Apologies if this has been posted before.

Key finding from recent Pewresearch poll/research:

.... more Americans express negative than positive attitudes toward atheists, Muslims and Mormons (members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).


Link:
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/03/15/americans-feel-more-positive-than-negative-about-jews-mainline-protestants-catholics/

Interesting. However, I find your headline misleading as on the chart it shows Mormons to be about equal to Muslims and Atheists and Evangelical Christians as far as unfavorable opinions go.

Also, Pew should no better than to list Atheists as a religion. This is why atheism is so misunderstood.

I don't trust these polls at all. What is the purpose. Who got interviewed. How loaded were the questions. Perhaps the article explains but I didn't read it because it seems like just a justification for Pew to exist and seems like more useless drivel. What does anyone do with this.

One minute the press is claiming that anti-semitism is on a steep rise and the next we get a poll saying they are the most liked. I am sick of all this crap.

Done & Done, as far as I know, PRRI is a well-respected outfit.

And as far as listing atheists or agnistics in the same capacity as believers, I think that's relevant, because it's closely related. (And I speak as a life-long agnostic.)

Perhaps I run with the wrong crowd, but . . .


Mostly I work with a very diverse group of people and live in a diverse city and of the thousands of people I have come in contact with only my dental hygienist has any idea what Mormons are. She finds it ridiculous. Everyone else simply has no interest. It is a non-issue. And so there are no views to change. And that is why I don't think this money fiasco will change anything in the long run or even the short. So I see the big gray area of people who don't care one way or the other as the ones that determine the outcome.

I thought people would be shocked to find I, a wild one, had been not only Mormon but served a mission etc. I was disappointed they didn't. They just don't know enough for that to be amusing or surprising anymore than finding out I don't like maple flavoring would be.


I do think that you are right that any one who actually has an interest in religion is going to have a negative view of Mormons ---if they know the details; have the whole picture.

What amuses me about this interesting survey you posted is that when I was young in the fifties and early sixties, Mormons bragged non-stop about how the world was in awe of them. They said that though people (gentiles) did not understand it, they did notice that Mormons had a special quality that others did not. I based my farewell mission talk on this as I left to save the world (Argentina) from Satan.


I do take your point, thedocumentor, but I just can't get my hopes up anymore. There are too many people and too much else going on in our world for Mormonism to be on the radar for more than a minor blip or two. Everything is forgotten when the next big story airs.

Just wanted to explain where I am coming from.

Wait....you don't like maple flavoring? That is amusing and surprising! ;-)

Haha Apparently that is the most interesting thing about me. How awful is that?

Mormonism is nearly 100% invisible where I live here in B.C. as people go about their daily business. I don't know if it's more evident in other areas of Canada, apart from the few Mormon enclaves.

If anybody in B.C. (or anywhere?) hears or thinks about Mormons the most well known Mormon-related issue is Bountiful, the plyg colony here, with Winston Blackmore as their leader.

The CBC (our national news org) in a November 2020 article discussing Bountiful refers to it as "home of a fundamentalist Christian sect" and later adds: "...that practices polygamy". Ouch. The article is in relation to a decision not to prosecute Blackmore et al for polygamy. Too bad for all the women and children there and for former members desperate to get them out or bring Blackmore & pals to justice or both.

The article also refers to them as the "Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints".

So who outside of current members and exmos would know that is Mormons? The term 'fundamentalist Christian' doesn't bring Mormonism to mind for most people.

They're pretty quiet up here, the mainstream Mormons. If I didn't pass one of their stake houses (I even forget now if that's the right term, ha - I'm recovered!) every time I visit my sister (and especially if I didn't dial up RfM so often) Mormons would very likely be far far from my mind as well.

It's a strategy - stay low key, never say Mormon. And those pesky guys with all the wives? They're fundamentalist Christians - that's not Mormonism. :/

Your post is right on. Most people don't care one way or the other about the LDS church. Too many other things to worry about.

They have always felt negative. From the very beginning people did not believe it.

They're negative because they do not understand it.

I was a Mormon for 25 years, and I didn't understand it either.

Madeguy, could it be that they are negative precisely because they do understand it?

I believe the views about Mormons are significant because the views about other groups, esp. Jews, have changed from negative (previously) to positive. So why have not the views about Mormons changed?

IMO most nevermos who do not live in the Moridor think about Mormons much at all. Their points of reference will the occasional fellow student, coworker, or neighbor who dresses a bit differently, and who smiles at them, but maintains a certain distance, or the missionaries who are clueless about the fact that in 2023, most people do not want strangers knocking on their door for anything short of an emergency.

Apart from that, nevermos still associate Mormons with, first and foremost, polygamy. All these years later, the stink of polygamy lingers.

Despite the church's efforts to have good PR, it's not working. The Mormon church is not known for significant charitable works. They *are* known for being behind the curve in terms of acceptance of LGBTQ people. The age of the Osmonds has largely passed, and people who know about David Archuleta are only going to feel sorry for him.

Plus, TBMs are not great at forming genuine friendships with nevermos. They run from those who drink tea, coffee, or alcoholic beverages, or who might swear here and there, or who don't otherwise conform to Mormon expectations. How can people have a good opinion of you if they know they have been closed off from a close relationship with you?

Summer, I live far from Utah and have NO Mormon friends.

But I've spent a fair amount of time in Utah, and done a reasonable amount of reading about Mormonism and organized religion, and I think I have a reasonable understanding of the church. My interest in Mormonism comes from my interest in behavior and religion.

And I have said some positive things about Mormons--for example, that they are very polite folks, and if I could pick the religion of my neighbor, I'd definitely pick Mormon.

That does not mean that I think the church's policies--formal and informal--are entirely benign.

Some years ago I sent a question to LDS HQ. The response was an offer to send a Mormon to my house to answer the question. (Yeah, right--a 21 year old kid.) I responded that I had limited time and that I'd prefer to see an answer in print. That was the end of the discussion--of course the church is not going to answer questions in print!

>>...and if I could pick the religion of my neighbor, I'd definitely pick Mormon.

I can see why you would say that, but I have been the Mormon neighbor and the exmormon neighbor. I've lived in mostly Mormon neighborhoods the last 40 years.

Mormon neighbors tend to have an underlying desire to convert people. Mormon neighbor kids will shun your kids at school and in the neighborhood. They will constantly invite you to church things. If you are lucky they will ignore you after they spy an empty coffee cup in your trash.

They sometimes have a lot of kids taking care of kids (with noise). They often have housewife mom types who are not capable of being intellectual friends. Their main skill is backing up the SUV to the loading dock at Nordstrom's (they are often very fixated on competing and appearances).

I was a doctor's wife. I played that game. When we left the church, Mormons were NOT great neighbors. I was also a professional with a job which alienated neighbors who only wanted to hang out with stay at home Mormon moms.

I think I would pick a nonreligious person for a neighbor if I got to choose. I guess we should be careful what we wish for.

In my experience Mormons are useless for community efforts, kids sports, etc. They think they have fulfilled their philanthropic duties within the church and that outsiders should pick up the slack for them.

I consider them parasites, useless relative to non-Mormons, most of whom actually think they should share the community's burdens.

It would be interesting to see some research on this.

Right. It has been my experience that many Mormons view serving in the church as actual service. The rest of us view their "service" as church busywork.

My family felt serving a mission was equivalent to serving in the military (eye roll).

PR insistence that outlets use the Full Name of ChurchCo in 'first reference' reporting is also manipulative.

Manipulation is a habit they can't / don't want to break!

GNPE, you could be right, but I wonder if a more accurate term might be "control".

Mormonism: Scientology with a choir.

Yeah, Scientology is worse, but the Mormons are in the same ballpark.

Brother of Jerry, I agree.

I've often wondered if Smith got tired of doing 1's and 2's cons and asked himself, "What's the biggest con I could do?"--and that was the origin of Mormonism.

I suspect that the general public's ignorance/lack of interest regarding mormonism are also reflections of the fact that the so-called church is NOT growing - in the developed world, at least. Which is hardly surprising because it's nonsense ;-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2023 02:10PM by Soft Machine.