Readers of my earlier Beliefnet column, "The M Word, will know that I am not surprised by what the Brethren did. But I am surprised that so many of the questions about this change in terminology that have come to me have been about whether this is all part of a new "LDS marketing strategy." Many reporters also asked whether this change is a reaction to charges that Mormonism is not Christian.
My answer to the first is that whether it is proclamation or marketing is in the eye of the beholder. As to the second, in laying titular claim to "The Church of Jesus Christ," the First Presidency is affirming Mormonism's essential Christian-ness.
This faith community may well be moving toward being a part of the nation's common religious culture. Indeed, it would be almost impossible for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to be the sixth-largest church in the United States--which it now is--without moving in that direction. But it is not moving toward Protestantism and/or Catholicism. Instead, with this move, the First Presidency is pointing to their church's most fundamental doctrinal assertion, declaring anew that the institution they lead is the restored church of Christ.
What they are doing is just that simple--and just that profound. Consider what the Brethren propose as an alternative contraction to The Church of Jesus Christ: "The Church" (note the initial uppercase letters). To those who pay close attention to such things, this is restating Mormonism's exclusive restoration claim.
