Author: Michael Nielsen
Michael Nielsen is professor and chair of the Psychology Department at Georgia Southern University. He has published widely on the social-psychological aspects of religion in general and on Mormonism. He is coeditor of the Archive for the Psychology of Religion and serves on the editorial boards of the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
Enlightening Reading from Disenchanted Lives
Disenchanted Lives: Apostasy and Ex-Mormonism among the Latter-day Saints, by E. Marshall Brooks (New Jersey: Rutgers University Press, 2018, ISBN 978-0-8135-9218-3). 258 pp., $34.95. Studies of people’s religious beliefs follow two basic forms. Most commonly, many people are surveyed and from their answers we learn about general trends in the population. Gallup, Pew, and …
The Price of Free Inquiry in Mormonism
Are all Mormons devout and orthodox believers? Or are some of them freethinkers? And if there are freethinking members inside this religion with a reputation for conformity, are they marginalized? If so, why would they stay? Religious belief and affiliation serve many different needs. They offer adherents a sense of purpose and meaning, a sense …