Force for good: Impact the church has made?

[_Moniker]

I have a very different take on the LDS Church now then when I first started researching. The only thing I knew of LDS were that they were very devoted to family, did lots of charitable giving, they had a prophet, weren't supposed to smoke or drink (of course that wasn't that odd, for me, since that's seen in lots of denominations here in the South) and were a sect of Christianity started by Joseph Smith.

That was it.

[_Moniker]

Oh! And they voted Republican. :)

[_moksha]

The Church helps many members and people across the planet everyday, by providing food, clothing and other items necessary for day to day living.
They also provide for the spiritual fulfillment of those seeking the Gospel. It enriches the lives of its members and helps provide stability for them.

[_beastie]

Without the church, there would have been no Osmonds.

"nuff said.

[_Scottie]

Mormons, in general, don't seem to have enough time to associate with non-mormons unless it can be justified as a missionary effort.

I have to say, I have some excellent neighbors that know I'm apostate. They are active LDS and visit me just to visit me. No attempts at re-activating me at all.

[_guy sajer]

Runtu

I love the San Diego Temple!

AS for the OP question? Well I think the world is better. I wonder what the Great Basin of the USA would have been with out the Mormons. I think the Church has great impact expecially when there are disasters and they provide assistance. Would someone else fill that void if the LDS Chruch were not there? Yea maybe, who knows?

But I think the main impact is how the Church impacts the lives of its members and how they live. LDS people tend to be, in general, fairly decent people, productive members of society, raise good families, are good citizens and so on. I think that is its main impact. It would be nice to see the Church more socially active in helping to solve the ills of the world. Maybe they want members to go out and to that. I know we are supposed to be involved in community things that are good and worthwhile. But the Church takes a lot of time that members could use to do that. So most are not civicly inclined because they are to busy doing Church callings.

Not to be too technical, but in social science research, 'impact' is typically taken to imply a counterfactual--what would have happened in the absence of an intervention.

My guess is that in the absence of Mormonism, these same people would have been equally productive and happy in other religions, or they would be equally happy and productive without any religion. Add to this, the number of people made materially worse off due to their association with Mormonism, who might well have been happier without it, and I don't see much of a prospect that Mormonism's impact on the world has been significant in the least.

Mormonism won't survive indefinitely. It will go the way of most other small, insignificant, trivial, religions. When the history of the world is written a millennia from now, Mormonism won't even merit a footnote.

[_Jason Bourne]

Hi Runtu,

I didn't know you left the church. I resigned this year. This has been my observation as well. I was surprised how brutally frank kind people could be about their neighbors.

Mormons, in general, don't seem to have enough time to associate with non-mormons unless it can be justified as a missionary effort.

I haven't resigned, but I'm pretty much "inactive" (I've been to church once in the last 2 1/2 months). But emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually I've left the church.

I was surprised at the low opinion people had of church members. Of course, they never would have said so to my face when I was a believer.

Many non Mormons in Utah have a low opinion of Mormons. Part of it is being in the minority. I am skeptical that you would find such low opinions else where. Most people just do not know a whole lot about the Church.

[_Jason Bourne]

Not to be too technical, but in social science research, 'impact' is typically taken to imply a counterfactual--what would have happened in the absence of an intervention.

My guess is that in the absence of Mormonism, these same people would have been equally productive and happy in other religions, or they would be equally happy and productive without any religion. Add to this, the number of people made materially worse off due to their association with Mormonism, who might well have been happier without it, and I don't see much of a prospect that Mormonism's impact on the world has been significant in the least.

Mormonism won't survive indefinitely. It will go the way of most other small, insignificant, trivial, religions. When the history of the world is written a millennia from now, Mormonism won't even merit a footnote.

I disagree. It will not go away as long as there is religion, nor will it be small and insignificant. There are almost as many Mormons as Jews and in a way active Mormons almost become a cultural identity. Next studies state the Mormonism will grow and become much larger. Stark's number seem way off and are even higher than the Church predicts for itself. But 100 years from now there will be 50-65 million Mormons given current growth rates and assuming those hold and nothing happens to implode the Church.

[_Analytics]

Not to be too technical, but in social science research, 'impact' is typically taken to imply a counterfactual--what would have happened in the absence of an intervention.

My guess is that in the absence of Mormonism, these same people would have been equally productive and happy in other religions, or they would be equally happy and productive without any religion. Add to this, the number of people made materially worse off due to their association with Mormonism, who might well have been happier without it, and I don't see much of a prospect that Mormonism's impact on the world has been significant in the least.

Mormonism won't survive indefinitely. It will go the way of most other small, insignificant, trivial, religions. When the history of the world is written a millennia from now, Mormonism won't even merit a footnote.

I disagree. It will not go away as long as there is religion, nor will it be small and insignificant. There are almost as many Mormons as Jews and in a way active Mormons almost become a cultural identity. Next studies state the Mormonism will grow and become much larger. Stark's number seem way off and are even higher than the Church predicts for itself. But 100 years from now there will be 50-65 million Mormons given current growth rates and assuming those hold and nothing happens to implode the Church.

The growth rate of the church has been steadly declining for 20 years--it seems a bit optimistic to assume that this trend will suddenly end.

[_Boaz & Lidia]

Truth be told, the only time LDS Inc lifts a finger is to get a shoe in the door of an unwitting non member's life.

They never do anything good, just because it needs being done. Otherwise they would not make the volunteers wear stupid yellow Mormon shirts.

While I agree there are good intentions of good people of which some are active Mormon members, LDS Inc is nothing more than a wretched vile corporation with no soul.