Mormonism 101

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Tue, 06 Dec 2050 13:16:00 +0000

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Mormon Global Growth Rates 2015-2019

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 05 May 2019 13:45:00 +0000

This article builds on an earlier post about growth rates per US state from 2015 to 2018. It is now expanded to cover all regions as defined by the Mormon Church in its statistical reporting at mormonnewsroom.org. Also, a prediction for 2019 has been added by extending the trend of the previous years using the least squares method. Finally, the growth patterns are now calculated from a moving average rather than estimated on sight.

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Heat map of US growth rates 2015-2018

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 07:25:00 +0000

Below is a heatmap of growth rates per US state from 2015 to 2018. These are based on the number of active members from 2014 till 2018, assuming an overall activity rate of 40%. A few observations:
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Mormon Membership and Congregation Growth Rates 2015-2017

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 13:24:00 +0000

Mormon congregations are run by volunteers, and the Church aims to provide a suitable volunteer job – a “calling” – to every member. There is a more or less fixed number of such callings per congregation. By the time people get assigned to ring the proverbial Sunday school bell, it’s time to create a new congregation with new leadership opportunities and teaching positions.
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The Disproportionate Mormon Missionary Effort

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 22 Oct 2017 11:30:00 +0000

Besides polygamy, the Mormon Church is best known for its missionaries. That may be because there are so many of them. Consider these numbers:
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Updated: A Quantitative Model of Mormon Tithing Revenue

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 08 Oct 2017 11:17:00 +0000

In his book “The Mormon Hierarchy: Wealth and Corporate Power”, historian D. Michael Quinn estimates the Mormon Church’s revenue from tithing in 2010 at $33 billion. This article is an attempt to explain two things: why Quinn’s estimate is wrong, and how to arrive at a more realistic number. For the second part, the results of an updated version of mormonism101.com's quantitative model of Mormon tithing revenue will be presented here.
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Five Myths about Mormons and Money

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 01 Oct 2017 17:09:00 +0000

Behind its religious facade, the Mormon Church is a giant corporate conglomerate worth some 20 to 40 billion dollars. It is one of the biggest institutional landowners in the US, operates the largest cattle ranch in America, and is the biggest producer of olive oil in Chile, to name just a few examples. It has lobbying operations at the United Nations and the European Union, and doesn’t shy away from cozying up to dictators and tyrants to further its corpoate goals under the guise of religion.
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Key Figures 2014-2015

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 15 May 2016 13:06:00 +0000

To see longer-term trends, check out the statistics page on this site. The numbers below are screenshots of an Excel-document because the Blogger platform on which this site runs is bad with tables - and I am bad at HTML.

LDS Growth Trends 2014-2015

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 17 Apr 2016 09:56:00 +0000

In 2015, the Mormon Church grew by 1.70%, the lowest growth rate since 1937. In the 186-year history of the Church, only 19 years had lower growth rates:
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Slopegraph of Joseph Smith’s Extramarital Relationships

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 06 Dec 2015 13:33:00 +0000

The slopegraph below shows the ages of Joseph Smith (left) and the girls and women with whom he entered into extramarital relationships, commonly referred to as polygamous marriages. What does this chart illustrate?
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Growth

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sat, 03 Oct 2015 16:03:00 +0000

Please allow a few seconds for the data to load. Click here for an in-depth analysis of Mormon growth trends.

LDS growth rate 1841 - present (10-year moving average):

LDS growth rate over the past 100 years:

LDS growth rate over the past 50 years:

LDS and world population growth rate 1951 - present (10-year moving averages):

Converts and missionaries 1977 - present:

Converts per missionary 1977 - present:

Members and congregations 1973 - present:

Average congregation size 1973 - present:

Growth and attrition (derived) 1973 - present:

Trendlines for previous chart (growth and attrition 1973 - present):

Click here to go back to the main statistics page

Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 13:52:00 +0000

Please allow a few seconds for the data to load.

Not everyone who is included in the official Mormon membership number regularly attends LDS Church services. Attendance rates per country as calculated by Mormon researcher Matt Martinich were used for the chart below to distinguish "active" from "less active" members. Updates to these percentages are discussed at the bottom of this page.

Moreover, LDS researchers estimate that "no fewer than 20% of LDS members worldwide are on the 'lost address file'. The true number may be as high as 25-28%" (source). An average of 24%, therefore, was applied to calculate the number of members whose address is unknown to the Mormon Church in the following chart:

Percentage church-attending members per region:

Actual attendance per country (excl. USA):

Actual attendance per US state:

Congregation size per region:

Congregation size per country (actual attendance):

Click here to go back to the main statistics page.

Updates to the attendance rates

April 20, 2019

Based on a 2015 Missionary Department statistical report published by MormonLeaks, the following adjustments were made:

Costa Rica 15.29%
El Salvador 14.93%
Guatemala 17.88%
Honduras 16.18%
Nicaragua 11.74%
Panama 12.42%

The average attendance rate for these Central American missions comes to 15.70%.

Attendance rates in the other Central American countries, as calculated by Matt Martinich (see top of this page), range from 19% to 70%, with a weighted average of 23%. These numbers are likely to overstate actual attendance by as much as 123,000 active members. However, in the absence of hard country-by-county data, there is no reliable way to adjust the other Central American attendance rates.

If you have such data, please consider sending them to mormonisme@gmail.com (make sure there is enough information for us to verify the reliability of the source data). We treat every submission with the utmost confidentiality, unless, of couse, you would like to be credited.

Membership

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 09:06:00 +0000

Please allow a few seconds for the data to load.

Membership at year end as reported by the LDS Church since 1830:

Current membership by region:

Current membership by country (excl. USA):

Current membership by US state:

LDS as a percentage of the population by region (only includes countries where the Mormon Church currently has members):

LDS as a percentage of the population by country:

Click here to go back to the main statistics page.

Why Polygamy is Always a Bad Idea

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 28 Jun 2015 11:33:00 +0000

Many Americans these days fear that gay marriage opens the door to the legalisation of polygamy. While this is a textbook example of the slippery slope fallacy (some people who advance this argument also fear the imminent legalisation of bestiality, incest and child molestation), very few pundits seem to be able or willing to refute the argument.
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The Sociology of Religious Organisations

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 14:00:00 +0000

In the sociology of religion, there are no strict boundaries between churches, sects and cults. Instead, religious organisations are positioned on a scale, with the amount of tension between the group and its surrounding society as the determining factor. A few key concepts of this approach are explained in this article.
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The Psychological Effects of the Mormon Church on its Members

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 13:59:00 +0000

Introduction

The word “cult” is a loaded, pejorative term. A number of alternatives has been proposed, of which “new religious movement” is the most neutral. However, it would be difficult to apply this term to the Mormon church which was founded well over 180 years ago.
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Cult Characteristics according to Hugo Stamm

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 13:58:00 +0000

Swiss journalist Hugo Stamm

The Mormon church is sometimes called a cult. This article examines, from a psychological perspective, the extent to which this characterisation is appropriate. This examination is based on a questionnaire from Swiss journalist Hugo Stamm (1996, pp. 125-128). This questionnaire was selected because Mormonism is not mentioned in Stamm’s book and does not appear to have been a part of his research. Hence, it may be assumed that Stamm’s list is neutral towards Mormonism.
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Cult Characteristics According to the Belgian Government’s Information and Advisory Centre for Harmful Cultic Organizations

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 13:49:00 +0000

In this article, the extent to which the Mormon church meets the criteria of the Belgian government’s Information and Advisory Centre for Harmful Cultic Organizations (IACSSO) is investigated. This assessment is not substantiated in detail (this is done here for a similar model) but is based on the knowledge and experience of well over 30 years active church membership. In cases of doubt or nuance, “no” was chosen.
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Cult Characteristics According to the Professional Association of German Psychologists

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 06:49:00 +0000

In this article, the extent to which the Mormon church meets the criteria of the Professional Association of German Psychologists is investigated. This assessment is not substantiated in detail (this is done here for a similar model) but is based on the knowledge and experience of well over 30 years active church membership. In cases of doubt or nuance, “no” was chosen.
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Cult Characteristics According to the International Cultic Studies Association

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Wed, 17 Jun 2015 05:17:00 +0000

In this article, the extent to which the Mormon church meets the criteria of the International Cultic Studies Association is investigated. This assessment is not substantiated in detail (this is done here for a similar model) but is based on the knowledge and experience of well over 30 years active church membership. In cases of doubt or nuance, “no” was chosen.
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Cult Characteristics According to the Cult Education Institute

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:02:00 +0000

In this article, the extent to which the Mormon church meets the criteria of the Cult Education Institute (formerly the Rick A. Ross Institute) is investigated. This assessment is not substantiated in detail (this is done here for a similar model) but is based on the knowledge and experience of well over 30 years active church membership. In cases of doubt or nuance, “no” was chosen.

Cult Characteristics According to Steven Hassan

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 12:08:00 +0000

In this article, the extent to which the Mormon church meets the criteria of Steven Hassan’s BITE model is investigated. This assessment is not substantiated in detail (this is done here for a similar model) but is based on the knowledge and experience of well over 30 years active church membership. In cases of doubt or nuance, “no” was chosen.
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Is the Mormon Church a Cult?

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Mon, 15 Jun 2015 13:35:00 +0000

Yes. The term “cult” has multiple meanings:
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Is Mormonism a Cult - Response to Mette Ivie Harrison

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Thu, 04 Jun 2015 09:45:00 +0000

In a recent blog post, Mormon author Mette Ivie Harrison asks whether Mormonism is a cult. In her introduction, she states: “I was pretty prickly about Mormons being called a cult at the time, but 25 [years] later, I have begun to wonder if it might not be useful for Mormons to understand more clearly why so many people think of Mormonism as a cult.
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Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond

noreply@blogger.com (Mosiah) — Sun, 24 May 2015 13:56:00 +0000

Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, Germs and Steel. A short history of everybody for the last 13,000 years. London: Vintage Books, 480 pp.
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