Mormons to lose dominance of US state of Utah within 30 years: figures

[deadparrot]

SALT LAKE CITY, United States (AFP) - The Mormon faith looks set to lose its 150-year-old dominance over US state of Utah by the year 2030 as more people leave the church than can be recruited, figures showed.

By 2030, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints will no longer be in the majority in the state their forefathers founded, figures from the state's Office of Planning and Budget showed.

Currently Mormons make up 62.4 percent of the state's population, according to the who according to the 2004 census, but every county in the state showed a decrease in church membership since 2000.

In recent years the number of converts has not kept pace with those leaving the church, whose leaders began populating the then desolate western American state in 1847, experts said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050728/ts_alt_afp/usreligionmormon_050728204333

[Skink]

1. Sounds like the Polygamy birth rate is down...

Go figure :wtf: .

[NAO]

2. Thank God for Progress nt

[SteppingRazor]

3. Now if we could only say the same for fundamentalists everywhere n/t

[hatrack]

4. Reminds me of a bumper sticker a jack Mormon friend told me about

"Utah Centennial - 50 Years of Progress"

[Kolesar]

8. That's a good one!

Now I am thinking maybe I could move to Utah some day. Considering that they gave Beast/Cheney the highest vote margin in '04, they still have a lot of evolving to do, though.

[ochazuke]

5. Isn't this part of the larger trend?

Americans are becoming more secular, or at least less attracted to organized religion and more attracted new forms of spirituality.

However, those remaining attached to a church are more extreme in their views and less tolerant of heterodoxy.

[kestrel91316]

6. Not a moment too soon if you ask me!!!!!!!

[Ilsa]

7. Thank goodness.

People aren't buying that crap any more, in spite of the ads on TV, etc.

[Sean Reynolds]

9. If Utah becomes more like Salt Lake City....

It'll be one of the most progressive states in 2030. Salt Lake City, IMO, is one of the most progressive cities in America -- with a very liberal former ACLU Lawyer as our mayor -- and a city that hasn't elected a Republican to that seat since the 70s.

[TaleWgnDg]

16. Tell you what . . . you send us that ex-ACLU atty-as-mayor

.
Tell you what . . . you send us that ex-ACLU atty-as-mayor of Salt Lake City, and we'll send you our bluest of blue states (Massachusetts) governor Mitt Romney (R, Massachusetts) in return. A deal? Yes?


Mitt Romney (R, Massachusetts/Mormon) has one foot in Massachusetts as governor replete with our liberal politics,
while stepping his other foot into campaigning for president in 2008 attempting to "wash away" such liberalism.
Or to put it another way: "He's been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly," Governor Mitt Romney (R, MA) adviser Michael Murphy told the National Review (a prominent conservative magazine) in a cover story hitting newstands on June 3, 2005, entitled "Matinee Mitt." -- http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/06/03/adviser_says_governor_faked_stance_on_abortion (Headlines, page A-1, "Adviser says Governor Faked Stance on Abortion," Boston Globe, Friday, June 3, 2005).

How about that trade, huh?

.

[Sean Reynolds]

17. I don't like that trade.

:D

[ovidsen]

10. There are worse faiths than LDS

Some aspects of this religion are a bit odd... baptizing and converting the long-ago dead for example. But I can think of a few cults, Christian and otherwise that are far more frightening.

It'll be interesting to see how this trend displays itself at the ballot box. As poster Sean Reynolds points out above, these ain't your daddy's Mormons, and Salt Lake City ain't Lynchburg anymore.

[gate of the sun]

11. this is good news

Utah is a beautiful state.....have wanted to buy land there but unwilling to deal with the Mormon supremacy......believe me I have had to deal with the unreasonable mentality.....everyone in my family who has vacationed there has been harassed .....it's very right wing.

[belle]

12. Mm. 30 years is a long time, though...

Of course, if you take into account that it wouldn't be for their lack of trying--huge emphasis on making lots and lots of little Mormons--that becomes more significant.

[Massacure]

13. 25. Where did you learn math?

2030 - 2005 = 25:P

[barb162]

14. I thought Mormons were increasing all over the country

lots more churches in my area at least

[benddem]

15. They are all moving here

they are building the 3rd church in town. I'm sure though hispanics are going to be a major population no. before long.

[PurityOfEssence]

18. Yaay! At least there's some progress in this country.

Elizabeth Smart didn't do any nasties with ooga-booga mesiahface, and no, her parents weren't a part of her brainwashing. What are you talking about?

A cult is only viable if it feeds the needs of the people, and swearing off alcohol and caffeine while wearing oddball underwear and dismissing negroes as unredeemable just doesn't cut it.

Fret not, though; there are more than enough to go around, and they breed and indoctrinate quite effectively.