Actually the 2020 drop in membership is more closely tied to the disproportionate “voices” of the LDS membership who did everything possible to change the culture of the organization to suit their ends. Yes the abuse issue is real, but don’t discount the Mormon influence. As a group, they have serious psychiatric issues (the most medicated state in the US by a huge margin) and frequently use dishonesty whenever it suits them (see: Mitt Romney and the caffeine prohibition change).

▲

vintermann 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm out of the loop on this, what changes did the LDS want?

▲

quantummagic 3 hours ago | parent [-]

The LDS wanted it to continue to be more of a faith-based organization, and also objected to combining boys and girls together into the same program. Ultimately they left the organization at the end of 2019, taking about 20% of the membership with them.

	▲	JuniperMesos 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		You don't have to be Mormon or even religious to think that there's value in having a youth program that is specifically male-only, such that you'd be highly motivated to abandon a youth program if it stopped being male-only.
	▲	nephihaha 3 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		A lot of Scout groups are church based and not only with the LDS. I have heard that the LDS church got wind of abuse claims within scouting before they hit the mainstream. They have their own abuse scandals just now so probably didn't want to fight that war on two fronts. Either that or cost cutting, which is a major feature of modern Mormonism, except where temple construction is concerned. Scouting hasn't taken off in Mormon churches much outside the USA by the way. Not really in the UK.

▲

nephihaha 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

That is a very sectarian comment. Whatever you might think of Mormonism the religion, never confuse it with the membership who come in all shapes and sizes. (A large proportion of people in Utah aren't even LDS, at least 40% or more in some areas, and depression is a major issue throughout the other Rocky Mountain areas.)

There is some good evidence by the way that the LDS leadership got wind of the abuse compensation claims before they became prominent, which is why they disaffiliated. It may also be cost cutting, because the Mormon church is providing less and less money for activities of all sorts.

	▲	stavros 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Can't this argument be applied to every group that has more than one member?