When the first round of the Next Mormons Survey was conducted in 2016, one of the key findings was that Latter-day Saint women in the U.S. were, on average, nine points more certain in their beliefs about God, Jesus, and the church than LDS men were. They were also several points more likely to pray and read their scriptures every day, hold a current temple recommend, feel guided by God in their daily activities, and keep the Word of Wisdom.

That may well be changing. One of the key findings from the 2022-23 Next Mormons Survey was that this gender advantage has largely disappeared among current members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the U.S. Women still believe and have faith, but a smaller percentage say they know that certain gospel tenets are true. Meanwhile, men’s theological certainty either stayed the same or even increased slightly, on average. Women also exhibited a lower sense that they had the power to make changes or be heard in the church compared to men, and an uptick in negative feelings about sacrament meeting compared to 2016. Some (not all) of their political views grew a bit more progressive, although they are still conservative compared to other U.S. women.

In this lecture, Jana Riess will unpack the survey’s most recent findings about LDS women and religiosity, placing them in the larger context of other shifts in the American religious landscape.

About the Speaker: Jana Riess

Jana Riess is a senior columnist for Religion News Service and the author of many books, including The Next Mormons: How Millennials Are Changing the LDS Church and the comedic memoir Flunking Sainthood. She has a PhD in American religious history from Columbia University and an MDiv degree from Princeton Theological Seminary.

Evans Biography Awards Ceremony

Friday, October 11, 2024, 9:00 a.m. | USU campus Logan, UT | Eccles Conference Center 205-207

The Utah State University Mountain West Center for Regional Studies announces the 2024 winners of the Evans Biography Awards for books published in 2022 and 2023. In existence for almost forty years, the Evans Awards continue to recognize the best of research and writing in biographies, autobiographies, and memoirs that focus on the stories of people who have shaped the character of the Interior West or “Mormon Country,” as the Evans family called it – a region historically influenced by Mormon institutions and social practices; however, neither the subjects of the books or the authors are required to be members of the faith.

2024 Evans Biography Awards Winners