Btw, here was another rather interesting presentation article re: what was to occur (last night) at the UVU conference: Survey on Mormon Disbelievers to be Released at UVU Forum [74% point to theological concerns]
Note my post #1 there...mentioning how a Mormon would be releasing his survey of 3,000+ disbelieving Mormons -- saying that "74 percent of respondents citing ceasing to believe in the theology as a major factor"...
Here's the link to a 26-page report this Mormon was unveiling @ the UVU conference: UNDERSTANDING MORMON DISBELIEF: Why do some Mormons lose their testimony, and what happens to them when they do?
From this link: Here are the top five "General Factors Contributing to Disbelief"...[this is found on page 8 chart of results]:
1. I ceased to believe in the church's doctrine/theology (74%)
2. I studied church history and lost my belief (70%)
3. I lost faith in Joseph Smith (70%) [my note: A very bad place to place & transfer faith toward to begin with!]
4. I lost faith in the Book of Mormon (65%)
5. I lost confidence in the general authorities (50%)
Two other factors within the Top 10 included
"I did not feel spiritually edified at church" (47%)
and "Church's stance on race issues (blacks, native Americans, etc.)" (43%).
In contrast to the reasons Mormons & Mormon leaders often pin upon such disbelievers, only 4% said it was because they were offended by someone in the church and 4% also pinpointed "I wanted to engage in behaviors viewed as sinful by the church" [the very bottom reasons listed on the chart].
12% said they "received a spiritual witness to leave the church and go elsewhere"...Over 1/4 said they lost their faith in [the Mormon] God/Jesus.
What's your take on this?
The majority (53%) of disbelievers now consider themselves Agnostic/Atheist/Humanist.
22% still consider themselves Mormon: 16% exclusively Mormon, and 6% consider themselves Mormon in addition to being Atheist/Agnostic.
11% consider themselves Christian of some other denomination, 2% considered themselves Buddhist, while the remainder consider themselves Unsure/Undecided (17%).
Based on this, were I an aggressive, proselytising atheist, I would welcome the Flying Inmans as colleagues. I mean, a 5-to-1 ratio is hard to ignore....