LDS Religious Disaffiliation Narratives

In my continuing research in religious studies I have found the sociological material on religious affiliation of great interest and help. The material on religious disaffiliation is just as helpful, and evangelicals might consider the implications of some of this material in their understanding of new religions and their interations with their adherents.

In my interactions with a Latter-day Saint I recently came across two academic articles, including Stan L. Albrecht and Howard M. Bahr, "Patterns of Religious Disaffiliation: A Study of Lifelong Mormon Converts, and Former Mormons," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 22/4 (Dec. 1983): 366-79, and another, Howard A. Bahr and Stan L. Albrecht, "Strangers Once More: Patterns of Disaffiliation from Mormonism" from the same publication, 28/2 (Jun. 1989): 180-200. According to the former article, some 22% of those who left Mormonism became Roman Catholics, and only 5% bcame "Baptist, Born-Again Christian." In addition, the majority, 42%,  appear not to join any Christian church, including evangelical ones, but instead opt for various forms of atheism or agnosticism. Richley Crapo's research from 2007 reports differently in that while the largest segment of former Mormons identify with nonbelief, 34% identified with Protestantism and 22% with Roman Catholicism.

While some readers may scoff at such studies given their publication in the 1980s, similar findings were reported recently at the recent Sunstone Symposium meeting in Salt Lake City. In the session titled "Purposeful Strangers: Examining Ex-Mormon Narratives and Reasons People Give for Leaving the Church" involving a paper by Seth Payne and a response by Ryan Wimmer, their research confirms that of the 1980s studies. This presentation touches on sociological studies in religious disaffiliation, secular anti-Mormon critiques of Mormonism, evangelical counter-cult critiques, and ex-Mormon narratives. Several elements of this presentation (available on CD or in MP3 from Sunstone) are noteworthy.

First, the presenters note that no recent scientific survey work has been done to confirm why people leave the LDS Church or the religious or irreligious direction their lives take after their departure. This is significant in that evangelicals are prone to make statements about the effectiveness of theological and rational apologetics aimed at "worldview annihilation" in regards to Mormons which then allegedly leads to migration into evangelical churches. Although some religious migration undoubtedly takes place, such claims as to why and the numbers of people involved in the process are merely anecdotal, and my hope is that funding can be found for scientific surveys that can provide good data for a better understanding of the religious disaffiliation process in this context.

Second, even without good, current scientific data, as noted above, scientific research from the past, and more recent informal research, indicates that those who do leave the LDS Church are more likely to become atheistic and hostile to all forms of religion, including and particularly Christianity. Rather than ex-Mormons for Jesus, often they become ex-Mormons for atheism.

Third, another interesting facet of the Sunstone seminar was that secular "anti-Mormon" critiques tend to be more prevalent than evangelical ones, and that many of the secular arguments against Mormonism can be turned against traditional Christianity. For example, while evangelicals are quick to cite the "secular" argument of DNA against aspects of Book of Mormon genetics, many of the same scientists quoted in a popular video on this topic could argue against popular interpretations of the Genesis story in regards to human origins.

Fourth, Payne makes the important observation that while the General Authorities inform the faith of Latter-day Saints they do not dictate it. Thus, we should expect to find diversity and heterogeneity in Mormon faith and practice rather than the homogeneity often assumed by evangelicals on a popular level.

Fifth, another interesting aspect of the study was a discussion of how ex-Mormon narratives take on a distinctive flavor that need to be studied by scholars carefully in order to understand them and the dynamics that inform them. One area I would like to see included in future survey research is how evangelical counter-cult depictions of Mormonism shape ex-Mormon concepts of Mormonism and the LDS Church.

In my estimation the body of literature on religious disaffiliation has much to say to evangelicals seeking to understand those in new religions. It can help us understand why people join particular groups, why they choose to disaffiliate with some, reaffiliate with others, and many times never to affiliate with organized religion again. It can also provide a means of critique for evangelical assumptions about the efficacy and appropriateness of their critical interactions with Latter-day Saints.