Churches grow not because of doctrine

Last week we looked at Rodney Stark's book "The Rise of Christianity: How the Obscure, Marginal Jesus Movement Became the Dominant Religious Force in the Western World in a Few Centuries."

In it, Stark used the growth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints over the past couple of centuries as his benchmark. Stark is on record as saying the LDS Church is the only religion to arise in recent times that seems to be on track to become a major world religion.

Before we blush from the flattery, let's remember: By the time the primitive Christian church became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, it had lost much that would later need to be restored.

Read the full column on MormonTimes.com.