Some Mormons are Understanding the Decline

A devout Mormon, now known as LDS, has done surveys about why people leave that denomination. He found the explanations people gave for leaving are very different than the reasons assigned to them by those still in the faith. What he found sounds just like what I have seen among people across Christianity.

When Christian pundits talk about atheists, they most often attribute atheism to a desire to "sin." This, of course, requires the atheist to believe there is such a thing as "sin." In my experience atheists who were in the faith, not all of them were in it, simply stopped believing in the concepts of invisible gods, an invisible author of the Bible or that spokespersons for the faith, priests and preachers, have more insight into such matters than the average person. 

The author of the link, a practicing and office holding LDS, swamped the internet asking both practicing Mormons and ex Mormons what they thought about the other. This was not a study up to the standards of social science research with a carefully selected at random sample. Thus, there is no way to determine if the results could be found with a second try.

But the number of people taking time to express their feelings was large. This, plus the fact it was not done by an angry or disillusioned ex Mormon, make it interesting to talk about. The view among active Mormons about those who left is similar to other places in Christianity. Those still in the faith tend to think those who left did so to live lives of careless moral standards. Those who have left most often said they left because the tenants of that faith included untrue dogma and approval of polygamy. 

The intensity of those in the faith was measured by how often they attended church, prayed or read the Bible. The more devout a practicing Mormon is the more likely he/she is to misunderstand the reason ex Mormons left the faith. They simply do not understand why people leave. 

The link author, however, understands why people, including two of his own children, leave. He advises parents to listen to adult children who leave and learn from them.