Church members who leave the church

[Dario_M]

8 minutes ago, Calm said:

That is good to hear. 

Yeah and in the church i don't get any hate at all actually. But i'm in the Netherlands offcourse. Although i don't expect that it is bad in Utah as well. Maybe more in the community's wich are located in Texas? Because i've heard that homophobic behavoir is more common there. I don't know. 

Edited October 4, 2024 by Dario_M

[why me]

I am sure that this has been mentioned within the pages of this thread. But the comeback podcast is great to know why members leave the church. It can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately I cannot paste and copy it. It is hosted by Ashley Stone. Just YouTube search comeback podcast with Ashley Stone. 

Edited October 4, 2024 by why me

[Dario_M]

18 minutes ago, why me said:

I am sure that this has been mentioned within the pages of this thread. But the comeback podcast is great to know why members leave the church. It can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately I cannot paste and copy it. It is hosted by Ashley Stone. Just YouTube search comeback podcast with Ashley Stone. 

Through this whole topic i have actually already gotton a good idea of why people leave the church. But if i have some free time left i would def watch Asley Stone's channel for more information. Thank you very much for your advice btw. 👍

Edited October 4, 2024 by Dario_M

[Calm]

2 hours ago, Dario_M said:

Yeah and in the church i don't get any hate at all actually. But i'm in the Netherlands offcourse. Although i don't expect that it is bad in Utah as well. Maybe more in the community's wich are located in Texas? Because i've heard that homophobic behavoir is more common there. I don't know. 

You will get some in Utah, I have no doubt but I wish there wasn’t. We had a news report a little while back of racism being a significant problem in some of the schools in Southern Utah. I assume where people feel free enough to make racist comments, they will make antigay ones, I can imagine there might be some disturbed and disgusted faces in some congregations in Utah if you showed up holding hands with your boyfriend. 

[Calm]

1 hour ago, why me said:

I am sure that this has been mentioned within the pages of this thread. But the comeback podcast is great to know why members leave the church. It can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately I cannot paste and copy it. It is hosted by Ashley Stone. Just YouTube search comeback podcast with Ashley Stone. 

https://youtube.com/@come.back.podcast?feature=shared

[Frank11]

2 hours ago, Dario_M said:

Yeah and in the church i don't get any hate at all actually. But i'm in the Netherlands offcourse. Although i don't expect that it is bad in Utah as well. Maybe more in the community's wich are located in Texas? Because i've heard that homophobic behavoir is more common there. I don't know. 

You never know what people really think, at least that's how I feel when I visit the church every few months. They know that I was fully active for almost 20 years, what will they think of me now? They're all very nice and polite and some of them sometimes say we need you urgently again, but I certainly know that they don't see me on the iron rod.

But I understand that very well, I thought that way myself.

[Dario_M]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

You will get some in Utah, I have no doubt but I wish there wasn’t. We had a news report a little while back of racism being a significant problem in some of the schools in Southern Utah. I assume where people feel free enough to make racist comments, they will make antigay ones, I can imagine there might be some disturbed and disgusted faces in some congregations in Utah if you showed up holding hands with your boyfriend. 

Really? I've always seen people from Utah as friendly and openminded people. No agression. No anger against gay people. Because they seem to have so much values you know. Values that they have taught in the church. I expect this kind of behavoir more in places like Texas or so. 

Edited October 4, 2024 by Dario_M

[Dario_M]

32 minutes ago, Frank11 said:

You never know what people really think, at least that's how I feel when I visit the church every few months. They know that I was fully active for almost 20 years, what will they think of me now? They're all very nice and polite and some of them sometimes say we need you urgently again, but I certainly know that they don't see me on the iron rod.

But I understand that very well, I thought that way myself.

Yeah i understand. 

[The Nehor]

11 hours ago, Dario_M said:

Really? I've always seen people from Utah as friendly and openminded people. No agression. No anger against gay people. Because they seem to have so much values you know. Values that they have taught in the church. I expect this kind of behavoir more in places like Texas or so. 

I am queer and I feel safer in Texas than I do in Utah. Still not ideal. Some of my friends are leaving Texas due to recent actions.

[Calm]

57 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

I am queer and I feel safer in Texas than I do in Utah. Still not ideal. Some of my friends are leaving Texas due to recent actions.

Texas and Utah are big places.  I assume it depends more on individual communities, maybe even neighborhoods.

[The Nehor]

31 minutes ago, Calm said:

Texas and Utah are big places.  I assume it depends more on individual communities, maybe even neighborhoods.

True, I am in a Texas city area which makes it safer though not safe.

[Peacefully]

2 hours ago, The Nehor said:

True, I am in a Texas city area which makes it safer though not safe.

About five years ago, I lived in a small town not far from DFW where a parade was still  held each year to commemorate the Confederate generals the town and county were named after - replete with Confederate flags proudly being marched down the street. If I were a POC or gay or trans in small-town Texas I think I would watch my back. This is so sad to say because I love my state, but there are some ugly things that go on here. 

Edited October 5, 2024 by Peacefully

[Dario_M]

4 hours ago, The Nehor said:

I am queer and I feel safer in Texas than I do in Utah. Still not ideal. Some of my friends are leaving Texas due to recent actions.

Really? Why?

[Dario_M]

I've never been in both places but i have a gut feeling that i would feel saver in Utah then in Texas. But that's my intuition speaking right now. 

Edited October 5, 2024 by Dario_M

[The Nehor]

5 hours ago, Peacefully said:

About five years ago, I lived in a small town not far from DFW where a parade was still  held each year to commemorate the Confederate generals the town and county were named after - replete with Confederate flags proudly being marched down the street. If I were a POC or gay or trans in small-town Texas I think I would watch my back. This is so sad to say because I love my state, but there are some ugly things that go on here. 

If I were in most of small town Texas I would leave.

And yeah, celebrating loser traitors is sad. The whole “lose cause” ideology is a pack of lies.

4 hours ago, Dario_M said:

Really? Why?

Texas has a lot more blue areas where I would feel safer.

4 hours ago, Dario_M said:

I've never been in both places but i have a gut feeling that i would feel saver in Utah then in Texas. But that's my intuition speaking right now. 

Depends on where you are in each state but generally speaking prefer Texas.

Edited October 5, 2024 by The Nehor

[Dario_M]

27 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

 

Texas has a lot more blue areas where I would feel safer.

Blue areas? What is that? 

27 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Depends on where you are in each state but generally speaking prefer Texas.

Okay...well..you have been there and i don't, so i guess you know that place better then me then. 

[Bernard Gui]

On 10/3/2024 at 2:21 PM, The Nehor said:

Oh NO!!!!!!!!!

Oh YES 🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂🙂

Edited October 6, 2024 by Bernard Gui

[Rain]

On 10/5/2024 at 12:15 AM, Dario_M said:

Blue areas? What is that? 

He is talking about politics.

On 10/5/2024 at 12:15 AM, Dario_M said:

Okay...well..you have been there and i don't, so i guess you know that place better then me then. 

 

[bluebell]

On 10/4/2024 at 4:29 PM, Calm said:

Texas and Utah are big places.  I assume it depends more on individual communities, maybe even neighborhoods.

SLC is very blue, and lots of lgbtq+ and more 'liberal leaning' stuff there all the time.  The first time I ever saw a furry out in public, actually pretending to be a squirrel was on the courthouse lawn in downtown SLC.  And the last time we drove on the street next to Gateway mall, we passed a woman in her 20s wearing bright yellow fishnet stockings and a g-string, and this was on a tuesday afternoon around 3 o'clock.

And of course, Trader Joe's is always a good place for seeing lots of diversity, and it's in SLC as well.

[Dario_M]

10 minutes ago, bluebell said:

SLC is very blue, and lots of lgbtq+ and more 'liberal leaning' stuff there all the time.  The first time I ever saw a furry out in public, actually pretending to be a squirrel was on the courthouse lawn in downtown SLC.  And the last time we drove on the street next to Gateway mall, we passed a woman in her 20s wearing bright yellow fishnet stockings and a g-string, and this was on a tuesday afternoon around 3 o'clock.

And of course, Trader Joe's is always a good place for seeing lots of diversity, and it's in SLC as well.

Salt Lake City must be such a nice place. I also heard that you have wards there everywhere. Sometimes even 2 wards in the same neighborhood. How cool is that.😌

[Calm]

49 minutes ago, Dario_M said:

Salt Lake City must be such a nice place. I also heard that you have wards there everywhere. Sometimes even 2 wards in the same neighborhood. How cool is that.😌

If you type in Salt Lake City into this map, you can see where all the chapels currently being used are.  However, when you zoom out to view the whole city, it starts merging the buildings so I can’t easily give you a count for the city itself.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/find-a-church?lang=eng&location=Salt%2BLake%2BCity

is dropping in the percentage of its population that is LDS, estimated that around a third of the city.  It has always had the lowest percentage of Saints iirc, at least of the well populated areas.  It is more expensive to live in the city with a family, so more move outside of it.

There are fewer wards around there because of dropping numbers, but the chapels may still be there.  Salt Lake County which includes the valley surrounding the city in 2018 was 49%.  Salt Lake County isn’t even in the top ten counties for percentage of LDS, though it likely has the highest absolute number because its overall population of over 1 million.

Utah Valley which is immediately south of Salt Lake Valley, has the highest percentage of LDS at 72% in 2021.

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/7/8/22569016/which-county-has-the-second-highest-concentration-of-latter-day-saints-hint-its-not-in-utah/

The most recent info I can find says says only 42% of Utahns identify as LDS, though the number of them on church records is much higher, so they haven’t bothered to get their memberships withdrawn.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/12/28/turns-out-latter-day-saints-are/

According to the Church’s website there are over 5100 congregations in Utah.  We share buildings with other congregations, often up to 4, so one congregation does not equal on building as might in other faiths.

There are two chapels within 10 minutes walk of my house, which is in Utah Valley.  As far as I can tell from the Church’s map, there are 13 chapels in my town, which means around 52 congregations.  We had 13,000 residents as of 2 years ago.  It’s a semi rural town with lots of fields and big yards still, though much less than when we moved here 20 years ago, so the buildings may be more spread out than in some other towns in Utah County.  Our ward has had boundaries changed about 5 times in 23 years iirc.

https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=58325676&itype=CMSID

Quote

The website lists at least 1,210 meetinghouses in the three counties. That is one for every 2.5 square miles, which includes a lot of mountains, wetlands and desert where no one lives.

Salt Lake County has one LDS chapel for every 1.3 square miles, while Davis is only slightly behind with one for every 1.4 square miles. Utah County — which is larger geographically — has one for every 4.6 square miles.

This was from 2014.  I don’t know about the other counties, but Utah County has quite a few more chapels now as we have experienced quite a lot of growth in the last ten years.  My son, who lives about 5 minutes away from us in Spanish Fork, moved into a new development (farmland turned into a neighborhood) about 11 years ago and has had his ward split because it got too big 4 times since then, so at least four wards where one used to be.

Edited October 6, 2024 by Calm

[Dario_M]

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

If you type in Salt Lake City into this map, you can see where all the chapels currently being used are.  However, when you zoom out to view the whole city, it starts merging the buildings so I can’t easily give you a count for the city itself.

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/welcome/find-a-church?lang=eng&location=Salt%2BLake%2BCity

 

Aaawh thank you so much. I will look it up because i'm really curious how many wards i will find in Salt Lake City. 

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

is dropping in the percentage of its population that is LDS, estimated that around a third of the city.  It has always had the lowest percentage of Saints iirc, at least of the well populated areas.  It is more expensive to live in the city with a family, so more move outside of it.

Yeah i can imagine that. Living in the centrum of a city is always expensive. And besides... living in the suburbs does have it's charms. 

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

There are fewer wards around there because of dropping numbers, but the chapels may still be there.  Salt Lake County which includes the valley surrounding the city in 2018 was 49%.  Salt Lake County isn’t even in the top ten counties for percentage of LDS, though it likely has the highest absolute number because its overall population of over 1 million.

Are all those 1 million people members of the LDS community? I guess that there are also a lot of saints in Provo right? 

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

Utah Valley which is immediately south of Salt Lake Valley, has the highest percentage of LDS at 72% in 2021.

Wooow. That's basically everyone. 72% is a high percentage. That must be really nice. Knowing that you life in an area were you just know that everyone is from the LDS community. 

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

https://www.deseret.com/faith/2021/7/8/22569016/which-county-has-the-second-highest-concentration-of-latter-day-saints-hint-its-not-in-utah/

The most recent info I can find says says only 42% of Utahns identify as LDS, though the number of them on church records is much higher, so they haven’t bothered to get their memberships withdrawn.

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/12/28/turns-out-latter-day-saints-are/

According to the Church’s website there are over 5100 congregations in Utah.  We share buildings with other congregations, often up to 4, so one congregation does not equal on building as might in other faiths.

There are two chapels within 10 minutes walk of my house, which is in Utah Valley.

10 minutes walk. That must be so nice. And you can choose wich chapel you wanna go to. I don't have much choice here. Plus i need to travel a half hour to reach to the nearest ward. 

 

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

 As far as I can tell from the Church’s map, there are 13 chapels in my town, which means around 52 congregations.  We had 13,000 residents as of 2 years ago.  It’s a semi rural town with lots of fields and big yards still, though much less than when we moved here 20 years ago, so the buildings may be more spread out than in some other towns in Utah County.  Our ward has had boundaries changed about 5 times in 23 years iirc.

That's so interesting. I can understand that things have changed after 20 years hahaha. 

7 minutes ago, Calm said:

https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=58325676&itype=CMSID

This was from 2014.  I don’t know about the other counties, but Utah County has quite a few more chapels now as we have experienced quite a lot of growth in the last ten years.  My son, who lives about 5 minutes away from us in Spanish Fork, moved into a new development (farmland turned into a neighborhood) about 11 years ago and has had his ward split because it got too big 4 times since then, so at least four wards where one used to be.

Aaawh okay so that's why there are more wards in one neighborhood. Because there are to much people to host all of them in one ward. So they split up. Nice to know that there are still a lot of people that go to church. ⛪️

[Calm]

34 minutes ago, Dario_M said:

Are all those 1 million people members of the LDS community? I guess that there are also a lot of saints in Provo right? 

Definitely not (the 1 million)….except in the sense a bishop is a pastor to everyone who lives in his ward boundaries and Saints should treat everyone as family, imo.
 

Maybe half claim to be Saints in Salt Lake County depending on what measure you use, but my guess is likely much less would claim to be if on an anonymous survey.  Some fear losing their job if it gets known they are no longer believers, whether they need to worry or not (a few probably need to worry, my guess is most don’t as it’s pretty common now to be open about losing one’s belief in the Church as God’s.   Active LDS are a minority in Utah state, always have been even from the beginning, even if back then the majority would have said they were Mormon.

More likely these days I am guessing if they are not going to church, they are less likely to think of themselves as LDS too, though many still do.

Provo has a massive number of Saints due to BYU being there.  As do the surrounding cities and towns.

Edited October 6, 2024 by Calm

[Calm]

30 minutes ago, Dario_M said:

And you can choose wich chapel you wanna go to

You can if you want, but you are assigned a ward and therefore a chapel by where you live, so your records are in that ward.  You can only hold callings in your home ward, not ones you visit.

[Dario_M]

9 hours ago, Calm said:

You can if you want, but you are assigned a ward and therefore a chapel by where you live, so your records are in that ward.  You can only hold callings in your home ward, not ones you visit.

Oh yeah that is true offcourse. Though...every church can look your records up on the computer.