"Nearly 60 percent of all millennials raised in a church have stopped going.

They're not in search of a new faith, they simply want out.

The mass exodus from church pews nationwide has been studied at length in recent years by the Pew Research Center, which tracks Millennials by state, religion and faith. It's research has found that no religion has been safe in these drastic membership losses each one is still grappling with a way to bring them back.

In Utah, a state known for its religious fervor, and home of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the loss of young people is evident.

Researchers believe Mormons may remain in larger numbers than other faiths, but retention rates are dropping at a never-before-seen speed....

[A] third of all Mormon millennials have decided to walk away into a new category called the "nones."

https://kutv.com/news/local/losing-their-religion-millennials-including-utahns-leaving-church

Quotes from the same article (and my comments):

“Millennials are a generation of inclusion…”
So why join or stay in a church which targets groups for exclusion?

“Today’s young adults expect their churches to open their bank books as readily as their doors…”
So why join or stay in a church determined to hide its total assets and its other financial secrets from its own members?

Mormon leaders keep doing the same thing (refusing positive change and exercising tighter and tighter control over their members) but hoping for a different result (retaining more members.) That is not how things work.

The beatings will continue until the attitude improves

Some people are very, very serious about getting to the highest degree of the Celestial Kingdom.

I wonder if they speculate on just how happy they are going to be?

I finally broke free of the Church when I realized that going to hell would be happier than living with everyone I disliked in the celestial kingdom

LOL.

My jack Mo stepmom and dad used to quip about when they died at least they were going to be with their friends.

Only a third are leaving? That's about the same as it has always been.

That may be; I don't know where the data would come from to support or refute that notion.

But I like to think that in the past, people dropped out of activity because one or another habit of theirs disqualified them from a supposed temple worthiness, rather than as a result of an in-depth examination of the doctrine. They lazied their way out.

And now I want to believe that people are leaving who are temple-worthy but recognize that mormonism is not a conduit to Heaven. This latter group has things to say that the former group did not.

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But I like to think that in the past, people
> dropped out of activity because one or another
> habit of theirs disqualified them from a supposed
> temple worthiness, rather than as a result of an
> in-depth examination of the doctrine. They lazied
> their way out.

Yeah, in the past, I dropped out of activity because my habit of thinking and in-depth examination disqualified me from temple worthiness.

Oh, wait, that works for both. Cool. :)

It may be more than a third that are leaving. This report was right out of Salt Lake City, so depending on how they compiled the data, it may not be telling the whole story.

Millenials are very independent from their parents, if mine were any indication. They have minds of their own. My children grew up in secular schooling. They both left Mormonism, granted it was with me, but they both made a cognitive choice the same as I did.

Others in their age group are as independent. When I've visited Utah and Idaho in recent past I've been impressed with how many of the younger generation are doing their own thing irrespective of how they were raised.

That *is* how society evolves BTW. We're just living long enough to see the changes in our lifetimes.

R.E.M. must be so sick and tired of this phrase misappropriated.

If only they were losing it. Leaving it yes, I guess. I haven't fact check Millennial religiosity.

The internet has allowed them to live far beyond the informational bubble that religion requires them to live in.

There are quite a few young adult LDS who haven't come out of the closet for whatever reason, on their changing beliefs. Like some of the lurkers on this forum. They haven't yet found the courage to leave. Maybe their parents will disinherit or cut them off if they open up.

Many young adults reared in Protestant churches often abandon or slack up on attendance after leaving home, esp in college and the first years of living solo.

Hopefully, young adult mormons will wake up completely and have the courage to leave it all.

I know several in this age group who have left the church, but of the millenials and post-millenials that I see who are staying in the church, many are not practicing the version of Mormonism that their parents practiced. Many seem to be practicing Mormonism on their own terms.

They get married in the temple to satisfy their families, but may not wear garments regularly. I know a few who are regular church goers, but are also coffee drinkers. And many of the young adult Mormons I know don't consider the church's stance on gays to be fair.

In many ways, I think the cafeteria type of Mormon that many in the church's younger generation seem to be will be a greater challenge to the church in the years to come than those who decide to leave.

The millennials see the previous generations as being flawed. Look at all the problems they have inherited. They are the screwed generation inheriting lots of debt. College tuition has never been higher and the cost of living is high.

Millennials want to be different than their credit card abusing live beyond their means parents. I think millennials see organized religion as being old and controlling.

Why would a generation that want to do things different want traditional religion?