Jana Reiss' latest column is about the declining religiosity of Mormons based on survey results, and also declining percentage of the US population.

https://religionnews.com/2021/11/23/for-us-mormons-religiosity-has-declined-over-time-study-shows/

The whole article is worth a read, but I found the following particularly interesting:

>And it’s good that we have this data, because the Church itself appears to have stopped providing it. Normally the Church releases its global membership number during the April General Conference and then follows up with country-by-country information less than a week later. This year it did the first (global numbers), but not the second, for the first time in my memory.The worldwide number which showed a slight increase in membership around the globe, but it did not provide the country-by-country statistics that are so important for researchers. I requested that information in April and was told the numbers would be forthcoming, but they have not appeared after seven months.

>My worry is that they never will, because the church does not have a history of dealing with membership declines. In fact, back in the 1980s and 1990s, when some other churches were beginning to show declines, Mormons routinely congratulated ourselves on being the Lord‘s true church as evidenced by the fact that we continued to grow. When the numbers become flat or even fall into negative territory, what does that do to a triumphalist theology that has been predicated upon having success after success?
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How very like LDS Inc to basically lie by omission about bad news. It will be worth watching to see if they ever resume giving country by country statistics again.

The article points out that from 2008-10, 1.8% of survey respondents reported that they were LDS. For the last 3 years, the percentage was 1.3%. That is a huge drop over just one decade. It is possible that one or both of the survey populations was badly skewed, but that is not likely. The Cooperative Election Survey sounds like a pretty well established organization, so should have its act together. [edit: the survey was about religious activity in the US, so survey reported that currently 1.3% of American respondents self-report as LDS]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2021 08:51AM by Brother Of Jerry.

After this covid isolation period everybody know ya have to wait at least nine months to count the new LDS members, again!

hehh ..

The decline is across all age groups.

Rusty has focused on making the temple a better experience for the members, and in some respects ward meetings (reducing the three hour block to two hours.) But until he focuses on members' social experience within the church by returning more tithing funds to ward activities, I think the numbers will continue to decline.

Maybe they think that the ones who go to the temple are more invested and will be more likely to stay. Maybe they are thinking that a smaller core group of devotees is better than a bunch of people who don't participate and drift away?

They must think having temples gives the impression that they have something more than the other Christian churches. They seem to be thinking that to address the decline, they must get more temples? They have to give the appearance of growth. They need something to spend money on that helps the economy of the members by the temples. I have no idea what their reasoning might be other than adaptation and survival.

It's such a blah church. They think cultish clubhouse stuff helps? They are so square. They strike me like a group of Amish people frightened of the world crossed with money hungry leadership.

" triumphalist theology"!!! Well bless Jana's little heart for that catchy little gem.

You can hardly be surprised that they look elsewhere for their meat.

I think this is the key error that the Church Corporate has made over the last five decades.

I'm sure they thought correlation would ensure that everyone follows Salt Lake's lead and that wackaloon theological digressions and theories would be quashed and that the church would be the same everywhere you go.

In fact, the opposite appears to have happened. Giving the members no control over what they do and teach or how their moneys are spent locally meant that the locals tended to lose interest in having the same damn correlated lessons wherever they went.

I mean really, who the hell can possibly care anymore when the answers are the same ones every time? (Read your scriptures, fast, pray, pay your tithing, be worthy and go to the temple.) You don't even need to think - and that's more dangerous than when the members have to hunt out these things themselves.

(As an aside, I honestly don't know how the Jehovah's Witnesses keep interest when all of their answers are in The Watchtower. Maybe they don't.)


So, you start having your members distracted by politics and no longer following their prophet, seer, and revelator, because when did he ever do any of that anyway? No, it's clear that coasting on their laurels in the Internet age has done them no favors.

If they wanted to regain control AND get the members engaged, they need to put them to work - and that means incentivizing things by letting them have some control of their money locally. More roadshows, holiday parties, service projects. More fun. More silly debates in Sunday school.

But then also, some real damn revelation - even if you have to fake it till you make it. If President Oldwhiteguy gets a revelation about where Zelph lived or Mormons on Mars or new orders in the Celestial Kingdom or an all-new temple ceremony to convey deep new mojo from God in supercryptic alt-gematria format whatever else from time to time, instead of being buffeted by the zeitgeist, then that would give the members another stupid thing to gnaw on and pick to death and keep them busy for years to come.

Instead by steamrolling the church into a generic Christian flatness, they are becoming the hasbeens they wanted to avoid.

Tyson

First UU of SLC does an annual fundraising auction in November. It was last week. It raises between $50K and $70K, so kind of a big deal. They present a Fairly Free Thinker Award (there's a pun in there) each year, there is a speech and a dinner and open bar to lubricate the bidders.

The Fairly Free Thinker this year was Angela Dunn, former Utah state public health director, who quit last summer to go to work as SLC public health director. SLC administration actually listens to the public health director.

Anyway, some of the congregants put together a parody of Gilbert and Sullivan's Modern Major General. All these people were known to the audience so there are some inside jokes you may not get. For instance, one gay member recently married a Romanian from Transylvania region.

Not exactly a roadshow, but it is members having a good time. I can't imagine most wards pulling this off.

https://youtu.be/g7CHH-It1YA

Obviously they're not suiting the needs of the community, tbms would say that the purpose is not to cater to the needs or wants of the people but focus on God, so church doesn't have to adapt, but I disagree, people gotta get benefit out of Sunday devotion, and religiosity, first thing they should do is to get a serious radio station to promulgate the Christian right message, get political with current happenings and injustices, mormons are wasting their opportunity to blast it on TV as well, and the church houses could become homeless shelters or hotels for travelers, the could even sell groceries or something, hey back in the early Christian days that's exactly what they did in Germany by day it was a monetary and at night it became a bordello and tavern, everyone loved the catholic sisters!