What happens when research produces findings Mormon apologists don’t want to hear?
In 2011, Church Historian Marlin Jensen admitted that Mormonism was going through a period of massive apostasy, unlike anything since Kirtland. More than a decade later, faithful Mormon researcher Jeff Strong gathered thousands of responses about why people left the church—and found that the real reasons were church history, social issues, church experience, and distrust of the institution rather than the familiar explanations about laziness, sin, or wanting an easier life.
Then came the apologetic response.
We look at how some faithful Mormon writers responded to Strong’s research, why self-report suddenly becomes suspect when former members explain why they left, and how the same pattern appears in debates over the Gospel Topics Essays, Mormon retention data, internal reformers, and institutional boundary enforcement.
At the center of it all is a simple question: what evidence would actually be enough for faithful Mormons to accept that the church culture itself is part of the reason people leave?
Timestamps
00:00 The Church’s Crisis of Faith and Membership
01:38 Research Insights on Disaffiliation
03:55 Institutional Responses to Data
06:31 Case Studies of Disaffiliation
08:43 The Role of Self-Report in Faith
09:50 The Parable of the Sower Revisited
12:42 The Challenge of Accepting Data
14:53 Thoughts on Faith and Doubt
Sources
Strong, J. (2026). Torn: Why people we love are leaving the Church and what we can learn from them. Coolstream Publishing.
https://www.tornbyjeffstrong.com/
Lakip, C. (2026, June 17). Misrepresented members: A reaction to Jeff Strong’s book “Torn.” Meridian Magazine.
https://latterdaysaintmag.com/misrepresented-members-a-reaction-to-jeff-strongs-booktorn/
Cunningham, C. D. (2026, June 11). The borrowed wisdom of ‘Torn.’ Public Square Magazine.
https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/reading/the-borrowed-wisdom-of-torn/
Ellsworth, D. T. (2026, June 3). Beyond “church culture”: A response to Jeff Strong’s Torn. Interpreter Foundation.
https://interpreterfoundation.org/beyond-church-culture-a-response-to-jeff-strongs-torn/
Sources for every episode are available in the Receipts Archive on Patreon.