MBlume probably would have been more correct to say, “At least in the US, far more people self-identify as Mormons because they were raised by LDS parents than because they had a long talk with two guys in white shirts.”
About two-thirds of official members are converts, but these numbers don’t reflect active members. Because retention rates for new converts are around 25-50% after one year, it’s plausible that any given active member is more likely to have been born in the church. The LDS-released statistics don’t paint a good picture of who actually attends, but without other data, this is hard to answer one way or the other.
MBlume probably would have been more correct to say, “At least in the US, far more people self-identify as Mormons because they were raised by LDS parents than because they had a long talk with two guys in white shirts.”
About two-thirds of official members are converts, but these numbers don’t reflect active members. Because retention rates for new converts are around 25-50% after one year, it’s plausible that any given active member is more likely to have been born in the church. The LDS-released statistics don’t paint a good picture of who actually attends, but without other data, this is hard to answer one way or the other.