Why are people really leaving the LDS Church? In Part 2 of our deep dive into LDS disaffiliation, we continue our conversation with Jeff Strong, author of the groundbreaking book “Torn: Why People We Love Are Leaving the Church and What We Can Learn from Them.” This episode moves beyond the statistics to explore the complex, personal “waves” of modern faith loss.
Key topics covered in this episode include:
* The Church History Bombshell: Jeff reveals that 42% of his survey respondents cited church history as their primary reason for leaving, a finding that contrasts with earlier research focusing more on lifestyle factors.
* Massive Scale & Methodology: Learn how the study captured the voices of 15,000 participants who cared so deeply about these issues that they spent an average of 90 minutes completing a 71-question survey.
*AI and “10,000 Pages of Heartache”: To understand the nuance of the “verbatim” stories provided by respondents, Jeff’s team utilized artificial intelligence to query over 10,000 pages of personal responses.
*Is 40% Too Low? Jeff explains why he landed on a conservative 40% figure, despite other data sets like the General Social Survey (GSS) suggesting disaffiliation could be closer to 50%.
The “Four Waves” of Disaffiliation: A look at how the reasons for leaving have shifted over time and why traditional “internet Mormon” stereotypes may not tell the whole story.
Whether you are a leader, a family member, or someone navigating your own faith journey, this episode offers a data-driven yet deeply empathetic look at how hot the “fire” of disaffiliation is burning today.
Watch Part 1 to see the initial breakdown of the 40% disaffiliation statistic and the “leaky bucket” math of church growth.
