And while this rate is still better than that of most other Christian denominations , it represents a modest decline from , when the retention rate stood at 70 percent. It is an argument that resonates with many younger Mormons. Sarah, another young Mormon mother, concedes that the church might be out of step with young people — even younger Mormons — on the issue of same-sex marriage. But there are signs that the church hierarchy is listening.
Quin Monson, a professor of political science at BYU and co-author of Seeking the Promised Land: Mormons and American Politics , says that while the church has maintained its conservative theological stance, it is offering a kinder and gentler approach on hot-button social issues like LGBTQ rights.
In , the LDS Church launched a website called Mormon and Gay featuring firsthand accounts of Mormons who identify as gay, lesbian, or bisexual. Importantly, the church remains opposed to same-sex marriage, but church leaders have adopted much more inclusive language when discussing LGBTQ members of the church.
This shift stands in stark contrast to what is unfolding in the United Methodist Church, which recently voted to toughen prohibitions on same-sex marriage and LGBTQ clergy. The Catholic Church remains similarly steadfast in its opposition to same-sex marriage. At the congregational level, members of conservative churches still receive negative messages about LGBTQ people with some regularity.
A Pew Research Center study found that 46 percent of white evangelical Protestants said their clergy had brought up the issue of homosexuality in the past couple of months, and the overwhelming majority of those who reported hearing about the issue said their clergy spoke out against it. The reasons Americans leave religion are varied, often complex, and incredibly personal. As a result, there is no single tactic that will ensure the vitality of religious congregations in the US.
But the Mormon experience is instructive. At a time when the American family is undergoing seismic shifts in structure and function, the church appears to be leaning into its emphasis on traditional family life and roles.
However, the church appears much more willing to change its approach and rhetoric, if not theology, when it comes to LGBTQ members. Every religious congregation in the US will have to make the same bet about which traditions and practices are inviolable and which are not, where to bend, and where to hold firm.
Time will be the ultimate arbiter as to whether the Mormon Church got it right. Among the families he studied, no religious group was more effective in passing on their religious identity and beliefs to their children than Mormons.
Correction: The Mormon Church lifted its ban on caffeinated soda in , but still prohibits the consumption of tea and coffee. Daniel Cox is a research fellow in polling and public opinion at the American Enterprise Institute AEI , where he specializes in survey research, politics, youth culture and identity, and religion.
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Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. If you live in Utah, it almost seems like the Church leaders like you better. Before the introduction of smaller temples, California and Utah had the same number of temples. Now that the church has started building smaller temples, the church has more than doubled temple construction in Utah, and has nearly built more of them in Utah than they have anywhere else, even though church attendance and membership there has not grown to match.
There places in the world where members have to travel a day and a half in large numbers and spend there life savings to go to the temple, and the Church does nothing. But if you live in Utah and cannot get into the session you want and have to wait 30 minutes, then the Church builds you six more temples within a one hour drive. Tell me how that does not show favoritism?
That is the problem that many people have. Do not understand why you are all fighting about how many are where when you should be out teaching people about the gospel. I live in Utah on the Wasatch Front. My daughter lives in California and they have an apostle visit their stake conferences often. As far as the number of temples in Utah…Utah members are temple attenders. The temples we have are over crowded on Saturdays and on week night evenings. It stands to reason the Church would build temples where the demand is high.
Because I live in the midst of numerous temples, I feel it an obligation to attend often, as well as a blessing. The lords going to put them where they get used. Stating there is a temple in Wyoming is a bit misleading right now.
It is still under construction and not an operating temple as of yet. What would it be in raw numbers? I am from the midwest and have to say to Amen! What a blessing to have so many temples and feel the responsibility to attend them. For us it takes one to two days to get to a temple because of distance. Just be worthy to go to the Temple closest to you and be there as much as you can. If you need to have more information to vary this report then go to lds.
I would be very happy to see them head back to N Y where they started from.! Sick of the cult running the government in AZ. There is obviously no way that it could, with the LDS population constituting a small minority. Brewer were both very far from being Mormons. Finally, considering that the Mormons were among the first white settlers of Arizona, who made the desert of Mesa, Safford, Thatcher, St.
Barry, it is depressing if an increasing number of people find it necessary to follow or join with any cult or way of thinking that is fundamentally based on either lunacy, stupidity or hypocrisy.
And this includes all religions… Christianity, Islam, Judaism you name it. Have you ever actually read the bible? To illustrate what I mean, take Numbers 31, verses 14 through 18 in the Bible where after victory on the battlefield Moses orders his troops to kill all the boy babies and their mothers and any woman who is not a virgin and to take all the young women and girls for themselves.
How will you explain the fundamental problems of your religion? Hypocrite, idiot or psychopath? I like any article about Church facts and figures, but whoever figured out the percentages must have got the formula wrong. It understates the percentages on every state. For example, there are about 2 million Mormons in Utah, which has a total population of just under 3 million. That would make the percentage right around 67 percent, rather than 55 percent.
Idaho should be close to 30 percent, and Wyoming should be around 11 or 12 percent. All the other states had similarly lower percentages than they should have been.
I am proud of all the Mormon leaders in businesses everywhere. I am also proud of the youth who seem to be much stronger than the members of my age. Any state should be delighted to see the Mormon Church flourish within its boundaries. I agree Kent I love that the church is growing. Think of it, it all started forever ago. Joseph Smith along time ago called some people in the church and said that soon this church will be all around the world.
He was thinking of this time. I admire your boldness. To speak as a Mormon and to something I think we can both agree on. While the methods God uses to wake up and bring the people to repentance has changed throughout time, the message has always been the same. Love is the whole purpose of the gospel; to show us and allow us to choose to love as Jesus showed us how to love. They will never stop being God, even as we become more like them because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ which affords us the ability to increase in love.
You forgot about California. It accounts for I have gotten a real kick out of the rivalry between Utah and California. Congrats to California! If you love the temples, it is tough to live so far. For 15y, my family and I listened intently at the Saturday General Conference session, anticipating the announcement of a temple in the Panhandle of Florida, preferably Pensacola. We were actually min at a fast drive. There are 4 temples used by Mormons in Idaho.
The Mormon influence is mostly in the eastern parts of Idaho. Wyoming has the 3rd highest numbers of Mormons in America. The history of Mormons in Wyoming dates back to when establishments were set up in the towns of Byron and Cowley. It is also around the same time that the Mormons set up camp in Utah and Idaho.
Today, there are 67, Mormons in Wyoming. They represent Wyoming has congregations with one mission camp. Furthermore, Mormons believe that God created the world using existing matter and not out of nothing, as Christians believe.
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