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The Economist Looks at Mormonism
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- Drawing heavily on Professor Rodney Stark's
prediction that the LDS Church would grow to some 50 million members
by 2040, the highly-respected international business magazine The
Economist wonders how the world will react to 'the next world
religion.' While admiring of LDS Church growth, the magazine doesn't
attempt to explain it, and instead suggests that critic's claims that
this growth is dangerous are overstating their case, saying that
their arguments are "exaggerated." But the magazine suggests that
many of the Church's current difficulties lie in "the church's
contradictory attitude towards its recent achievements." The Church's
problem, it says, is "to keep alive its sense of being, as Mormons
put it, 'a peculiar people' " While Utah Mormons feel the distance
from the rest of society, "how do you maintain this sense of
peculiarity when Utah's Mormons represent only 14% of the church's
worldwide membership?"
Source:
The church of the West
The Economist 7Feb02 US UT SLC N1
Within four decades, one in 20 Americans may be a Mormon and there may be 50m or more worldwide. How will outsiders react to the next world religion?
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