GEORGE HANDLEY, a professor of literature at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, has been working on a book that looks at responses to culture among fellow believers in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. But publication has hit a last-minute snag. The text is now being filleted to remove references to two of the group’s better-known names, the Mormons and the LDS.

Meanwhile, the church’s most famous institution, a company of singers that has serenaded many incoming American presidents, has sung its last hymn as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Following an order from the highest level, the M-word has been dropped. As of last month the singers will be known as the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, recalling the location of their hub in Salt Lake City.

Name changes have consequences, especially when they are delivered as a divine commandment. Ever since he settled into his new duties this summer, the imperative to use, where possible, the full name (and above all, keep the reference to Jesus Christ) has been one of the keenest concerns of Russell Nelson, the 94-year-old president of the body of 16m believers that most people still call the Mormons. Any appellation that omits the name of Jesus Christ amounts to “inadvertently removing Him as the central focus of our lives,” insists Mr Nelson. He has even suggested that failing to mention the Saviour could amount to “a major victory for Satan”. The full church name is believed to have been revealed by God to the faith’s founder, Joseph Smith, in 1838. Mr Nelson (whose office as president or “prophet” is said to carry a special gift for discerning the divine will) says he feels a calling to revive the use of the unabridged title.

However, certain shorter forms of the name are still permissible, Mr Nelson has said. For example, the “restored Church of Jesus Christ” is both “accurate and encouraged”, according to the church’s style guide. The word “restored” reflects a belief that other forms of Christianity departed from certain original teachings, a mistake which was corrected by later prophets, including one called Mormon, whose insights are recorded in the Book of Mormon. That book and that prophet explain the most popular name for the church and its followers.

Other Christians have long been sceptical about whether America’s biggest “home-grown” religion should likewise be considered Christian. The argument becomes especially sharp when a member of the faith acquires greater prominence—for example when Mitt Romney ran for president in 2012.

Apart from having additional scriptures and prophets whose authenticity is not recognised by mainstream Christians, the Utah-based church also espouses different dogmas. For example, while classic Christianity stresses the unity of the three persons (Father, Son and the Holy Spirit) making up the Triune God, the Latter-day Saints emphasise the separateness of those three entities.

For their part, Joseph Smith’s spiritual progeny have always been highly sensitive about the way they are perceived by others, and upset by any suggestion that they are anything other than Christian or Christ-centred. According to Philip Barlow, director of religious studies at Utah State University, this sensitivity goes back to the mid-19th century when the newly founded group was persecuted, assaulted and rioted against. Indeed, Smith was killed by a mob in Illinois. As Mr Barlow puts it: “We know we’ve had literal skin in this game, like being flogged [as a result of] being misunderstood.”

Jana Reiss, a religious-affairs columnist who follows the same faith, says her co-religionists will welcome the renewed emphasis on Jesus Christ although some might find their president’s tone a tad harsh and judgmental.

Journalists, meanwhile, have more practical problems: how to refer to the faith adjectivally, and how many times in a short news item to spell out an eight-word title?