The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has filed a lawsuit against John Dehlin, an excommunicated sixth-generation member, to prevent him from using the term 'Mormon' for his podcast, Mormon Stories. The church argues that Dehlin's branding mimics its copyrighted imagery and creates confusion, despite the church having abandoned the nickname in 2019.
Background of the Name Change
In 2019, church President Russell M. Nelson announced that the Lord had commanded the church to drop the term 'Mormon,' stating that continuing to use it would be 'a major victory for Satan.' The church now insists on being called the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or simply 'the Church of Jesus Christ.' This rebranding led to changes such as renaming the Mormon Tabernacle Choir to the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and ending the 'I'm a Mormon' campaign.
The Lawsuit and Legal Arguments
Filed in April, the lawsuit accuses Dehlin and his Mormon Stories podcast of 'intentionally and willfully' displaying copyright imagery, even after Dehlin agreed to alter the logo by removing light rays and changing the font color from navy blue to orange. The church claims that Dehlin's refusal to take sufficient corrective actions forced it to take legal action.
Patrick Mason, a scholar of Latter-day Saint studies at Claremont University, noted that the lawsuit is 'an extension of the church's policies to emphasize the move away from the nicknames Mormon and Mormonism.' He added that the church leadership wants to emphasize its Christian bona fides and that the case speaks to 'a perennial question of whether the church can be included within the broader Christian family.'
Dehlin's Response and Counterclaims
In a legal response last week, Dehlin accused the church of weaponizing trademark and copyright laws to silence him. He stated, 'The LDS church does not own the word “Mormon,” and it should not be allowed to use intellectual property law to control how people discuss Mormon culture, history, doctrine, or lived experience.' His counterclaim argues that the term 'Mormon' belongs to the public, including members of over 400 different Mormon sects nationwide.
Dehlin, a Brigham Young University graduate, was excommunicated in 2015 for disputing the nature of God and the divinity of Jesus Christ, as well as for calling the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham fraudulent. He has also claimed that his support for same-sex marriage and women's equality contributed to the decision.
Broader Implications and Historical Context
The church has a history of reaching for secular litigation against former members while refraining from it with existing members. The timing of the lawsuit has raised questions, as Mason noted: 'The irony, as plenty of people have pointed out, is the church is litigating over the term Mormon during the same era that it doesn't want to be associated with it.'
Efforts to shift away from 'Mormon' are not new, with similar pushes in 1982, 2001, and 2011. The term is also used by splinter groups that practice polygamy, which the church seeks to distance itself from. Mason explained, 'There are so many Netflix or Hulu shows about fundamentalist Mormons so the church really wants to distinguish itself and stand out from those other groups.'
