The story the LDS Church tells about people who leave is that they lacked the faith and character to stay. A BYU faculty member and former bishop just spent years disproving that with 15,000 respondents.
Jeff Strong's study Torn found that 42% of people who left the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints cited church history as their primary reason. Social issues: 33%. Church experience: 18%. Lifestyle — the coffee-and-sex explanation active members reach for first — is 6%.
Strong also found that after leaving, 51% of former members said their relationship with God improved. 88% said their relationship with the Church weakened. They didn't lose God. They lost the institution.
Jess and Hannah read the data back to the church that produced it.