Ernie wrote: ↑Wed Dec 29, 2021 7:06 am I think the reason the main Mormon group is so large in comparison with the others is because
they run their church like an efficient corporation.
One Mormon told me, "How can you argue against us being the true church whenever we are so successful?"
Also they are successful, because they know just when to drop traditional beliefs and practices in favor of more modern ones.
When public opinion forced them to drop polygamy, they got a revelation to do so. When public opinion forced them to drop policies against blacks, they did so. In contrast the traditionalists keep on practicing polygamy because they believe that nobody is allowed to change the scriptures.
The liberals watered down their theology so much that they don't require members to believe the Book of Mormon is inspired.
If you can't trust your texts, you are going to lose anything that makes you stand out as something different.
A third reason they are so succesful is because they have a top notch missionary training program and a robust apologetics department.
Good points, Ernie. i would add a couple:
1) They value traditional families and children;
2) They are able to retain their children in their faith, in spite of gov school experience. (Something i’ve observed in my life that foreign students with non-Christian religions achieve.)
Our daughter was in school with girls from large, robust Mormon families, one of her friends was #13, they added 2 boys before their sweet mother shared with me that she thought #15 was the last. “He was harder to carry to term than the others.” i admired her and their family. Good memories.
No self-loathing, ZPG, and confusing dogs+cats as babies for them! They are in politics.
“Mormon families are America's largest, new study finds”
https://www.deseret.com/2015/5/12/20564 ... tudy-finds
(i’m not sure they included the Amish in their studies.) ^^
Ernie:
Everything you mentioned has great appeal to western/U.S. secular tastes, the love of wealthy corporations and hollywood.
Interesting how they embrace those things AND continue to value traditional family units, values, children.
Other numbers
The 2014 survey interviewed more than 650 people who identified themselves as Mormon or LDS. Again, the plus or minus for LDS data was 4.9 percentage points.
Additional findings included:
• Mormons are among the youngest Christians in America, with a median age among adults of 43, up from 41 in 2007. Only Orthodox Christians are younger, at 40.
• American Mormons are 86 percent white, but racial and ethnic diversity in the church ticked up to 15 percent from 14 percent in 2007.
• Mormons are among the most highly educated Christians, with 33 percent reporting a college degree, surpassed only by Orthodox Christians.
• In 2007, 44 percent of Mormons were men and 56 percent were women. The gap narrowed some in 2014, to 46-54, close to the Christian sample (45-55) and the overall sample (48-52). Non-Christian faiths reported more men (54-46) as did unaffiliated "nones" (57-43).
• Mormons are concentrated in the West (67 percent). In fact, 5 percent of Westerners identify as Latter-day Saints or Mormons.
i know almost nothing about Mormons. i’ve read/paid more attention after learning of some family ancestry with the earliest Mormons and their migration out of the U.S. to (the then Mexican Territory) of Utah. As Ernie describes, much has changed since their early days, when they were hated and fairly run out of Illinois/the U.S.