{"id":36401,"date":"2026-07-17T03:16:46","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:46:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/seven-lds-church-trends-according-to-data\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T03:16:46","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T21:46:46","slug":"seven-lds-church-trends-according-to-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/seven-lds-church-trends-according-to-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven LDS Church trends, according to data"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_Q0gGSppeE1P?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.2.3\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>(RNS) \u2014 If you\u2019re a Latter-day Saint, you\u2019re aware that the church changed <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2025\/09\/28\/remembering-russell-m-nelson-lds-president-who-shook-up-the-church\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">under President Russell M. Nelson<\/a>, who died last year. The temple ceremony was updated, Sunday <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2024\/09\/18\/new-lds-survey-says-the-winner-is-two-hour-church\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">meetings were reduced to two hours<\/a> and the missionary program was <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2019\/02\/16\/lds-missionaries-can-now-call-home-weekly-some-parents-worry-new-policy-is-too-lax\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">overhauled<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/04\/06\/how-the-lds-church-is-growing-and-shrinking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">expanded<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But other swings can be harder to put your finger on, especially ones that don\u2019t come accompanied by a shiny new policy change. Think of them as vibe shifts.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268796\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 240px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268796 size-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Anderson_Christian_968-APS-20240262-240x240.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Anderson_Christian_968-APS-20240262-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Anderson_Christian_968-APS-20240262-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Researcher Christian N. K. Anderson. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>But for researcher <a href=\"https:\/\/scholar.google.com\/citations?user=EKaFFTQAAAAJ&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Christian N. K. Anderson<\/a>, a geneticist with a Ph.D. from Brigham Young University, even vibe shifts can be quantified. He\u2019s got <a href=\"https:\/\/jmssa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/JMSSA-VOLUME04-Anderson.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a terrific new article in the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association<\/a> \u2014 which is open access and therefore free to all \u2014 in which he tracks the rise and fall of various LDS themes spoken about during General Conferences, the biannual gatherings of LDS members. Specifically, he compares the <a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2022\/01\/18\/the-top-10-changes-president-russell-m-nelson-has-made-in-the-lds-church\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">trends during Nelson\u2019s tenure<\/a>, which began in 2018 and continued until his death in 2025, with the presidents before him, and the results are fascinating.<\/p>\n<p>Here are some highlights. All of the exact percentages are <a href=\"https:\/\/jmssa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/JMSSA-VOLUME04-Anderson.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in the article<\/a>, so I\u2019ll let the graphs do the talking here, showing you visually what Anderson\u2019s research found.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Trending up: Jesus as savior<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Many evangelical Christians <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sltrib.com\/religion\/2026\/07\/11\/pastor-doug-wilson-what-mormonism\/\">still don\u2019t think<\/a> that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/a-pentagon-list-overhaul-puts-mormon-churchs-christian-identity-back-in-the-spotlight\">Latter-day Saints are Christians<\/a>, but we sure do talk about Jesus a lot. More than ever, in fact. Specifically, Anderson traced a spike in references to Jesus as \u201csavior,\u201d with an emphasis on glory and the kingdom, during Nelson\u2019s presidency.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268792\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268792\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-Christian-Anderson-increasing-references-to-God-and-Jesus.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"344\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-Christian-Anderson-increasing-references-to-God-and-Jesus.png 790w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-Christian-Anderson-increasing-references-to-God-and-Jesus-427x196.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-Christian-Anderson-increasing-references-to-God-and-Jesus-768x352.png 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-Christian-Anderson-increasing-references-to-God-and-Jesus-300x137.png 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1-Christian-Anderson-increasing-references-to-God-and-Jesus-600x275.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Anderson said in an RNS interview that this focus on the savior comes at the expense of other approaches to Jesus. \u201cThere\u2019s been a very strong pivot to Christ the king, Christ the savior and Christ the glorified leader that we should be following,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s radio silence on social issues that Jesus cared very much about, like immigration and kindness to strangers and dealing with the downtrodden.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Trending down: We\u2019re not quite as focused on the family<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Nelson\u2019s presidency continued a surprising long-term decline in references to the family, the home and parenting. I say \u201csurprising\u201d because it feels like General Conference speakers bring this up all the time, or at least more than I ever hear at other churches. But compared to Spencer W. Kimball\u2019s presidency in the 1970s and early 1980s, we\u2019re hearing about the family far less than we used to.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268780\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268780\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/home-family.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/home-family.png 648w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/home-family-427x190.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/home-family-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/home-family-600x267.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>On a related note, references to the 1995 Proclamation on the Family, which outlined the church\u2019s official stances on marriage, family, gender and sexuality, fell off a cliff during Nelson\u2019s presidency. Of particular interest is that the few female speakers in General Conference are talking about the family much less than they did in the past. During Nelson\u2019s presidency, women speakers ranged more freely in topics, including doing some heavy-duty scriptural work and theology (thank you, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/general-conference\/2023\/10\/42freeman?lang=eng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Emily Belle Freeman<\/a>!).<\/p>\n<p>Under previous presidents, women speakers\u2019 topics stayed more strictly in the \u201cmarriage and child-rearing\u201d lane. (But before you get excited about women having more of a voice in General Conference, here\u2019s a reality check: There are still <a href=\"https:\/\/exponentii.org\/blog\/women-preach-in-whispers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 male speakers for every female one<\/a>. And that\u2019s one of the best ratios we\u2019ve had in our history.)<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Trending up: Temples and the covenant path<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>President Nelson\u2019s signature achievement was a stunning increase in temple building around the world. In just seven and a half years, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thechurchnews.com\/temples\/2025\/09\/29\/temples-current-status-200-announced-president-nelson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announced 200 temples<\/a>, by far the most of any prophet. So it\u2019s not surprising that mentions of temples and covenants surged during his tenure, as did his signature phrase \u201cthe covenant path.\u201d Anderson points out that President Nelson didn\u2019t come up with that phrase \u2014 that was Sister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.churchofjesuschrist.org\/study\/ensign\/2007\/05\/stay-on-the-path?lang=eng\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Elaine Dalton in a 2007 General Conference talk <\/a>\u2014 but he certainly popularized it.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268782\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268782\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/temple-covenants.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/temple-covenants.png 648w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/temple-covenants-427x190.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/temple-covenants-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/temple-covenants-600x267.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Since Nelson\u2019s presidency, temple mentions have taken a nose dive. \u201cThey\u2019ve pumped the brakes so hard on the temples,\u201d Anderson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve dropped from 300 mentions of the temple per conference session to 50 in the last two.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Trending down: Word of Wisdom<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Also down are warnings to LDS members against coffee, alcohol, smoking and caffeine. The Word of Wisdom, a cornerstone of Mormon identity that defined beliefs and permitted behaviors surrounding health for most of the church\u2019s second century, seems to be taking a back seat as we enter its third century.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChurch leaders don\u2019t talk about the specific elements\u201d of the sins of the body anymore, Anderson said. They\u2019ve softened what is said over the pulpit.<\/p>\n<p>Also down are denunciations of adultery, premarital sex and pornography. That certainly doesn\u2019t mean those things are permitted for church members, just that leaders seem less preoccupied with them.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268783\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268783\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Apx_Sins-3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Apx_Sins-3.png 720w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Apx_Sins-3-427x285.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Apx_Sins-3-600x400.png 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Apx_Sins-3-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Apx_Sins-3-380x253.png 380w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong>Trending up: The blessings of the gospel<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Recent leaders have emphasized the positive benefits of following Christ and being a member of the church. \u201cIt\u2019s become less legalistic,\u201d Anderson explained. \u201cIf you follow Jesus, you\u2019ll get love and joy and peace and blessings in your life. In some ways, it\u2019s become slightly transactional, but it\u2019s an increasing emphasis on mental health and goodness\u201d as the reward for faith, rather than avoiding eternal punishment. \u201cI think it\u2019s also an indication that Mormons\u2019 totalizing social structure is weakening when leaders need to tell members that the reason why people need religion is to have identity and purpose,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268786\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268786\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Meaning_words.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"346\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Meaning_words.png 624w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Meaning_words-427x197.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Meaning_words-300x138.png 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Meaning_words-600x277.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong>Trending down: Obedience and priesthood authority<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>This emphasis on individual growth is happening alongside a de-emphasis of priesthood authority and obeying leaders. This surprised me, but Anderson said it\u2019s part of a broader movement in the wider culture that church leaders are trying to reach. Today, \u201cdo this because your leaders said so\u201d is less effective than \u201cdo this because it will bless your life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Related to this is that during Nelson\u2019s presidency, General Conference speakers were less likely to use terms related to hierarchical offices in the institution of the church (e.g., apostle, quorum, bishop, seventy, Melchizedek priesthood). \u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268788\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268788\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Authority_words.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"333\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Authority_words.png 648w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Authority_words-427x190.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Authority_words-300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Authority_words-600x267.png 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h4><strong>Trending up: Prophet adoration<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>One significant exception to the general rule about downplaying church offices and priesthood was what Anderson called \u201cthe astounding increase in the frequency of references to Nelson himself.\u201d No other church president has had so many worshipful phrases directed toward him \u2014 our beloved prophet, our dear prophet and beyond. \u201cWe haven\u2019t seen someone who really enjoyed basking in the limelight the way Nelson did,\u201d Anderson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4268790\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"width: 750px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4268790\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/current-prophet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/current-prophet.png 576w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/current-prophet-427x249.png 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/current-prophet-300x175.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\"\/> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">(Data by Christian N.K. Anderson, published by the Journal of the Mormon Social Science Association.)<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>It remains to be seen whether love-bombing the prophet or any of the other six trends will continue in Dallin Oaks\u2019 presidency. Anderson is keeping an eye on the numbers, and noted that in Oaks\u2019 first General Conference talk as the new prophet in October 2025, he chose to emphasize marriage and having children. \u201cWe may be seeing a return to baseline,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/07\/16\/more-about-jesus-less-about-coffee-seven-lds-church-trends-according-to-data\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) \u2014 If you\u2019re a Latter-day Saint, you\u2019re aware that the church changed under President Russell M. Nelson, who died last year. The temple ceremony was updated, Sunday meetings were reduced to two hours and the missionary program was overhauled and expanded. But other swings can be harder to put your finger on, especially ones [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}