Many of you have probably already come across this Reuters special report about Mormonism’s membership troubles in this internet age, as reported by outgoing church historian Marlin Jensen. Apparently, President Monson’s signature campaign is called “the Rescue”: referring to rescuing the church’s membership from “rapidly declining,” as some reports have spun it. I’m assuming the ...
Spending too much time on Facebook, as usual, and a friend shared this link from the page LDS General Conference, a quote from M. Russell Ballard from October 1995 General Conference: We do not need more members who question every detail; we need members who have felt with their hearts, who live close to the ...
LDS, Inc. is hemorrhaging members, particularly young people, and they are trying to adjust their organizational structure to stem the tide. The recent change in ward structures in Salt Lake is a direct response to the mass exodus of young people out of LDS, Inc. When I saw the initial announcement about the reorganization, my ...
Thanks to chanson’s weekly round up, I read this post about Carson N. leaving. It reminded me of my own experience. My wife and I didn’t send emails, we sent letters in the mail. But the anticipation of the response from family was pretty intense. And one family member’s response was exactly what we feared ...
In the comments here and here we were reminded that — while Mormonism doesn’t work for a lot of people — there are some people that Mormonism really does work for. There are particular skills and personality traits that will help you thrive in Mormonism, and even if these traits have nothing in particular to ...
Over at the faithful Mormon blog Faith-Promoting Rumor is a discussion enticingly titled “Do Relationships Make the Church True and False?” This post is a short enough one that you should just go over there and read it, but I guess I will still highlight some points here…when I was reading it, I will say ...
We recently discussed the various names we use to refer to ourselves (liberal Mormon, NOM, post-Mormon, ex-Mormon, etc.) depending on how we each perceive our relationship with Mormonism. I’m interested in much more direct question, which I’m never quite sure how to answer. Are you a Mormon? It seems like a straightforward question, but I ...
The big news this week is John Remy‘s excommunication for apostasy!! And he’s not the only one who’s feeling the heat this week for disbelieving and/or criticizing the LDS church. The crap has hit the fan and set off a whirlwind of drama, accusations, and letters of condemnation from Hypatia’s mother. Daniel is also responding ...
I’m certain that this has been discussed over and over in numerous ways and in numerous formats on the internet…but…what do you think your identity is relating to Mormonism and what do you think that identity signifies? For example, we each know that there’s Further Light and Knowledge (FLAK), and New Order Mormonism (NOM), and ...
In the wake of John R’s impending excommunication, it would appear that the folks of Outer Blogness have been thinking quite a bit about worthiness lately. Both Gunner and Jonathan Blake try renewing their temple recommends online — and Jonathan improves on the T.R. interview by translating it into LOL-catz-speak. The translation improves the clarity ...
Here it is. So did I resign my church membership like I said I would? Not quite. yet. I set out to do it, and… I just couldn’t do it. Now, I know most people reading this will leap to the cynical interpretation that deep down I secretly still believe in God, or that I ...
If you’re new to this blog and my regular blog, you may not already know that I’m one of those “exmos” who has never been ex’d, or even resigned. I’ve explained why a few times (such as in my joke post about my excommunication), but in a nutshell: I don’t want to renounce my Mormon ...