I have found this very interesting article about a “new generation of Mormons“.

I quote a few passages from the article: (link to the full article: The rise of a new generation of Mormons)

A New Generation of Mormons

… the Mormon church is the outstanding religious success story of the past hundred years. Approximately 1.7 per cent of the US population are LDS members, just slightly fewer than describe themselves as Jewish. Global membership rose from 250,000 in 1900 to one million in 1948, to 13 million today. The church is probably the world’s richest per capita religious institution, too, with assets estimated at between $25bn and $30bn. (That’s £16bn-£20bn; the Church of England’s portfolio in 2009 was £4.4bn.)

Religious sociologist Rodney Stark, at Baylor University in Texas, has predicted that the LDS will in the latter half of this century become the first new world religion since Islam – just one reason that Smith, who founded the church in the 1830s, is sometimes described as the “American Mohammed”. There is something special about Mormons, but what is it? The most fashionable theory regarding religious success at the moment comes from economics, drawing on approaches developed by the University of Chicago’s Gary Becker. Becker, a sociologist and economist, argues that American church pews are kept full – while those in Europe empty out – because the US is unencumbered by religious monopolies (such as the Church of England or the Catholic Church), leaving plenty of room for competition and choice. And indeed, one-quarter of US Mormons are first-generation converts. The US’s National Council of Churches data from 2008 rank the LDS fourth among church membership in the US, with 5.8 million members – a rise of 1.56 per cent from the previous year.

Yet growth alone doesn’t explain why some religions break into the boardroom and why some don’t. American Jews and Hindus stand out in socio-demographic surveys for their exceptional incomes and professional accomplishment, but this flows not from growing membership, rather from heavy investment in education and, in the case of Hindus, successive waves of immigration by highly trained elites such as doctors and engineers. Mormon success is different: unlike Hindu immigrants, the newest LDS members in America – converts – tend to be poorer and less educated than those with longer heritage in the church. ..

Perhaps the most telling sign that Mormon success springs from different roots is this fact: the church’s most successful members, in terms of education and wealth, are also its most fervent. In most religions, piety and professional success mix badly. Devout Jews earn less, and tend to be less educated, than their less-orthodox brethren. American Christian evangelicals save and earn less than those from more moderate traditions.

According to the Financial Times (and my experience) it is generally true that the most successful members are also the most fervent, characteristic that is not usually found in other religions, where many of the most successful people become skeptic of their religion and distance themselves from it. But why does this happen?

An easy answer from a convert to the Church (myself) is that the reason is because what the Church teaches is true, and when we apply its teachings to our life over a period of time, our life become successful, and this success confirms and strengthen our faith, and do not destroy it.

On the other hand, those who are members of the Mormon church but do not apply the principles of their religion to their lives, are usually less successful, and they tend to lose faith in their religion because they do not receive the support they were hoping for. The problem is that some of them do not realize that their lack of success is in part due to their actions, and therefore they do not make the corrections that are needed, and end up accusing the church for their failure.

But why is that in other religions more educated and wealthy people tend to be less devout then?