In the U.S., Christianity loses members while atheism grows. Why?

[madhatter85]

The same objection still applies: we might not be talking about nerve damage any more, but often times someone else may be a better judge than the person who directly experienced something.

For instance, there was a story on the news around here recently about a New Year's Eve hit-and-run. The pedestrian was sure that the vehicle that hit him was a white SUV. When the police collected the fragments that broke off the front end of the vehicle in the crash and analyzed them, they found that they came from a silver Chevy Lumina - a silver sedan, not a white SUV.

People are mistaken about their personal experiences all the time.

And your point? It's impossible to convey my faith in scientific terms to others. I can tell them all day long what I know to be true but it doesn't make any difference unless they experience the same things I do. It is as simple as that.

 

[footprints]

Why is Christianity down and Atheism up? Ultimately, education and practical thinking.

That is a perception.

Many people have started to rebel against organised religion this though doesn't imply Christianity is down, what though does the children of the atheist become, when they in turn start rebelling against the atheist belief patterns?

 

[footprints]

It must be liberating to have the ability to guarantee the results of surveys that have not been taken, or whose data you have not read. This saves a lot of time. Instead of wasting time reading survey results, as logician has, you can simply infer what the results would be in a given situation and guarantee them with certainty. This saves lots of time that can be effectively used for other things, like guaranteeing the results of experiments not yet perfomed or athletic contests not yet played.

LOL if that is what it takes for you to keep believing in your fairytales, please by all means keep believing.

 

[tumbleweed41]

I agree when it comes to most Christian faiths, however it is not the case with LDS membership.

Keeping members a challenge for LDS church

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
The claim that Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the world has been repeated so routinely by sociologists, anthropologists, journalists and proud Latter-day Saints as to be perceived as unassailable fact.
The trouble is, it isn't true.
Today, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has more than 12 million members on its rolls, more than doubling its numbers in the past quarter-century. But since 1990, other faiths - Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal groups - have grown much faster and in more places around the globe.
And most telling, the number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total, or 4 million in the pews every Sunday, researchers say.
For a church with such a large, dedicated missionary corps constantly seeking to spread its word, conversion numbers in recent years tell an unexpected story.
According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent.
Keeping members a challenge for LDS church - Salt Lake Tribune

 

[Gabethewiking]

And your point? It's impossible to convey my faith in scientific terms to others. I can tell them all day long what I know to be true but it doesn't make any difference unless they experience the same things I do. It is as simple as that.

So you are saying that if I "Experience" something (in my head), it is True and Reality has no relation to this?


Say I believe I can fly, this is true if I believe this, correct? Just as you "believe" and therefore it is true (real)?

 

[Kilgore Trout]

And your point? It's impossible to convey my faith in scientific terms to others. I can tell them all day long what I know to be true but it doesn't make any difference unless they experience the same things I do. It is as simple as that.

It's also as simple as that to my friend's schizophrenic brother.

 

[Gabethewiking]

It's also as simple as that to my friend's schizophrenic brother.

Thankyou.

Now madhatter85, could you explain what is the difference between his friend's schizophrenic brother and you? Do w ehave any real difference?

 

[Beaudreaux]

actually there is,

Say you get a 3rd degree burn, you can tell everyone in the world exactly how it felt to the best of your ability, however, nobody will be able to really understand what you have experienced until they have experienced it themselves.

Wow. How do you suppose we communicate at all then? Since there is no one on this planet who has had my experiences, and I have had none of theirs, we must be completely unable to have any understanding of each other, yes?

 

[Beaudreaux]

it's call an analogy..

Actually, it's called an invalid analogy, but let's not split hairs.

 

[jefftown2000]

The truth is religion is a set of rules made by the educated to govern the uneducated... It just became too profitable for people to tell the truth... It's funny how religion begets itself


BTW politicization is not a word

 

[nonbeliever_92]

I agree when it comes to most Christian faiths, however it is not the case with LDS membership.

I believe LDS membership is down actually.

 

[nonbeliever_92]

I believe LDS membership is down actually.

Oh, tubleweed pre-empted me.

 

[Copernicus]

Among the self-identified Mormons I know, most admit to not really following the doctrine that closely. They don't deny belief in God, but they do indulge in coffee and other taboos. However, I don't consider the known Mormon friends I have to be representative of the religion. Those are just the ones who are willing to identify themselves as Mormons in mixed company.

And that is the problem with religious surveys. Just because someone claims to be Mormon or Catholic or whatever, that doesn't mean that he or she goes to church or even has strong faith in God.

 

[madhatter85]

I believe LDS membership is down actually.

actually, it is not.

 

[madhatter85]

Keeping members a challenge for LDS church

By Peggy Fletcher Stack
The Salt Lake Tribune
The claim that Mormonism is the fastest-growing faith in the world has been repeated so routinely by sociologists, anthropologists, journalists and proud Latter-day Saints as to be perceived as unassailable fact.
The trouble is, it isn't true.
Today, The Church of Jesus ChrPeggy Fletcher Stackist of Latter-day Saints has more than 12 million members on its rolls, more than doubling its numbers in the past quarter-century. But since 1990, other faiths - Seventh-day Adventists, Assemblies of God and Pentecostal groups - have grown much faster and in more places around the globe.
And most telling, the number of Latter-day Saints who are considered active churchgoers is only about a third of the total, or 4 million in the pews every Sunday, researchers say.
For a church with such a large, dedicated missionary corps constantly seeking to spread its word, conversion numbers in recent years tell an unexpected story.
According to LDS-published statistics, the annual number of LDS converts declined from a high of 321,385 in 1996 to 241,239 in 2004. In the 1990s, the church's growth rate went from 5 percent a year to 3 percent.
Keeping members a challenge for LDS church - Salt Lake Tribune

please see above post and Peggy Fletcher Stack is quite the non-authority on this as the numbers speak for themselves.

 

[Beaudreaux]

actually, it is not.

I'm reminded of the SNL Sketch where Bill Clinton is running for President and talking about his record as Arkansas Governor.

We used to have the worst public education in the country, but when I became Governor, we shot right past Mississippi! Watch out Alabama, we're gunnin' for ya!

It's cool you're growing, but.... .25% is smallness.

 

[madhatter85]

I'm reminded of the SNL Sketch where Bill Clinton is running for President and talking about his record as Arkansas Governor.



It's cool you're growing, but.... .25% is smallness.

this is population of the world in percentage. the two most populous regions in the world religion, aside form state religion, is banned along with religious texts. (Saudi Arabia and other middle-eastern countries and China are among the largest populations in the world and we are not allowed to preach the gospel to them due to political restrictions.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

actually, it is not.

Is that graph based on the same methodology that the LDS Church uses?

^ a b This is the church's own estimate, based on membership records. Hales (2009). The church's definition of "membership" includes all persons who were ever baptized, or whose parents were members while the person was under the age of eight (called "members of record") LDS Church (2006, pp. 145–46), who have neither been excommunicated nor asked to have their names removed from church records. LDS Church (2006, pp. 116, 148-49).

Source: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know it's a Wikipedia article, but I've looked at its references; they seem to agree with the conclusion.

 

[madhatter85]

Is that graph based on the same methodology that the LDS Church uses?


Source: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I know it's a Wikipedia article, but I've looked at its references; they seem to agree with the conclusion.

OneSmoothOperator: LDS Membership as Percentage of World Population

the author explains where he acquired his data.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

OneSmoothOperator: LDS Membership as Percentage of World Population

the author explains where he acquired his data.

Yeah... it looks like they're done with the same methodology I mentioned before.

It seems that LDS membership is growing quickly... as long as you assume that everyone who was ever a member of the LDS Church (or the child of a member) remains a member as long as they live, even if they abandon the church and its teachings altogether... unless they explicitly ask the Church to have their name removed from the membership roll.

IMO, your statistics probably include a large proportion of people who can't be reasonably considered to be Mormon.