Saints leaving articles are all over the board and the Internet now. Church acknowledges it is a problem. Church representatives are talking about 3 main things in the media, but there are more:

1. JS Translated with a stone in a hat
2. BoM is devoid of scientific proof
3. JS had multiple wives, including some that were polyandrous

The church says they lose members when members find out about those items as adults. They believe talking about these things in church will fix the problem.

Won't work. Cat is out of the bag.

When you raise questions, new questions arise. People today don't "learn" they "look-up" information on the Internet.

So, anyone who thinks this through to its logical conclusion can see that the church is disintegrating. Will it "end"? No. There are enough Romneys, Marriotts, and local dentists, lawyers and etc that can continue to pay tithing without asking the really hard questions. The outcome does not really matter to these guys, and hey...they feel blessed, and may as well continue to pay, pray, obey.

But, anyone can sense that the energy has left the church. It won't be a dynamic, powerful organization forever. Over time, as the 20-somethings leave and become the next generation of wealth...they won't be contributing to LDS-inc.

As always, the church is the last to know. They've been late on many things:
-Free Press
-Polygamy
-Blacks
-Gays
...and the pattern continues...they are late on cultural realities.

Will be a very different church in 20 years.

This whole thing is so much fun to watch as an exmormon lol. The church should have dealt with this crap 50 years ago, but they instead chose to lie and demonize those of us that found out the truth.

Well, the truth is coming back to bite them in the ass and I have no sympathy for the old folks at the COB. They chose to lie and put off dealing with the church's history, so now they are being forced to deal with it. (yeah, it sucks being caught in a lie).

I think the church is going to keep a steady flow of people leaving. I think the church will still be a major force for a few more decades, but times are a-changing.

One is reminded of the fate of one of the other "American-made" religions, Christian Science.

In many ways it is similar to Mormonism: charismatic founder, new theology, new sacred scripture ("Science And Health"), rapid growth, ridiculed by Mark Twain, etc.

Their membership has decreased by 50% over the last eight decades, according to their own admission.

Causes: failed business ventures, accusations of silencing dissenters, hints of plagiarism in the leader's scriptural writings, etc.