Change In LDS Definition Of "Membership" Since 2000 Caused ASARB To Overstate LDS Growth Rate From 2000-2010

On May 3rd, 2012, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies (ASARB) overstated the growth rate of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during the period 2000-2010. According to the ASARB's 2010 U.S. Religion Census, the LDS Church reported an increase from 4,224,026 U.S. members in 2000 to 6,144,582 members in 2010, a 45.5 percent jump.

However, the Tribune discovered that the LDS Church had reported a total U.S. membership of 5,208,827 for the year 2000 in the LDS Church Almanac. Had that figure been used, the growth rate during the past decade would have been closer to 18 percent, which still would have put the LDS Church at the top of the list among Christian faiths.

Official LDS Church spokesman Scott Trotter explained the discrepancy; two different definitions of "membership" were used. The current definition of "membership", reflected in the 2010 total of 6,144,582, is derived from all those individuals who have been baptized or born into the Church. They don't drop off the membership rolls if they changed congregations. In contrast, back in 2000, the Church left out the numbers of members who, although baptized, were not currently associated with a specific congregation.

Dale Jones, a researcher on the Religion Census, was mildly annoyed with the change in definition, but said it's no big deal and acknowledged that any church has the right to define its membership standards. But the discrepancy is still embarrassing; already, some anti-Mormons are trying to mine propaganda value from it.

But it's not unheard of for an entity to change its foundational definitions. For example, in 1961, Roger Maris broke Babe Ruth's record for home runs in a season by hitting 61. However, while Ruth hit his 60 during a 154-game season, Maris hit his 61 during a 162-game season. So for years, Maris had an asterisk next to his name in the record books. But when Mark McGuire and Barry Bonds subsequently broke that record in 1998 and 2001 respectively, the season was still 162 games, so no asterisk was appended to their names, although baseball fans who are purists might be tempted to asterisk their names for a different reason.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has done the same thing. Although the FBI reported a 30 percent decrease in hate crimes during the period 2000-2010, the SPLC claims that the number of hate groups increased by 66.4 percent during the same period. One of the main reasons is because, during that period, they changed their definition of "hate group" from racist groups alone to include immigration restrictionist groups, militia groups, and even pro-family groups. Pro-family groups who oppose the promotion and statutory protection of homosexuality are now considered "hate groups" by the SPLC. Obviously, if you cast your net wider, you'll catch more fish. Some critics of the SPLC accuse them of doing this primarily to assure their self-perpetuation and to keep the donation spigot cranked wide open; they seek to scare more people into giving them money.

Of course, nobody on Recovery From Mormonism is criticizing the SPLC for engaging in these tactics. They only target the LDS Church.

Republican Presidential Hopeful Jon Huntsman Still A Mormon, Reaffirms His LDS Church Membership On Good Morning America

On May 12th 2011, Republican Presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman Jr., who is not yet an "official" candidate, generated a stir when in response to a question about his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Time magazine reported that Huntsman said, "That's tough to define...There are varying degrees. I come from a long line of saloon keepers and proselytizers, and I draw from both sides." Immediately, many questioned whether or not Huntsman was still formally a member of the LDS Church, and some accused him of waffling, particularly since other sources reported that Huntsman recently passed up attending LDS services to attend services at a different church. Mormon Mentality responded with a post entitled "How Do You Spell Inactive: H-U-N-T-S-M-A-N".

So on May 20th, Huntsman addressed the issue during an interview aired on ABC's Good Morning America. During the interview, Huntsman discussed his ambassadorship in China, America's role in Libya, the stimulus, health care, and the budget. Finally, at the 4:15 point on the video embedded below, Huntsman addresses the "Mormon Question":



Read the full written transcript of the interview HERE. Here's the specific segment:

George Stephanopoulos: We're just about out of time. I just have two more questions. One comes from one our viewers. And it's from Joelyn Singley of Salt Lake City, Utah. And she says: "The recent comments from Mr. Huntsman confused me as to his religious affiliations. Is he a practicing Mormon or not?"

Jon Huntsman: I believe in God. I'm a good Christian. I'm very proud of my Mormon heritage. I am Mormon. Today, there are 13 million Mormons. It's a very diverse and heterogeneous cross-section of people. And you're going to find a lot of different attitudes and a lot of different opinions in that 13 million.

George Stephanopoulos: Is it going to be an issue in this campaign?

Jon Huntsman: And I probably add to that diversity somewhat. I don't think so. I think people want to know that you, if you get in the race, are going to be a problem solver. A pragmatic problem solver who's going to look laser-like on jobs and keeping this economy moving forward in ways that will maintain our preeminence in the world. I think everything else that people like to talk about, in many cases, are less relevant. In fact, some-- some are sideshows.

Note that Huntsman first said he is Christian. This is designed to reinforce the idea that Mormonism is Christian and to reassure those who might question that premise. But then Huntsman clearly says "I am Mormon"; this can be logically interpreted to mean that he remains an enrolled member of the LDS Church.

Later on, KTVX Channel 4 contacted Joelyn Singley, who explained “I feel he’s dancing around it. It’s not important to me if he’s a practicing Mormon or not. I just want a straight answer. He just sounds like every other politician out there who dances around hard questions. It’s really not a hard question”.

The LDS Church is a diverse church; there are many degrees of involvement. Some are fully-active Mormons who attend services weekly, hold callings, and are templeworthy. Others are less active but attend periodically. Still others are inactive and may not live up to all the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. All have two things in common -- they maintain formal membership, and they do not engage in public insurgency against the Church. All can legitimately call themselves Mormons.

There's also another group of Mormons -- New Order Mormons. By their definition, New Order Mormons are those who no longer believe some of the dogma or doctrines of the LDS Church, but who want to maintain membership for cultural, social, or even spiritual reasons. New Order Mormons recognize both good and bad in the Church, and have determined that the Church does not have to be perfect in order to remain useful. New Order Mormons seek the middle way to be Mormon. Reaction to them has been mixed; while LDSAliveInChrist, edited by a devout Mormon, characterized it as a "path to deception", Latter Day Commentary, also edited by a devout Mormon, says that one can absolutely be a member of the LDS Church and not believe some of the doctrine or accept the official story of the history.

Jon Huntsman is probably better qualified than any of us to decide whether or not he's a Mormon. His real task now will be to persuade Republicans that he is qualified to be President of the United States.