A stunning book that complicates the narrative of Mormonism's remarkable growthIn recent decades, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has boasted of youth engagement and retention, as most religions have reckoned with the opposite. This book describes a different pattern. Once touted as the world's fastest-growing religion, the Mormon church is now losing a large percentage of members in the United States, including some who were once all-in believers. In Leaving Mormonism, Jana Reiss and Benjamin Knoll draw on national data and more than 100 personal interviews to find out why. It's filled with stories of people the church sees as lost but who instead claim they are found.Why do they leave Mormonism? The church says that the Leavers themselves are to blame: they were too lazy to live the gospel, they wanted to sin, or they were offended by someone in the community. The data tells a different story: many object to things the church itself has done.For some, the church's stance on social or political issues leads to a break. For others, it is purity culture that is unbearable. Still others discover that the sanitized church history they grew up hearing was not really true, which prompts them to question other things they were taught.Not everyone who struggles with the church leaves it. This book also explores the experiences of "Liminals," those who might have religious doubts but choose to stay members. For those who leave, a faith crisis can become a far-reaching identity crisis that affects their relationships with family, beliefs about God, and feelings about their own bodies. Yet they generally recover, leading full and happy lives after leaving Mormonism. This book tells their stories.