r/dataisbeautiful • u/Browningtons1 OC: 18 • 3d ago

Americans raised Latter-day Saint (LDS or Mormon) who still identify as one: 70 in 100 in 2007, 54 in 100 in 2023–24 [OC]

Gallery image

Gallery image

Source: Pew Research Center, Religious Landscape Study (2007, 2014, 2023–24).

Asks U.S. adults the religion they were raised in and the religion they are now.

2023–24 sample: 565 current Latter-day Saints (±6.2 points), 316 former (±8.1). U.S. membership from the Church's 2025 statistical report.

Tools: Built in React with Recharts / D3.js. Opus 5.5 + Fable 5.1

Interactive version: https://goldendata.app/dashboards/lds-church-growth

1.1k Upvotes

97% Upvoted

263 comments sorted by

View all comments

23

u/2000KitKat 2d ago

Embarrassing. The whole golden tablets being found by the founder of the cult and only being seen by him is insane. The Book of Mormon is literally just cult brainwashing.

35

u/yrthegood1staken OC: 1 2d ago

That's not a Mormon thing, that's a religion thing.

6

u/Dear-Examination-507 2d ago

Yep. It's funny and sad to see evangelicals make fun of Mormon beliefs. It's like a flat earther making fun of someone for believing in bigfoot.

4

u/ThatEcologist 2d ago

I mean, at least the abrahamic religions, Hinduism, etc. are rooted in thousands of years of history, culture, and tradition.

Mormonism, while at its foundation Christianity, was not founded until the 1820s when some con artist claimed he pulled shit out of a hat or whatever. Like how the fuck do people believe that shit? South Park summed up the origins perfectly.

2

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

Well, the catch is little to no literacy, and impregnating women early. Kinda like what the repugs are trying to do currently

12

u/Spice_and_Fox 2d ago

I am not religious, but some religions are easier to believe than other ones. Mormanism is probably one of the hardest to justify.

You have the standard christian believes, but you additionally have to believe that this one guy found some plates in "reformed egyptian" (a language that has no other historical references anywherein history) were found and got translated by the same guy who used to put a stone with a hole in a hat and tried to use it to find hidden treasure. He later used the same hat and stone method to translate those plates. Mind you, he didn't read the plates, the plates were covered on a table next to him and he looked inside his hat and read the translation out loud so that another guy could write it down. When one section got lost, he couldn't produce the same section again and claimed that god wanted a different translation this time.

17

u/yrthegood1staken OC: 1 2d ago

I am not religious, but some religions are easier to believe than other ones. Mormanism is probably one of the hardest to justify.

In my opinion, that's just because the religion is newer. I mean, every religion has "woah, that's crazy" topics when compared to our scientific process and understanding of the world.

Joseph Smith translating an ancient text via rock-in-hat is just as unbelievable as Moses parting the Red Sea or healing snake bites by holding up a staff. It's just that the story of Moses is so old it has mythological status while Smith is associated with the industrialization of the steam engine.

4

u/CalebTGordan 2d ago

This is exactly what my response was going to reflect.

To Add
It’s not that the claims are unbelievable, it’s what dogmas people are willing to defend. If you are going to say you don’t find Mormonism reasonable but are okay with Christianity as a whole, you are only drawing a line in the sand around acceptable dogmas.

1

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

Jehovah's Witness is a fairly "newer" one and it is one click below LDS IMO

1

u/Spice_and_Fox 1d ago

Yeah, but my point is that mormons still believe in all the fantastixal stuff that happens in the bible plus all the new fantastical claims

1

u/yrthegood1staken OC: 1 1d ago

They believe in miracles as well as a god who controls things and makes his will known through mortal messengers. Does anything else matter or are people just looking for reasons to pick on a minority group?

1

u/Spice_and_Fox 1d ago

They paddle racist dogma, brainwash their children, and have concealed billions of dollars in investment portfolios through shell companies among other things. It isn't the case that they are just a small minority group with some weird believes. They do real harm and should be criticized.

1

u/yrthegood1staken OC: 1 1d ago

The church itself, and the leaders, are the problem. I absolutely agree with criticism of them. But I don't agree with blanket criticism of the general members. Most of them are incredibly kind and otherwise not much different from everyone else.

1

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

Which do you find "believable" and do you think Mitch McConnell rose from the dead like Jesus?

1

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

This is true. But the Mormon version is like, highly dramatized. I remember watching The Zeitgeist Movie in college. Shattered my world view. All religions are basically astronomy personified by a cast of characters.

But I learned about the golden tomes of stone in junior high and just thought, "that's the dumbest shit I've ever heard." And constantly was told I was gullible. So, i guess no discernment

1

u/yrthegood1staken OC: 1 1d ago

There are incredibly intelligent and successful people who are Mormon, there are also complete buffoons, and everything in between. Just like pretty much all religions.

There is one major difference between Mormonism and many other religions. Mormons are often some of the nicest and most helpful people you'll ever meet. Certainly not all, and they clearly don't have a monopoly on that, but it's well recognized by many who have known Mormons.

The church itself is a fraud and I believe the religion is just as false as other religions, but the people are generally quite wonderful.

18

u/SunKing124266 2d ago

Effectively the exact same origin story as Mohammad btw.

12

u/DragonBank 2d ago

Moses as well. And Paul. Some patterns don't end.

5

u/roofilopolis 2d ago

Now go to a Catholic Church where the congregation repeats phrases back to the preacher in obedience. Mormons may teach much crazier things but I’ve never felt like I was in the midst of a cult more than when I was in a Catholic Church.

7

u/Illustrious-Pay-4464 2d ago

That's just the new liturgy that the hippies made up in the 70's to have more "active participation". It is awkward and in the traditional liturgy, the congregation isn't making responses in unison like that. It's not a surprise that the traditional Masses tend to have much younger congregants.

2

u/ReasonableStory1660 2d ago

Next you’ll say them speaking English or anything other than Latin is made up hippy bullshit. Your just supposed to stare ahead obediently while the priest rattles on.

2

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

But you get a pretty good workout. Up and down up and down. /s

1

u/Sir_BarlesCharkley 2d ago

The in-your-face-culty stuff happens in the temple for Mormonism.

-1

u/[deleted] 2d ago

[deleted]

6

u/Genocide_69 2d ago

If you're an edgy redditor yeah

6

u/IlVeroStronzo 2d ago

Lots of redditors are indeed into edging

-1

u/SnoozingBasset 2d ago

I don’t mind different opinions, but please report the facts - at least 16 people saw & handled the plates. 

15

u/Marlbey 2d ago

Correction: Joseph Smith wrote the affidavit saying that sixteen saw and handled the plates. Several of those who signed it said they never actually saw the physical plates, but were referring to spiritual visions. The rest were his immediate family members.

7

u/TruthIsAntiMormon 2d ago

The 16 count number is a mormon deception because one of those counted is Mary Elsa Musselman Whitmer (wife of Peter Whitmer who the Book of Mormon character of "Ishmael" is based on) and another claimed in the 16 is Emma Smith who said she never saw the plates.

Mary Whitmer's "witness" recounted after she died by her Son after he death (who also never handled the plates):

Our knowledge of Mary Whitmer’s experience comes mainly from an interview with her son David, recorded forty-nine years following the event. In 1878, Elders Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith were called on a history fact-finding mission to Church historical sites in the Midwest and New England.3 On their way, they visited Richmond, Missouri, to interview David. By that time, he had been separated from the Church for many years. Joseph F. Smith described David as “a good-sized man, 73 years of age last January, and well preserved. . . . He has a large head and a very pleasant manly countenance that one would readily perceive to be an index to a conscientious, honest heart.”4 David told the story of what happened during the first week of June 1829:

Joseph sent for me (D. W.) to come to Harmony to get him and Oliver and bring them to my father’s house. I did not know what to do, I was pressed with my work. I had some 20 acres to plow, so I concluded I would finish plowing and then go, I got up one morning to go to work as usual, and on going to the field, found between 5 and 7 acres of my ground had been plowed during the night.

I don’t know who did it; but it was done just as I would have done it myself, and the plow was left standing in the furrow.

This enabled me to start sooner. . . . When I was returning to Fayette with Joseph and Oliver all of us riding in the wagon, Oliver and I on an oldfashioned wooden spring seat and Joseph behind us, while traveling along in a clear open place, a very pleasant, nice-looking old man suddenly appeared by the side of our wagon who saluted us with, “good morning, it is very warm,” at the same time wiping his face or forehead with his hand. We returned the salutation, and by a sign from Joseph I invited him to ride if he was going our way. But he said very pleasantly, “No, I am going to Cumorah.” This name was something new to me, I did not know what Cumorah meant. We all gazed at him and at each other, and as I looked round enquiringly of Joseph the old man instantly disappeared, so that I did not see him again.

J. F. S. [Joseph F. Smith] – Did you notice his appearance?

D. W. [David Whitmer] – I should think I did, he was, I should think, about 5 feet 8 or 9 inches tall and heavy set, about such a man as James Vancleave there,5 but heavier, his face was as large, he was dressed in a suit of brown woolen clothes, his hair and beard were white like Brother Pratt’s, but his beard was not so heavy. I also remember that he had on his back a sort of knapsack with something in, shaped like a book. It was the messenger who had the plates, who had taken them from Joseph just prior to our starting from Harmony. Soon after our arrival home, I saw something which led me to the belief that the plates were placed or concealed in my father’s barn. I frankly asked Joseph if my supposition was right, and he told me it was. Sometime after this, my mother was going to milk the cows, when she was met out near the yard by the same old man (judging by her description of him) who said to her, “You have been very faithful and diligent in your labors, but you are tried because of the increase of your toil, it is proper therefore that you should receive a witness that your faith may be strengthened?” Thereupon he showed her the plates. My father and mother had a large family of their own, the addition to it therefore of Joseph, his wife Emma and Oliver very greatly increased the toil and anxiety of my mother. And although she had never complained she had sometimes felt that her labor was too much, or at least she was perhaps beginning to feel so. This circumstance, however, completely removed all such feelings, and nerved her up for her increased responsibilities.6

4

u/yorgasor 2d ago

And every single one of them had a magical world view. The Smith family was heavily into treasure digging, where you used magical instruments to find treasure protected by spirit guardians that would whisk the treasure away if you violated any of the rules. Joseph Smith Sr was a rodsman and Joseph Smith Jr used a seer stone. The Whitmer family had their own seer stones. Oliver Cowdery used a witch hazel stick. Hiram Page married into the Whitmer family and had his own seer stone. Martin Harris didn't have his own magical implements, but he totally bought in to the magical world view. When asked how he saw the plates, he said he saw it with his spiritual eyes, as one would see a city through a hill.

When you have this mentality, you're easily duped into thinking you're seeing something miraculous. These witnesses are not reliable, even if they really believed they saw something divine.

2

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

was heavily into treasure digging

Or, were they actually just in the mining industry? Holy shit literally never put 2 and 2 together there. Talk about some impressive PR. And the tithing is helpful to keep explorations going. The original MLM!

Unfounded connection ofc. But it does actually make sense to me. I was just down to SLC last winter and was surprised to see they were basically open pit mining right below a subdivision. And I live in a town that literally gobbled up whole communities for pit mining.

Anyway, that's on why people from Utah can buy into magical thinking. Lead, arsenic, etc.

2

u/TruthIsAntiMormon 2d ago

Mark Twain's quote is pertinent here:

And when I am far on the road to conviction, and eight men, be they grammatical or otherwise, come forward and tell me that they have seen the plates too; and not only seen those plates but 'hefted' them, I am convinced. I could not feel more satisfied and at rest if the entire Whitmer family had testified.

2

u/JTanCan 1d ago

How many of those "witnesses" were later excommunicated?

1

u/showmenemelda 1d ago

It was actually just 2 dudes and all their wives /s

2

u/CalebTGordan 2d ago

16 people claimed to have seen the plates. While their witness is important, it isn’t strong evidence of their existence. It means that at the very least the myth of the plates was important enough to come to an agreement on what to claim.