Looking beyond statistics: the souls behind the numbers

Interesting commentary on the LDS Newsroom Web site, intended as a sidebar to the story on LDS Church membership statistics. According to the commentary, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes its statistics seriously but does not treat them as an end in themselves. Rather, keeping a record of Church members is a spiritual injunction enshrined in scripture, the main purpose of which is to make sure that they are remembered and nourished by the good word of God (Moroni 6:4). Thus, the main purpose of statistics is to help the Church help its members." Statistical methodology is also discussed, including why the Church chooses not to eliminate inactive members from its statistical summaries. To read the entire commentary please click here.