BY BOB MIMS
THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
Saturday, March 6, 1999
In a stubbornly secular world, Mormons can take heart. Studies show
they
tip the scales as a marriage-honoring, morally and politically
conservative
people even as their growing faith has become a world religion.
"On the whole, social research shows LDS people in a very favorable
light
in almost all areas that have been studied," said James T. Duke, professor
emeritus of sociology at LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University.
However, other studies -- including some in The Church of Jesus
Christ of
Latter-day Saints' own publications -- detail lagging retention of
longtime
members and converts, along with low levels of church activity among those
remaining.
"We don't appear to be as good as I would have hoped," Duke
acknowledged,
but he stressed it was clear, in general terms, that "this research
reflects
positively on the LDS Church and its people."
A 1993 study published in Demography showed that Mormons marrying
within
their church are least likely of all Americans to become divorced. Only 13
percent of LDS couples have divorced after five years of marriage,
compared
with 20 percent for religiously homogamist unions among Catholics and
Protestants and 27 percent among Jews.
However, when a Mormon marries outside his or her denomination, the
divorce rate soars to 40 percent -- second only to mixed-faith marriages
involving a Jewish spouse (42 percent).
Citing a variety of other studies, Duke found that Mormons are the
least
likely to cohabitate outside of marriage -- 8.2 percent compared with 20
percent to 24 percent for Protestants, 23.1 percent for Catholics, 32.5
percent for Jews and 44.8 percent for nonreligious Americans.
Meanwhile, 62.4 percent of Mormon men and 58.2 percent of LDS women
are
Republicans -- well above the U.S. averages of 35 percent and 33.2
percent,
respectively.
Ideologically, 56.3 percent of LDS men and 48.8 percent of Mormon
women
consider themselves conservatives -- compared with 36.4 percent and 31.3
percent of American men and women overall. Some 25.5 percent of Mormon
men and
36.1 percent of LDS women are moderates (while the U.S. figures are 35.1
percent and 41.9 percent, respectively).
Only 29.3 percent of LDS men and 32.5 percent of Mormon women claim
to be
Democrats, compared with 50.2 percent of U.S. males and 53.6 percent of
American women overall.
Correspondingly, only 18.2 percent of Mormon men -- and 15 percent of
Mormon women -- say they are liberals. (Overall, 28.4 percent of U.S. men
and
26.7 percent of the women embrace the liberal label).
Duke maintains all those figures are cause for Mormon pride, but warns
that the church is not without cause for concern.
For example, research published by both Ensign and the Church News
indicating a progressive falling away of young Mormon males is "a somewhat
discouraging statistic," he said.
"Of 100 males born in the church, only 76 were ordained deacons, 65
were
ordained teachers, 58 were ordained priests and only 32 percent went on
missions," he said.
While that report appeared in 1984, Duke said it was his understanding
"that these statistics have not improved since . . . this study was
published."
Meantime, the most recent published study on LDS Church member
activity --
done in 1988 by the church's Research Information Division -- shows only
22
percent of every 100 people born Mormons maintain lifelong church
activity.
"That means 78 percent are inactive for a year or more at some time,"
Duke
said, though slightly more than half of those prodigals eventually return
to
the LDS Church.
Indeed, in remarks prepared for his Martin B. Hickman Outstanding
Scholar
Lecture given Thursday at BYU, Duke emphasized the church's ongoing
growth as
reason for continued optimism.
Since 1982, Mormon membership rolls have more than doubled, topping 10
million two years ago. Much of that growth has occurred outside of the
U.S.
this decade, with 43 nations -- 16 in Europe, 14 in Africa, five each in
Asia
and the Caribbean and three in South America -- opening their doors to LDS
missionaries.
Such inroads come despite steady secularization and evidence of an
overall
moral decline by LDS standards, especially in America, Duke said.
From a high of more than 75 percent 40 years ago, U.S. church and
synagogue membership hovered just above 65 percent in 1996, and weekly
attendance of religious services has dipped from a high of nearly 50
percent
in the late 1950s to 39 percent in 1998, Duke found.
Further, the nation's abortion rate has remained steady, at about 55
per
1,000 women, since its legalization by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973,
even as
births out of wedlock rose to 31 percent in 1993 -- trailing only the
United
Kingdom and Denmark, at 32 percent, and Sweden's 50 percent.
"I can't think of a more powerful indicator of secularization than the
figures we have seen on the number of children born to unmarried mothers,"
Duke said.
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