Journalist Megan McArdle: I found that it's hard to even get a complete picture of how Utah combats poverty, because so much of the work is done by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

McArdle continued: The Church gave me a tour of its flagship social service operation, known as Welfare Square. It's vast and inspiring and utterly foreign to anyone familiar with social services elsewhere in the country.

McArdle added: This starts to offer some clue as to why Utah seems to be so good at generating mobility - and why that might be hard to replicate without the Latter-day Saints.

More from McArdle: Many charity operations offer a food pantry or a thrift shop. Few of them can boast, in addition, their own bakery, dairy operation and canning facilities, all staffed by volunteers.

McArdle continued: The food pantry itself looks like a well-run grocery store, except that it runs not on money, but on "Bishop's Orders" spelling out an individualized list of food items authorized by the bishop handling each case.

McArdle concluded: This grows out of two features of Latter-day Saint life: the practice of storing large amounts of food against emergencies, and an unrivaled system of highly organized community volunteer work.

Author Stephen Mansfield observed: Plant The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in any country on earth and pretty much the same results will occur. It will produce deeply moral individuals who serve a religious vision centered upon achievement in this life.

Mansfield continued: They will aggressively pursue the most advanced education possible, understand their lives in terms of overcoming obstacles, and eagerly serve the surrounding society. The family will be of supernatural importance to them.

Mansfield added: Latter-day Saints have built a globally influential Church, produced one of the best universities in the world, and organized unparalleled relief programs. Their story inspires, convicts, and convinces. It is one of the great stories in the annals of religion.

Authors Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld wrote: If there's one group in the U.S. today that’s hitting it out of the park with conventional success, it’s Latter-day Saints.

Chua and Rubenfeld continued: Overwhelmingly, Latter-day Saint success has been of the most mainstream, conventional, apple-pie variety. What you mostly find is corporate, financial, and political success.

It is reported that Leo Tolstoy said: The Latter-day Saint people teach the American religion; their principles teach the people not only of Heaven and its attendant glories, but how to live so that their social and economic relations with each other are placed on a sound basis.

Tolstoy continued: If the people follow the teachings of this Church, nothing can stop their progress—it will be limitless. There have been great movements started in the past but they have died or been modified before they reached maturity.

Tolstoy concluded: If The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is able to endure, unmodified, until it reaches the third and fourth generation, it is destined to become the greatest power the world has ever known.

Dallas Jenkins, the evangelical creator of The Chosen, said: I’m referring to some of the friends that I have who identify as Latter-day Saints who I've gotten to know very deeply over the last few years, in particular.

Jenkins continued: I've had hundreds of hours of conversations with them, and I stand by the statement that those friends of mine that I'm referring to absolutely love the same Jesus that I do.

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Researcher Kenda Dean of Princeton studied and wrote a book on American teens. Her findings on teens who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were so remarkable that she dedicated an entire chapter to their exceptional faith and character.

Dean wrote: Latter-day Saint teenagers rank ahead of other youth in terms of spiritual vitality, hope for the future, and overall health and well-being.

Dean added: It’s difficult to read the data on Latter-day Saint teenagers without feeling a hint of awe.

Dean concluded: In nearly every area, using a variety of measures, Latter-day Saint teenagers were consistently the most positive, the most healthy, the most hopeful, and the most self-aware teenagers in the study.

Dax Shepard has noted the empowering elements of Latter-day Saint doctrine: My education on the incredible success of the Latter-day Saint faith was one that empowered people individually, more than the other religions.

Dax continued: Your average parishioner can receive a message from God, which kind of differs from some of the other religions, and that they credit that for being one of the reasons it spread in the way that it did, because it is an empowering relationship with God.

Want to learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? Try this thread: https://x.com/teeplescy/status...