT#CENSORED policies.
4. Prefer general Christianity and Latter Day Saint movement articles (such as "Priesthood" or "Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)") over more specific unidenominational articles, unless there is a significant amount of unidenominational material.
5. Make it easy for readers to find articles relating to the Latter Day Saint movement and its various denominations, their members, and their theology.
6. Prefer shorter titles and terms over longer ones.

Guidelines

Naming articles about the Latter Day Saint movement

In general

Articles about the religion, doctrines, belief systems, and cultures of the Latter Day Saint movement, and that could apply to more than one Latter Day Saint denomination, should use the phrase "Latter Day Saint movement" or the phrase "Latter Day Saints". For example:

• History of the Latter Day Saint movement
• Freemasonry and the Latter Day Saint movement

The term Mormon and its derivatives

The term Mormon or its derivatives such as Mormonism are appropriate when referring to doctrines and practices that have a historical connection to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but no historical connection to other denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement. For example:

• Mormonism
• Mormon fundamentalism
• Mormon pioneers

Many older articles use the term Mormonism in reference to Latter Day Saint doctrines, belief systems, or cultures. For example:

• Mormonism and Christianity
• Mormonism and Judaism

However, this term is now discouraged because it may been seen as inaccurate or offensive by members of several Latter Day Saint movement denominations, such as the Community of Christ. Moreover, the term Mormonism should never be used in referring to the Latter Day Saint movement as an institution or historical movement, or to all Latter Day Saint churches as a body. For example, the following would be inappropriate: Mormon denominations, or Early Mormon history.

Disambiguation

If necessary for disambiguation, articles that could apply to more than one Latter Day Saint denomination should preferentially contain the parenthetical "(Latter Day Saints)". For example:

• Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
• Restoration (Latter Day Saints)
• Priesthood (Latter Day Saints)
• Sacrament (Latter Day Saints)
• Godhead (Latter Day Saints)

The parenthetical (Mormonism) is no longer favored when referring to more than one Latter Day Saint denomination, because it may be seen as inaccurate or offensive by members of several Latter Day Saint denominations to which the article may apply, such as the Community of Christ.

Naming unidenominational articles

Articles about only one Latter Day Saint denomination should use the full name of the denomination as it exists on the denomination's Wikipedia page. For example:

• History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
• History of the Community of Christ

Although the practice is discouraged, if it is absolutely necessary for disambiguation, articles that apply in the context of only one Latter Day Saint denomination should contain the following parentheticals:

Unidenominational articles should never be used when sects of Mormonism generally agree, or where differences between the sects can be explained briefly in a multidenominational article. If there is sufficient justification for a separate unidenominational article it should refer to any more general "(Latter Day Saints)" article, and to any general article concerning Christianity as a whole. To avoid redundancy, the unidenominational article should focus on the material unique to that denomination, or to the differences between that denomination and other Mormon denominations. For example:

• Priesthood (Community of Christ)
• Priesthood (LDS Church)

Naming church leaders

In general, church leaders should be named in accordance with Wikipedia:Naming conventions (people).

A common practice in the Latter Day Saint movement has been to disambiguate leaders with the same name by using differently-abbreviated middle names. For example, Joseph F. Smith is the father of Joseph Fielding Smith, even though his middle initial is also Fielding. See also Ezra T. Benson and Ezra Taft Benson, etc. This practice should be followed in naming church leaders.

When a leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has the same name as people outside the Latter Day Saint movement, the person may be disambiguated with the parenthetical (Mormon). See, for example, John W. Taylor (Mormon) and John Gould (Mormon).

The following is a proposed Wikipedia policy, guideline, or process. The proposal may still be in development, under discussion, or in the process of gathering consensus for adoption. Thus references or links to this page should not describe it as "policy".

When a leader of the Latter Day Saint movement has the same name as people outside the movement, the person may be disambiguated with the parenthetical (Latter Day Saint <role>), where "role" is the position or importance to the movement. If the person's role is vague or crosses many possibilites, then "leader" should suffice. When a leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Community of Christ or other denomination has the same name as people outside their church, the person may be disambiguated with the parenthetical (LDS Church <role>), (Community of Christ <role>}. See, for example, John W. Taylor (LDS Church apostle). In other words, disambiguation should follow the same standards as other articles. If a leader fits within a specific denomination but is still important to the movement in general, the primary role should take precidence. For example, John Taylor (Latter Day Saint leader) would be appropriate, but John Taylor (LDS Church president) is more correct.

Redirects

• There should be separate articles for:
  • Latter Day Saint movement
  • Latter Day Saint
  • Mormon
  • Mormonism
  • Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • each of the various Mormon groups or Latter Day Saint churches, listed by their official name, with disambiguating parentheticals, as necessary
• Articles containing "Latter-day Saint", "LDS", "lds", "LdS", or similar acronyms should redirect to pages containing "Latter Day Saint".
• "LDS Church", "Mormon Church", and similar phrases should redirect to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints