runfromsafety
22nd July 2006, 02:36 AM
Jeff Burton, who is the editor of the "Borderlands" column in Sunstone magazine, has a new web site:
http://www.forthosewhowonder.com
He comes at things from the point of view of an active member who does his best to acknowledge the reality of the issues people who leave the church or who are on the edge of it face, but also believing that if handled right, nobody should feel they really need to leave the church. Oh well.
In the email he sent around about his site, he mentioned that 80% of those who join the church will leave it during their lifetime. His web site has a few other interesting statistics, although I am not sure where he has sourced them... they sound right though:
TBM's: 20-25% of the worldwide membership at any one time
Borderlands members (faithful sceptics, closet doubters, those whose jobs require activity in the church, cultural mormons, gay/lesbian, some historians/intellectuals etc): 5-10%
Members of record only (non participators, non-believers etc.): 65-75%
Personally my gut feel is that the he could easily slice another 5-10% in the TBM category and add it to the borderlands category, but that is just my own opinion.
I have exchanged a few emails with Jeff, and find him a thoroughly decent guy who is genuinely trying to build bridges. I dont agree with many of his views of course, but that's another issue.
http://www.forthosewhowonder.com
He comes at things from the point of view of an active member who does his best to acknowledge the reality of the issues people who leave the church or who are on the edge of it face, but also believing that if handled right, nobody should feel they really need to leave the church. Oh well.
In the email he sent around about his site, he mentioned that 80% of those who join the church will leave it during their lifetime. His web site has a few other interesting statistics, although I am not sure where he has sourced them... they sound right though:
TBM's: 20-25% of the worldwide membership at any one time
Borderlands members (faithful sceptics, closet doubters, those whose jobs require activity in the church, cultural mormons, gay/lesbian, some historians/intellectuals etc): 5-10%
Members of record only (non participators, non-believers etc.): 65-75%
Personally my gut feel is that the he could easily slice another 5-10% in the TBM category and add it to the borderlands category, but that is just my own opinion.
I have exchanged a few emails with Jeff, and find him a thoroughly decent guy who is genuinely trying to build bridges. I dont agree with many of his views of course, but that's another issue.