{"id":46504,"date":"2024-02-15T03:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-15T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=46504"},"modified":"2024-02-15T05:44:27","modified_gmt":"2024-02-15T12:44:27","slug":"what-do-members-and-former-members-believe-about-god-insights-from-the-b-h-roberts-foundations-current-and-former-latter-day-saint-survey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2024\/02\/what-do-members-and-former-members-believe-about-god-insights-from-the-b-h-roberts-foundations-current-and-former-latter-day-saint-survey\/","title":{"rendered":"What do Members and Former Members Believe About God? Insights from the B.H. Roberts Foundation\u2019s Current and Former Latter-day Saint Survey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>A guest post from Josh Coates and Stephen Cranney<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-46505 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.47.19-PM-800x555.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"421\" height=\"295\" \/><\/p>\r\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is one of a series of posts discussing results from a recent survey of current and former Latter-day Saints conducted by the BH Roberts Foundation. The technical details are in the full methodology report <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/bhroberts.org\/2023CFLDS_Methodology_.pdf\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the 2023 CFLDSS we asked the standard question about belief in God that is also asked in the General Social Survey, an omnibus survey of Americans asked just about every year that has asked a question about belief in God <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gssdataexplorer.norc.org\/trends?category=Religion%20%26%20Spirituality&amp;measure=god&amp;Measure%20Category=Don%27t%20believe%20in%20God&amp;Breakdown%20Label=Total\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">since the late 1980s<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c<\/span><\/i><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Which statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don&#8217;t believe in God<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don&#8217;t know whether there is a God and I don&#8217;t believe there is any way to find out<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don&#8217;t believe in a personal God, but I do believe in a Higher Power of some kind\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I find myself believing in God some of the time, but not at others<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While I have doubts, I feel that I do believe in God<\/span><\/li>\r\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I know God really exists and I have no doubts about it<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The graph below has the result for our three current member samples, the two former member samples, the 2022 General Social Survey sample of respondents who are \u201cNones,\u201d and indicated no religious affiliation, and the 2022 General Social Surveys sample of respondents who indicated a religious faith. (And yes, we know that there are agnostics that don&#8217;t fit into option 2, but for the sake of simplicity here they are labeled \u201cagnostics.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-46522\" src=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-13-at-9.48.58-AM-800x554.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"554\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-13-at-9.48.58-AM-800x554.png 800w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-13-at-9.48.58-AM-360x249.png 360w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-13-at-9.48.58-AM-260x180.png 260w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-13-at-9.48.58-AM-160x111.png 160w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-13-at-9.48.58-AM.png 1332w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One occasionally hears the idea that maybe Mormonism can become enough of an ethno-religious heritage that you could, in theory, be a\u00a0 convinced non-believer who still identifies with the label (call it the \u201cSterling McMurrin model\u201d).\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is a thing with Jews, so there is some precedent (when Golda Meir was asked if she believed in God she quipped, in a very Golda Meir way, \u201cI believe in the Jewish people, and the Jewish people believe in God.\u201d)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, we&#8217;ve always been skeptical about the feasibility of this option for Latter-day Saints. For one, we just don&#8217;t have the thousands of years of shared ethno-religious experience that Jews do. For two, membership and activity is much more reified. We are a high-demand faith, the borders between being in and out are much clearer than they would be if we were a less centralized faith with thousands of different religious authorities.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results here bear out this sentiment. If people lose faith in God, they typically leave the Church. Of course, as with all rare events there are exceptions, but they are, in fact, rare.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We are still very much a nation of believers in God. Although this number has been changing, believers are still a strong majority, with about half still saying they have no doubts about God\u2019s existence.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-duotone-duotone-2\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-46510 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"562\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM.png 1662w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM-800x645.png 800w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM-1536x1238.png 1536w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM-360x290.png 360w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM-260x210.png 260w, https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.52.23-PM-160x129.png 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 562px) 100vw, 562px\" \/><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even among religious \u201cNones\u201d and ex-members the atheist\/\u201dagnostic\u201d option isn&#8217;t a majority: most still have some kind of belief in something higher. Of course, they are also less likely to state that they know God exists. Rather their belief in God is characterized more by ambiguity than a firm belief one way or another.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Latter-day Saints are more likely than other religionists to state that they know God exists. (Speculatively, we wonder how much of the comfort with this option might stem from the fact that \u201cknow\u201d is a common, almost stock verb in our testimonies culturally).\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The other big difference compared to generic religionists is that Latter-day Saints score negligibly on the higher power option. Again, this isn&#8217;t a big surprise theologically, our God has flesh and bones, we\u2019re not a \u201chigher power\u201d kind of faith.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A guest post from Josh Coates and Stephen Cranney This is one of a series of posts discussing results from a recent survey of current and former Latter-day Saints conducted by the BH Roberts Foundation. The technical details are in the full methodology report here.\u00a0 In the 2023 CFLDSS we asked the standard question about belief in God that is also asked in the General Social Survey, an omnibus survey of Americans asked just about every year that has asked a question about belief in God since the late 1980s. \u201cWhich statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God.\u201d I don&#8217;t believe in God I don&#8217;t know whether there is a God and I don&#8217;t believe there is any way to find out I don&#8217;t believe in a personal God, but I do believe in a Higher Power of some kind\u00a0 I find myself believing in God some of the time, but not at others While I have doubts, I feel that I do believe in God I know God really exists and I have no doubts about it The graph below has the result for our three current member samples, the two former member samples, the 2022 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10403,"featured_media":46505,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2976,53],"tags":[2975],"class_list":["post-46504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-b-h-roberts-foundation","category-latter-day-saint-thought","tag-bh-roberts-survey"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Screenshot-2024-02-11-at-3.47.19-PM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10403"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46504"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46504\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46528,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46504\/revisions\/46528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}