Thanks for this post. Now I don’t have to write it. I also criticized the eternal life question, and then I felt bad after realizing how the whole survey really is quite valuable.

I still stand by what I’ve said, though, about the eternal life question. The main comparative finding could be nothing more than that Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses see “my religion” and “my faith” in a more narrow way than other groups. This is important, but not quite what the Pew survey was aiming for, I think.

Somewhere else I read that 75% of members are born into the faith, while 25% are converts. If so, and if the sex ratio of members at birth is close to 50 male/50 female, then that means something close to 80% of converts are women.

I have certainly seen this potential statistic born out in my ward. Upwards of 2/3 of our converts are female. Giving the priesthood to men may keep our current members active, but it doesn’t seem to be attracting new male converts.

I think that’s a useful distinction you bring up.

Having said that though I suspect it will simply turn out that women tend to be more religiously Mormon than men rather than it just being an artifact of how they self-identify.

I think that 75%/25% number came from the first release of the Pew report back in February. The Pew report only covers the U.S.; Elder Pieper’s figures presumably refer to the church worldwide.

Somewhere else I read that 75% of members are born into the faith, while 25% are converts.

In general conference, Elder Pieper cited a figure of 64% of church membership being first-generation mormons.

Great write-up, thanks. I do think this survey is enormously valuable for the reasons you cite.

This may or may not imply something for the common Mormon meme about spiritual differences between the sexes; either it’s not true or giving the priesthood to men worked.

I nominate this as the most provocative statment in the bloggernacle this week.