Dad of a Mormon wrote:There are several splinter groups off of the LDS church and only one that is to the left of the main church. That group (Community of Christ) has a much more realistic view of Mormon history and the Book of Mormon. It also has less than 5% of the members than the church that believes there really were ancient Jews that built boats and sailed to America.
The LDS church doesn't stay together in spite all of the irrational beliefs that it has, but to a large degree because of them. It may slowly change and a few really weird beliefs that are difficult for most members may fall away and/or be de-emphasized, but the core beliefs will still be embraced. They have to be. Otherwise, the church shrinks or disintegrates.
If you are right (and I hope not, but cannot argue from evidence), what does this say about the state of much of humankind?
Do a significant portion of the people on Earth really need to be sustained by belief in magic as represented by made-up myths and lies to be able to cope with life?
Well meaning myths and lies, Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, are for children - human beings not yet fully formed whose parents try to control their behavior with threats of punishment and promises of reward from some magic supernatural being.
Not a good idea to begin with, but very harmful if the child does not recognize this meme in their life as they become adults and understand that, in the end, the probability of God is no greater than the probability of Santa Clause, and that for many, much of life is literally wasted in trying to please these nonexistent beings.