Mormons Have Lowest % Of Interfaith Marriage

[blueadept]

Also interfaith marriages among LDS have a very high divorce rate.

http://www.jstor.org...=21102182468571

I hate being part of such a statistic...oh well.

Thankful God has allowed Mrs. Mudcat and myself to buck the odds.

I always admired you for that one

[Stone holm]

I hate being part of such a statistic...oh well.

I always admired you for that one

The statistic that I would be interested in, and I am not exactly sure how to state it, is how the percentage of Mormons who have been married more than twice stacks up with the national average. In other words, how many Mormons are serial monogamists.

[Calm]

I think you can find out that for Utahans, not sure if you can find out for LDS though. Perhaps the Pew Research group has something? I will try and remember to look for this when the timing is better.

[Scott Lloyd]

Just to summarize your thoughts...

People who dislike Mormons are either jealous of how together we are or of the devil?

I wouldn't claim that's universally so, but yeah, I think it's largely the case. Except that I object to how harsh you made the last portion sound. You did it deliberately to uglify and horribalize my position. I understand that.

I wouldn't say they are "of the devil," but in very many instances, I would say they are influenced thereby to one degree or another. And yes, you could say that about most all people, but in their case, the influence has brought them to an irrational hatred of Mormons and Mormonism.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[Stone holm]

I wouldn't claim that's universally so, but yeah, I think it's largely the case. Except that I object to how harsh you made the last portion sound. You did it deliberately to uglify and horribalize my position. I understand that.

I wouldn't say they are "of the devil," but in very many instances, I would say they are influenced thereby to one degree or another. And yes, you could say that about most all people, but in their case, the influence has brought them to an irrational hatred of Mormons and Mormonism.

In other words to know us is to love us, otherwise if you don't like us you are irrational...which leaves little room for say people being offended say with our politics, or having had a really negative experience with an insensitive Mormon, or say the person who picked up some book like say Mormon Doctrine and said whoa to doctrines like blood atonement and reasoning on the African ban on the Priesthood, or maybe they saw a talk by a Cold War GA which left them completely not amused or convinced?

[Scott Lloyd]

In other words to know us is to love us, otherwise if you don't like us you are irrational...

Go back and re-read what I wrote and ask yourself if that is really what I said.

You can be honest in your answer. I know you can.

Take it as a challenge.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[Calm]

In other words to know us is to love us

The stats show that if you know LDS, you generally give them higher approval ratings than if you don't know a LDS personally.

Not the specific article I was looking for (the one I remember connects the knowing a Mormon stat to the approval/disapproval stat), but perhaps interesting to those interested in the subject currently being discussed:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700054363/Mormons-need-to-work-to-increase-favor.html

Edited May 10, 2013 by calmoriah

[Calm]

My usual google magic isn't working today, perhaps Scott remembers where to find the poll discussing this.

[Scott Lloyd]

My usual google magic isn't working today, perhaps Scott remembers where to find the poll discussing this.

It could probably be found in the work of pollster Gary Lawrence.

I just looked for a transcript of his address at the FAIR Conference a few years ago but couldn't find it.

[Calm]

It could probably be found in the work of pollster Gary Lawrence.

I just looked for a transcript of his address at the FAIR Conference a few years ago but couldn't find it.

I was thinking that myself which is why I thought I would find it in the article about his talk that I linked to, but it wasn't there. Worse comes to worse, I can ask my FAIR buddies, one will surely remember...half a dozen actually at least.

PS: I sent a letter off...let someone else do the hard work is my motto for the day.

Edited May 10, 2013 by calmoriah

[Scott Lloyd]

I was thinking that myself which is why I thought I would find it in the article about his talk that I linked to, but it wasn't there. Worse comes to worse, I can ask my FAIR buddies, one will surely remember...half a dozen actually at least.

Since I'm the author of the article you linked to, it's my fault it's not in there (if indeed it was included in Lawrence's talk).

That's why I wanted to see if I could find a transcript -- to refresh my memory and to see if he did have in his talk something like what you are looking for and I overlooked it in my news report or, for whatever reason, decided not to include it. (I wrote the story on deadline on a laptop while I was sitting in the conference session as other presentations were going on. Under such conditions, it can be difficult to be thorough.)

Michael DeGroote had an earlier article about Gary Lawrence and his findings some months before the FAIR Conference. But I just looked for Michael's Deseret News piece and couldn't find it.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[Calm]

I think there are 3 2010 presentations that still haven't been made into transcripts. I don't know if this one is on a list to be done or not though. I have never been involved in transcribing, have tried to do it a few times and let's just say it is not one of my talents.

[Stone holm]

Go back and re-read what I wrote and ask yourself if that is really what I said.

You can be honest in your answer. I know you can.

Take it as a challenge.

Yep reread it, nope you may not have intended to say that, but I think you did.

The stats show that if you know LDS, you generally give them higher approval ratings than if you don't know a LDS personally.

Not the specific article I was looking for (the one I remember connects the knowing a Mormon stat to the approval/disapproval stat), but perhaps interesting to those interested in the subject currently being discussed:

http://www.deseretne...ease-favor.html

I would tend to agree that if people actually get to know a Mormon personally (unless the Mormon happens to be a jerk), there is a greater likelihood of their having a favorable opinion of Mormons in general. Unfortunately, there is so much out there that can be a turn off, that many don't even allow us to get on their radar screen -- many educated people just write us off as another group of right wing kooks who are to be tolerated and ignored.

[Scott Lloyd]

Yep reread it, nope you may not have intended to say that, but I think you did.

[sigh]

This quote, attributed to mathematician Georg Cantor, is called "the law of conservation of ignorance":

A false conclusion once arrived at, Is not easily dislodged, and the less it is understood, the more tenaciously it is held.

I would tend to agree that if people actually get to know a Mormon personally (unless the Mormon happens to be a jerk), there is a greater likelihood of their having a favorable opinion of Mormons in general. Unfortunately, there is so much out there that can be a turn off, that many don't even allow us to get on their radar screen -- many educated people just write us off as another group of right wing kooks who are to be tolerated and ignored.

You appear to be saying that it's rational to dislike someone because of strange but benign theological beliefs you impute to them. That it's not only rational but is typical of "many educated people." Have you thought that through?

Most every other religious group holds beliefs that I can't accept. But I would be ashamed to give that as a reason for disliking the members of those groups.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[KevinG]

Remove converted spouses from that number and see what you get.

[Scott Lloyd]

Remove converted spouses from that number and see what you get.

I assume you mean converted to Mormonism as opposed to converted away from it.

[KevinG]

I assume you mean converted to Mormonism as opposed to converted away from it.

Either way it lowers the mixed marriage statistic.

[Scott Lloyd]

Either way it lowers the mixed marriage statistic.

True. But it would have to be applied across the board.

Are you suggesting that in mixed marriages where Mormons are involved, the non-Mormon spouse has a higher-than-average likelihood of converting?

Yes, that would be an interesting metric to look at.

Edited May 10, 2013 by Scott Lloyd

[KevinG]

True. But it would have to be applied across the board.

Are you suggesting that in mixed marriages where Mormons are involved, the non-Mormon spouse has a higher-than-average likelihood of converting?

Yes, that would be an interesting metric to look at.

My theory is that any faith that requires the amount of sacrifice and involvement as Mormonism would lead to a higher convertion rate among spouses. Yes this would be interesting to measure!

[Brenda]

They'd probably rationalize it in some way, but I think it's a matter of human nature: people resent others who seem to have it all together when what they should do is try to learn from their example.

I could view it another way, a scriptural one: the church of the devil making war against the church of the Lamb of God by turning people's hearts against the saints.

I don't know if I can say this here, but I think this irrational dislike for Mormons in general, cost Romney the election. They say it was because of the Latino vote, but the numbers say that if he got the same number of white votes that Bush did, he would have won. I think a lot of conservative Evangelicals stayed home on election day because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Mormon. It really frustrates me because I, a Mormon, have happily voted for non-LDS Christians MANY times. During the campaign I wished that Romney wasn't LDS because I knew it would cost him votes.

[Stone holm]

I don't know if I can say this here, but I think this irrational dislike for Mormons in general, cost Romney the election. They say it was because of the Latino vote, but the numbers say that if he got the same number of white votes that Bush did, he would have won. I think a lot of conservative Evangelicals stayed home on election day because they couldn't bring themselves to vote for a Mormon. It really frustrates me because I, a Mormon, have happily voted for non-LDS Christians MANY times. During the campaign I wished that Romney wasn't LDS because I knew it would cost him votes.

Why on Earth would you expect that people whose ministers fed them a weekly dose of Mormons being an almost Satanic cult to come out and support Romney. These people don't dislike the Church they hate it, and no pandering to the Christian Right was going to overcome that. McCain and Palin kissed the college educated middle class vote good bye and Romney didn't do anything to regain it. Plus we Mormons were still reeling from the Prop 8 backlash so the swing voters didn't want anything to do with us either.

[Kenngo1969]

Thankful God has allowed Mrs. Mudcat and myself to buck the odds.

But then, you're such a nice guy that you make that easy!

[Calm]

But then, you're such a nice guy that you make that easy!

Sure seems that way.

[Scott Lloyd]

Why on Earth would you expect that people whose ministers fed them a weekly dose of Mormons being an almost Satanic cult to come out and support Romney. These people don't dislike the Church they hate it, and no pandering to the Christian Right was going to overcome that. McCain and Palin kissed the college educated middle class vote good bye and Romney didn't do anything to regain it. Plus we Mormons were still reeling from the Prop 8 backlash so the swing voters didn't want anything to do with us either.

I think a great deal of it is attributable to secularists who regard anyone with solid faith-based values as "a religious fanatic."

See here.

[Stone holm]

I think a great deal of it is attributable to secularists who regard anyone with solid faith-based values as "a religious fanatic."

See here.

That was after the election, I think that the secularists would have been more comfortable with Romney than the other GOP candidates. Are there any secularist Republicans left?