🔍 The psychology
Understand what is happening
Why faith crises happen, how belief forms and unravels, what the research shows, and why the stereotypes are wrong.
Most of the pain in a faith crisis comes from not understanding it. If you think you are the only one, or that something is wrong with you, or that it is a moral failure, every day is harder than it needs to be. These guides explain the mechanics: why it happens, why it happens to the most committed people, how belief is built and how it comes apart, and what the data says about all of it.
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400: Top 5 Myths and Truths about Why Committed Mormons Leave the Church
Joining and Leaving the Moonies / Unification Church – Cult Expert Dr. Steven Hassan | Ep. 1743
LDS Bishop Adam and Marlana Hughes – Leaving Mormonism in Tucson, Arizona | Ep. 1360
Steven Hassan – What the Mormon Church Can Learn From Cults to Do/Be Better Ep. 938-939
Why People Leave the LDS Church and How We Can Help | Ep. 111
Recovering after Mormonism – Dr. Steven Hassan | Ep. 1744
Resources for this path
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Understanding Mormon Disbelief (survey report)
John Dehlin, with S. Holley and M. McKeown, 2012
Our survey of 3,086 people who once believed and no longer do. Why they left, who they told, what it cost. Summarised on the data page.
LDS Personal Faith Crisis report (2013)
Commissioned by Church leadership; leaked
The Church's own internal study of members in faith crisis. Reaches the same conclusions our survey did a year earlier.
Navigating Mormon Faith Crisis: A Simple Developmental Map
Thomas Wirthlin McConkie
A stages-of-faith model from a believing contemplative. Helpful for understanding why your beliefs changed shape, whatever you do next.
When Mormons Doubt: A Way to Save Relationships and Seek a Quality Life
Jon Ogden
Short, kind, and focused on keeping relationships whole. Jon was a guest on Mormon Transitions.
Psychology of beliefMarriage and mixed-faithParents and family
The Crucible of Doubt
Terryl and Fiona Givens
The most thoughtful case for faith with doubt intact. If you want to stay and need a way to think about it, start here.
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion
Jonathan Haidt
Why smart, good people believe different things, and why arguing rarely moves anyone. Explains your family, and you.
Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error
Kathryn Schulz
On what it feels like to have been certain and wrong, and why that is the most human thing there is.
Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)
Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson
Cognitive dissonance explained. You will recognise the Church's behaviour, your family's, and your own former self.
Sapiens
Yuval Noah Harari
How humans came to organise around shared stories. Reframes religion as one such story among many.
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