Why People Leave the LDS Church—and What Helps Them Stay

Why people leave the LDS Church—and what helps Latter-day Saints stay rooted in faith is the central question explored in this written summary of a Let’s Get Real with Stephen Jones video featuring Justin Dyer, editor-in-chief of BYU Studies. Drawing on major national surveys and long-term research, Dyer examines Latter-day Saint retention, why former members leave, mental health and religion, political identity, youth faith, temple worship, and the spiritual experiences that help people remain committed to Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.

TL;DR: Why Do People Leave the LDS Church, and Why Do Others Stay?

Religious participation is declining across the United States, but the research discussed by Justin Dyer suggests that active Latter-day Saints continue to show unusually strong religious retention and participation compared with many other Christian groups. Just as importantly, people who leave The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are not all alike, and many remain open to religion, spirituality, or even returning to the Church. One of the strongest themes in the research is that people are more likely to remain rooted when they personally experience God’s presence and love. The larger message is hopeful: lasting discipleship is strengthened when prayer, scripture study, Church attendance, temple worship, covenants, service, and family life become ways of genuinely connecting with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Watch the Let’s Get Real Interview With Justin Dyer

Is the LDS Church Really Losing Members at an Unusual Rate?

The interview begins by examining a question frequently discussed online: Are Latter-day Saints leaving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at an unusually high rate?

Justin Dyer explains that when retention statistics are viewed by themselves, they can initially sound discouraging. Using large national data sets—including the Harvard Cooperative Election Survey, the Pew Religious Landscape Survey, and the General Social Survey—researchers can compare the religion in which someone was raised with the religion they currently identify with.

According to the research discussed in the interview, approximately 54% of people raised Latter-day Saint still identify as Latter-day Saint. But Dyer emphasizes that this statistic needs context.

Religious affiliation has been declining across the United States for decades. Americans are increasingly identifying with no religion, and declining religious participation is affecting many Christian traditions.

When Latter-day Saint retention is compared with other religious groups, Dyer says the picture becomes much more encouraging. Latter-day Saints have a higher religious retention rate than almost every other Christian denomination examined.

The results become particularly significant when researchers examine active religious retention—people who continue identifying with the religion in which they were raised and attend worship services at least monthly. By this measure, Latter-day Saints rank at or near the top, including among younger generations such as Millennials and Gen Z.

This changes the question from simply asking, “Why are people leaving the LDS Church?” to also asking, “What is helping so many active Latter-day Saints stay?”

Why Religious Statistics Need to Be Compared With Other Groups

Dyer repeatedly emphasizes the importance of comparison. A negative statistic about Latter-day Saints does not automatically mean Latter-day Saint belief or culture caused the problem.

For example, Dyer discusses data suggesting that approximately 7% of Latter-day Saints in one data set were at high risk for depression. That represents real people experiencing real difficulties and should not be minimized.

But when Latter-day Saints are compared with atheists, agnostics, and other populations, some of those groups show considerably higher rates.

The point is not that Latter-day Saints never experience depression, anxiety, loneliness, or other serious challenges. They do. Rather, comparative research helps researchers avoid drawing conclusions that the evidence does not support.

Dyer argues that when religion is examined comparatively, active religious participation frequently appears to be associated with meaningful benefits rather than simply being a source of difficulty.

Why Do People Leave the LDS Church? Four Different Groups

One of the most important parts of the interview focuses on former Latter-day Saints. Instead of treating everyone who leaves the Church as though they have the same beliefs, experiences, or reasons, Dyer’s research identifies four broad groups.

This distinction matters because the most visible former members online may not represent most people who have left.

1. Faith-Staying Former Latter-day Saints

The first group represents approximately 22% of those who leave and is described as “faith-staying.”

Although these individuals no longer identify as Latter-day Saints, many continue believing in God and Jesus Christ. Religion and spirituality may remain important to them, and some participate in another Christian church.

For many people in this group, leaving was not primarily the result of rejecting Christian doctrine. Life circumstances played an important role. They may have moved, become disconnected from a congregation, experienced disruption during COVID, or simply lost the habit of Church participation.

Dyer says approximately 80% of this group leaves the possibility of returning open. For some, something as simple as an invitation from a trusted friend could make a meaningful difference.

2. Faith-Bordering Former Members

The second group represents approximately 32% of those who leave and is described as “faith-bordering.”

Religion may no longer occupy a central place in their lives, but spirituality still matters. Their certainty about traditional Christian beliefs may have weakened, yet they have not necessarily rejected faith altogether.

Their reasons for leaving can include busy lives, changing priorities, difficulty maintaining religious participation, or gradual distance from the Church.

Together, the faith-staying and faith-bordering categories represent more than half of those who leave in the research discussed during the interview. This suggests that many former Latter-day Saints still retain meaningful openness toward faith or spirituality.

3. Faith-Distancing Former Members

The third group represents approximately 36% and is described as “faith-distancing.”

These individuals may still value spirituality while seeing organized religion as less important. Non-belief is one of their major stated reasons for leaving.

Dyer also discusses another important issue: some did not feel loved.

That observation has important implications for Latter-day Saint families, leaders, teachers, and friends. Intellectual questions matter, but relationships matter too. When someone experiences doubts while also feeling disconnected or unloved, organized religion may become increasingly difficult for that person to value.

4. Faith-Leaving Former Members

The final group represents approximately 10% of those who leave and is described as “faith-leaving.”

These individuals are more likely to reject both religion and spirituality and may view religion negatively more generally.

Dyer believes this relatively small group can be disproportionately visible online. People with strongly negative feelings may have greater motivation to publicly discuss their experiences, creating the impression that their perspective represents nearly everyone who leaves.

The research presented in the interview suggests a much more complicated picture.

Could Many Former Latter-day Saints Eventually Return?

One of the most hopeful findings discussed in the video is that approximately two-thirds of former Latter-day Saints in the research leave open the possibility of returning.

That does not mean every person will return, nor does it minimize sincere disagreements or difficult experiences. But it does challenge the assumption that everyone who stops attending Church has permanently rejected the gospel.

Some people may need friendship. Others may need time. Some may need to feel loved and welcomed before they are willing to reconsider religious participation.

For believing family members and friends, this finding encourages patience rather than panic.

Why Online Stories About Leaving the LDS Church Can Be Misleading

Social media can amplify the experiences of the most vocal individuals. Dyer suggests that strongly disaffected former members may therefore appear more representative than they actually are.

A person who simply stopped attending Church after moving away, becoming busy, or losing the habit of participation may never make a video or write a lengthy social media post explaining the decision.

Someone with intense negative feelings toward the Church may be much more likely to publicly discuss the experience.

As a result, online visibility should not automatically be confused with statistical prevalence.

Why Is Religion Declining in America?

The discussion eventually expands beyond Latter-day Saints to examine religious decline throughout American society.

Dyer connects declining religious participation with a broader decline in social connectedness. Americans have not only become less involved in churches. Participation has also declined in civic organizations, neighborhood groups, clubs, charitable organizations, and other forms of community life.

Technology can provide enormous benefits and help people maintain relationships across distance, but digital connection does not necessarily replace face-to-face human relationships.

This broader pattern is important because human beings need connection. Religion historically provides not only beliefs but communities in which people worship, serve, mourn, celebrate, sacrifice, and care for one another.

Expressive Individualism and Modern Challenges to Christian Faith

Dyer also discusses a major cultural development sometimes described as expressive individualism.

In this worldview, personal identity and morality increasingly come from looking inward. Individual desires and feelings can become the highest source of authority.

Historically, people often understood themselves as individuals belonging to families, communities, churches, and societies to which they had responsibilities. Modern culture increasingly places the individual at the center and expects institutions to validate the individual’s personal identity and desires.

Dyer argues that this creates an unavoidable tension with Christianity.

The gospel of Jesus Christ teaches disciples to love God and love their neighbors. Christianity requires sacrifice, covenant commitment, repentance, service, and willingness to submit one’s will to God.

If the individual self becomes the highest authority, those gospel principles become increasingly difficult to accept.

Why Self-Focused Living Cannot Produce Lasting Joy

Modern consumer culture can provide immediate pleasure. New possessions, entertainment, experiences, and social validation can produce temporary satisfaction.

But the interview distinguishes immediate pleasure from enduring joy.

Dyer connects deeper happiness with the Savior’s two great commandments: love God and love your neighbor.

The gospel teaches that human flourishing ultimately comes through relationships—with God, family, and other people—rather than endless focus on the self.

Is the LDS Church Too Strict?

Another common argument is that demanding religions lose members because they expect too much.

Dyer explains that research does not necessarily support that assumption. Religious expectations can actually strengthen commitment by giving people meaningful ways to participate in their faith.

Practices such as prayer, scripture study, Church attendance, service, keeping commandments, covenant living, and temple worship require effort. But they can also strengthen identity, relationships, spiritual experiences, and commitment.

A faith that requires nothing may eventually give people little reason to remain deeply invested in it.

Political Identity Can Compete With Identity as a Disciple of Jesus Christ

One of the strongest themes in the interview concerns political identity.

Dyer explains that political affiliation has become increasingly central to personal identity. In earlier generations, religious beliefs often helped shape political beliefs. Today, the reverse can happen: political identity becomes primary, and religious teachings are evaluated according to whether they agree with someone’s political tribe.

This challenge can occur across the political spectrum.

The issue is not that one political party is always correct and another always wrong. The deeper concern is what happens when political identity becomes more important than discipleship.

Child of God, Child of the Covenant, Disciple of Jesus Christ

The discussion connects this problem with President Russell M. Nelson’s counsel to remember three foundational identities:

• A child of God.
• A child of the covenant.
• A disciple of Jesus Christ.

Dyer sees great spiritual wisdom in placing these identities above political or cultural labels.

When discipleship comes first, a member approaches Church differently. Instead of primarily asking whether a teaching agrees with a political ideology, the disciple can ask, “How can this help me become more like Jesus Christ?”

What Helps LDS Youth Stay in the Church?

One of the most significant parts of the interview examines a long-term study following approximately 2,000 young people in Utah, Arizona, and California, including more than 1,000 Latter-day Saints.

Researchers followed participants from adolescence into their twenties and examined which characteristics during the teenage years predicted later religious commitment.

Two important factors emerged.

One was whether a young person’s political identity came into conflict with the Church.

The other was profoundly spiritual: whether the young person regularly experienced God’s presence and love.

Feeling God’s Presence Can Help Latter-day Saints Stay Rooted

Dyer says young people who reported experiencing God’s presence daily or weekly were significantly less likely to leave.

This finding becomes one of the spiritual centers of the entire interview.

Researchers examined many religious behaviors, including scripture study and Church attendance. These practices matter, but their deeper purpose becomes especially clear when they help individuals personally experience God.

Reading the scriptures should become more than completing an assignment.

Prayer should become more than repeating familiar words.

Temple attendance should become more than entering a sacred building.

Church attendance should become more than occupying a seat.

These practices become spiritually transformative when they help a person hear the Lord, recognize the Holy Ghost, experience divine love, receive revelation, repent, and come closer to Jesus Christ.

Why Consistent Gospel Habits Still Matter

Dyer acknowledges that not every scripture study session produces a dramatic spiritual experience. Sometimes disciples read because scripture study has become part of their routine.

That does not make the routine meaningless.

Consistent religious habits place disciples in circumstances where revelation can occur. Over time, there may be moments when a scripture suddenly answers a personal question, a prayer brings unexpected peace, or the Spirit communicates something deeply personal.

Those experiences can become roots of faith.

Does LDS Culture Cause Toxic Perfectionism?

The conversation also addresses criticism surrounding perfectionism among Latter-day Saints.

Dyer defines toxic perfectionism as connecting personal worth to personal performance. A person begins believing, “If I fail, I am worth less.”

According to the research discussed, approximately 10% of Latter-day Saints showed high levels of toxic perfectionism.

That represents a genuine concern. However, Dyer explains that the rate among atheists and agnostics in the comparison was approximately 20%.

Rather than showing that religion necessarily creates toxic perfectionism, the data suggest religious belief can sometimes protect against it.

How the Gospel of Jesus Christ Can Counter Toxic Perfectionism

The restored gospel repeatedly teaches principles that challenge performance-based worth.

• Jesus Christ loves us.
• Repentance is possible.
• Failure does not have to be final.
• Grace is available through Jesus Christ.
• Human beings are created in God’s image.
• Our worth before God is not erased by mistakes.

Dyer illustrates this with an object that may seem insignificant to everyone except someone who deeply loves it. Once we understand how much the object means to that person, we see its value differently.

The gospel teaches something infinitely greater about human beings. Every person is known and loved by God.

Religion, Mental Health, and Social Connection

Dyer discusses research suggesting that active religious involvement is often associated with better mental-health outcomes.

One possible reason is social connection. Congregations create communities in which people can worship, serve, receive help, develop friendships, and support one another through difficulty.

Religious communities also frequently encourage patterns of living that can be protective, including avoiding substance abuse, serving others, strengthening families, and maintaining meaningful relationships.

Dyer notes that some research finds increased mental-health difficulties on average after people leave religion. He is careful not to claim that this describes every individual. Some people may experience improvement after leaving.

The research concerns overall patterns across large groups rather than predicting every person’s experience.

What Are Latter-day Saints Doing Well?

Despite the challenges discussed throughout the interview, Dyer identifies several areas in which Latter-day Saints compare favorably with many other religious populations.

• Frequent worship attendance.
• Frequent prayer.
• Frequent scripture study.
• Strong active religious retention.
• Comparatively positive measures of well-being.
• Strong experiences of parental love.

Evangelicals and historically Black Protestant churches are among the religious groups that also perform strongly on several of these measures.

Dyer does not frame the findings as evidence that Latter-day Saints should feel superior to other people. Instead, the data invite believers to recognize that many practices restored through the gospel are producing meaningful fruits.

How the Restoration Helps Latter-day Saints Face Modern Challenges

Dyer points toward several spiritual resources available through the Restoration:

• The Book of Mormon.
• Additional Restoration scripture.
• Living prophets.
• Temple ordinances.
• Sacred covenants.
• Continuing revelation.

Living prophets are particularly important because Latter-day Saints believe the Lord can provide guidance specifically suited to modern circumstances.

Dyer connects this idea with Doctrine and Covenants 1, where the Lord explains that He knew the calamities that would come upon the inhabitants of the earth and therefore called Joseph Smith and gave commandments.

From this perspective, the Restoration is not simply an old religious tradition attempting to survive modern challenges. It provides revealed resources intended to help God’s children navigate them.

“Every Man Walketh in His Own Way” and Modern Individualism

Dyer draws particular attention to Doctrine and Covenants 1:15–16, which describes people walking “in his own way” and after the image of their own god.

He sees a meaningful parallel with modern expressive individualism.

When personal desires become the highest authority, the self can effectively become one’s god.

The restored gospel offers another way. Rather than asking God to validate everything we already want, discipleship asks us to discover God’s will and allow Him to change us.

God’s Work Reveals the Path to Lasting Happiness

The conversation also turns to Moses 1:39:

“For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

Dyer makes an insightful observation from this verse. God is all-knowing. If there were some higher or more fulfilling work than blessing His children and helping them progress eternally, He would know it.

Yet God’s work is centered on His children.

That suggests something important about human happiness. Lasting joy is found not simply in accumulating experiences for ourselves, but in joining God in blessing His children.

Service, family, ministering, missionary work, temple worship, and covenant discipleship move a person away from self-absorption and toward the kind of life God Himself lives.

Why God’s Commandments Are About Relationships

The discussion emphasizes that commandments are not merely arbitrary personal restrictions.

They have consequences for relationships.

Lying damages trust. Stealing harms another person. Adultery wounds marriages and families. Love, honesty, fidelity, sacrifice, and service strengthen human relationships.

The commandments help God’s children learn a divine way of living.

The conversation summarizes this idea with a phrase associated with Brad Wilcox: “We’re not earning heaven, we’re learning heaven.”

The Purpose of Mortality Is Becoming Like Heavenly Parents

Dyer describes mortality as part of the process of becoming more like our Heavenly Parents.

The objective is not merely returning to a heavenly location. God’s children came to earth to gain experiences, exercise agency, make choices, enter covenants, repent through Jesus Christ, and gradually become more like God.

From this perspective, commandments are not simply tests designed to determine whether someone deserves a reward. They teach us how heavenly beings live.

How Can LDS Parents and Church Leaders Strengthen Faith?

When asked what parents and Church leaders can do to improve religious retention, Dyer returns to the theme of personally experiencing God.

The goal should not simply be getting someone to perform religious behaviors.

Parents and leaders can help youth understand why disciples:

• Read the scriptures.
• Pray.
• Attend sacrament meeting.
• Partake of the sacrament.
• Worship in the temple.
• Keep covenants.

The deeper purpose of these practices is to come to Jesus Christ and develop a real relationship with God.

Church programs are most powerful when they help people learn to hear Him.

Does Temple Attendance Help People Stay in the LDS Church?

Dyer mentions research showing an association between temple attendance and a lower likelihood of leaving the Church.

He suggests several possible reasons.

The temple reinforces the doctrines and ordinances of the Restoration. It provides opportunities to experience the Holy Ghost and feel close to God. Temple worship also turns disciples outward.

After receiving their own ordinances, Latter-day Saints perform much of their temple service on behalf of others.

That makes temple worship another powerful example of moving away from a self-centered life and participating in God’s work of salvation and exaltation.

How Can You Tell if Someone Is Spiritually Rooted?

Near the conclusion, Stephen Jones asks how parents and leaders can recognize whether someone is truly spiritually rooted rather than merely going through religious motions.

Dyer acknowledges that this is difficult because spiritual roots are often invisible.

Someone can attend Church, seminary, or the temple without having developed deep conversion. Another person may quietly be developing profound faith that is not immediately obvious to other people.

One sign of spiritual rootedness is a continuing desire to hear God.

A rooted disciple increasingly asks questions such as:

• Lord, what do You need from me?
• What lack I yet?
• How can I become more like Jesus Christ?

This kind of disciple understands his or her divine worth while remaining willing to grow, repent, change, and receive direction from God.

Can Faith Be Rebuilt After a Faith Crisis?

Dyer uses C.S. Lewis’s experience following the death of his wife as an illustration of faith being tested and rebuilt.

In A Grief Observed, Lewis describes the collapse of assumptions he previously held about faith. But instead of simply abandoning belief, he wrestled with his experience and rebuilt a faith capable of surviving deeper questions.

The example illustrates an important principle: discovering weakness in one’s faith does not necessarily mean faith must be discarded.

A crisis can become an opportunity to develop deeper, more honest, and more mature trust in God.

Justin Dyer’s Personal Crisis of Faith

One of the most personal sections of the interview comes when Dyer describes his own period of questioning.

During graduate school, he was surrounded by intelligent academics who strongly disagreed with teachings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, particularly teachings concerning the family.

These were not superficial internet arguments. They were sophisticated academic arguments made by people Dyer respected.

Over time, that environment affected him.

He began questioning whether he actually had a testimony of certain Church teachings.

Dyer describes becoming intensely aware of his agency. He realized that he could mentally withdraw from the Church, or he could deliberately choose faith.

“The Best Decision I Have Ever Made”

Dyer considered people he respected who had left the Church and people he respected who had stayed.

Eventually, he deliberately chose to remain.

Looking back, he describes that choice as “absolutely the best decision I have ever made.”

Today, Dyer teaches religion at BYU, including subjects involving the family, and expresses a strong testimony of the doctrines he once wrestled with.

He explains that some of the things he values most deeply in his life have grown as fruits of living the gospel of Jesus Christ.

His testimony, however, does not rest merely on statistics. Research can reveal patterns, strengths, and areas of concern, but spiritual conviction involves a personal relationship with God.

Why Do Latter-day Saints Stay in the Church?

Near the end of the conversation, Stephen asks Dyer to summarize what keeps people rooted.

Dyer gives one of the most important statements of the interview:

“They stay because they feel God’s love.”

People remain rooted as they experience God’s presence and develop a testimony that He knows and loves them.

They also make their relationship with God central to their identity.

They understand themselves first as children of God, children of the covenant, and disciples of Jesus Christ.

That does not eliminate questions, suffering, disagreement, or uncertainty. But it gives people a spiritual foundation from which to face those challenges.

How Should Latter-day Saint Families Respond When Someone Leaves the Church?

Dyer encourages families not to make argument their first response.

Instead, ask sincere questions.

Listen.

Try to understand what the person is experiencing, what matters to them, and why they have made the decisions they have made.

Someone who has left should not be reduced to the label of “the person who left the Church.”

Love and genuine relationships create space for meaningful conversations that arguments often cannot.

Be a Conduit of God’s Love

Perhaps the most practical counsel in the interview is Dyer’s invitation to ask whether we can become a conduit of God’s love to another person.

Helping someone experience God’s love does not always begin with a doctrinal argument or formal scripture lesson.

It may begin with kindness, listening, patience, friendship, service, forgiveness, and consistency.

A Latter-day Saint who genuinely lives the gospel with humility, joy, kindness, and Christlike love may do more to challenge negative assumptions about the Church than an argument ever could.

Don’t Give Up on People Who Have Left the Church

The research discussed in the video provides an important reason for hope: many former Latter-day Saints remain open to spirituality, religion, relationships with believing family members, and potentially returning to Church participation.

That does not mean family members should pressure them.

It means they should not assume the story is finished.

The Lord continues to love His children, including those whose spiritual journeys take unexpected paths. Believing disciples can continue loving, serving, listening, and keeping relational doors open.

Final Takeaway: Staying Rooted in Jesus Christ and the Restored Gospel

The central message of this Let’s Get Real with Stephen Jones conversation is more hopeful and nuanced than the common claim that Latter-day Saints are simply abandoning the Church in unprecedented numbers.

Religious decline is real, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is not immune from the cultural forces affecting religion throughout the United States.

But the research Justin Dyer discusses suggests that active Latter-day Saints maintain unusually strong levels of religious retention and participation compared with many other Christian groups.

Even more importantly, the research points toward something deeper than statistics.

People are strengthened when they experience God’s love.

They become rooted when scripture study, prayer, sacrament worship, temple attendance, covenants, service, and Church participation become more than habits—when those practices help them actually encounter God.

The Restoration gives disciples remarkable spiritual resources: the Book of Mormon, modern revelation, living prophets, priesthood ordinances, temples, covenants, and the gift of the Holy Ghost.

The purpose of those gifts is not simply to create active Church members. Their purpose is to bring God’s children to Jesus Christ and help them become like Him.

Ultimately, the most important question raised by the interview is not simply, “Why do people leave the LDS Church?”

It is also:

How can we help ourselves, our children, our families, and those around us become so deeply rooted in Jesus Christ that the restored gospel moves from something we merely do to something written in our hearts?