From USAToday (emphasis added):

The faithful are restless, a new study of Protestant churchgoers suggests.

They’re switching from church to church, powered by a mix of dissatisfaction and yearning, according to the study by LifeWay Research….

Most of the switchers who changed their house of worship without making a residential move (58%) say their old church failed to engage their faith, or put their talents to work, or it seemed hypocritical or judgmental.

But 42% of the people say they switched because another church offered more appealing doctrines and preaching or the preacher and church members’ faith seemed more “authentic.”

UPDATE: Okay, one comment: What *should* the criteria for switching churches be?

Over at “Asymmetrical Information”, ‘Jane Galt’ poses the following ethical conundrum:

You are a worker in a hospital. An unidentified patient dies on your ward. In his pocket are two tickets for a sold-out concert for two hours hence. You are pretty sure he isn’t going to be identified in time to use the tickets. Would you take them?

I suspect the answers to this ethical dilemma from the general M* readership will be fairly homogeneous, and thus perhaps not very interesting. What’s interesting is that the comments on the original thread are also heavily weighted towards ‘No’ despite being largely from people who are agnostic in nature. One doesn’t need religion to have an ‘absolute’ concept of ethics, of course, but the comments show there are compelling arguments against taking the tickets even if you completely ignore any issues related to religion or ‘absolute morality’. That, perhaps, is a more interesting element to discuss.

Read the rest of this entry »

Most people know there are many personal ‘matchmaker’ sites devoted to LDS singles. Why such sites would develop is obvious: there are a multitude of reasons why marrying within the faith is preferable, even from just a ‘getting along together’ standpoint, let alone adding in the prospect of eternal marriage. Such websites serve a valuable purpose by allowing members in different areas of the country (or world) a chance to meet and chat with each other.

What about professional ‘matchmaker’ sites, though?

Read the rest of this entry »

Update: edited the grammatical error in the title…

The parable of the sower (and Christ’s own explanation of it) presents an analysis of gospel discipleship that remains relevant both to today’s Church as well as the early time in which it was presented. One can look around the ranks of the active and inactive of any ward and spot the member archetypes presented by the parable: strong, solid members, members who have taken themselves away because of misunderstandings, members who come to church for the sociality who have no real gospel roots, and members who have been (or are starting to be) overcome by worldly ‘thorns’ which slowly suffocate their spiritual activity away.

Read the rest of this entry »

“Dear Millennial Star Editors:

“This is a hard letter for me to write, as I consider myself a faithful Church member and not the type who likes to complain, or ‘rock the boat’. However, I have felt for some time a great need to express my feelings regarding an important issue. I feel it is time to speak out publicly about how hard it is to be a man in the 21st century LDS Church.”

Read the rest of this entry »