FAITH CRISIS CHRONICLES - Proprietary and Confidential

To bring the Faith Crisis challenge to life in human terms, an online-based anonymous survey was administered to collect first-person Faith Crisis narratives. FAITH-CRISIS STORIES COLLECTION APPROACH IMPETUS & METHODOLOGY

This survey, which was part of the pro-bono LDS Personal Faith Crisis report, collected demographic and Church service data and allowed participants to submit a summary of their Faith Crisis experience. The survey launched in May 2013 and was distributed via social media. The average participant spent 45.81 minutes completing the survey. Over 1,500 stories were collected in the survey’s first few hours from participants in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania.

Survey participants were encouraged to express themselves using 700 words or less and were asked to consider addressing the following points:

1. What was the type of faith you had prior to your loss-of-faith (e.g., fully active, semi-active, non-active)?

2. What is the reason or reasons for your loss-of-faith?

3. How have you felt and what have you experienced as a result of your loss-of-faith?

4. How have others (family, friends, ecclesiastical leaders) responded to your faith crisis?

5. How would you describe your current belief and relationship with the LDS Church?

6. What might have prevented your faith crisis in the first place?

7. What, if anything, might help rebuild your faith?

THESE STORIES UNDERSCORE the EMOTIONAL AND SPIRITUAL TRAUMA EXPERIENCED BY MANY MEMBERS AND THEIR FAMILIES.