http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1716987,00.html
Last week we learned that JW's are the fastest-growing religion in America, with between 2-3% growth nationwide. But the survey in question also noted that the turnover rate in JW's is alarmingly high:
An even more extreme example of what might be called "masked churn" is the relatively tiny Jehovah's Witnesses, with a turnover rate of about two-thirds. That means that two-thirds of the people who told (the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life) they were raised Jehovah's Witnesses no longer are — yet the group attracts roughly the same number of converts. Notes (Pew Director Luis) Lugo, "No wonder they have to keep on knocking on doors."
In another report, at http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j1IgIhgpbmb1vaGeYJjrLd_8SkkQD8V1F9GO0:
Hindus claimed the highest retention of childhood members, at 84 percent. The group with the worst retention is one of the fastest growing — Jehovah's Witnesses. Only 37 percent of those raised in the sect known for door-to-door proselytizing said they remain members.
I'm encouraged. A little.
--P