4 ms·

Clandestine? It's been out in the open for years. I was in SLC over a decade ago and there was this big shiny new mall that was completely owned by the Mormon

Clandestine? It's been out in the open for years. I was in SLC over a decade ago and there was this big shiny new mall that was completely owned by the Mormon Church. I don't doubt that the Church gives some of its income towards legitimate charitable causes. But how much of that some in comparison to how much it spends on other things (like private businesses, political lobbying, land ownership for non religious purposes, etc.) is the real issue here....and I would guess the distribution skews heavily towards things that aren't exactly charitable or helpful for the poor and downtrodden. The Mormon Church is nothing more than a social club that has a large for-profit investment arm.

tomrod 3y ago
They also claim humanitarian donation on hours their members volunteer within congregations, as well as member-driven humanitarian contributions ("fast offerings".) Meanwhile, there is a constant drive to get people off the "dole" even if they are elderly or infirmed. External humanitarian giving up until the first time this was pointed out a few years back was on the order of $40M per year. Not counting the free-will time and internal, grassroot fast offerings given to other members at a congregation level. It's a bit sickening.
- NickC25 3y ago
  Right - so of that supposed $100 billion, they claim they spent 0.04% of that per year on humanitarian giving. I get 0.06% in interest from my bank each year. Accounts in the billions, let alone tens or hundreds of billions probably get rates higher than 0.06%. Hypothetically, The Church donates part of the interest it earns on its account(s) and claims that money alone is enough because the pure dollar amount seems large to folks like you or I - $40 million dollars is a large amount of money and probably does help a lot of people....just not enough people that they could help but make the deliberate choice not to. A bit sickening? This is a religious organization after all which is supposedly dedicated to improving humanity. It's more than sickening at this state - it's vomit-inducing.

tomrod 3y ago

They also claim humanitarian donation on hours their members volunteer within congregations, as well as member-driven humanitarian contributions ("fast offerings".) Meanwhile, there is a constant drive to get people off the "dole" even if they are elderly or infirmed. External humanitarian giving up until the first time this was pointed out a few years back was on the order of $40M per year. Not counting the free-will time and internal, grassroot fast offerings given to other members at a congregation level. It's a bit sickening.

NickC25 3y ago
Right - so of that supposed $100 billion, they claim they spent 0.04% of that per year on humanitarian giving. I get 0.06% in interest from my bank each year. Accounts in the billions, let alone tens or hundreds of billions probably get rates higher than 0.06%. Hypothetically, The Church donates part of the interest it earns on its account(s) and claims that money alone is enough because the pure dollar amount seems large to folks like you or I - $40 million dollars is a large amount of money and probably does help a lot of people....just not enough people that they could help but make the deliberate choice not to. A bit sickening? This is a religious organization after all which is supposedly dedicated to improving humanity. It's more than sickening at this state - it's vomit-inducing.