Bishop Dave Noble told the Willamette Week that attendees were scared away by rioting, politics, and are moving to Utah and Idaho. This "Mormon flight" has caused Oregon to lose 1.5 percent of its Mormon residents.
Charles Kaufman formed the 2,000-seat Gothic-style Portland Stake Tabernacle in 1929 in the Southeast Portland area of Richmond. The Tabernacle, along with the Tabor meetinghouse, were two of the oldest Mormon places of worship in Oregon.
Both places of worship, along with many others in Portland, are now empty as its members have moved away.
Noble's congregation initially left four years ago and the church was used as a library until 2020, which was closed permanently because of the pandemic. Mormon church leaders based in Utah decided to sell the building earlier in the year.
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The property was held tax-free by the Mormons which would not carry over to new owners and the area is zoned just for residential development.
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Portland, under the leadership of Mayor Ted Wheeler, was at the epicenter of the 2020 BLM riots and often faces routine crime, rioting, and homelessness. In 2022 Portland decriminalized drug use, which led to a rise in violent crime.
In 2022 Portland hosted several more riots concentrated around the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe v. Wade. The city is further a center point for Antifa gatherings and activities, which includes an Antifa summer camp for kids.
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Willamette Week states that despite Mormon Flight from crime-ridden cities, the church membership is growing. The Mormon church owns $16 billion in land nationwide and holds another $100 billion in investments.
Meanwhile, Late last night, pro-abortion activists rioted in downtown Portland, Oregon and spray-painted messages such as "Death to SCOTUS" during relentless vandalism and violence.
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Fox News reports that a "large group of rioters" was seen "smashing windows and vandalizing many buildings Saturday night of June 25. The group further graffitied messages targeting the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Post Millennial's Andy Ngo posted further pictures on Twitter covering the destruction and wrote "For a 2nd night, #Antifa carried out violence in Portland, Ore. at a riot. On June 25, a mob of them in black rampaged through NE Portland, smashing up businesses, a @PPSConnect school van, a Tesla & a pregnancy center. Police said they couldn't intervene."
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