Will LDS emerge as a major branch of christianity?

Zor · Post by **Zor** » 2007-09-28 12:04pm

This is something i have been thinking about. The church of Jesus Christ and Latter Day saints has been growing quite quickly, having really expanded its range of operation and ranks from the minor church it was in 1900. I was wondering, is it possible that Mormonism could emerge as a big church on par with Prodestantism, Catholism and Orthodox (if that is not the right word for it, tell me) in the next few centuries, or will it live out its existance as a minor player in the world of Christianity?

Zor

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-09-28 12:35pm

I prefer to think Christianty as a whole shrinks and declines in the next century.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-28 02:20pm

I spent six months working in SLC last year, and while the individual Mormons with whom we worked were all truly wonderful people, I'll admit that LDS impresses me as bughouse-crazy enough to be genuinely scary.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-28 02:21pm

Stas Bush wrote:I prefer to think Christianty as a whole shrinks and declines in the next century.

I like that scenario, too...although I'm starting to see some utility in Christianity as an opposing force to Islam.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2007-09-28 02:23pm

Kanastrous wrote:I spent six months working in SLC last year, and while the individual Mormons with whom we worked were all truly wonderful people, I'll admit that LDS impresses me as bughouse-crazy enough to be genuinely scary.

I strongly agree with this perspective. Whether or not that means the growth will halt, I don't know.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-09-28 03:41pm

To put it differently: Generally speaking, a Mormon is nice. Mormons are freaking scary.

I don't think their growth is going to slow for a while yet. They tend to both have bunches of kids, and evangelize the religion, bringing new converts. They're also cohesive, unlike most other Protestant religions.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-28 03:50pm

Yeah. I've never seen so many three-seat strollers, as around the Gateway Mall, on Sundays...

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-28 03:53pm

Kanastrous wrote:
I like that scenario, too...although I'm starting to see some utility in Christianity as an opposing force to Islam.

Christianity's already tried opposing Islam directly and it didn't do so well the last time.

Battlehymn Republic · Post by **Battlehymn Republic** » 2007-09-28 04:36pm

Stas Bush wrote:I prefer to think Christianty as a whole shrinks and declines in the next century.

What you prefer and what might occur are always subject to be different things. Check out the scholarship coming from Philip Jenkins.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-28 04:43pm

General Zod wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:
I like that scenario, too...although I'm starting to see some utility in Christianity as an opposing force to Islam.
Christianity's already tried opposing Islam directly and it didn't do so well the last time.

I'm thinking more in terms of a 'hearts and minds' contest, than of a military one, if that's what you have in mind.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-28 04:51pm

Kanastrous wrote: I'm thinking more in terms of a 'hearts and minds' contest, than of a military one, if that's what you have in mind.

Considering how Islam is actually gaining in popularity, they're not doing a very good job of it.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-28 05:06pm

The Jenkins article proposes that the contest is pretty close, with Latin America, parts of Asia and Africa being the regions in which Christianity is expanding most rapidly. Catholicism, anyway.

Guardsman Bass · Post by **Guardsman Bass** » 2007-09-28 06:14pm

I don't think Mormonism will become the next big religion. The amount of conversions brought in is a drop in the bucket; hell, I'd wager Islam gains more members in a year from high birthrates than the LDS Church has members, period. It comes down as to whether Mormons have birthrates large enough to build into a massive group, and that's questionabl; hell, even in here in Utah, the fertility rate has dropped down to 2.5 children per woman.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-09-28 06:23pm

Kanastrous wrote:I'm thinking more in terms of a 'hearts and minds' contest, than of a military one, if that's what you have in mind.

So you believe Christianity will either convert Muslims and solve the world's problems, or stop people converting to Islam and becoming part of the world's problems?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-09-28 06:25pm

Stark wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:I'm thinking more in terms of a 'hearts and minds' contest, than of a military one, if that's what you have in mind.
So you believe Christianity will either convert Muslims and solve the world's problems, or stop people converting to Islam and becoming part of the world's problems?

I think he's suggesting that somehow Christianity will be a balancing force against Islam. You know, because he's a fucking moron.

Einhander Sn0m4n · Post by **Einhander Sn0m4n** » 2007-09-28 07:46pm

Flagg wrote:
Stark wrote:
Kanastrous wrote:I'm thinking more in terms of a 'hearts and minds' contest, than of a military one, if that's what you have in mind.
So you believe Christianity will either convert Muslims and solve the world's problems, or stop people converting to Islam and becoming part of the world's problems?
I think he's suggesting that somehow Christianity will be a balancing force against Islam. You know, because he's a fucking moron.

Right, one right-wing authoritarian warmonger death-cult religion balancing against another slightly rebadged right-wing authoritarian warmonger death-cult religion. That's like saying Saturn cars are going to bring balance against Chevrolet cars. Take off the badging, symbols, and specific terms for things and you see it's the same bloody thing under the hood: a warmongering gas-guzzling right-wing authoritarian high-maintenance death-cult lemon-car religion with the same bad engineering and refusal to adapt to changing times, be it advances in science and morality or rising gas prices.

Personally, I'll stick with my pantheist bicycle, thank you very much.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-29 12:02am

Stark wrote:
So you believe Christianity will either convert Muslims and solve the world's problems, or stop people converting to Islam and becoming part of the world's problems?

No.

But since you've concluded that it's what I think, you're welcome to it. Fuck off.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-29 12:03am

Flagg wrote: I think he's suggesting that somehow Christianity will be a balancing force against Islam. You know, because he's a fucking moron.

No, I'm not suggesting anything so simple-minded.

But since you've concluded it's what I'm suggesting, you're welcome to that, too.

And, you may also fuck off.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-09-29 12:30am

Kanastrous wrote:
Flagg wrote: I think he's suggesting that somehow Christianity will be a balancing force against Islam. You know, because he's a fucking moron.
No, I'm not suggesting anything so simple-minded.

But since you've concluded it's what I'm suggesting, you're welcome to that, too.

And, you may also fuck off.

Then perhaps you should actually try explaining what you meant instead of letting people "misinterpret" something incredibly vague and otherwise worthless?

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-09-29 12:43am

Kanastrous wrote:
Flagg wrote: I think he's suggesting that somehow Christianity will be a balancing force against Islam. You know, because he's a fucking moron.
No, I'm not suggesting anything so simple-minded.

But since you've concluded it's what I'm suggesting, you're welcome to that, too.

And, you may also fuck off.

Awwwe, look at the wittle baby cwying over internet insults. Cry for me, baby.

And please do enlighten us on what you "actually" meant. I'm sure it wasn't something as incredibly retarded as suggesting that Christians and Muslims waging religious wars in places where the population is "up for grabs" would somehow be a good thing for secularism.

Superman · Post by **Superman** » 2007-09-29 01:30am

I thought the Mormons had actually been experiencing a decline in growth in recent years...

Frankly, as wacky as the LDS Church is, I'd rather hang around a Mormon than a "born-again."

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2007-09-29 02:41am

I don't think I'm out of line, to dismiss people who first offer their interpretation of what I wrote (totally fine, yeah, that's great that you felt like responding) and then follow up with name-calling because they don't like the interpretation they laid on what I wrote.

I'm new on this playground, and if putting words in my mouth and calling me a fucking moron is the game you're playing, it's just not my thing, and I'll bow out and leave you to enjoy yourselves.

Sincerely. Really. I regret having intruded.

Napoleon the Clown · Post by **Napoleon the Clown** » 2007-09-29 04:23am

Guardsman Bass wrote:I don't think Mormonism will become the next big religion. The amount of conversions brought in is a drop in the bucket; hell, I'd wager Islam gains more members in a year from high birthrates than the LDS Church has members, period. It comes down as to whether Mormons have birthrates large enough to build into a massive group, and that's questionabl; hell, even in here in Utah, the fertility rate has dropped down to 2.5 children per woman.

Utah, while still mostly Mormon, is far less dominated by Mormons. According to Wikipedia, it's 62% Mormon.

Wikipedia wrote:The self identified religious affiliations of adults (note that numbers below do not include children, thus the disparity with the percentage identified above) living in Utah are:

* Latter-day Saints - 62 percent
* Roman Catholics - 6 percent
* Episcopalians - 3 percent
* Baptists - 2 percent
* Other Christians - 3 percent
* Evangelicals - 1 percent
* Presbyterians - 1 percent
* Lutherans - 1 percent
* Methodists - 1 percent
* Non-religious - 17 percent
* Refused to identify - 4 percent
* Other - 3 percent
* Muslim - 1 percent

Totals are rounded. Pentecostal, Judaism, Church of Christ, Non-denominational, United Church of Christ, Jehovah's Witness, Assemblies of God, Buddhist, Church of God, and the Seventh-day Adventist Church each represent less than .5 percent of the population.

As far as Mormons are concerned: It's an act with a disturbing number of them, at least as far as Utah is concerned. I used to be one of them, and you'd be surprised (unless you're cynical) at how many of them are just trying to score Jesus Points. Maybe I'm just really cynical about it, but there's too much backstabbing going on out of public view.

I can see the LDS Church becoming a major sect of Christianity. And I must admit, even though a lot of the ones I know are putting on a show, they are one of the more innocuous sects out there. For the most part it seems pretty sincere. And it encourages its members to learn as much as they can (including science and other religions). As weird as some of their beliefs are, I believe that they would be less prone to hindering the progress of mankind than a most religions to have ever existed.

Napoleon the Clown · Post by **Napoleon the Clown** » 2007-09-29 04:24am

Ghetto Edit: Oops, forgot to put Wikipedia in quotation marks when I quoted it...

Flagg · Post by **Flagg** » 2007-09-29 04:25am

Kanastrous wrote:I don't think I'm out of line, to dismiss people who first offer their interpretation of what I wrote (totally fine, yeah, that's great that you felt like responding) and then follow up with name-calling because they don't like the interpretation they laid on what I wrote.

I'm new on this playground, and if putting words in my mouth and calling me a fucking moron is the game you're playing, it's just not my thing, and I'll bow out and leave you to enjoy yourselves.

Sincerely. Really. I regret having intruded.

Don't let the door hit you in your retarded ass on the way out.