Inductivist

Mormonism is an interesting faith. On the one hand, you would expect the church to have a difficult time holding onto its members since its claims are so bold. On the other hand, few members should leave  because the church does such a great job of developing commitment. Religion becomes the center of a Mormon's world; they can't imagine life without it.

Recently, I joined Facebook and within days had about a zillion friends. Many were Mormons who were childhood friends. I counted a total of 28 and proceeded to see how many had switched religions. Thirteen out of thirteen women have stuck with the faith--not one dropout in the bunch. The men are more independent: while 12 are the same, two described themselves as unaffiliated, and one has converted to Eastern Orthodoxy. (I'm not surprised that the first two say they're liberals, while the third one is conservative).

So 89% still call themselves Mormon. Now, I didn't know the beliefs of many of my schoolmates, and perhaps I was more likely to learn the religion of a devout person. If this is true, perhaps a higher percentage of mediocre Mormons have switched. Still, I'm impressed at the high level of retention.

Paleocons, HBD-ers, or whoever can learn something from Mormons. If you want to be successful with an unpopular image and message, be organized as hell--or should I say heaven?

This graph from Pew shows the religion of one's partner or spouse. Ethnocentrism is often discussed on this blog, but the religious aspect of it is usually left out. I've presented evidence in other posts that the following groups have above-average levels of ethnocentrism: blacks, Mexican Americans, Jews, Chinese Americans, and Asian Indians. In addition to a feeling of race, boundaries are also supported by religion in some groups; various Baptist and AME denominations for blacks; Catholicism for Mex-Ams; and various Jewish denominations for Jews.

As you can see in the graph, Hindus are very likely to marry each other, but it's more complicated than that. According to the GSS, only 19% of Indian Americans are Hindu (the modal category is Protestant--27%). Chinese Americans also lack a common religion: the largest group is people with no religion--44%.

But next is the interesting part: the unrecognized ethnic group--Mormons. There is a core whose family members have been intermarrying for several generations. Sure, they get lots of converts, but they lose a lot, too.

Many Mormons do genealogy and know their family trees and are always running into members who have a common polygamous great grandfather or some such connection. A large share of early converts were New Englanders, Englishmen, or Scandanavians, and their descendants have practiced endogamy for more than 150 years. Amy Adams who grew up Mormon has got the look.

American Mormons don't see themselves as an ethnic group, at least in the sense of blood. They have a strong sense of history, but it's a thought of as a religious connection. Theirs is a universalist religion. They won't end up like Jews. They think of those millions of Latino, Asian, and African members around the world as part of the family. They are very serious about marrying fellow members, but it doesn't matter much what a person's race is. Like with white Americans in general, though, marrying another white person is the rule (unless a missionary meets a brown hottie in the field).

The reality and future for the church seems to be a white core leading an increasingly multi-ethnic and multi-national organization. Like Catholics. Only on a smaller scale. And without fashion sense. And with bishops who get to reproduce like rabbits.

Mitt and Mormonism: FINALLY, an intelligent piece on Mitt Romney and the Mormon Question, by Allan Wall at Vdare.com. Up until now, I've read almost nothing but hysterics and paranoia, even by otherwise thoughtful men like Thomas Fleming. The stupidity on the subject knows no bounds. Prior to this article, the only insightful writing I ran across was Razib's.

Wall expresses my concern that Mormons for doctrinal reasons tend to be soft on illegal and legal immigration, and while Mitt is clearly running to the right of McCain on the issue, his real views are probably influenced by his religious beliefs. Specifically, he is likely to have more-than-usual affection for Hispanics because of the Mormon belief that the indigenous people of the Western Hemisphere are sort of a chosen people. They have joined the Church in very large numbers (more than half of the membership worldwide is Spanish-speaking) and so white Mormons feel a kinship with them.