3 ms·
You say that like those groups aren't great at producing non-religious people. Like a third of Mormons leave the church. Ditto for Catholics. Probably simila
by saalweachter 3y ago
You say that like those groups aren't great at producing non-religious people.
Like a third of Mormons leave the church. Ditto for Catholics. Probably similar for the rest, but I haven't looked up all the statistics.
I'd go so far as to wager that in America today most non-believers come from religious households, with second-generation-non-believers in the minority.
- rayiner 3y agoBut even with that phenomenon, the world’s population of non-religious people is shrinking: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/27/religion-why-is-faith-growing-and-what-happens-next https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/aug/27/religion-why-is....
- skissane 3y agoSome religious groups are much better at retention than others. Ultra-Orthodox Jews (Hasidic/Haredi) and Old Order Amish have very high retention rates, by some measures >90%. Mainstream Catholicism has very poor retention rates – there is a quip that ex-Catholic is one of America's largest religions. However, if we look at highly conservative/traditionalist groups like Opus Dei or SSPX, the retention is much better (although I don't have exact figures). Mormons are definitely showing signs of transitioning from growth to decline, at least in the US. However, given other religious groups I mentioned appear to be avoiding that, it may be more a story of mistakes of the Mormon leadership than anything else.