Born Free
15th November 2006, 06:02 PM
In this (now a little dated) article re LDS membership from the Tribune, there are these quotes:
" Predicting the future: In 1984, University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark was astonished to discover that the LDS Church's growth rate from 1940 through 1980 was 53 percent. He estimated that if it continued to grow at a more modest 30 percent, there would be 60 million Mormons by the year 2080; if 50 percent, the figure would explode to 265 million.
He famously predicted that the LDS Church "will soon achieve a worldwide following comparable to that of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and the other dominant world faiths." "
I wonder how much Mormonism appealed in a more simplistic age, of the ideal of happy nuclear families, two cars and a white picket fence? It was also an age where the merits of capitalism were hyped, and its apparent alternative - Communism - demonised at every turn, frequently manipulated by people with their own agendas.
It was also an age where older men in dark suits with white shirts and dark ties carried more credibility than they did after Nixon.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2890645
Has Mormon growth become a casualty of an age where people suspect simplistic 'silver-bullet' solutions?
BTW, I have seen no analysis of the Utard reaction to the election outcome. Can the locals please update me? Is the return of the Great Anti-Christ being predicted from Mormon pulpits?
Daryl
" Predicting the future: In 1984, University of Washington sociologist Rodney Stark was astonished to discover that the LDS Church's growth rate from 1940 through 1980 was 53 percent. He estimated that if it continued to grow at a more modest 30 percent, there would be 60 million Mormons by the year 2080; if 50 percent, the figure would explode to 265 million.
He famously predicted that the LDS Church "will soon achieve a worldwide following comparable to that of Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and the other dominant world faiths." "
I wonder how much Mormonism appealed in a more simplistic age, of the ideal of happy nuclear families, two cars and a white picket fence? It was also an age where the merits of capitalism were hyped, and its apparent alternative - Communism - demonised at every turn, frequently manipulated by people with their own agendas.
It was also an age where older men in dark suits with white shirts and dark ties carried more credibility than they did after Nixon.
http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2890645
Has Mormon growth become a casualty of an age where people suspect simplistic 'silver-bullet' solutions?
BTW, I have seen no analysis of the Utard reaction to the election outcome. Can the locals please update me? Is the return of the Great Anti-Christ being predicted from Mormon pulpits?
Daryl