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There are two statements above that I don't agree with:
"The internet is killing the Church" and "there are more ex-Mormons in the world today than there are Mormons"
For the first, I suppose this is an opinion and cannot be expected to be confirmed via some solid data gathering...
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Well, the first was not to be taken
literally (I have a penchant for hyperbole) but it can hardly be ignored that baptisms per missionary has dropped dramatically since the internet. Just a basic fact check in the Church Almanacs should prove this point. I thought it was common knowledge. The Mormon process conversion requires a missionary to control the enivironment so that no negative information can be known to the "investigator." That is impossible on the internet. The best we can do is create message forums - set the rules so strict that disallows any information that would dissuade an investigator from baptism - and hope anyone interested in Mormonism will go there instead of Google. But not only do most people not come to these forums, many LDS go to google and find out things that they would have otherwise never known from missionaries.
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For that second one, though, I would hope that in making such a measurable claim, you could justify it? With, maybe, some numbers?
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I already mentioned the most exhaustive study avbailable by Davie Stewart at
Cumorah Project LDS Mission Resources. Even in the United states activity rates around around 40%. And that's is responsible for almost half of the claimed membership in the global Church. Activity rates are generally worse outside the USA, with some exceptions in smaller populations.
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Seems way outta line, to me, but I'm willing to be convinced (as long as it wasn't some dishonorable person like Bill Keller or Ed Decker saying it).
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I guess it would seem that way if you've already been believing something entirely different. But the facts speak for themselves. ANd yes, there have been hard surveys taken in some cases, such as Mexico and Chile. For example in 2001 the Church claimed there were more than a half million baptized members. Yet in 2002 the government took a survey that revealed only 100,000 Chileans identified themselves as LDS. That means the ex-Mormons outnumbered the Mormons by a ration of 4 to 1.
Similarly, in 1999 the Church claimed about 850,000 members inMexico. Yet, in a 2000 government census, only 200,000 citizens identified themselves as LDS. All of this can be read about in the summer 2005 issue of Dialogue, in an article written by LDS researcher, David Clark Knowlton.
The same holds true in every country where activity is below 50%, and this includes the United States as well:
Cumorah Project International LDS Database
Well, there's your hard facts.