The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church

Written by Jana Riess

Narrated by Emily Durante

American Millennials-the generation born in the 1980s and 1990s-have been leaving organized religion in unprecedented numbers. For a long time, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was an exception: nearly three-quarters of people who grew up Mormon stayed that way into adulthood. In The Next Mormons, Jana Riess demonstrates that things are starting to change.

Drawing on a large-scale national study of four generations of current and former Mormons as well as dozens of in-depth personal interviews, Riess explores the religious beliefs and behaviors of young adult Mormons, finding that while their levels of belief remain strong, their institutional loyalties are less certain than their parents' and grandparents'. For a growing number of Millennials, the tensions between the Church's conservative ideals and their generation's commitment to individualism and pluralism prove too high, causing them to leave the faith. Those who remain within the fold are attempting to carefully balance the Church's strong emphasis on the traditional family with their generation's more inclusive definition that celebrates same-sex couples and women's equality.

The Next Mormons offers a portrait of a generation navigating between traditional religion and a rapidly changing culture.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: May 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781400170838

Jana Riess

Jana Riess is Acquisitions Editor with Westminster John Knox Press. The author or editor of nine books, her most recent work is Flunking Sainthood: A Year of Breaking the Sabbath, Forgetting to Pray, and Still Loving My Neighbor.

Reviews for The Next Mormons

[manuel · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Excellent review on the changing demographics and views within the church.

[richjj-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fascinating walk through the data gathered from a 2016 survey of millennial Latter-day Saints, those born during 1980-1999. This could be full of landmines, since each generation likes to blame their parents or their children for ruining society. But I felt like the author was a professional and gave an even-handed take. Not a rah-rah pro-Mormon book, and much of the story tells of disillusioned or former Mormons, what tensions they face, and how that differs from previous generations. But not an anti-Mormon book, since believers are also characterized, how and why they believe, and how they make a place for their faith in the modern world. The survey data is compared against other large American surveys that had findings about Mormons, such as Pew. The book is sprinkled with anecdotes from numerous interviews conducted by the author, providing qualitative perspectives that really colored in the picture nicely.Many of the findings make sense. Millennials in the church are like their peers in general. Less affiliation and trust in institutions. Less religious, but still spiritually minded. Personal values over authority. More dependence on the views of friends and family, and less expectation of absolute truth. A little more flexible in their orthodoxy. But to an older traditionalist who might worry that faith is dying, these millennials are still building lives in the church. There is a diversity of practice and belief, but the community continues onward. Some cannot reconcile challenges and leave the church, or might stay with the church but guard their doubts. It’s a complex picture that those inside the church and outside the church might not have guessed. It’s not a simplistic story, and I was left wishing I knew a bit more of how past generations contrasted when they emerged on the scene, and how they changed as they aged.

[jasoncomely-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I found The Next Mormons to be interesting but not surprising, factual but not faith building, even-handed but not entertaining (although it doesn't try to be).