Comments on: Why Are the Faithful Fleeing?

By: Paul S

Paul S — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 02:15:02 +0000

That sounded angry

By: Raymond Takashi Swenson

Raymond Takashi Swenson — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 23:48:16 +0000

According to the Southern Baptists, they are losing about 40,000 members a year to the Mormons. The report for their 2007 membership actually showed the net membership was down from 2006–by 40,000 members!

A spokesman for the SBC was quoted in the Atlanta newspaper saying that Baptists have a reputation for being judgmental of others, which is a turnoff for people who might consider joining their church.

Anyway, at least one reason for declines in the membership of other churches is conversions to our church. The SBC seems to be pretty sure that it is not making much headway converting Mormons into Baptists.

On the decline of membership in California: I lived in Marin County for several years. During that time, several members of the High Council where I served and the Stake Presidency moved their families to Utah, selling their overpriced homes, even though some of them continued working in the San Francisco Bay Area and flying to Utah on weekends. When I myself moved to Utah, one of my home teaching families had a dad who was working in Fresno during the week.

California real estate is often only affordable for younger families if both spouses work and devote one of their incomes totally to housing. That is not a model that appeals to most Mormons. My guess is that you could chart a very neat inverse relationship between real estate prices in a county and LDS membership in that county.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:49:46 +0000

James, vouch for which statement – that I’m not angry or that there isn’t a famine of my comments? *grin*

Nice, Jonathan. When you get me angry, I’ll send you a prize – or ask Adam to bestow it.

By: Jonathan Green

Jonathan Green — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:16:53 +0000

Wait, Ray, didn’t I manage to irritate you once? I was pretty proud of that accomplishment.

By: Rob Perkins

Rob Perkins — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 17:28:23 +0000

“Why do you think the first presidency has changed things up a bit?”

It was certainly not to have better numbers than the AoG or the JW’s.

By: JamesM

JamesM — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 16:08:58 +0000

I’ll vouch for Ray on that one.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:43:45 +0000

Oh, and Jerry, try reading just about anything I’ve written in the Bloggernacle. There isn’t a famine when it comes to my comments. Your characterization of me is so far off base as to prove you know nothing about me.

By: Ray

Ray — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 13:42:08 +0000

#66 – I sound angry? That’s a first. Thanks for the laugh.

By: KpL

KpL — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 06:22:23 +0000

General Social Survey aggregate church attendance, 1972 – 2006. Percent of self-identified members saying that they attend church once a week or more:

Seventh Day Adventist: 46.7%
Jehovah’s Witnesses: 62.4%
Mormons: 55.2%
Southern Baptists: 32%

Percent of self-identified members saying they NEVER attend church:

Seventh Day Adventist: 11.3%
Jehovah’s Witnesses: 8.5%
Mormons: 8.1%
Southern Baptists: 8.6%

By: KpL

KpL — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 05:57:07 +0000

I only used the new members and new stake and ward numbers. This of course assumes existing membership stays static.

I added my numbers for effect, Jerry. I’m saying that in the years you provide, the church baptized 7832 people for each new stake. But the churchwide mean was 4729 members per stake, even after you factor these people in. In other words, the church added 311 stakes’ worth of members to go along with the 188 stakes they added. That’s using the charitable figure. 1,472,451 is 422 Utah stakes’ worth of members.