One of the most meaningful data points for any faith community is how well it retains those in the faith, whether they were born into it or joined later. With the West’s rapidly changing religious landscape, the last two decades have seen intensified efforts to determine just how many people remain in their faith.
Yet, meaningful variation exists in how retention is measured, which has led to some confusion. For that reason, it’s important to consider multiple data sources with various perspectives to get a full picture, comparing their relative strengths and weaknesses.
This helps us determine which data is most reliable. Unfortunately, relying on less reliable data often leads us to the wrong conclusions.
Along with most other religions, data finds Latter-day Saints have declined in retention since the 1980s (retention being defined as those raised in a religion who still identify as that religion as an adult).
At the same time, Latter-day Saint retention rates today are higher than most other Christian denominations. And when considering those who are retained and still regularly attend worship services, Latter-day Saints are the highest.
Read the full story at Deseret News here
