The New York Times recently published a piece on Utah demographics that included the following paragraph: A 2025 comprehensive study by researchers at Brigham Young University found that, while a majority of older women stayed in the church, less than 40 percent of 18-year-old women did. (Men, on the other…
Category: What does the CoJCoL-dS offer?
Brad Wilcox, Racism, Misogyny, and the Assertion of Authority
In case you haven’t heard, Bradley R. Wilcox, second counselor in the Young Men General Presidency and BYU professor, has been widely castigated for offensive remarks he made at a multi-stake youth fireside in Alpine, Utah, on February 6. The uproar over Wilcox’s talk is so severe that I actually…
What does the CoJCoL-dS offer me? — the wrap-up!
I hope you’ve enjoyed my series of articles analyzing the strategies of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! Here they are, in case you missed any: What Does the CoJCoL-dS Offer? A little bit of nothing for everyone! Testimonies! Leadership monopoly, leadership vacuum High demands and polarization The…
What the CoJCoL-dS Offers: Retro Morals
In the second episode of this series, I claimed that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers a lot of nothing — but then in the most recent installment I mentioned a substantial selling point: And the church will be right there to constantly pat you on the…
Strategies of the CoJCoL-dS: The whys and hows of polarization
Any path that bills itself as the one true path for everyone is bound to lead to judgement. Naturally the path will be better suited to some people than to others, and — if it’s what everyone is supposed to be doing — that leads to the conclusion that those…
Strategies of the CoJCoL-dS: High demands and polarization
A few years ago there was a lot of discussion in the Bloggernacle about the fact that highly-demanding religions (like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) are currently retaining members better than low-demand religions (like Catholicism). Both types are shedding members, but the more demanding denominations are apparently…
Leadership monopoly, leadership vacuum
One of the biggest selling points of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is its claim that it has “the keys” — the only source of authority on Earth today to speak for God and act for God. Basically the 15 guys at the top (especially the President…
What the CoJCoL-dS offers: Testimonies!
There are loads of possible reasons for wanting to join / stay in / participate in Mormonism, but the main official reason is that you know it’s true; you have a testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel, and that the current President of the Church is God’s sole mouthpiece…
The CoJCoL-dS: A little bit of nothing for everyone!
When you picture the Mormon mishies pitching the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to a random Never-Mo, it’s hard to imagine who would find the pitch appealing. Yet it had to have been appealing at some point in the past. In the 19th century, whole congregations were converting….
What Does the CoJCoL-dS Offer?
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sends tens of thousands of enthusiastic young adults — carefully trained in sales strategies — all over the world. Why don’t people want what they’re selling? On the flip side, if the prospect of joining Mormonism is so obviously unappealing to the…