
Mormon Church has misled members on $100B tax-exempt investment fund - iron0013
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/mormon-church-has-misled-members-on-100-billion-tax-exempt-investment-fund-whistleblower-alleges/2019/12/16/e3619bd2-2004-11ea-86f3-3b5019d451db_story.html
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jjeaff
One thing that is a bit misleading in this article is the part that says
members are asked to pay tithing even if they can't pay things like utilities
and food.

Many members take great pride in paying their tithing first, no matter what.
What this article left out was that no tithe paying member would ever be
allowed to have their power shut off or not have food or other important
necessities.

The church has and will provide food and even pay important bills for members
if they need it. I have worked in bookkeeping at our local Ward and personally
seen large checks for mortgage parents, electric bills, and even medical bills
for needy members or members that were otherwise just going through a
financial rough spot.

I should also add that this aid is not predicated on paying tithing or not.
But local leadership does have to make decisions about whether the request for
help is sincere and I would imagine being a faithful tithe paying member makes
you more likely to receive help.

As for the rest of the article, I think there are definitely some transparency
issues and maybe even some misleading statements from some leaders about how
tithe money is used. But I don't think anyone was led to believe that the
church is spending most of what is taken in.

The church has always had grand expansion plans. I would expect any
organization with such plans to stockpile a war chest.

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Scaevolus
Based on the fact that they have a $100B tax-exempt warchest, the payout ratio
of that social safety net is pretty low.

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jjeaff
It's not even the same funds.

I was merely pointing out that it isn't true that poor members are lacking
basic necessities while being pressured to pay tithing.

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perseusmandate
You're right, you aren't "forced" to pay, you're merely deprived of the right
to participate in temple rituals that are central to the community and
teachings if you don't.

And also have to tell your bishop, the most important and powerful member of
your local community that you aren't going to pay in a private 1:1 meeting.

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colejohnson66
Even if you tell your Bishop, he’s not gonna care. It’s not his job. Yes,
there are bad Bishops, but you can always move up the “chain of command” to
your Stake President if the Bishop does something you don’t like.

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trenning
One of the things I learned about LDS today from reading reddit threads on
this was how much land the church owns not just in the US ( I believe they're
the largest land owners in the US) but also abroad.

It's basically a real estate company operating tax free.

One article on their land ownership I found that details some of it.
[https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/30/from-book-
to-...](https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/jan/30/from-book-to-boom-how-
the-mormons-plan-a-city-for-500000-in-florida)

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dddddaviddddd
Religious organizations should be held to general disclosure requirements for
other organizations with charitable status.

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mythrwy
Perhaps it's a good idea to limit religious organizations to (monitored)
operating costs and disallow them to become businesses?

I don't see this as a strike against religion but rather a return of religion
to it's proper function: religion rather than business.

There are a lot of scams in religious organization and have been for some
time. Removing some of the perverse incentives (i.e televangelists worth
millions with private jets) may help with that and I don't think infringes on
right to worship according to conscience in the least. As it sits now a lot of
bad behavior gets a pass because "can't interfere with religion".

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Jamwinner
Seems like if you make a hefty profit, you should be stripped of the 'non
profit' status. Scientology is abhorrant in this reguard, as are most temples.

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davidajackson
Religion is just the business of selling people peace of mind. And the Mormon
church shows how big of a business it is.

