I'm surprised more hasn't been made of the dismal convert report from general conference. The number of 271,000 is the lowest in 4 years. Mormons love to stick their collective chests out and quote Rodney Stark's projection that mormonism would be one of the world's major religions with numbers of over 250 million by the year 2080. Mormonism is way behind schedule. They would have needed over 700,000 converts this year alone to keep up with projections. In fact, convert numbers have been so bad in the last decade, Starks projection is beginning to look downright ridiculous.

Mormons just don't get it. The so called "mormon moment" with Mitt Romney and the bom musical produced the lowest number of converts in four years. It seems the more people hear of mormonism, the more they reject it. The same thing happened with the 2002 olympics in salt lake. There was a huge publicity push associated with the olympics and the resulting converts FELL by 100,000. Mormonism would do better to stay out of the limelight and do it's work quietly. Thank God the tscc is led by megalomaniacs with delusions of grandeur that will continue to push mormonism into people's lives and as a result failure is inevitable. Please, please give us more "I'm a mormon" campaigns amd mittens and his sons running for president every 4 years.

There are twice as many active World of Warcraft players in the world than there are active mormons. Just to put things in perceptive. But to be fair, a WOW subscription is only $15/month as opposed to a second mortgage that TSCC requires.

And how old is WoW, again? Dang.

I quit WoW because I was spending too much time playing it. I quit the church because it was ruining my existence. After college in a year or so, if WoW is still running strong I may start up again casually though, it's fun :)

I enjoy a good proctologist more than the LDS.

At least then I get a thrill.

Ahh hahahahahaaaa!

I think another factor that is a giant negative to keeping the membership of TSCC is the fact that the world looks differently at church membership and attendance as a whole no matter what the church. People are no longer looked down upon for not going to or having a church affiliation. The need for god in this country is shrinking and science is gaining converts faster than any religion. Most Mormons are attending out of duty or guilt and if you erase the guilt I think attendance will just keep getting worse. Mormons will bail out faster than other religions because their practices are becoming just plain tiresome, boring, mindless, and unbearable. Three hours on your bum listening to the same tiresome drivel over and over can only be stood just so long. A mind is a terrible thing to lose during Mormon sacrament meeting but I nearly lost mine there.

I noticed that too.

All those widow mites spent on that farkakte "I'm a mormon" campaign that produced fewer numbers than ever!

I also think "and I'm A Mormon" was a GHASTLY FAILURE.

the PNW used to be Prime Missionary Territory; the word was that ppl were literally lining up to be 'tized.

now that's gone, I see mish's hanging out doing next to nothing... all over the landscape. When I see them up close, they have that 'downtrodden' look/body language, I'm Not Kidding!

What's PNW mean?

Ana

I predicted in 2010 that 2012 would be the tipping point for Mormonism.

I believe we can already see that's the case--

You have accurately pointed out the truth-- WANT TO KNOW MORE?

The more people know about Mormonism the less they like it.

Nothing else matters. More info=less converts. The only meaningful solution is to change the info. Which is what they are doing-- changing as fast as they can.

Greed is just so difficult to work with.


Anagrammy

Pacific Northwest--Oregon and Washington primarily, can also include British Columbia and lower Alaska regionally. Seattle, Washington is the largest city in that Region and cultural center--it was the first city in that Region to receive a Mormon, death oath, temple. Portland, Oregon is the second largest city in the Region.

Oregon is demographically the most diverse religious state in the country, with no leading religion. It also has one of the largest populations willing to declare they have no religious associations or are agnostic or atheists.

Mormon settlers did settle parts of Eastern Oregon and Washington, although they are not the same type of small Mormon communities found in Utah, Idaho, and Arizona since the religion has not controlled the politics and governments of these states at any time.

They love to lie and make Mormons feel like church membership is growing, and hoping like hell that nobody will crunch the numbers. If they admit to the members that convert numbers are going down, people are resigning, and converts are not staying, the sheeple will begin to wonder why.

As twojedis said, I think that whole "i'm a mormon" campaign was more for the existing membership than to get new peeps in.

There is a marketing term for it, but I forget what it is.

The term you're looking for, I think, is "stupidity."

Right?

Some know of the decline and are blaming it on porn. You see porn is changing the brains of our youth and now men will be too lazy to get married and support of family.

This made me chuckle

If porn innoculates against tscc then we need more of it.

I tend to agree, except the social aspect seems to be a draw.

A family friend converted at age 18. She is an extremely smart girl in her senior year at a prominent veterinary school. She's sort of a nerdy girl and found solace and comfort (and a boyfriend) in Mormon church. I have no idea what she knows about the doctrine, but she likes the social aspect. Hopefully she'll stop going in the next year or two, which is common.

MT should create a "truth" commercial just like the "Im a mormon"

It would get the weaker ones more curious and hit them like a ton of bricks.

Great post. This was one thing that always troubled me a little, even before I started researching on my own. They actively promote misleading statistics, and playing on the bandwagon effect.

They say 270,000 converts, but how many of them are actually still mormon? About half of the 270,000 are already "less-active" when they make this announcement, but they still say the full 270,000. Misleading.

They always mention the current membership of 14 or 15 million. However, this includes all those who never bothered to officially resign. Their actual numbers would be closer 5 or 6 million. Misleading bandwagon effect.

Not even the Jehovah Witness sinks down to this level. From the best of my understanding, Watchtower at least mentions the distinction between membership and real membership.

and/or butts in the seats. The Society is nowhere near as anal as mormonism is in record keeping or tracking people down. (However, they are experts at doctrinal shunning should one chose a contrary path.)

I don't think so. Might be wishful thinking for those that don't like the LDS Church.

Several reasons I find it unlikely it will fail: This is a generational, patriarchal, cultural, familial, religious tribe, based in the US (Utah) and as such it's roots, both religiously and financially etc. are solid.

It may become more stagnant, membership wise, at least in some areas, sell off some property, etc. but fail? No. It would take generations to drop all of the strong "spiritual witness" testimony believers.

It's not about size, it's about it's belief system which follows, in the main, a pattern of success: faith based belief in metaphysical, supernatural, visionary claims. That system has been working within humanity for eons.

It maybe smaller than many other religions, but it's American Heritage gives it a strong base. It is will managed also both in it's for profit investments, and non-profit religious side.

Something catastrophic might bring it down, but only as a part of a catastrophe that has far reaching effects.

When General Conference can't fill the seats of the tabernacle and the adjoining buildings, and the TV stations no longer carry it, we will see some dwindling membership. But, that is only part of their roots, the other is their financial holdings and investments.

Nah. Mormonism is still strong.

You're probably right. However, they will certainly drop off the grid and become more isolated like the FLDS. I don't think they'll be a mainstream protestant religion. There's just too much truth on the web. If they survive long-term, the doctrine will need to radically evolve by giving the Priesthood to woman and offering celestial marriage to same-sex couples. The temple ceremony will need to be overhauled.

Perhaps by "fail" he simply meant fail at its goal to convert the world?

Mormons' response to change in membership:

If membership goes up, it's a sign of the times.
If membership goes down, it's a sign of the times.

I wonder if the retention rate among baptisees are going down as well.

That's a 10% drop in convert baptisms in one year. Wow. So much for the "Mormon moment." LOL!