Yesterday I attended the primary program for my grandkids. I hadn't been to a Sacrament meeting in many months, and it was difficult to walk into the church and see so many believing robots.

This was in Meridian Idaho. The chapel was overflowing from people leaving the previous Sacrament meeting. We had to get there early to get a seat on the cushioned benches. The chapel was full of white-shirt men, fake smiling women, and tons of little kids walking around with their arms folded.

The ward seemed full of successful young families, the parking lot was full of SUV's and BMW's. I recognize that it was primary Sunday, a lot of visitors, but my daughter said that every Sunday they use the overflow, and every class room is maxed out.

This ward is in a new area, a lot of building going on, so these are established members, not converts. With all of the children being socialized in Mormonism, and the young families continuing to reproduce, it looks like Mormonism is growing from birthrates, not converts, so it apparently has a lot of good years ahead.

I hope that the children grow up and learn that Mormonism is a fraud, but when you see so many families buying into Mormonism you get the impression it will never go away.

I hear that people are leaving Mormonism in droves, but when you go to a busy overflowing church meeting with tons of young families, it doesn't feel like it.

Well, Meridian... I think that Meridian is known to be the place most like Provo/Orem, a place where all are Mormon, where neighbours likely spy on neighbours, and with very high activity rates. Now, if you had said something like the church thriving in Whistling Mountain, South Dakota, that would be something to be concerned about.

Or New York City, or Miami, or Cleveland, or anywhere out in the "mission field", for that matter. (!)

danr Wrote:
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> it looks like Mormonism
> is growing from birthrates, not converts, so it
> apparently has a lot of good years ahead.

The average mormon birthrate has plummted over the past 20 years, from about 4.5 per couple to 2.5 per couple. Which is one reason the church's "growth" has slowed considerably, and is currently barely above "replacement" value for the ones that die.

Of course there are still pockets of high birthrates and reasonably high activity rates, mostly in Utah and Idaho. But overall, growth is way down, and if the trend continues, they'll be shrinking (even with births and converts) rather than growing year over year.
Their growth rate in the US is already considerably less than the population growth rate, so they're losing as a % of the population every day.

Which makes me very happy :)

It depends where you attend a meeting. There are many dead and dying wards in SLC and its older suburbs. If you go out into the newer suburbs, such as Draper or Herriman, you’ll see tons of people attending. Mormonism does well in new surburbs with young families and kids. My guess is that you’d have had a different experience with an older ward in Boise proper.

That is true, many wards that don't have new housing editions going in are not growing.

Also, my kids helped balance the Mormon's in the Boise area, one extremely tbm daughter and one son that resigned. I'm very proud of him.

In my immediate area, the LDS church is already dead. 25 miles away, it is in the slow process of dying. When I moved to this general area many years ago, the church was thriving and looking forward to a very populated future. What could stop the growth of the LDS around here now? We did not foresee the internet. We have also transformed from a White Town to a place of many African Americans. They are not uneducated like the converts of West Africa, and they search the internet all the time.

danr Wrote:
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>
> and tons of little kids walking around with their
> arms folded.


I had almost forgotten about that bizarre mormon custom of forcing children to be "reverent" by keeping their arms folded in the church building. So creepy!

I don't know how many timez I saw little kids wearing tiny white shirts, tiny ties, and tiny Dockers running around, screaming and kicking each other...with their arms folded.

danr Wrote:
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> Yesterday I attended the primary program for my
> grandkids. I hadn't been to a Sacrament meeting
> in many months, and it was difficult to walk into
> the church and see so many believing robots.
>
> This was in Meridian Idaho. The chapel was
> overflowing from people leaving the previous
> Sacrament meeting. We had to get there early to
> get a seat on the cushioned benches.

Isn't this where the new temple is? Religious fervor is abounding there. And I'm sure land values round about skyrocketed since it was announced. Hence the SUVs and BMWs. Living in Salt Lake Valley I just wish I'd had advanced knowledge of the temples built there so I could have bought up land at slightly inflated prices and then reaped the rewards. And I'm positive that many in-the-know men did exactly that.

"And I'm positive that many in-the-know men did exactly that."

Another huge reason to proliferate McTemples across the land...

well . . . in Boulder Colorado . . .

The Boulder stake was created in 1973, and now 44 years later, the 2 Boulder wards were combined into one ward due to patheticly low levels of participation.

The Institute building near CU campus was put up for sale.

Over 100,000 in Boulder and many LDS people; but most don't go to church.

Colorado has the lowest percentage of Mormons of states near Utah.

Most of the LDS kids who are enrolled at CU Boulder don't go to church. The parents want them to go to church, but they like CU because it's so easy to just not attend church.

This gives me goosebumps!

Thanks, mrx!

It's thriving in my small farming community. A new stake center and I know of one new ward in my old home town and possibly another new one being added.

There's a loud crack and a splash. The water moved for just a moment. But then all is still and the ice smooths back over. It's like you were never there at all.

As long as the cash flow at the top is reasonable positive, it is thriving.